Week Three: Whee!

This is a guest post by Flow Member, Caroline Zelonka, participating in The Reset.

Made it through the hump, and another pizza- and ice cream-filled weekend, and I�m feeling pretty fly. I�m not missing sugar or cheese that much, and am enjoying the mental clarity that comes with a wine-free existence. Is it Tiger Blood? Not sure, but I feel terrific.

I did go a little crazy with the nuts and dried fruit on Saturday night. Obeying the letter of the law, but not the spirit. I want to lose weight, and that stuff is packed with calories. And carbs, which I normally like to limit.

As a former Atkins devotee, I�d experimented successfully with nutritional ketosis, a metabolic state where fat becomes the preferred fuel for the body. It can be induced by a diet low in sugars, and measured through acetone in the breath.

At Tuesday�s Reset meetup and potluck (which I�ll get to later), we got to try out a neat new device. The LEVL detects acetone levels in parts per million, and they claim a reading of 2 or more translates into an �elevated state of fat metabolism� and loss of at least a half-pound body fat per week.

Testing was easy. Hold your breath and exhale slowly into a straw connected to a pod, which is placed in a machine the size of a clock radio and which reads the level in about 15 seconds. About eight of us were there to try it, registering levels of 1.5 to a whopping 8.6.

I scored a 2.5, but being the competitive person that I am, I�m now gunning for a higher score. So for the remainder of this program, I�m going to try to limit the potatoes, bananas, and especially the dried fruit, and stick to meat, vegetables, eggs, and lower-carb fruit like apples and blueberries.

I�m turning 50 in May, and am hoping to celebrate with a trip to Hawaii, somewhere I�ve never been. And it would be nice to have a fitter new body to take on the trip.

But I didn�t commit to the low-carb version of the Whole 30 that night, as there were several yummy dishes to try, including bacon-wrapped dates, roasted winter vegetables, a vegetable hash, cabbage and sausage, Cajun chicken drummettes, and my favorite, haricots verts (French green beans) with almond pesto.

Erin K, the chef behind the dish, thoughtfully supplied a recipe card, and has given me permission to publish it on this blog. She says it makes a great breakfast dish paired with eggs, but take it from me, it�s tasty any time.

Onto week four!