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!