How to follow the Body Reset diet and what are the benefits and downsides
We all want to lose some weight and we all want to do it fast and harmless. One of the diet plans used by many celebrities like Jessica Simpson and Rhiana is the Body Reset diet.
A smoothie-based diet plan that doesn’t require lots of exercise and staying without food for a long period maybe is a great choice for you. Just a 15-day cycle helps to lose weight fast and after ending maybe you will change your eating habits forever.
We’ve covered all topics for you about the Body Reset diet.
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What Is The Body Reset Diet?
Created by celebrity fitness trainer Harley Pasternak the Body Reset Diet is a weight loss plan designed to reboot your system and achieve immediate and dramatic results very fast.
It is a low-calorie, 15-day diet and the core of the Body Reset Diet is a smoothie-based meal plan alongside whole foods and exercise.
In his book “The Body Reset Diet: Power Your Metabolism, Blast Fat, and Shed Pounds in Just 15 Days,” Pasternak lays out the meal plan, where the most important are homemade smoothies, simple meals, and snacks.
Pasternak suggests that if you follow the specific recipes from his book “The Body Reset Diet Cookbook,” that you will minimize time and effort in the kitchen, which he believes is the key to a successful diet.
The idea behind this diet is that by eating a low-calorie plant-based meal made up mostly of smoothies over the 15-day period, you will train your body to burn calories faster and use energy more efficiently, even while you are asleep. All these combined with resistance exercise only three times a week and you will set yourself up for long-term, sustained weight loss.
How To Follow The Body Reset Diet
The Body Reset Diet plan is divided into three five-day phases. You eat five times a day starting mainly with smoothies in phase 1 and progressing with more solid meals in phases 2 and 3.
Here is an example of three diet phases:
Phase 1
You only drink smoothies for your meals – white smoothies for breakfast (contain milk or yogurt, a good source of protein). Red for lunch, full of fruits to give you a burst of energy. Green for dinner, made of vegetables to keep you full at night.
Eat 2 snacks per day and for physical activity walk at least 10,000 steps each day. This all is for the first 5 days of the diet plan.
Sample Menu For Phase 1:
- Breakfast: Apple Pie Smoothie
- Snack: Roasted chickpeas
- Lunch: Blueberry Cobbler Smoothie
- Snack: Raw vegetables and hummus
- Dinner: Spinach Smoothie
Phase 2
When the first 5 days end, next 5 days or Phase 2 you drink 2 smoothies per day and replace one meal with solid food, like salad, sandwich, or stir-fry. Physical activity-walk 10,000 steps every day and complete 5 minutes of resistance training using 4 different exercises on 3 of the days.
Menu for phase 2:
- Breakfast: Tropical Morning Smoothie ( yogurt, mango, pineapple, banana, flaxseed)
- Snack: Green pea chips
- Lunch: Tuna Tortilla
- Snack: Celery sticks
- Dinner: Kale Smoothie
Phase 3
Also lasts for 5 days, in this phase you eat 2 low-calorie meals and one smoothie. You walk 10,000 steps every day and 5 minutes of resistance training using 4 different exercises every day.
Menu for phase 3:
- Breakfast: Smoked Salmon Scramble
- Snack: Popcorn
- Lunch: Raspberry Lime Smoothie
- Snack: Almonds
- Dinner: Sesame Beef Stir-Fry
You notice that the main food source in all three phases is the smoothie. Pasternak says that the purpose of creating a smoothie-based diet is because every smoothie contains multiple ingredients and all the smoothies have a similar caloric value, protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
Carb, protein, and fiber are three nutrients on which the whole concept of Body Reset Diet is based. By combining these nutrients with small-sized portions throughout the day, along with the exercise (walking), Body Reset will reboot the metabolism in a way that helps sustain weight loss even after the program is over.
As you can see from the meal plans not just smoothies but also snacks are an important part of each phase every day. Snacks should be packed with fiber, healthy fats, and protein. Their main purpose is to keep you full until the next meal.
The last tactic that is consistent every day is 10,000 steps. Why 10,000 steps? It is a recommended daily step target for healthy adults to achieve health benefits.
Steps can be accumulated during everyday activities like parking further from the entrance of the shop, taking stairs instead of the elevator, etc. A 2017 study showed that when it comes to weight loss, taking 10,000 steps a day is just effective as doing five 30-minutes workouts a week.
What Foods To Eat
If you decide to follow this diet you should know that you must eat five times a day and that involves smoothies, snacks, and meals.
Like we talked up here smoothies are the core of the Body Reset Diet. They are on the menu three times a day in Phase 1, two times in Phase 2, and once in Phase 3.
Smoothies
They are made of four main ingredients:
- Liquid base: low or non-fat milk, flavored water, water, almond, or soy milk.
- Protein: fat-yogurt, tofu, or protein powder
- Carbs: any fruit-oranges, apples, berries, and peers are recommended for their fiber content and leafy green vegetables like spinach and kale
- Healthy Fat: Nuts, seeds, avocado
Keep in mind that packaged fruits with sweeteners are not allowed, also honey, maple syrup, and caned sugar are not allowed in smoothies.
Harley Pasternak’s Red Berry Smoothie
- 1 cup frozen raspberries
- 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
- 1/2 peeled orange
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
Green Smoothie Recipe
- 2 cups spinach leaves
- 1 ripe pear, unpeeled
- 3/4 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
- 15 green or red grapes
- 2 tablespoons chopped avocado
- 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Snacks
Snacks should contain 5 grams of protein and fiber and low sugar content. Here are some examples:
- edamame (recommended)
- popcorn
- apple slices with deli turkey
- crackers with fat-free cheese
- celery with peanut butter
Meals
Recipes for homemade solid meals are made with minimally processed foods and are rich in protein, fiber, and healthy fats. You can find all the recipes in the book Body Reset Diet Cookbook.
Here are some examples of what foods you can eat:
- Salads: leafy greens with chopped vegetables, fruits, nuts, and lean protein like chicken or legumes
- Sandwiches: with deli meat, vegetables, whole bread
- Soups: made with vegetables, reduced-sodium broth, and lean protein, served with whole-grain bread
- Stir-Fries: chicken breast or shrimp, with vegetables and brown rice
- Scrambled Eggs: with vegetables, low-fat cheese (whole eggs not allowed only egg whites)
You surely noticed that all examples of meals presented here are starting with “S”. The author of this diet calls these meals “S-meals” or “single dish.” The “S” stands for “salads, sandwiches, soups, stir-fries.” The purpose of sticking to a one-item meal is to refrain from overeating.
What Foods To Avoid
During the first 15 days of the diet, you should avoid some foods like:
- Highly processed or fried foods
- Full fat milk, yogurt, and cheese
- Soda or other sugar beverages
- White bread, pasta, and other refined grains
- Alcohol
A small table of what foods are allowed and what are not allowed to consume on the Body Reset Diet:
Compliant Foods
- Smoothies
- High-fiber fruits like, apples, berries, kiwis, pears, and oranges
- Non-fat milk and non-fat yogurt
- Nuts and seeds
- Lean meat, poultry, and fish
- Egg whites
- Whole grains
Non-Compliant Foods
- Lower-fiber fruit
- Chips
- Fried foods
- Candy
- Fatty meats
- Soda and all sugary beverages
- Highly refined grains
Benefits Of The Body Reset Diet
Even there are no specific studies made just for this diet, some of its principles are based on scientific evidence.
Consuming Highly Nutritious Foods
Foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds legumes, and low-fat dairy provide an array of essential vitamins and minerals. If we add to these that the meal plan is packed with fiber, the result is that these are great nutritious foods very important for overall health.
Just to mention a diet high in fiber is associated with lower body weight, reduced risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses.
Another thing that Pasternak argues is that this is not a “cleanse” diet because it can provide all five food groups as defined by USDA.
Effective For Weight Loss
The diet plan is comprised of low-calorie meals and it will likely put your body in a calorie deficit. Weight loss occurs when you burn calories more than you intake. Not just the low-calorie meals the exercise regime also helps to burn calories.
This plan provides around 1200-1400 calories per day, which is far below 2000 calories recommended for adults to maintain their weight.
In a study published in 2012 where the aim of the study was to quantify weight loss and dropout during a commercial weight-loss program. The results showed that dieters on a similar 1200-1500 calorie diet consisting of 2 meals and 2 replacement shakes per day lost an average of 6.8 kg (15 pounds).
Motivated To Stay On The Diet Plan
Many times we start with a diet plan and after not seeing fast results we stop following that plan. With Body Reset Diet is the opposite.
Even 15 days is a relatively short period of time, but the weight you shed during this period will encourage you to stick with the diet longer. Rapid initial weight loss has been tied to long-term diet success.
If we simplify all of this, people who experience immediate results are more motivated to continue with the program because they believe it works.
Exercise
Moto of the Body Reset diet is “eat more, exercise less.” But in practice, there is a fair amount of exercise -10,000 steps a day, which is equal to five miles of walking.
It also calls for resistance training which will help you to build muscles which is a great thing.
Downsides Of Body Reset Diet
Unsustainable
You will lose weight for sure in the 15 – day cycle of the diet plan, however when you go back eating normally you may regain some or all of the weight back. To prevent this Pasternak recommends returning to Phase 1 and Phase 2 after 15-day “reset” cycle ends.
Restrictive At Start
When starting, especially in the first 5 days you will be extremely hungry because you will consume only smoothies and snacks that will give you only 1200 calories which isn’t very much.
Low-calorie diets often lack carbs, vitamins, protein, fiber, and minerals, for some people this plan may lead to nutrient deficiencies.
Time-Consuming
Now when you know that this diet is based on smoothies, you say it is easy to make a smoothie, no problem. But think about it, you have to make three of them every day in the first five days. Cleaning the blender after every smoothie.
Not Pleasant Taste
Just to know these smoothie recipes don’t always taste great like the ones you make with honey or sugar. To succeed on the Body Reset diet you will need to like or tolerate all the different types of smoothies.
Benefits
- Consuming highly nutritious foods
- Effective for weight loss
- Keeps you motivated to stay with the diet longer
- Exercise
Downsides
- Unsustainable
- Restrictive at start
- Time-consuming
- Not pleasant taste
Important To Know: People with heart disease and diabetes should be careful with their Body Reset smoothies made with fruits or as we called them midday “red” smoothies can raise blood sugar levels due to their carb content.
Due to its lack of whole grains, one of the main food groups recommended for balance and to lower “bad” LDL cholesterol which is imperative to heart health, this diet is not recommended for people with heart problems.
Is It Easy To Follow The Body Reset Diet?
Drinking just smoothies in the first five days can be difficult for many people. Those snacks that are allowed to eat every day should help quell your cravings. As we saw from the benefits of the Body Reset diet you will lose some weight for sure in that 15-day cycle.
It is not going to be easy to be without solid meals for five days and just one in the second phase. Nothing is easy, like everything in life to succeed you must have great willpower.
This diet takes work – you have to make smoothies every day and prepare snacks for when you feel hungry. You can find ways to make the Body Reset diet more efficient. Place all the ingredients needed for each smoothie in a Ziploc bag in the freezer in advance. By doing this you save the tie and when you need a smoothie just take the ingredients from the bag and put them in a blender.
No alcohol is allowed on the Body Reset diet.
What To Do After The 15-Day Cycle Is Over
What happens when the diet days end? Will your metabolism be boosted enough to maintain sustained weight loss after the diet? A simple answer to this question is “NO.”
If you go back to your standard, everyday meal plan after finishing the 15-day cycle of the Body Reset diet, be sure that you will bring back those shed pounds. A lot of effort for nothing.
For this reason, Pasternak recommends dieters to continue eating the way Body Reset is formatted long after it’s over. That is: balanced food groups and one-item meals, recommended step counts. He says: “The third phase is your life.”
Nutritionists know that it is hard to sustain such a lifestyle, like walking 10,000 steps every day, eating just one-item meals, and drinking just smoothies. So they recommend simpler lifestyle changes after the diet ends: eating more vegetables, lean proteins, and smaller portions to shed unwanted pounds.
Final thoughts on the Body Reset diet:
If you decide to try this diet be sure to have all the recipes recommended from Pasternak. You will lose weight for sure, but in the first five days, you will feel hungry, because it is a big change for your body going from solid meals to only smoothies and snacks.
Before starting it is recommended to consult with your doctor first, as we mentioned before Body Reset diet is not recommended for people with diabetes and heart disease.
Finally, it is good to know that the Body Reset diet is designed for quick, but not necessarily sustainable weight loss. If you go back on your daily eating habits after the 15-day cycle is over you will bring back those shed pounds in the days of the diet.
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