THE 3-DAY RESET
Restore Your Cravings for Healthy Foods in Three Easy, Empowering Days
By: Pooja Mottl
Published: April 15, 2014
Publisher: Seal Press – Perseus Books Group
Non-Fiction
This book review is part of a book tour with TLC Book Tours. For more stops on the tour and to check out other reviews of THE 3-DAY RESET, click HERE.
First of all, check out this video of Pooja Mottl sharing about the book:
The 3-Day Reset Book Trailer from POOJA MOTTL on Vimeo.
I’m sure that most of you are like me and find it difficult to eat healthy most of the time. I live in a small town without a grocery store and need to drive 20-30 minutes to get to the nearest store. Some days I just don’t have time to drive into town to get fresh, whole food. I may only go to the store once a week and sometimes the produce I buy during that trip goes bad before I get to use it. Just last week, one day after buying a pint of raspberries, they were all moldy. So, in our little corner of the world, it can be tough to get fresh food. Thankfully, it is summer, and produce is more abundant and it makes eating healthy much easier.
In THE 3-DAY RESET, Mottl isn’t asking you to only eat whole foods and cut out all the other things we love to eat, like pizza or cake. But, she is asking you to change your cravings, just 72 hours at a time. That is why I loved the premise of this book. You can do anything for three days, right? Most of the ingredients were easy for me to find and since the reset was only three days, I didn’t have any difficulty keeping everything fresh.
Each chapter focuses on one craving area and breaks down how to reset your body from that particular craving. There are chapters on sugar, salt, wheat, chocolate, yogurt, chicken, beverage, breakfast, salad, and takeout. For this review I’m going to focus on the chapters for yogurt and beverages.
In the yogurt chapter, Mottl describes how “low-fat” yogurt with fake sugars are not good for you. I learned a couple years ago, that fat-free and low-fat meant artificial sweeteners were added. Through that I even found out that all the stomach issues my mom was having were related to her daily consumption of “fat-free yogurt”. The aspartame was ripping up her stomach and making her very sick. So both of us switched to Greek Yogurt. Now, I read labels and make sure there are no added sweeteners, sugars and extras. The chapter on Yogurt was a good reminder for me. Most people think Greek Yogurts are too thick and without flavor. I must disagree. With this 3-day reset, you can train your brain into liking this type of yogurt. My favorite way to eat Greek Yogurt is with fresh fruit like blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries mixed in and then sprinkled with a simple granola for that crunchy factor. I truly could eat this every morning. It is packed full of antioxidants and protein and will get you through your morning until lunch. Mottl includes recipes in the yogurt section including adding honey, apricots or lemon to your yogurt.
The same idea applies to the beverage chapter. Really reading the labels on the packaged drinks you buy may shock you. If it says 0 calories, or no sugar added, double check that label. It is likely there are artificial sweeteners added. In fact, I pointed it out to a friend who was drinking one of the popular flavored waters and showed her that it had sucralose in it. These can be just as bad, if not worse, for you than drinking full-sugared beverages. Cutting out all processed beverages for three days may sound like a difficult task. You might be overwhelmed with headaches from a caffeine and sugar withdrawal as well as decreased energy and mood swings. Hang in there. You can replace your afternoon soda with one of Mottl’s recipes for Citrus Zen Water. I’ve been flavoring my water with fruit like oranges, lemons, and blackberries and have been drinking more water and less sugared beverages because of it.
I can’t say any of these 3-Day Resets are easy, nor can you tackle them all at once. But, by changing even just a few of your daily cravings, you can make a big change in how your body looks and feels. Each chapter is full of recipes and grocery lists to make your reset as easy as possible. Next up for me is replacing my sugared creamer with milk or just drinking my coffee black. I know it won’t be easy, but will cut some much needed sugar calories from my day.
I highly recommed THE 3-DAY RESET for anyone looking for a gentle push towards eating healthy. Mottl doesn’t get all bound up in research, but gets right to the point of how you can make simple changes to your daily routine. As you are reading, you feel like you are chatting with a friend rather than a clinician. After your first 3-Day Reset, you will feel so empowered that you will want to try another one!
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| Pooja Mottl |
Pooja Mottl is a professionally trained Natural Foods Chef, Healthy Eating Coach, and Healthy Living Expert whose work has captivated audiences from Good Morning America to the Huffington Post. She is a graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute, a world-renowned institution for pairing culinary training with health promoting food. Pooja also holds a certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from Cornell University and is an NSCA-CPT certified personal trainer. Pooja advises private clients on healthy eating and has taught cooking classes at Whole Foods Market. She regularly blogs for the Huffington Post and Gaiam.com. Pooja has appeared on Good Morning America, WGN TV, Martha Stewart Radio, Style.com, the Green Festival, HuffPost Live, and a variety of additional media outlets.
Posted Under Book Review, health, non-fiction, Pooja Mottl