Last weekend I stayed with one of my best friends in DC. When he heard I was coming, he gave me a heads up that he was on the Whole 30 plan. What is Whole 30? You’re basically cutting out all processed foods, added sugars, grains, legumes, etc and eating clean… so really this was just a convenience for my part. I often have clients commit to eliminating a lot of these foods in our first week of working together. Depending on their body type, lifestyle, health conditions, and goals we’ll continue from there with a plan that works from there.
Now what is the POINT in giving up all these foods and ingredients completely for a period of time? A lot of these foods– dairy, sugar, processed foods, gluten– cause inflammation in the body without us even realizing it. Inflammation shows up in the form of allergies, nasal and ear infections, bloating, weight retention, joint pain, feeling generally blah, brain fog, and the list goes on. We don’t realize it because we live with it everyday– it becomes our state of norm. We don’t know how good we CAN feel until we reach that point of improvement. Our bodies are also fairly flexible, adaptable, and resilient, and when we are exposed to foods on a regular basis that our body doesn’t like, it figures out how to deal with them. It does so by becoming inflamed.
Inflammation, when experienced in short periods of time, is the body’s healthy way of repairing itself, by activating our immune system, destroying pathogens, increasing oxygen, and delivering nutrients to the pertinent areas.
The problem comes when inflammation is experienced chronically— which is exactly what happens when we are continually eating foods our body doesn’t want or doesn’t deal well with.
By eliminating all potential irritants (i.e. dairy, sugar, processed foods, etc) completely for a short period of time (minimum 7 days) we allow the body to repair itself, reset, re-energize, and function optimally. Then by reintroducing these potential irritants one at a time we allow ourselves to play detective with our bodies to see what the main culprits are of our pain, bloating, and inflammation.
If this sounds intriguing to you or if you have further questions, send me an email at jennie@jenniefagen.com or check out my 90-Day Transformation.
Below is a clean-eating recipe my friend prepared while I was in DC and it is absolutely delicious. Bon a petite!
Salmon Sweet Potato Hash with Poached Eggs
Ingredients:
1 jalapeño
3 scallions
1 1/3 c sweet potato
2 cans salmon
2 T ghee
Bunch of cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
Chop all ingredients and mix together in a bowl. Place in a muffin tin, coated with ghee and bake 25 minutes at 350 deg!
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