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Noted chef turned integrative nutritional training coach, Ellen Postolowski, in an important book brings to bear the importance of maintaining a stabilised and balanced gut health for a rejuvenated. health. At the nub of Postolowski’s argument lies the “Reset 90/10 Plan”. Adopting a simple logic of not straying from a strict culinary regimen for 90% of the time with a leeway available to depart from the norm for the remaining 10%, Reset is a three-week programme that aims to eliminate inflammatory foods and acquiring awareness of a holistic and total-body wellness that encompasses mind, body and spirit.
The Rest Programme based primarily on plant-based food options, strives to eliminate unhealthy habits, enhance immune and hormonal functions, and strives to facilitate a natural healing process that is not dependent upon pills, or tonics. The protocol underlying the Reset 90/10 Plan revolves around what Postolowski terms ‘4 Rs’ –
1. Remove (eliminating inflammatory foods);
2. Replace (substitute inflammatory foods with those that support optimal digestive functions, and digestive enzymes thereby leading to an enhanced nutrient distribution.
3. Reinoculate (balance gut flora and maintain better and continued gut health by supporting good bacteria)
4. Repair (repair cells, intestinal structures, and inflammation damage to achieve sustainable gut, hormonal, immune and cognitive functions
In addition to paying importance to the food we consume, Postolowski also exhorts us to be indulgent in self-advocacy measures that would instill an degree of self-belief and optimism as we attempt to lead more meaningful and contended lives. Some of the practical and easily implementable self-advocacy choices offered by Postolowski include:
1. Self- belief – Possessing confidence and cultivating stronger personal boundaries
2. Prevention is better than cure – Never compromising on annual and routine medical checkups and blood works
3. Seeking balance – Attaining a holistic and intersectional balance between the physical, spiritual, mental and emotional aspects of life by reducing stress, eating healthy, practicing simple meditation techniques and staying happy
4. Staying informed – Understanding more about one’s body and one’s ailments and taking progressive measures to increase and improve the quality of life.
5. Planning and strategising – Implementing a concrete plan and running with it to the greatest extent possible. It is not enough to have goals and visions in place if one is not going to follow through to achieve such goals and translate visions into reality.
6. Accountability – Being accountable and pro-active in one’s wellbeing.
The book also contains an extensive list of easy to whip up recipes that can be used by the reader to help her both in the “Reset Phase” of three weeks as well as the “Maintenance Phase” in the weeks following the conclusion of the Reset Phase. The latter is very important as some of the inflammatory foods that were avoided during the Reset Phase would be slowly steadily and methodically reintroduced into the diet but in a pragmatic and healthy manner.
“Gut Driven” – a handy companion to ward off many a pestilent health niggle!
