Oohh... Twinkie

Too many people look at food from a "taste" standpoint. All too often these same people have what I refer to as an 'immature palette'. Their food preferences and diet sound more like that of an 8 year old's than an adult. You need to completely change the way you think. Don't look at food for a "high"- that electrical caveman impulse that says "oohh twinkie yum yum yum.." (lol).  In fact that's all that feeling is- an electrical impulse from the brain that says "mmm.. good", nothing more!

Seek your highs in LIFE elsewhere!! That feel good feeling you get from whatever other pursuits or hobbies you enjoy. You need to look at food completely from a performance and nutrition standpoint. Use it to build your body into something powerful and healthy. With each healthy meal you are one step closer to your goals in the gym and life.  When you remove food as your "drug" of choice it will put a lot of things into perspective. Not only will you look and perform better in the gym everyday, but you will  begin to truly value the things that you may have been setting aside. Often times these junkfood addicted people are in relationships even more toxic than the sewage they consume on a day to day basis. With their low self esteem and constant masking of their unhappiness via "food" they are numb to exactly what goes on around them. Food truly is a drug for some people. And you heal a drug addiction the same way you heal a food addiction. It is through perspective.

I see a lot of parents who are so obese there is no way they can be the parents their children want them to be. It is just impossible. I have no sympathy for these cowards. Those who are aware of their condition and choose to do nothing are vermin and a stain on the fabric of America. They have chosen twinkies and pork rinds over proper parenting. Whether they like it or not they ARE leading by example- a horrible one. Even worse they know damn well their food and lifestyle choices are unhealthy yet they promote their children to be JUST LIKE THEM, indoctrinating them with the same poison they themselves are addicted to. It takes a lot of grit on my part not to call them out in the grocery store when I see them. Seriously, it is the children I feel sorry for, not the whale on the hov-a-round with a cart full of Kool Aid and Hostess.

Alright guys, rant over but you get my point.
Harden the hell up and eat like you should. You WILL improve YOUR life and that of those around you especially your children and loved ones. You will live longer and healthier!  With your fitness and discipline you will expand your life outside of your comfort zone. This is where the real high exists.  Constantly challenging yourself, the exhilaration of  climbing mountains and doing things you never thought possible will make you into a stronger, tougher human being.  When your time is up, you will have lived a truly incredible, fulfilled and adventurous life.

It's not just a twinkie, it speaks volumes about you as a person. You as an adult are the one showing your kids what a normal adult should do and how one should live. Are you showing your children a person of discipline and maturity?

What will your legacy be?

Lead by example. 

Tupperware is a diets best friend

Tupperware is a diets best friend

I've often been asked by my clients about these prepared, delivered gourmet diet meals. You know the ones they leave on your doorstep every morning that are supposedly delicious, nutritious and perfectly well balanced. 

These things are good in many ways but weak in some others. 

The pro's 

CONVENIENCE- you pick it up, take it to work and you eat it. Couldn't be any easier than that! 

Usually well balanced with consistent vegetable servings and some small snacks to eat in between 

Low calorie

Good variety- menus are varying frequently

No calories to count or carbs to watch. The thinking has been done for you. Yay!

The Cons

Expense- meals run a few bucks more than what I would pay if I was going out to eat for lunch and wanted to eat healthy

No learning curve- the users never learn how to navigate a world full of mostly garbage food sources and thus are stuck either doing these meal plans or eating Wendy's etc

Girl sized protein portions- I lift weights heavy and so do my clients. Some little 2 ounce protein portion is NOT gonna cut it. I would not be a happy camper on one or even two of these main courses. 

I have seen people use these throughout my career. None have ultimately been successful.  They are great for some people but ultimately I feel the user would be better off learning how to choose better when eating out and how to prepare meals at home to take into work. 

Tupperware is a diets best friend. Learning how to make tasty nutritious meals at home that you can either eat cold or nuke in the microwave at work is how it's done. You see someone with a ripped muscular body you want to have, chances are, they are ' brown bagging it' and eating out of Tupperware several times a day. Include fresh fruit and salad and you are good to go. In truth if you prepare your lunch main entree on Sunday night (chicken, carrots, brown rice, onions and broccoli sautéed in a wok for example ) you can make your lunch meal in under a minute on your way out the door each day. 

Once you get in the habit, it's a piece of cake. The rewards are almost immediate as most individuals will lose weight due to consistently decreased calories, increased fiber and a better protein to carbohydrate ratio. 

It's also alot cheaper. You can use that saved money for tickets to an AC/DC concert or a new pocket knife. 

Working with Wounded Warriors

Working with Wounded Warriors

It is without a doubt one of the highest honors I have ever been given. The opportunity to assist America's best and bravest in their recovery from serious battlefield injury is the most emotionally challenging and spiritually rewarding things I've ever done. Emotionally because when you believe in something with all your heart, absolutely everything you have you cannot help but get choked up. When you see a guy who two years ago was the quarterback hero of his hometown High School football team and is now missing a hand and a leg. Or maybe he was a delinquent kid with too much energy and not enough guidance who found his way via the leadership, pride and motivation of wearing the uniform of a U.S. Serviceman. His wife, incredibly heroic in her own right goes home from the hospital to a mountain of bills and often an infant child. I see the pain. I look in their eyes and I see it. And I am there to help in any way I can.

To be looked upon as a mentor for these guys (and girls) or even just a friend they can trust, is humbling at the very least.  Seeing how these individuals who have survived what should have been un-survivable and keep going, keep driving forward gifts me with inspiration to take on challenges I may not ever have done. For those that do not know,  I am a volunteer for the incredible organization "Semper Fidelis Health and Wellness" (SFHW.ORG). We present healthy living and superfood dieting to the Wounded Warrior hospital's in Camp Lejeune and Walter Reed. Our clients are recovering from Traumatic Brain Injury, Amputation, burns, you name it. Some of them are not even 20 years old. Others have spent a lifetime in service to our great nation. We are, compared to the more household name org's, tiny. However we take great pride in making as big an impact as we can, based on our very limited budget.

My work:

I am currently running a Jiu-jitsu for Vets only program out of my gym. 3 days a week we get together, roll out the mats and practice Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. All of the men had a little training in this when they served and now they get the chance to learn more of the technical side of it from me. We currently have just a few guys training but already bonds are forming among us. These guys roll HARD. They are absolutely every bit the warrior they were when they served. The friendly combat and camaraderie gives them a good stress relief if even for just a few hours a week. Some of these guys have been out for a few years and due to the heavy physical therapy schedule have been unable to work or really start their life as civilian. Jiu-jitsu gives them the chance to be among warriors and train in empty hand combat that is extremely effective. If you don't know what Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is, it is a martial art that hails from Rio de Janeiro Brazil via Japan. It was the empty hand combat system of the Samurai.  It is a grappling combat system that employs highly effective use of leverage for joint manipulation and choking. Basically, beating the ever loving shit out of someone.
The guys love it. To be able to take something I spent years learning and give it away- absolutely priceless.

The Dog.
I met Tyler at his welcome home party in Concord NC in December of 2012. He had just lost both his legs to an IED while serving as point man in an Infantry unit in Afghanistan. Tyler was an E-4 but volunteered to man the metal detector as his squad executed a middle of the night patrol. He was blown up by a remote detonated IED. Lost both his legs. 23 years old. Star baseball player in his hometown, newspapers gave him the nickname Captain Hook for his nasty curveball. Tyler wheeled himself up the table I was at with fellow volunteer Alvaro Matta and we got to doing what Soldiers do which is drink beer and talk shit.  I asked Tyler if he had considered getting a service dog. His reply was yes but that he didn't like wimpy dogs. I agreed and showed him a picture of my 95 lb red Dobermann "Zulu". Tyler fell in love. He had never seen a European Dobermann before. The box head, the stocky frame all of this was more than he could handle. So then i got to thinking...

 Long story short, with the help of some very generous people I should be delivering Tyler a fully trained, bad to the bone, big as hell red european Dobermann Pinscher by mid June of this year. The dog is from the best kennel in my opinion in the U.S. and has a strong working Serbian bloodline. He is an absolutely regal, solid and magnificent specimen of a Dobermann.  A Soldier's dog for sure. Now why you may ask would I want to bestow such a responsibility on Tyler? Well, #1 my boy Zulu makes me smile at least a hundred times a day. If I can give that gift to this young man I HAVE to do it. You just have to think like I do to understand.
#2 From a fitness and wellness standpoint this dog will require a lot of walking and outdoor time. It will require Tyler to go outside and get fresh air and be in nature many times a day. The Dobermann is too intelligent a breed to merely be let into the backyard to relieve himself. He wants to explore. He will demand that Tyler,as his alpha leader be adventurous and expand their pack boundaries on a daily basis.
This is all the happy pill he will need.

Now that I have told my story. What will be yours?