Archive for the 'Nutrition' Category

Maca - Ancient Incan Superfood

I went on a mission to Whole Foods to find some natural remedy to my recent fatigue and slight depression. A nutrition specialist recommended that I try Maca which would help stimulate my adrenal glands giving me more energy. This is completely different than the typical caffeine/ephedra supplements which just stimulate your central nervous system. So I decided to give it a try. I picked up a tincture of Maca Magic Adrenal Lift then did a little research on Google about the Maca root.

It turns out that Maca is similar to a radish and was a staple superfood of the Incas which gave them stamina and vitality. A lot of studies have been done on Maca and have demonstrated very positive effects on health and well being. I haven’t been able to find Maca in it’s raw form, just powder, pills, and tinctures. But I’m excited about the health benefits that could be gained by consuming Maca. After consuming it for two days I feel like I’m already getting more energy - but this could just be a placebo effect.

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Quinoa: Ancient Incan Superfood

The current issue of Mens Health magazine declares quinoa as “one of the most nutritious foods on the planet”. Quinoa is a grain which was held sacred by the Incas. It is packed with protein, amino acids, fiber and healthy fats. “Quinoa has an addictive nutty flavor, cooks up quicker than rice, and can be used to make pilafs, risottos, salads, soups, and even desserts.” The Mens Health article also contains recipes to help get you started enjoying this ancient superfood. More information can also be found on Wikipedia and WHFoods. I’ve seen quinoa in the grains aisle at Whole Foods. I’ll be picking some up tomorrow.

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Living in the positive

I feel good today. I feel like I’m releasing the need to be someone different than who I am. That I need to walk around wearing a mask. Even at the gym where I usually try to act all “hard” and unfriendly like I have something to prove - I actually walked around engaging people with a smile. It felt good. It’s a refreshing state of mind than feeling inadequate and judging myself against the muscle heads in the gym.

today’s nutrition
breakfast: 1 cup of raw colostrum berry kefir, wheat bagel w/ cream cheese
lunch: 1 packet of wild pink salmon, Odwalla C Monster bar
snack: 1 packet of wild pink salmon, apple
dinner: Beef tenderloin, organic mac and cheese, au gratin potatoes
dessert: 1 cup of Breyers neopolitan ice cream

today’s workout
Nautilus seated row: 60lbs/12, 80lbs/10, 100lbs/8, 120lbs/6
Alternating overhead cable pull: 40lbs/12, 60lbs/10, 80lbs/8
Assisted chinups (military wide grip) : 140lbs assistance/10/8/6
Assisted chinups (underhand grip) : 140lbs assistance/10/8/6
Assisted chinups (parallel close grip) : 140lbs assistance/10/8/6
Close grip seated cable row : 60lbs/12, 80lbs/10, 100lbs/8, 120lbs/6
Overhead wide grip seated cable row : 60lbs/12, 80lbs/10, 100lbs/8, 120lbs/6
Alternating bent over barbel row : 30lbs/10, 45lbs/8
Hammer iso seated row (alternating) : 45lbs/10, 90lbs/6

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It’s Working

I think it’s working. I’ve been following some of Anthony Robbins suggestions and have been spending time every morning being thankful for everything I have going for me right now, plus I’ve also done the mirror exercises, reassuring myself of who I am, all the positive attributes I do have and what I have to offer to the world. It reminded me of a scene in “Cool Runnings” where one of the stronger characters forces his teammate to look at himself in the mirror and say “I see strength, I see power, I see a bad mother f*cker who won’t take no for an answer”. I also tried anchoring feelings of confidence by remembering those times and events in my life where I was full of confidence - even cocky. I then anchored it to a physical stimulus. But later I realized that just thinking about triggering the anchored feelings triggered the feelings without having to use the physical trigger. I also started reading up on the Sedona Method which teaches people to release negative emotions. I think this is a very important component in gaining self confidence and if I’m able to release the negative thoughts and emotions related to self-doubt, I will definitely have confidence.

On a different note, I decided to try eating a handful of raisins with some gatorade before my workout tonight. It definitely did the trick! I had great energy and motivation to push myself pretty hard.

today’s nutrition
breakfast: 1 cup of raw colostrum berry kefir, apple pie Lara bar

lunch: balance bar

snack: cherry pie Lara bar
pre-workout: raisins, gator aid
dinner: wheat penne with pasta sauce, bread, matcha green tea, Alive! multi-vitamins, wild salmon oil


today’s workout
approx 4 hours of NEAT
hammer incline: 2×25lbs/12, 2×35lbs/10, 2×45lbs/8, 2×55lbs/6, 2×55lbs/4 (explosive moves)
bench: 2×25lbs/10, 2×35lbs/8, 2×50lbs/6, 2×50lbs/4
incline bench: 2×25lbs/10, 2×35lbs/8, 2×35lbs/6
dips: 10reps
pec deck: 60lbs/12, 80lbs/12, 100lbs/10, 120lbs/8, 140lbs/6

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Get the Edge - Day 4: Yet another diet

As part of the Get the Edge series Anthony Robbins gives you the tools to completely transform your life and way of thinking. On Day 4 he concentrates on diet and nutrition. He spends a lot of time describing the alkaline diet - a diet based on the theory that the more acidic your bloodstream is, the more prone you are to be overweight and have other health problems. Personally I have never heard about the alkaline diet so I decided to do som google research on the subject. I was able to find some references and a book on Amazon.com describing the requisite miracles that accompany a lot of the fad diets out there. The basics of the diet sounds pretty sensible and a lot of it sounded in line with another diet - The Abs Diet. I’m generally trying to follow the Abs Diet so I’m just gonna ignore this part of the series. Plus I’m not sure if I buy into the whole alkaline/acid blood theory.

A few days ago I came to the conclusion that I’m just not burning enough calories to get lean. Part of the problem is that I’m not doing enough cardio and the other half of the problem is that I find it hard to find the time to actually do cardio. So I started thinking about all the methods of shedding bodyfat. On paper it seems simple. The methods in shedding bodyfat boil down to: consuming less calories, burning more calories and increasing resting metabolic rate. You accomplish these things through diet, cardio and putting on lean muscle. So I started thinking, isn’t there a way to naturally increase metabolic rate throughout the day without using stimulants? Well, green tea has shown to increase metabolic rate, but isn’t there some sort of non strenuous exercise I could do throughout the day to burn more calories? Well I did some google research and found suggestions such as getting up and walking around the office every hour. But then I found some NEAT research. NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis and the Mayo clinic has done some research that shows that people who fidget during the day burn up to 300-800 extra calories! That’s huge! That would definitely accelerate weight loss. So now I’m vigorously jiggling my legs up and down hundreds of times under my desk trying to burn those extra 800 calories a day. Yes I may look like a freak with my chair shaking violently, but burning 800 calories in a day without breaking a sweat is COMPLETELY worth it!

today’s nutrition
breakfast: cranberry odwalla bar, 1/2 mango, green tea
lunch: 1packet chicken of the sea wild alaskan salmon, handful of marcona almonds, 2 c water, few slices on mango
snack: few slices mango, green tea, 1packet chicken of the sea wild alaskan salmon, handful of marcona almonds
dinner: pork chop, zuchinni

today’s fitness
none / 6 hours of NEAT (vigorous leg jiggling - don’t laugh)

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Change Starts Here

breakfast: • 3 cups of berry raw colostrum kefir
lunch: • cup of tuna salad
• 1/2 cup of beet and onion salad
• 1 boiled egg
• 1 pint of skim milk
snack: • marcona almonds with sunflower oil and rosemary
• 1 cup of low fat cottage cheese
dinner: • Double-Double with fries, rootbeer and a chocolate shake
snack: • 1/2 cup raw colostrum berry kefir
• 1 cup of matcha green tea

Exercise:
31 pushups - no break
3 more sets of 10 pushups
6 close grip pushup - 30sec rest in between
3 sets of 10 decline pushups
2 sets of single arm barbel press 23lbs
2 sets of single arm barbel press 43lbs
10 pushups
2 sets of 8 reps, alternate height and hand position pushups

The magic moment of this day: Feeling the drive of passion click on during my workout and really feeling the desire to transform.

What did I do today to achieve my goal of complete and total self-confidence: Listen to Anthony Robbins Total Confidence subliminal tape and also continue listening to the Get the Edge series.

What did I do today to achieve my goal of becoming a critically acclaimed, wildly successful actor: Practiced trying to change my emotional state to sadness while driving home from work. I also listened and read more about the psychology of changing emotional states and emotional intelligence.

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The road to becoming a fitness model… or at least looking like one.

It all begins with diet. Diet is the muti-billion dollar word that is thrown around nowadays luring people to spend thousands of dollars in the search for the holy grail of existence - being skinny. I’ll admit, I was lured into this trap years ago before it became such a hot fad to pop diet pills and be associated with the latest [Name Brand] Diet. I used to be a GNC gold card carrying member and subjected my body to experiements by taking almost every single supplement that existed at GNC. Now I’ll admit, I was never “fat” per se, over weight as a child, skinny in High School, but then turned 21, started drinking and hanging out in bars, and I started getting a gut. So as an adult I’ve struggled for years to obtain the proverbial “six pack” and look like an athlete. Three years of training with a trainer did help add some muscle and definition, but no six pack. Then I started reading about different body building diets and discovered the low carb diet which was just starting to gain attention through The Atkins Diet. Six months later I had went from chubby at 185lbs and 30% bodyfat to 155lbs and 15% bodyfat. But the six pack still eluded me. I now needed more muscle. So once again I hired a trainer, started eating whatever I wanted, gained 10lbs of muscle, but then started gaining weight in my midsection again. So here I am again hovering around 180lbs/20% bodyfat. Now I am determined to go all the way and tranform my body into it’s peak physical state.

I could actually write pages on all the supplements and diet plans I’ve tried but I’ll cut to the chase and just mention what I plan to do now. I’ve basically sworn off of diet pills especially after I started having panic attacks from a possible overdose of stimulants. Instead, this time my plan is going to be all about quality organic food, eating more balanced meals and maximum effort at the gym.

Things I’ve definitely learned from years of research is - drink a gallon of water a day, eat 6 times a day, and limit or eliminate simple carbs, sugar and alcohol.

The current diet plans I am going to model is along the lines of Body for Life and the Abs Diet.

I am also going to journal my diet everyday to help me watch my diet and progress. I’m going to try the Abs Diet online site and Fit Day as well. I’ll see how useful these sites actually are.

On another note, I find it interesting that in all these different programs that talk about sef transformation, they always talk about journaling your progress. Whether it’s Anthony Robbins “Hour of Power”, or a diet program, or a training program. Journaling is a powerful tool.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I find it hard to stick to any kind of diet during the holidays but this year Heather and I had our own Thanksgiving by ourselves since we couldn’t afford to visit our families. For Thanksgiving we cooked:

• A honey brined free-range Heritage turkey
• Green bean casserole with organic green beans
• Oyster stuffing made with Marcona almonds and oysters
• Horseradish mashed potatoes made with organic potatoes
• Broccoli salad
and…
• Ginger snap Pumpkin Pie made with organic Pumpkin and raw creme

Everything was delicious!

Thanksgiving is also a good time to actually give thanks for all the blessings in your life. No matter what your situation is, there is always things to be thankful for. It’s a good exercise in positive thinking! For me I’m thankful for my good health, my job (even though it’s not exactly what I want to do), my beautiful wife, my supportive family, Heather’s supportive family, all the talents I have been blessed with, the life I have been given and all the successes I have achieved.

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Goals / RPM Plan

My Nutrition RPM Plan:

Result Purpose Map
  • 180lbs 10% bodyfat
  • increase energy and vitality
  • increase focus
  • increase health and immunity
  • look like a fitness model
  • to be healthy enough to rapidly achieve my dreams
  • to get the nutrition to be focused on my goals
  • to have the energy to be unstoppable in achieving my goals
  • to give me a boost in confidence
  • eat organic food
  • drink matcha green tea
  • drink raw milk
  • use raw dairy products
  • eat minimaly processed food
  • eliminate refined sugar in diet
  • eat balanced meal in line with Body for Life diet
  • eat 6 times a day
  • drink gallon of water a day
  • eat 2500 calories a day

Obstacles:
The problem is that I love to eat and I love all kinds of food - plus I get so busy that it is sometimes hard to eat right.

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Kefir and other Raw Dairy Products

It started with a trip to the Santa Monica farmers market on a Saturday morning. Heather and I walked through the stands of organic fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables and flowers and came upon a stand selling raw milk. What a coincidence since we had just been listening to a radio program on public radio about raw milk. This particular stand was setup by Organic Pastures - a company which specializes in raw organic dairy products. The guy at the stand was very friendly and offered us a taste of the raw milk. Now I have never been a huge fan of milk, but this milk tasted really good. The guy introduced us to all of the different products that they produce, the benefits of raw dairy and also explained how well their dairy cows are treated. We picked up some brochures from the table and did some more research on raw dairy products. The next weekend we returned and picked up a half gallon of milk which contained colostrum.

I remembered hearing about colostrum a few months ago in one of my Muscle and Fitness, or Men’s Fitness magazine. This form of milk is created biologically in mothers during the first few days after giving birth. Colostrum has huge nutritional benefits for babies and research is being done to see if adult supplementation of colostrum has benefits as well. Initial research has shown that supplementation of bovine (cow) colostrum can boost the immune system and also help with building lean muscle, but the results are not conclusive.

So Heather and I are now drinking raw milk, eating raw butter, and I am trying raw Kefir - a fermented milk product similar to drinkable yogurt which is also suppose to have a lot of nutritional benefits. What does it taste like? Yogurt mixed with champagne. Not bad. Just different.

Do I think raw dairy has miraculous benefits? No. But I do think there are definite benefits of raw organic dairy and adding it to my diet along with other dietary changes can have a huge effect on my health and vitality.

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