Results Typical

Serving up some grass-fed lamb, eggs, acorn squash and coffee.

God, do I love breakfast.  For me, there’s nothing better than starting the day with some tasty meat, eggs, and veggies.  Unfortunately, I’m part of a minority of people who kickstart their day with some freshly cooked food.

Few have the time or patience to get up a half-hour early and break out the pots and pans.  Here are a few tips for filling up your belly with healthy food before work (while still staying sane).

1. Make sure you have food ready the night before.  Believe it or not, some people wake up and forage through their pantry with no idea of what the morning’s meal entails.

2. Get up a half-hour early.  At first, it’s going to be a pain in the pork rump, but over time, you’ll be hopping out of bed, rushing to the skillet.

3. What to eat: Grab some meat.  It doesn’t matter what kind, just make sure it was once walking, slithering, flying, or swimming.  This will be your source of good protein.  Pick out some veggies.  Slices of butternut squash pounded up into a mash make a great substitute for hash browns.  Find you some fat.  Drizzle a little olive oil over your veggies, have a small glass of coconut milk, or munch on an avacado or pecans.  If this doesn’t fill you up, then add some more of each.  If eggs are your thing, make yourself one or two (or three) if you are free of auto-immune diseases.

4. Set it and forget it.  Making food takes time, but you’ll have plenty of opportunity to get ready for your day (and check facebook) while the sugar-free sausage and squash are heating up.  (Don’t worry, my house hasn’t burned down yet.  Just don’t get carried away and have to resort to eating overcooked eggs.)

5. If you have little ones that need to be scooted out the door in the morning, don’t forgo breakfast.  Just make a bunch (and I mean A BUNCH) of breakfast food on a weekend day.

6. Coffee.  Yup, coffee is Paleo but try and limit the intake to two cups a day.  Not a morning.  A day.  If you’re getting enough sleep, you don’t need coffee to keep you awake throughout the day.  Sugar and cream?  Skip it.

If you’re just starting out on paleo, try implementing this routine in twice a week.  If you’re having success with it, go nuts and try it seven days a week.  The time you spend eating right now will keep you off the congested waiting room when you’re 60.

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Quite frequently, I’ll be out with friends eating and the questions will invariably come up: “You don’t eat bread?  Are you on a diet?”  Those of you who continue with a Paleo lifestyle should be quite familiar with the question.  But how do you answer?

A diet is so temporary.  Most are faddish and last only until you lose the desired weight.  Playing the “It’s a lifestyle” card sounds so cliche and you might as well be labeled “that nutrition guy (or gal)”.  It’s tough, but there are ways to respond to the question without coming off as gluten-hating, judgemental caveperson.

It’s a little confrontational, but I respond exactly how we’re all NOT supposed to answer: Answer a question with a question.  When asked what diet you’re on, just play it cool and say, “I’m not on a diet, I just don’t eat certain foods.”  Most likely, there will be a follow-up.  This is where you drop the question on them.

“You don’t smoke cigarettes, do you?  Well I just choose not to eat grains, sugar, dairy, or potatoes.”  This should help your friend to realize that you’re not in this for the short term.  You’ve made a decision to not only get healthier for the present, but lengthen and improve your life for the future.

The Paleo lifestyle is often called a diet because there is a common perception of anytime someone eats healthy, they’re on a diet.  It’s one of the hardest hurdles when switching to Paleo, but by making a commitment to yourself to stick to a life of healthy eating, solid sleep, and smart movement, you’ll benefit ten-fold both in the short-term and in your later years.

When you don’t play in traffic people don’t ask if you are on a jaywalking diet.  An alcoholic isn’t on a booze diet.  And you’re not on a processed food diet.

Hopefully that should help next time you ask the waitress if there is sugar or corn syrup in the barbeque sauce.

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Twice a week, I train at a big globo-gym with lots of machines, and every year at this time (post-Christmas) there are a ton of new faces that I’m sure I won’t see in March.  It’s not that these poor folks don’t have the desire.  If they’re willing to shell out a few hundred dollars to get access to “the club”, they have the drive.  Unfortunately, they don’t know what to do.

From machine to machine men and women troll, ending each work out with some cardio on the elliptical, assuming that “something is better than nothing” and staying away from the dumbells because the big muscley men are intimidating.  Unfortunately, just being in a gym doesn’t magically take the weight off or build muscle.  Those who go into a gym without a plan are “working out”.  The few individuals who approach their time in the gym with a goal in mind and a way to reach it are “training”.

From what I’ve found, CrossFit is the best training program that improves real-world strength and conditioning.  It’s more than a coincidence that hot chicks and buff dudes with six-packs are the norm within those who train.  (Just check out these pictures: 1, 2.)

The key difference between “training” and “working out” is the goal.  You’ll see with most CrossFitters and athletes, their goal isn’t to look good in the mirror.  (That’s just what happens when you incorporate real (and tough) training into your game plan.)  Their goal is to deadlift 5 pounds more than last time, take 2 seconds off their “Fran” time, and perform 30 burpees without stopping.

So, if what you’re looking for is for guys and gals to check you out (without getting an evil eye from their significant other) when you’re strolling down the beach, you need to change your goal.

Begin training.  Do some research before starting your training.  Look around at what’s working for others.  That’s a great barometer for what is worth doing.  (If your doctor is 250 pounds and telling you to eat whole wheat because it’s healthy, you may want to reconsider the advice.)  It’s pretty obvious I suggest CrossFit.

Once you find a training program that seems to work and is fun (that’s key!), set some goals to reach in the next 3 months, 6 months, and year.  And log everything.  This will allow you to assess your potential for meeting your goals and serve as a nice tool at your next party (with Paleo food, of course) for showing others how you made changes in your life.

“Working out” doesn’t seem to be working out well for most of America.  Ditch that and start “training” as an athlete.  It works.

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Compared to the average Joe, I’m pretty fit.  I can pick up heavy things, run short and far distances, do lots of pullups, and knock out a ton of double unders.  I also know enough to program my own workouts, eat right, know the standards of motion, and how to safely perform each movement.

My point is that even though I know and do a lot, I still have a coach.  In fact, I have four.  And my coaches have coaches.  And I’m sure their coaches have coaches.  That’s how we all get better.

No matter the area, there are three things that coaches should offer: Accountability, instruction, and motivation.  Anyone striving to achieve needs a coach to push them to get to the next step, hold them accountable, and offer suggestions on how to progress.

Switching the subject slightly, an individual striving for that ready-for-summer look may need a coach.  The fact is, most people aren’t used to being held to a standard, know much about fuel for their bodies, and are demotivated by slip-ups, birthday parties, and dinners out with friends.

If you’re truly motivated to reach your goals, get yourself a coach.  Start by getting someone who knows what they’re talking about (I suggest this guy) and demand they hold you to a standard.  Even if the first week your standard is cutting out that “hey, there are no calories, so it must be good” diet soda.  Log everything.  From what you eat for breakfast to how many handfuls of M&Ms you throw down.  Logging your food intake not only allow you to see where you can make improvements, but allows your coach to know what makes you happy.  (And don’t forget that guilt factor that works as an healthy motivator.)  Finally, contact with your coach is paramount.  The more he or she knows about your intake, feelings, stress, and sleep, the easier it will be to praise you on your accomplishments and gauge where to make the next short-term goal.

Ask Bobby Fischer, Miko Salo, or Lance Armstrong if they need coaches.  Without a doubt, they do. Even the best need a coach.  And if the best need accountability, motivation, and instruction, you do too.  So, go get yourself a coach and achieve!

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Let’s reflect on 2009.  What did you do?  Where have you been?  Any good stories?  I mean GOOOOOD stories, like the ones you’ll tell when you’re 60.  I hope you do.  I hope you have enough to fill a book.

If a slew of stories doesn’t immediately rush forward, begging every muscle in your jaw to tell the closest victim the many intricacies of these tales, then 2009 was a good year.  Yup, a good year.  But not a GREAT year.

You, my friend, deserve a GREAT year.  2010 is yours.  This isn’t about nutrition, working out, or sleep.  This is about you.  This is about recognizing that 2009 was pretty good but 2010 will be the year you grab life by the collar, shake it around, and make it yours.

This is how you make it happen:  Say “yes” more often.

You will never have “enough” money.  You will always be short on time.  There will never be a “right” time.  The sting of a wrong decision will never be a comfortable feeling.  “Uphill” will always be in your point of view.  Work will never stop needing your extra time.  And with kids, you may never have that extra hour of sleep you need.

Screw it.  These are just hurdles on your journey to a GREAT year.  Call in sick.  Grab coffee with an old friend.  Travel.  See a movie you know you’ll hate.  Join an adult sports team.  Volunteer your time and money.  Go to a church, restaurant, and club you’ve never been.  Did I say travel?  Travel some more.

In 20 years, do you want to sit back and reminisce on 2010 as the year you got a 10 percent raise at work?  Or the year you went skydiving for the first time, got thrown out of a bar, and went ice fishing for a week in Canada?

Set goals for 2010.  And crush them!  Let nothing stand in your way of completely owning this year.  Whether it be to sing kareoke, run a marathon, or start your own business, do it.  And do it now.  It’ll be embarrassing, difficult, and expensive, but do it.  Because it’s yours.  You’ll only have one 2010.

In 2030, you may have all the money and all the privilege, but if you don’t have a story to tell, it wasn’t worth it.

Now, go get it.

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Mark your calendars!  This weekend I’ll be hosting two FREE nutrition seminars.  I’ll cover basic nutrition (without getting too nerdy), a guide on how to eat, and some typical results you’ll find from eating right.  If you have any questions about directions or content, shoot me an email or give me a ring at 859-814-7954.  See you there!

Saturday, 12/19 at CrossFit Northern Kentucky

3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

5775 Constitution Dr

Florence, Ky 41042

(Behind the Pet Crematorium)

Sunday, 12/20 at CrossFit Nasti

4:00 p.m.- 5:30 p.m.

3452 Cardiff Avenue

Cincinnati, OH  45209

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Most “Before & After” photos of diet schemes are accompanied with the tag-line, “RESULTS NOT TYPICAL.” It has come to my attention that the positive results I see in my clients ARE TYPICAL.

I know how to get the results you want without selling gimmicks or silly exercise toys.  At the gym, in front of the mirror, or at the doctor’s office, I can help you look, feel, and perform better. This is the last nutrition program you’ll ever need because I provide health information, instruction, and accountability that lasts a lifetime.

Don’t believe it? Check our Success Stories page for documentation of my previous and current members.

The Results Typical Blog has an abundance of information available for casual readers or dedicated clients. Take whatever you like and apply it to your life!

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