03/10/2022
What a Serving of Carbs is…
A serving of carbs is about 25-40 grams of carbs:
• This can be 1 to 2 Slices of bread (depending on the type)
• One cup of cooked rice (white, brown, or other type)
• A Potato or Sweet potato (medium size)
• 1 piece of most fruit of most fruit
• A 1/2 cup of Oatmeal
• Pastas vary
General Guidelines with Carbs:
1️⃣ For fat loss, aim for 1 serving of carbs (25-40 grams) in each of your meals and try to limit the amount with snacks. Overall, that's about 100-120 grams per day.
If you have a strenuous workout or a meal where you plan on eating more carbs, cut out some out earlier in the day and have more later.
2️⃣ For muscle gain, aim to get about 50-75 grams both pre and post workout, and then about 40 grams with your other meals.
3️⃣ Most people think doughnuts, muffins, and chocolate are carbs, when in fact, they're mostly made of fats. Sure they have some sugar and carbs, but by percentage of calories, they are mostly fats.
If you have any questions or comments for me, please feel free to let me know!
03/03/2022
Try to eat 10 different fruits and vegetables ONE day per week
I know what you might be thinking? 10?!?? What the hell are you talking about?
The truth is that most people and I seriously mean more than 90% of the US population does not eat the recommended 3 to 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. In order to help you buck that trend, I want you to aim to get 10 in one single day, with the hopes that you have left overs for some other days.
Sample Day of Eating more than 10 Fruits and Vegetables:
1. Have blueberries in the morning
2. Have an omelet with onions, broccoli, and peppers for breakfast
3. Roast a tray of 4 different vegetables (squash, potatoes, onions, and broccoli)
4. Have a spinach salad with cucumbers in the afternoon (throw some of the roasted veggies in the salad)
5. Make a stir fry with 4 other types of veggies (maybe garlic, snap peas, Brussel sprouts, and mushrooms)
6. Have a plain yogurt with some cut up (maybe a banana) fruit for a "late night" snack.
Do this for one day and you would have had 12 to 13 different fruits and veggies.
Is this a lot of cooking? Yes. Is it terribly hard? No. I think one day a week of trying to get this many vegetables and fruits will help you feel healthier and be healthier. Just remember, if you rarely eat vegetables, that if you are going to do this, make sure to drink a lot more water than normal. If you do this for a week straight, you
Feel free to play around with the vegetables and how you prepare them. There is no right or wrong way, so experiment and see what works best for you. If you have any questions, let me know.
Feel free to play around with the vegetables and how you prepare them. There is no right or wrong way, so experiment and see what works best for you. If you have any questions, let me know.
02/24/2022
Eat Slower and Chew Your Food More
This is a simple tip, but just because it's simple doesn't mean it is going to be easy. Most people don’t pay attention to how much time they spend eating their food. It is time to bring your focus to how quickly you're eating because it's an important step in understanding the cues of our body.
There may be times when you sit down to eat when you are extremely hungry. Do you think you are probably thinking about taking your time to eat slowly? Not likely.
There are many health benefits to gain from slowing down your eating:
- Better digestion
- Less food consumption
- More quality time with loved ones
- Weight loss
- Experiencing more enjoyment from your food
Often times, when people try to lose weight, one of the first things they do is to Restrict Calories.
What if this could happen naturally instead of forcing yourself to limit your intake?That'd sound like a win-win to me.
When you slow down your eating, your body has a chance to digest your food and send messages to your brain signaling you are full.
This may seem a bit weird, but many studies have shown that over time, faster eaters gain more weight.
So, to consume fewer calories, simply focus on slowing down!
If you have any questions for me, please feel free to let me know!
02/22/2022
One of the best things you can do for your health (not necessarily your weight), is to replace most polyunsaturated and trans fats with more monounsaturated fats.
The reason for this is that fats, and "Franken-fats" wreak havoc on both a cellular level (which isn't good), in terms of being able to communicate with other hormones and receptors, along with causing issues with the types of bacteria in your gut they feed (and therefore promote). Most healthy bacteria feed off of the fiber in fruits and vegetables, whereas poor fats tend to feed the unhealthy bacteria.
Quick Fix: Replace most vegetable oils with Olive oil or Avocado oil.
If you're going to use vegetable oils, keep them in a cool environment (fridge, yes I know it's weird) and use them sparingly.
The exemption to the polyunsaturated rule is fish oil, which is a polyunsaturated fat (still store in fridge).
Be careful with trans fats. Anything with an ingredient of "partially hydrogenated oil" is a trans fat, but manufacturers can still claim to have "zero trans fats" because anything less than 1 gram per serving can claim to have none. The truth is, when they have 20 servings, and you eat half in a sitting, you can get close to 5 to 10 grams of trans fats. As a one time thing, that might not be too bad. Do that regularly and that can cause problems to your health.
I know this sounds like yet another thing for you to "worry" about when it comes to nutrition, but it's fairly simple. If it's a processed food, look for partially hydrogenated oils, especially those in cakes, muffins, and doughnuts.
If you're going to cook at home, switch to healthier fats (olive or avocado oil). That's it.
Have questions? Leaves comment below. Cheers!
06/02/2021
Contradictory information on weight loss, how to tone-up, or be healthy is the norm.
People give too broad advice or muddy the waters with advice for people with different goals than you (an athlete vs office worker). People will say do x, y, z to lose weight, but its actually advice on how to be healthy or tone up. All of these are separate concepts with some overlap:
To Lose Weight: Burn More Calories than You Consume. That's it.
Of course, there are thousands of ways to do this, but most approaches are centered on cutting calories. In fact, you can lose weight and be unhealthy in your approach.
Old school Weight Watchers was focused on one thing: Calories. They did it through "points" but really it came down to controlling calories…and it worked.
To Tone Up: The goal is to maintain muscle, while losing fat.
Therefore, progressive overload with resistance training, and getting enough protein are essential. When you hit your protein target (.8-1 gram of protein/lb of bodyweight), then you can split your calories of fat and carbs, however you'd like.
Most people might need to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat.
Others would need to eat an iso-caloric diet, working out more to lose fat from activity and less from their diet (best for those who have a foundation of muscle).
While others need a caloric surplus ("skinny fat" individuals). They need to eat more to gain muscle, and by gaining muscle, they’ll look more toned.
*Add Cardio if you like and want to do it, or if you struggle to complete the strength routines in a timely manner
To Be Healthy: People in Blue Zones (areas of the world where people live past 100 at higher rates than the rest of the world), most people maintain healthy relationships, are active, eat lots of veggies and tubers, get enough sleep, aren't too stressed, and eat lots of unprocessed foods. For Health, it’s about having a good lifestyle.
At the end of the day, Finding something YOU enjoy doing, that’ll lead you to your goal is essential.
As the saying goes, you can have the best workout plan/diet in the world, but if you won't follow it, it's just as good as having no plan.
03/19/2020
5 Ways to Improve Your Health that Aren't Working Out at Home
This week, you've probably been inundated with home workouts. While these are alI great, I think most people don't workout at home because their home is aplace for peace and relaxation. By definition, a workout is a lot of action. Of course, with this unprecedented time, you make do with what you can. �
With that said, here are 5 things you can do, that still use your home, as a place for peace and tranquility.
1. Meditate �Mlost people would benefit from meditation. Therefore, this week, for at least 10 minutes sit down, somewhere quiet and meditate. I understand if you have kids at home, this is going to be hard, but the 10 minutes can be after the kids go to bed. The quietness can help ease your mind, especially if you avoid the news afterwards.
2. Try a New Healthy Recipe
Often times, people say they don't have time to cook, or don't know what to cook. Not commuting and not having social plans, is a great time to actually start cooking. Start with trying new recipes which ideally will be healthy, but once a week, try something that you would love, simply for the taste. If you have kids at home, this is a great way to get the whole family involved.
3. Meal Prep
This goes hand and hand with trying a new recipe, but often times the biggest detriment to meal planning is finding the time in the midst of everything else going on. This week, try to meal prep, while being creative. See how long it takes you and try to figure out how you can do this going forward.
4. Track Your Eating/Macros
Often times, going out to eat, or working in an office where there are small things you're eating, or working through a lunch is hard to control all the food you're eating. So if there was ever a time to start tracking your macros, this would be the week.
5. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.
With no social plans and no late work events, now is the best time to create the habit of a nighttime and sleep ritual.
Runner-ups:
Read a book
FaceTime Friends and Family
Work on a Hobby
Journal
01/12/2019
Sometimes I have friends who ask me for advice when it comes to working out or eating healthy.
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Sometimes those friends are other trainers. Most of the time, I’m not sure if they take my advice, but yesterday Jesse wrote this nice write-up, unexpectedly.
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7 months post-partum gym bathroom selfie. I’m feeling really good and a lot stronger than I was a few weeks ago when I got the hyperthyroidism diagnosis. I had been feeling bad for a while and so I had pretty much stopped working out. I was feeling really weak and exhausted and wasn’t sure what I should do, workout-wise. I have a lot of experience training clients with all sorts of conditions and injuries, but I’d never worked with anyone with hyperthyroidism, so I reached out to my friend and fitness-mentor bc he has boatloads of experience dealing with almost everything. He advised me to lift heavy and slowly, 3x a week. Back to basics. I’m so glad I took that advice. My day-to-day feels SO much better. I’m already stronger, have less dizziness, and my joints no longer ache. I’m looking forward to continuing on this journey, and with a bit more work, I know I’m going to get back to my pre-pregnancy training zones. Thanks, John. ☺️💪🏼👊🏼
11/06/2018
Have you voted today?
with
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Why We Vote. We don't vote for a sticker or to have something to post on social media.
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We don't even vote primarily for ourselves What you vote for, is a chance to show your identify and the core values that you hold dear.
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In NJ, a place that skews blue, it is easy to pass up the opportunity and to say, "F**k it. It's rainy, cold, and gray. The polls close early and I have a long work day."
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But you don't vote because it's convenient or inconvenient. You vote because of your values.
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You vote for your voice to be heard, even if it's the tiniest of whispers, saying, "I still have a glimmer of hope. That what I see is not the best we can do." #
That the long arc of history will bend towards justice, but you must lend your voice, the tiniest of whispers, towards that bending. And in doing so, words that were written long ago, with a hope that would some day become reality, do have a chance to become reality, that all men, and women, were created equally.
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That the mundane and the miracle that is life, is allowed a place to be made - maybe not whole, or even wholesome - but made to be more complete and inclusive. And that hope to be made more complete and inclusive, can come about in whispers, as opposed to wails, in ballots, instead of bullets.
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That is Why We Vote.
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*And personally, I vote for people who don’t have a voice in the matter, which in this case, is this woman jumping next to me.
**So yeah, I hope you vote.
02/22/2022
06/02/2021
03/19/2020
01/12/2019
11/06/2018