9 RULES to them Six-Pack Abs

svelte (adj) /svelt/ /sfelt/ 

Attractively thin; gracefully slender; refined

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Ladies and Gents, summer's upon us and I know you all are getting ready to hit the beach at some point. What's better than having a killer beach-body - flat stomach, lean muscle definition, and strong core, all inclusive?

Follow these simple rules and guidelines that I have had experimental success with, over the past few years. Any questions? mjlnutrition@gmail.com

RULE #1

Cut out the white stuff (this means white bread and rice, EVEN BETTER if you can cut out grains altogether). I truly believe that 85% of our physical appearance and overall bodily health is attributed to our diet. Load up on the good stuff - veggies, protein, nuts, seeds, fruit! Sweet-tooth? Dark chocolate 85%+. One of my favorite desserts, watch out for the caffeine.

RULE #2

Drink a ton of water. If you eat out a lot, it's very easy to consume large amounts of salt since you have limited control over the amount of sodium that restaurants put in your food. Too much sodium-consumption causes bloating in the face and other parts of the body due to water retention - FALSE FAT. If your mouth is dry and your urine is bright yellow (yes, I'm very serious), this is your body telling you that you are dehydrated. So drink up that H20! Add some sliced fruit to your water for taste. Fish oil (omega 3) helps with the bloating as well.

RULE #3 

walk more. Don't freak out about not running 2-3 miles a day.

RULE #4

Switch up your work-outs in the gym by incorporating full-body work outs that require heavy weight-lifting instead of isolated body part work-outs. Research 'muscle-confusion and shock' work-outs. If you're looking to build lean muscle, you must incorporate heavy lifting into work-outs and shoot for medium to high-repetition sets. Weighted pull-ups, dips, and squats work wonders.

RULE #5

Don't need crunches. Just don't do them, they are uncomfortable. Eat right.

RULE #6

Leave the dinner-table a little hungry. Listen, this is probably the most difficult rule to follow. I cannot stress enough how important portion control is. Portion control the amount of food you eat and your body will automatically maintain a healthy weight. Your brain needs about 20 minutes to fully realize that your body is satiated so eat slowly. Load up on veggies that contain a lot of water (cucumber, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots); these will fill you up. Eat more protein to keep your metabolism running (chicken, eggs, fish, meat). Yams and potatoes are OK.

RULE #7

Healthy fats - coconut oil, grass-fed butter, olive-oil, dark chocolate, avocado, fish-oil. This stuff will make you shredded. GREEN TEA will kick-start your metabolism like a ferrari engine, if you're feeling bold, drink 4-5 cups a day. Decaf after 1 P.M.

RULE #8

Most importantly, be patient. A six-pack does not magically appear on your stomach overnight. IT IS DEFINITELY ATTAINABLE FOR ANYONE. Consider your overall long-term health goal and don't do it just to look good for the beach. Do it for yourself, your health..... your well-being.

eats

too lazy and hung over to write anything thoughtful today....

I present to you....grilled wild-caught cod, sauteed buffalo with color, chicken curry with coco milk and collard greens. tada.

Marinated the cod with gluten-free soy sauce and rice-wine vinegar, spices, with grilled sweet red onions and peppers

Can never go wrong with ground buffalo and chopped onions, peppers, FILLMEUP WITH THAT PROTEIN BABY!

my ma actually made the curry for me with organic chicken (I added coconut milk for some flavor), steamed green beans and sauteed collard greens in olive oil

When every one looks right, you go left.

During my short but long 22 years in this world, I have come to meet many people in my life who have tried to make clear to me certain things 'I can and cannot do, or should and shouldn't do'. From school teachers to friends, even strangers, high-school guidance counselors, etc. (the list can go on and on), I have always taken into serious consideration what other people thought was best for me.

Good advice is good. While shitty advice is....well, shitty. I've come to learn one simple truth: Every one on this earth is just as dazed, confused,...and overwhelmed by Life, as the next person. While the good advice we follow can influence us to push and grow in leaps and bounds, poor guidance can leave us feeling life-less and lost. If you think about it......it's quite easy to follow what other people do and tell you what to do. 


I believe in the unfolding of true courage as a result of following one's own heart in spite of outside influences. Oh yea, and doing things your own way comes with a lot of perks. You run your own show, you run your own life. You take control.

REALISTICALLY, every individual living on this earth is experiencing Life differently... At this exact moment in time, a person walking down the street beside you is thinking completely different thoughts with feelings incomparable to our own. Heed and consider other peoples' advice but be your own best teacher and act upon your own intentions. No one knows YOU better than you do.

---Thoughtful and wise words of the day from my good friend, Rory Strelchun

'......don't seek complexity, but strive for simplicity, and always re-access long term goals and spend the majority of your day aligning with your interests, not reacting to daily impulses and stimulations.'


Feel free to e-mail me if you would like some of my recipes or 'PERFECT DAY OF EATING' list

Paleo Banana-bread (ripe bananas, almond meal, coconut oil, crushed walnuts, and Flaxseed)

Sauteed baby squid with Broccoli Rabe, peeled garlic, olive oil, organic tomatoes, topped off with fresh basil

Later that day I thought to myself ‘what the Hell? I friggin' hate cigarettes.’

A practical and simple life lesson that is beneficial to all of us: Think for yourself.

The other day I was talking with a work-colleague about the addictive nature of smoking cigarettes, eating sugar, and Dubai over a smoke (just everyday normal conversation you know?). Usually I never smoke cigarettes but a friend asked me if I wanted to step outside and I needed some fresh air. One cigarette? No big deal. Later that day I thought to myself ‘what the Hell? I friggin' hate cigarettes.’

How many of our actions, thoughts, and the things we say, are guided by an outside influence? Media, friends, family, religion, the environment, culture, ETC. These are only a few of life’s areas that mold us and take part in shaping our thoughts and behavioral patterns. Sometimes we cannot help but be affected by forces outside of ourselves; it makes us who we are. We learn bad behaviors that lead to poor choices but we also take on good behaviors that help us to make proactive choices for ourselves. We learn from how our parents live their lives, we eat what our friends eat, and we learn what our schools teach us. Thinking for yourself is a conscious action that allows you to be aware of the thoughts that are your own. With this level of awareness, you can then catch the external thoughts and ideas that come your way. Keep the good ones, throw the shitty ones out.

Over the past century, the American food industry has valued its growth with company earnings rather than the health and well-being of its consumers. Mass-produced and processed foods that do not provide avail to nutritional value have found homes on many grocery shelves. Question the advice that the FDA and misguiding food-labels present you. Do your due diligence, look past the diet-fads and fancy labels, and make better choices. Eat fresh, natural, and nutritious.

Quick and easy fat-burning, muscle building meal. Fried eggs with spinach and avocado.
Pile on the kimchi, greens and more greens. Add a cup of chilled green tea.

All cooked in a great source of fat

In one of my previous posts, I brought up the mantra: ‘You are what you eat.’ I want to quickly share a very interesting article with you guys that demonstrates the aforementioned statement. A call-out to my homeboy and avid reader of this blog, Jeff Goldberg, thanks for sharing this link. Thanks guys for reading…. even if I may have forced you to read. Feel free to e-mail me questions at mjlnutrition@gmail.com.

http://www.good.is/post/picture-show-you-are-what-you-eat/

(one fridge has a frozen snake....snake soup anyone?)

A Perfect Day of Eating

What does a perfect day of eating look and taste like to me?

For breakfast, snack-time, lunch, and dinner, I incorporate a plethora of colorful vegetables (spanning from broccoli, kale, spinach, to squash and bean-sprouts), a nice slab of meat (fish, chicken, beef, lamb), and a source of healthy fat (coconut oil, fish-oil, macadamia-nut oil, olive oil, bone marrow, nuts, seeds, grass-fed butter) into every meal. All this stuff is delicious to me and simple to prepare.

I am a strong advocate of a logical concept that emphasizes the idea that we were meant to eat fresh and naturally grown/harvested foods with minimal amounts of tinkering and processing. Food just tastes better in its natural form, why complicate things? If you’re one to shy away from the produce aisle of a grocery, it would behoove you to start eating some of foods mentioned above; try it for a week and see how you feel. I guarantee you will feel a great improvement in your overall well-being and see gains in your exercise routines.

Consider these simple steps:

1. Avoid foods on grocery shelves that contain ingredients you can’t spell or pronounce.

2. Choose fruits and vegetables that are colorful; these veggies are vitamin and mineral-rich.

3. If you’re really hungry, load up on vegetables since they tend to be low in caloric-value and contain water; these will fill you up.

4. If you do not consume fish often due to high-mercury levels, substitute fish like tuna, mackerel, sea-bass, and swordfish with fish that are lower on the food-chain. These include whiting, whitefish, sardines, anchovies. For the most part, these fish are caught in the wild because of their high levels of population.

5. Include a source of protein into every meal to increase your metabolic-rate; burn fat.

Breakfast: Frittata with three organic eggs and sauteed kale, olive oil, garlic

Snack: Baby carrots and cucumber with Tuna Salad with red onions, spicy mustard, cracked peppercorn, yogurt coleslaw and coconut butter

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Dinner: Grilled wild-caught tilapia and red onions marinated with soy and balsamic dressing, half an organic avocado, olive salsa, and fresh spinach mix

A calm before during the storm

...find life experiences and swallow them whole. Travel. Meet many people. Go down some dead ends and explore some dark alleys. Try everything. Exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life.

-Lawrence K. Fish

New York City means a lot to me. Being an avid city wayfarer and having New York so close to home, I have always been keen to observe the city's people and surroundings that produce the uniqueness of New York that we all fall in love with. One of the greatest Metropolitan capitals of the World, New York City, never ceases to amaze me with its jungle-like atmosphere and asymmetrical city-line profile that seems altogether faultless and true. There is no doubt that New York City's designation as the 'City That Never Sleeps', is right-on-target.

Recently I moved into a new apartment in downtown Manhattan with my brother. I feel a whole new world has opened up for me; a new future with fresh job experience, people to meet, and a place to call my home. I am blessed and extremely grateful to be where I am right now. Working a part-time job as a cashier and server at a restaurant, I come into contact with a myriad of New York City's inhabitants and visitors. I am no stranger to the nervous and uneasy energy that seems to exude from many of the people who I engage with each day.

As I reflect on my experiences with these individuals who seem restless and worried, I recognize that we all experience certain levels of anxiety and worry from time to time. We all get a bit fidgety when an uncomfortable thought enters our minds and all of us have our personal fears. When I'm feeling out of character and distracted, I like to take several deep breaths, gather my thoughts, and pinpoint the reasons for these feelings. Am I tired? Did I eat right? Am I over-worked? Is there a toxic relationship in my life that is negatively affecting my mood? Once this mental-awareness kicks in, I am instantly more aware of my own thoughts. This is my way of proactively changing my negative thoughts into positive ones.

You may be asking yourself now, "Why the hell does this blog sound like self-help book?"

I really hate to sound like a therapist in this post and I, for one, am in no position to be giving out advice on how to calm down. This is one experience in my daily life that I've been aware of, reflected on, and wanted to write about for awhile.

What's for lunch?

Marinated and grilled balsamic-soy jumbo shrimp with asparagus stalks, broccoli stalks, and yellow bell peppers, accompanied with some coconut oil, chunks of pineapple, and avocado. 

(the sweet-salty contrast, pretty fuckin' great)

-MJ

Food for LIFE

So I wanted to start off my blog by talking about food. If you've lived on this earth long enough and have eaten more than twenty different types of foods, you should already have concluded that:


'you are what you eat'


I don't mean it literally in the sense that one is a blueberry if one only eats only blueberries. I am merely emphasizing that the decisions we make to eat one particular food over another is a conscious one and if you make poor food decisions, these decisions will reflect poorly on your health. Vice-versa, if one chooses to eat foods that are minimally processed, nutrient-rich, and 'grow out of the ground' (I will get to this later), one will reap the multitudinous health benefits that food offers us. If at anytime you are reading this blog and you are interested in learning, feel free to contact me. Advice is freely-given.


Strolling through Union Square the other day, I decided to check out the Trader Joe's on 14th street and the wine store (my new favorite go-to place for wine, 3 bottles of red-wine for $22). Below is a sample shopping list, I confess that I have a 'healthy' obsession with bananas and avocados. I usually have one of both a day, eating half of each in one sitting. If your avocados need some freshening-up, squirt some lemon juice over them.


My simple and FRESH shopping list:


6 organic avocados
a bundle of bananas
sunflower seeds
grape tomatoes
a bag organic carrots and cucumbers
2% Greek yogurt
Salmon and turkey

Bananas are full of Vitamin A, B6, and iron. Also great for muscle building fuel.

Avocados are good sources of fat with fiber, potassium, vitamin powerhouse. Ladies, these are great for your skin so eat up.

Ready, Set, GO

Hello World and readers! Welcome to my blog about everything. Read, think, relate, question, and engage with me. I will be blogging my reflections of day-to-day life experiences and about my pursuit of personal health and physical well-being through sense and practice.


I am starting this blog because recently I've made a new promise to myself. I want to start writing and living in good-faith. What does this mean? No more lieing to myself or to others, no pretentiousness. I would like to see how long I can be completely honest to myself and to the people that are in my life. The name of my blog emphasizes my intention to recount the life-changing stories and experiences that have shaped my life and taught me to look at the world with open eyes and more importantly, an open heart.


Bona Fide (adj) - Authentic, genuine. The concept of 'good faith' denotes sincere, honest intention or belief, regardless of the outcome of an action.


Sad or happy, in love or out of love, in limbo or moving forward, I will be blogging about the raw thoughts and feelings that make me truly feel like I am experiencing the roller coaster ride that we call LIFE. I write, live, and speak with the intention of understanding the world around me with the guidance of past experiences and people that have progressively shaped my life and made me who I am today.