The Start

Food and fitness are huge passions of mine. I feel extremely blessed and grateful to be a working professional in both industries as they are integral in establishing longer, healthier, and happier lives. Fitness encompasses many elements. I will touch on all of them in future blogs, but for now I will focus on food, and mention a word or two about exercise, or as I prefer calling it, “movement,” as I am fully aware how many people suffer from “allergic reactions” to the mention of exercise.

Properly prepared food plays a crucial role in making us healthier. But food will also have the total opposite effect when prepared irresponsibly.  In order to live longer, healthier, more independent lives we must learn to move and eat responsibly.  

There are MANY individuals who could care less about what type of butter, lard, or oil is used in cooking their food. Was it baked, broiled, boiled, microwaved, pan seared, or grilled? Hey, as long as it tastes good, right? These individuals don’t care if it’s organically grown, wild, cage-free, humane, non-gmo, or gluten-free. They just want to eat something that tastes good.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that; “to each his own” as the saying goes.  Luckily, not paying attention or even caring about the nutritional content in food is becoming harder to do these days. A great majority of us do understand the importance of paying attention to nutritional information. 

There are also many neighborhoods in our country who's local supermarkets do a terrible job of providing variety in their produce departments  and food aisles. However, even in these cases there still exists the ability to make better choices with the limited resources you might have. For example, you can stop buying canned food, especially canned vegetables and fruit. Frozen  vegetables and fruits are much healthier. Limit the consumption of all frozen packaged dinners, no matter how “healthy” the box attempts to claim that it is. Limit the purchase of red meat and buy more chicken, turkey, fresh fruits and veggies.

My goal with these blogs will be to provide useful, simple and clear information in an attempt to clear up misconceptions while linking movement and healthy eating to a better, longer, and more productive life. 

Until next time :-)

The Bounce Back

At one time in my life I was part of a small percentage of individuals who treated eating like a "science." I calculated calories and weighed all of my food. I knew how many grams of sodium, fiber, and complex carbohydrates entered my “system” on a daily basis. I traveled with all of my food. I was so obsessed with it that I even had the courage to say no to my Abuelita’s (grandmother’s) food. Who does that?! Moreover who can actually get away with saying no to Latino relatives when it comes to food? Let’s just say I lucked out big time.

Then the darnedest thing happened. I’ll give you the Short version. I was carjacked at gun point by two guys probably in their late teens or early twenties. One held a gun to my head, the other pointed his gun at my ex-sister-in-law who was in the back seat. They removed us from the car. They managed to hairline fracture my jaw and a couple of ribs before taking off in my rented Mitsubishi silver Galant. It was one of the worst event of my life. I could’ve lost my life that night … NEVER knowing how much joy food could actually bring me. 

Needless to say, soon after that I began to eat. Man did I eat! I had a “new lease on life." I was not about to waste anymore time weighing and calculating what I was consuming. ‘Fudge’ that! I was about to start enjoying my life. I ate; and I ate well. I experienced it all: Fried, baked, broiled, seared, grilled. It was all wonderful. It was all good. I had survived something that could’ve been deadly. 

But too much of a good thing is never a good thing. Without even noticing that I had gone from one extreme to another. At one time I micromanaged my food, and now I ate with total abandon. I was now reckless. Two polar opposites. I totally dismissed foods ability, if not checked, to totally change the body’s composition very quickly. I was still exercising. I had not given up on movement, however, the calories that I was consuming did not compare to what I was expending. I was not sure what I was doing or why. It was just happening. I had gone from a 28 & 1/2 size waist to a 35in. waistline. My weight, which was once 157lbs was now 190. My body fat, which had been at 6% before the carjacking was now so way up there that I was too frightened to check. The baggy look was in, and I had never been one to ever wear anything form fitting. It was the major reason why no one noticed what was happening. I hadn’t realized this at the time but I was suffering. I was depressed. Eating had become a tool to help me deal.

Then one day my dad, who had always been the man who I needed and wanted to emulate, walked in on me as I was getting out of the shower. Something, which I will not share on this format, was said. It was enough to snap me out of this funk I had been in for almost two years. Thank goodness. Now I was “finally back” from this crazy head space that allowed me to be ok with eating the way I had been eating. 

However, one thing that NEVER left me was knowing the importance of “movement." Throughout this debacle I continued to exercise. Unknowingly I was still practicing my TCFW, which is what I will continue to remind you of time and time again in future blogs. If you make TCFW part of your everyday life, you will be able to bounce back from ANY and EVERY  physical or mental “misstep,” guarantee. 

Hasta la next time!