Salmon, rice, broccoli oh my!

Salmon, rice, broccoli mushroom bowl

Salmon. Preheat the oven to 425. Lightly coat both sides of the filet (4 oz) with olive oil. Place the filet skin up on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Add a pinch of salt (or two), black pepper and rosemary. Cook for 8-10 minutes (depending on preference). 

Rice. 2 cups water to 1 cup rice (whatever rice you like, I used brown rice). Bring water to a boil then add rice, reduce to simmer and cover. Allow to cook for the cook time on your package (cook time differs for each type). 

Broccoli. Chop one broccoli crown into bite size pieces. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add broccoli and let cook for 3 - 5 minutes (taste test before removing from water). Once strained, add the broccoli back to the pan, add two pinches of salt and a tbsp of grass-fed butter, and mix.

Mushrooms. We like organic baby bellas. Bring a pan to medium-high heat. Add a tbsp of olive oil. Slice the mushrooms, and add them to the preheated pan. Leave undisturbed for 5 minutes, then toss and let sit for another five. 

Assemble your bowl: Add enough rice to cover the bottom of the bowl. Add a handful of chopped yellow onion, a 1/4 of an avocado (sliced), and a tbsp of ghee. Mix so the ghee melts. Drizzle on some soy sauce. 

Add broccoli and mushrooms, drizzle with white wine vinegar. Add salmon filet and a pinch (or two) of salt to the whole dish. 

Buon Appetito!!

Treadmill Free Flow

Dedicate 45 minutes (30 if it’s all you have) to the treadmill. Get on with a minimum 3 percent incline and 2 mph speed (I like 5 percent and 2.5 mph)

Start walking. Keep walking until you feel like you need more. Increase the incline. Maybe increase the speed. Maybe now you’re at 5 percent and 3 mph. Wait a few minutes, until you’re ready to do more.

Start doing some easy speed intervals keeping the incline unchanged. Double your walking speed for 30 - 60 seconds at a time. Come back to a walk for a few minutes. Repeat as many times as you do or don’t want to in the 45 minutes.

The point is to challenge yourself while having fun. Go off of feeling instead of programming.

Cheers. Enjoy!

Sardine Salad (yum!)

Sardine Salad

This one is sure to not get a lot of love but it’s super nutritious and super easy to make.

Assemble your salad: add a handful of organic baby arugula (or greens of your choice), one can of skinless boneless sardines (make sure it says this on the package, I like Wild Planet or Safe Catch), a handful of blueberries, one slice of chopped yellow onion, sliced tomato, and an 1/8 of an avocado into a bowl.

Dress with extra virgin olive oil, white wine (or red wine) vinegar, and a few finches of sea salt to taste.

Buon Appetito!

Tofu Arugula Rice Bowl

Tofu Rice bowl (with brussel sprouts, arugula and sliced apple)

Buy organic extra firm tofu. Cut a 1/2 inch thick slice into 8 or so cubes.

Rice, 2 cups water to 1 cup rice (whatever rice you like, I used white rice). Bring water to a boil then add rice, reduce to simmer and cover. Allow to cook for the cook time on your package (cook time differs for each type).

Brussels, cut the stems off and quarter or halve them (if bigger). Dice half a poblano chile. Toss altogether in a bowl with olive oil and salt. Chop two gloves of garlic. Chop one slice of onion. Add onion and garlic to a pan with olive oil, set to medium heat. Once the onions and garlic start sizzling, add the brussels and poblano. Add a splash of water to the pan and cover. Let cook for 5 minutes. Toss and cover for another 5.

Assemble your bowl. Add rice (enough to cover the bottom of the bowl) and 1/2 tbsp of ghee (mix together to melt the ghee). Add brussel sprouts and cubed tofu. Drizzle soy sauce on the tofu, white wine vinegar on the brussels, pinch of salt. Add arugula and sliced apple. Top with olive oil, white wine vinegar and salt to taste.

Buon Appetito!!

Chicken Thigh Salad

Chicken thigh salad (with arugula, sliced apple, chopped almonds and walnuts, raisins, tomato and chopped yellow onion)

Buy a pack of organic free range chicken thighs (pasture raised is best if you can get it). Preheat the oven to 425. Put the chicken thighs into a Pyrex. Coat them lightly in enough olive oil so they don’t stick to the dish. Add a pinch of salt to each one (each side), and some black pepper. Add a 1/4 cup of water to the dish. Leave them right side up. Cook at 425 for 20 minutes. 

Assemble your salad (you can do this while the chicken is cooking to save time): start with a handful of organic baby arugula. Slice up 1/2 an apple, add it. Chop up a few almonds, a few walnuts, add them. Add a handful of raisins. Add a few slices of tomato and chopped onion (a handfuls worth). 

Cut the chicken into equal pieces. Add it to the salad. Drizzle mustard over the chicken, olive oil and white wine vinegar over the whole bowl making sure to go around the rim. Add a few pinches of salt and pepper. 

Buon Appetitio!

Back to Work?

Back to Work

It feels like every time I start to seriously consider finding a full time job, like the one I had, the universe reminds me why that’s a bad idea. Today the universe was two women complaining about their jobs in the sauna. 

Special ops. Approval. No accountability. The list of complaints goes on and on and it just makes me realize how stupid the corporate culture is, the reason I left, and the reason I hope to never return. 

There’s a saying. If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together. I think there’s a third missing component. If you don’t want to go at all, go corporate. 

Corporate is what kills anything that is good. Altruism. Momentum. Accountability. Everything goes down the drain when a company starts to get big. People everywhere making little progress, calling it work. 

It’s a shame. 

Since moving to Colorado a few weeks ago and thinking about what the next chapter of my career will be, I’ve been seriously contemplating corporate work. But after five years out I fear I wouldn’t make it. 

After you’ve been out for too long you become unemployable. Both by the employer and for yourself. I want a job where I can get the maximum amount of productivity out of the minimal amount of work. But I don’t think it exists. 

I’ve submitted my resume over 40 times in the last few years and have received a no thanks no reply email in return to every single one. 

Well I don’t want to work for you anyway. We both know I’m not a good fit. 

Super Market Layouts

Super markets could do good by changing their layout. A space where produce, meat, nuts and other whole foods are showcased over processed foods that come in bags, boxes and plastic, could help influence the food choices people make. It’s something I realized the last time I stepped into our local Sprouts.

We have a Whole Foods directly across the street from us (and I have Prime which entitles us to some discounts). A couple of blocks further is Sprouts. But despite its proximity, my familiarity with the brand, and my Prime membership, I kept finding myself drawn to Sprouts for my grocery shopping. It felt better, but I wasn’t sure why.

The last time we walked into Sprouts I understood why. 80 percent of their store is devoted to showcasing fruit, vegetables, bulk nuts and dried fruit, meat and fish, all in an open and inviting layout. The remaining 20 percent is shelves filled with the typical (healthy versions) of packaged foods.

By contrast, the produce, fruit, meat and fish section in Whole Foods feels claustrophobic. It feels like you’re not meant to spend much time there. Like it’s just a funnel to get you into the aisles where processed food abounds. It feels like an afterthought instead of the main attraction. But it made me think.

What influence could the layout of a grocery store have on the habits of individuals? Whole Foods still far exceeds most grocers in the country, and to be sure is a privilege. But if every store looked like Sprouts, and lured you in with the right foods, what impact would it have?

I know personally, it gets me excited about the food I’m going to eat, and I’m sure it would do that for millions of other people as well.

Carbohydrates

The thing that people mess about carbs is that it’s not about eliminating them, it’s about transitioning to better carbs. If you’re eating a lot of ultra processed foods, simple carbohydrates, or consuming drinks that are high in sugar, then you need to start replacing each one of those with something better. Rolled oats are better than cereal. A piece of fruit is better than a soda. Locally sourced bread is better than store bought bread. The elimination of carbs is not important, consuming quality, complex carbs is.

If you eliminate carbs all together, then you’re going to create an immediate deficit in your diet, creating an unsustainable situation. Your body, which is used to running on carbohydrates for energy, is now left without an energy source. Diets such as keto work by transitioning your body to run off of fat (both stored and consumed). But getting into a state of ketosis is extremely difficult, and just as hard to stay in it. So you end up unhappy, and not feeling good because you’re running on empty.

Make note of all the different carbs you eat, and then come up with a healthier alternative. At least once a day choose the healthier option, until you’re able to replace two, then three, then all meals and drinks. It’s going to take time, but that’s what progress needs, and that is what will make the transition sustainable.

It’s All Energy

The last time I stepped into an office was October 2018. The last time I responded to a work email was January 2019. Since then, I’ve had no formal job, and therefore no reason to worry about whether or not it was working hours. If it was a weekday or weekend. Whether or not business was closed do to a holiday. And despite not having to worry about it, I still feel it’s energy.

The weekends are still calmer. Relief sets in when 5 oclock hits. And long holiday weekends still feel like long holiday weekends.

But they shouldn’t right? Shouldn’t all hours, days and weeks essentially feel the same when there is no pressure of work, having to show up, having to perform?

Well they don’t. Weekdays still feel like workdays. And work hours (9 - 5) still carry the most tension in the day. It’s an interesting phenonmen that I think gives credence to the idea that everything is energy.

Monday - Friday, 9 - 5 it’s the energy of the working people around me that I feel. The energy of people commuting to and from work. And on holidays, weeknights and weekends, it’s their collective release of the work week and embrace of time off that I feel.

I thought after a while that feeling of being tied to societal energy would wane. But it hasn’t. In some ways its as strong as ever.

Leave Your Old Self Behind

Sometimes the hardest part about stepping into your new self, is leaving your old self behind. Your old self is what has got you this far. It’s what’s made you successful. It’s the person people know. It’s the person relationships are based off of. It’s the person you’re comfortable being. But on your way to your new self, your old self just holds you back.

You have to be confident to leave your old self behind.

Doing anything as your new self is going to feel uncomfortable. You’re going to feel unsure. The tried and true ways your used to, are now obsolete. You’re learning your new ways. Learning takes time. Learning is uncomfortable. But it always leads to something greater.

If you want to become the person you’ve always been dreaming of, you need to kiss goodbye to your old habits, old reactions and old insecurities, and embrace everything that is new and feels good.

It can be hard to say goodbye, but that old self no longer serves you. You’re after the new you. The real you. And there’s no time to second guess it. Out with the old. In with the new.

GLP-1 In The News… Again.

Each week more stories are published about the new weight loss drugs Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound and others (GLP1 receptor agonists). The momentum to prescribe these drugs is continuing to grow. These four articles give varying perspectives on the impacts of these drugs.

Sharon Osbourne on her Experience using Ozempic

The message here is important. Her experience of becoming addicted to losing weight, highlights what can never be tested in a clinical trial. These drugs work by suppressing appetite and slowing digestion. The mental toll that takes has not been discussed until now.

Weight-Loss Drug Wegovy Slashes Risk of Death in Some People with Heart Disease and Wegovy's heart benefits due to more than weight loss, Novo says

Both of these articles highlight the recent findings that these drugs have health benefits outside of weight loss, specifically related to heart disease.

Do GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Improve Cardiovascular Health Independently of Weight Loss?

While this article from Dr. Peter Attia throws doubt on their claims by asking the question whether the cardiac benefits were because of or separate from the weight loss experienced. As he explains, the research thus far does not indicate that the drug (GLP-1) alone, absent excessive weight loss, has any positive effects on cardiovascular health.

Meal Prep

Meal prep isn’t about getting everything cooked at once. Meal prep is making the best use of your time in the kitchen. If you’re going to be near the stove, you might as well make the most of it by utilizing all the different modalities it has to offer.

Bake chicken breast in the oven.

Boil broccolli.

Saute brussel sprouts.

Cooking in three different ways (boiling, baking, sautéing) also make it easier to compartmentalize what you’re doing, so you don’t forget to give anything attention.

The chicken in the oven is on a 25 - 30 minute timer.

The broccolli, once the water is boiling, only needs 3 - 5 minutes.

The brussel sprouts require the most attention, tossing them every few minutes for 10 - 12 minutes.

Fry up some brussels. Boil some broccoli. Bake some chicken. Make some extra and you’ve got lunch or dinner (breakfast?) for a few days.

Cheers.

Lentil venison breakfast bowl

There’s a good amount of prep work involved with this dish, but once you’ve cooked the venison, lentils and brussels, you’ll have enough for a few meals.

I used Force of Nature Ground Venison which contains 3 percent of grass fed beef. Heat a skillet on medium-high heat. Add olive oil and a pinch of salt, let it heat up. Throw in the venison and flat it out in the pan and sprinkle some salt on top. Let it sit for about five minutes before flipping it over (it’s easier if you cut the large patty in half or quarters to flip it). Let it cook for another five minutes to brown the other side. Then chop it up in the pan with a wooden spoon and allow the meat to cook all the way through.

For your lentils, bring 3 cups of water to 1 cup of lentils to boil, then reduce the heat to low to a simmer. Cook for 15 - 20 minutes or until your lentils are soft but not mushy (I like them both ways).

Cut the stems off your brussels and then cut them in half or quarters if they are bigger. Toss them in a bowl with olive oil and salt. Dump them into a pre-heated skillet. Pour a couple of tablespoons of water into the pan to create some steam, and then cover them. Let them sit for five minutes, then toss them using a flick of the wrist or a wooden spoon, and cover them again, letting them sit for five - six more minutes, or until you can easily pierce them with a fork.

Assemble your bowl: Lentils, ground venison, brussel sprouts. Add a pinch of salt and white wine vinegar to taste. Slice up an avocado and a tomato, and top with a fried egg. Add another pinch of salt and white wine vinegar and some EVO if you wish!

Buon Appetito!

Writing and Exercise

When I left my job five years ago I became dedicated to building a writing practice. I’m not sure I could explain why, but for some reason it felt important, and like something I should be doing. So I started, like most, with a journal. Sometimes I wrote daily, sometimes weekly. Mostly I wrote at night, right before bed. Sometimes I’d wake up ready to write. But any period of consistency was met with equal or longer periods of not writing. It was hard to keep it going.

My longest streak was 50 straight days in 2021. I was participating in a 50 day run challenge. I thought, I could write about how the challenge is going each day. It worked.

But other than that, it’s been a serious of starts and stops. In contrast to my writing practice, my exercise practice hasn’t missed more than a few weeks over the same period of time.

Exercise comes naturally to me is what I tell myself, but that’s wrong. If it feels natural, that’s because I’ve been doing it for 24 straight years. More than half my life.

So the question is, like my writing practice, what did my exercise practice look like 19 years ago, when I was only 5 years in. I’m sure there was room for improvement (and still is).

If I take my experience writing from the last few years, and compare it to trying to start an exercise routine at 36, I can see where people struggle.

Unlike writing, in addition to being mentally taxing, exercise is physically challenging. If you’re new, there’s a lot to learn. You have to leave your house to do it. You’re going to be sore. There’s other less challenging, more fun things you could be doing. Building that habit is hard.

For people that have built exercise into a habit, we’ve forgotten about all these pain points. Well writing has made me sensitive to them again.

But I also feel reassured. Because after five years my writing practice is keeping up (at least in consistency, if not quality) with my exercise practice. Do anything enough and you’re bound to improve.

Morgan Housel on Writing

Tim Ferriss with Morgan Housel

He said something that stuck with me.

He doesn’t write multiple drafts. He writes one. The reason is because he doesn’t end a sentence until he’s completely satisfied with it. Said another way, he revises as he’s writing.

I thought this was very interesting, because I’ve always heard the opposite. The key was to let your thoughts run onto the paper and then come back for the clean up. But I liked his approach. It made sense to me, and it reminded me of a similar piece of advice I heard on a podcast years ago.

The guest was talking about a friend’s meditation practice. He noted that his friend meditated by thinking in complete sentences. Which sounds intuitive. But if you think about it, how often are you bouncing from one thought to another without completing the one you are on? At the time I heard this, the answer for me was most of the time.

That changed everything for me.

I credit this change of mindset with helping me make a lot of progress across many aspects in my life where I previously struggle. Writing. Reading. Oral communication. Thinking in general.

Creative endeavors can seem like flows of consciousness. I always thought they were. But that’s not always the case. They can also be well thought out and meticulous in their design. I know the latter works better for me.

Stick to What’s Easy and Effective

I like to find things (hacks?) that have a high efficacy and are easy to fit into my day. Here are a couple:

1. Crossing your legs when seated is beneficial to hip health. And a good indicator of healthy longevity is being able to stand up from a crossed leg position without using your hands. So I try this whenever I’m seated on the floor. It gives me a few bonus reps everyday.

2. Down regulating after a workout. Set a five minute timer on your phone. Lie down. Close your eyes and cover them. Breath in through your nose and out your mouth until your timer goes off. This simple moves help to let your workout soak in by calming your nervous system before walking out of the gym.

Sharon Osbourne on Ozempic

In a lot of ways this article highlights what can never be tested in a clinical trial. The mental impact of these drugs. As she points out, it became addicting to lose weight, and I fear that will be the case for many people, especially children.

Children are so impressionable. What they experience in their youth sticks with them. If the message they’re getting is to be skinny by not eating, then that sets them up for a lifetime of battling food disorders. It’s not hard for it to happen. I know because it happened to me.

When I was getting into triathlon racing I had an image of what someone who wins races looks like. Long and lean (skinny), with minimal muscle. I by contrast was 5’7” and 165 lbs of mostly muscle (my girlfriend calls me “dense”). I knew if I wanted to compete I had to be lighter (skinny). And so I focused on shedding the weight.

I mostly did it through exercise bulimia (attempting to burn more calories through exercise than I consumed). I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I was working out really hard to achieve a goal (to be competitive). It seemed positive. Until it didn’t.

Over time I became tormented with every food decision. What to eat. How much to eat. When to eat. I’d have to convince myself that what I just ate was okay, or that I could always make it up later with more exercise. There wasn’t a meal or snack that didn’t get questioned in my mind.

I eventually got down to 140 lbs. The weight I thought I needed to be at.

By the time I got down to that weight I was in the deepest of my weight loss addiction throws, and I was realizing that it was no longer (never was) healthy. The only way to end it was give up racing. So around this time that’s what I decided to do, and I stopped racing and training so intensely. It had been over 2 years of torture, and unraveling my self-imposed conditioning was not easy.

It’s been over 2 years since I stopped racing, and I’m only now getting back to having a healthy relationship with my food. From the outside in no one would’ve ever thought I had a problem. I hid it well.

I went through this in my 30s. I came into it with 15+ years of healthy, balanced exercise and diet routines and experience. And it still got me. What chance will a child have who grows up thinking not eating to be skinny is healthy? The answer, is not much.

The Children

We really need to focus on the children. We can’t be sentencing them to a life of surgery and medicine. We just cant. It sickens me every time I see it suggested. And recently that’s been a lot.

Children hold hope for the future. They can be taught how to be healthy and strong. Their body’s are malleable and adept at adapting. There’s time for all of them to turn the tables for themselves and secure a more certain future.

If there’s one thing we should be able to get right and agree on, it’s that every child should have access to the food he or she needs to grow up healthy and active. That every child should have access to exercise resources that will help embed healthy routines into their lives from a young age.

That’s not impossible to accomplish. I don’t think it’s asking a lot. It can be easily done if resources were redirected and stricter regulations (i.e. on school lunches) were put in place.

I’d love to see a future where the newest generation sees this come to fruition.

Use Every Opportunity

I’ve been working on my writing practice for 5 years now (you can tell right?). My writing abilities have a long way to go, but they have also come a long way. One thing I credit is always taking the opportunity to write when asked.

This is mostly the case when it comes to submitting reviews, leaving comments, or, in the rare occasion, being asked to write a story.

This happened to me recently.

The National Parks Programs sent out an email asking me (everyone) to tell them about why they love the National Parks and why they’re so special to them.

In a past life, one that consisted of 70 hour work weeks, I would’ve deleted their email without a thought. But this time, I took it as an opportunity to work on my writing and share.

“Acadia was the first park in the United States I had ever been to. A year earlier I traveled to Patagonia for a 7 day backpacking trip. It was the first time I had ever tent camped, backpacked or spent any significant time outdoors. I was 30. That trip inspired me to want to see all the beauty that our parks here in the U.S. had to offer. The following summer I took off on a 3-month road trip from New York to California. My plan was to stop at as many national parks as possible. And I did. Acadia. Both Badlands. Joshua Tree. Rocky Mountain. Grand Canyon. Arches. Canyonlands. Zion Bryce. To name more than a few. Since that trip I’ve probably been to a dozen more. The thing that I love about our parks is how accessible and well planned out they are. There is something for everyone to do and there is something to enjoy, whether you’re just passing through for the day, or your hanging out for a weekend. There is so much beauty in our parks and I wish everyone in this country would get the chance to experience them. Sincerely. James.”

They published my story! Yay! My first publications lol…

Whatever craft you’re trying to hone, look around at the opportunities in front of you to practice. Reviews and commenting were never on my radar, but now I see them as a chance to improve.

Eventually you get used to it

For good and for bad your body adapts

Every summer when vegetables are at their peak and all my favorite produce (tomatoes, onions, spinach) is in abundance, I wonder how I’m ever going to go back to the supermarket for my groceries.

I can’t stand the lack of taste and character that I’ve grown to associate with apples flown in from Chile, or tomatoes grown in a greenhouse.

At the end of every summer I wonder what I’ll eat all winter.

But slowly necessity (nutrition) outweighs wants (local produce) and I find myself walking along the wall of produce picking out what to make.

The lack of taste and texture eventually fades, and by summer I’m surprised all over again at the difference between local and imported food.