Exercise and Working Out
I’d like to start off by telling you the one thing that I always tell myself whenever I experience that familiar feeling of procrastination creeping in. Here it is: So what if it takes a year. That time will pass anyway. When it does, I promise you’ll prefer saying ‘I’m glad I started’ rather than ‘I wish I had'”.
In other words, start now. And don’t worry about needing a “perfect plan”, either—there’s no such thing.
If you’re anything like me, then you are probably all too familiar with the feeling of procrastination, right? In times like these, we will come up with literally any excuse to push something off until later—especially if it involves physical labor. But the cold, honest truth that we really know deep down inside is: the sooner the better. So, before we think, say, or do anything else, let’s make a commitment right this very minute to simply begin. Set a start date right now. It can be tomorrow, next week, or even next month, but whatever the date, commit to actually starting on that very day—with absolutely no excuses.
Of course, what you might do on that first day will depend on your fitness goals, your current fitness level, whether or not you have any injuries or any other limiting factors, etc. But one thing is certain: movement is medicine. Even if you’re just stretching, it counts. And your body will enjoy many benefits from just this one effort.
If you’d like a quick primer on a simple core workout that requires no additional weights or gym gear and can be done virtually anywhere in your home (and that won’t take all day), I made called “Introduction to Core”. Click here to view —> TITAN up your core!
If you’re interested in taking things up a notch, I’ve got a video that will get you started with some basic at-home exercises to begin adding strength and building muscle. Click here to view —> Build Muscle at home!
Beyond these two, I have several more activity-specific videos for various home-based bodyweight exercises that are sure to keep you pumped and feeling strong! If you’d like to see more of these videos, please visit the FIT page from the menu up top!
Plant-Based Diet
I never thought about going plant-based until about 10 years ago when a friend of mine recommended a book called “The Spectrum” written by physician, Dr. Dean Ornish (pictured). In his book, Dr. Ornish places various food items along a “spectrum” where whole food plants sit on one side while animal products and highly processed foods sit on the opposite side, and there are countless food variations in between (hence, “spectrum”). 
As you might expect, eating more foods from the plant side resulted in healthier patients. According to nearly forty years’ worth of research, plant-based diets not only protected healthy patients’ hearts and cardiovascular systems but actually reversed coronary artery disease in patients who had a history of CAD.
There are too many things in this world beyond my control that could take me out at any moment; it seems rather stupid not to adjust the one thing I can control—eating.
So I made the decision to give the plant-based diet a try, and it wasn’t nearly as rough as I thought it would be. Sure, that first trip to the farmers market felt like visiting a store in a foreign land, lol, but I quickly got over that. Eventually I got very accustomed to (and now crave) plant-based food. And it’s not all salads, either, like many people believe. There are countless plant-based options for some of the most beloved classics like pasta, pizza, tacos, hamburgers, hotdogs, sausage, and so much more! You just have to look for them; they’re there.
But the biggest tip I can give you if you’re just starting out is this: just change one thing at a time. Rushing into the whole thing with the idea that you’re going to instantly replace every single meal with a plant-based alternative could spell disaster for any number of reasons. Here’s one in particular: remember I mentioned my first trip to the farmers market? I bought so much plant food on that first run, failing to realize just how short the shelf life is for anything not canned or vacuum sealed, that more than half that food rotted before I could eat it. Talk about wasted money…but, that’s the deal with fresh plants: they don’t last nearly as long as their processed successors. It’s a fair compromise, though, if you asked me. The health benefits of eating plants far outweigh the nuisance of next-day expiration dates.
Here’s a recipe video from my youtube channel for pasta with “meat” sauce where I only change one ingredient—the meat. I substitute a plant-based sausage for ground beef, and not only does it taste even better than regular meat sauce, it won’t clog your arteries with bad cholesterol and saturated animal fat. (But it will offer your body the benefit of all those plant nutrients!) Here’s that link —> Pasta with Smart Sausage Marinara
For more plant-based recipes, visit the FOODIE page from the menu up top.
Enjoy!