***Update: There is only 10 days left before the giveaway is over. Have you entered? It’s not too late!

The giveaway just got sweeter. How you asked? Let me tell you……

Well, it’s not really our giveaway, but another personal finance blogger has stepped it up and giving away $5,000 in cold cash and 2 iPad’s as part of his giveaway.

Yes, 5 G’s and 2 iPad’s! Woot! Woot!

You can find this awesome giveaway at My Money Blog here. Go, enter, and good luck!

Ho! Ho! HO! Merry Christmas! It’s giveaway time at Good Financial Cents.

Who doesn’t like a giveaway?

Well, this is special giveaway for a few reasons:

1. This is my first giveaway on the blog. Woot!
2. There are 4 other awesome personal finance bloggers joining me.
3. We have an awesome sponsor that is stepping up to giveaway some really cool stuff.

Are you ready for the details? I thought so.

First, things first……what are we giving away?

We’ve got 3 awesome gifts:

1. iPad 2 (16gb) – That’s right baby. One of Apple’s best products!
2. Amazon Kindle Fire – The latest and greatest Kindle
3. Barnes and Noble Nook – Just because we believe variety is the spice of life

How’s that for a lineup of free stuff? Fyi, I don’t have any of the above (I have the 1st iPad) so I’m a little jealous of the lucky individuals that win!

Who is the coolest sponsor of them all?

Smart Investing Made Easy

Well, Betterment of course! I contacted the peeps over at Betterment about the idea and they were totally on board.

Not sure who/what Betterment is? Be sure to check out my interview with Jon Stein, the CEO of Betterment to learn more about them. According to their site,

It’s smart investing made easy. Betterment puts a personal investment account in your hands by blending the simplicity of an online bank account with the higher long-term returns associated with investing in stocks and bonds. The best part? You don’t have to spend nights and weekends researching—that’s their job.

For anyone that doesn’t have the time to do research on their own investments and would prefer to do it online, then you should at least consider Betterment.

You know you want it!

Other Awesome Blogs Involved

Four other personal finance bloggers that I consider to be friends are also taking part.  If you haven’t checked out their sites yet, I promise you are missing out!   They are:

If you don’t know them yet….you soon will

The Rules of The Giveaway

Entry is simple and all you need is either a Facebook or Twitter account. If you have both, then that’s even better!

All you have to do is “Like Us” on Facebook and/or “Follow Us” on Twitter.

That’s it!

Not a bad return on investment, huh?

Just use the snazzy contest widget below to get your shot at winning one of the prizes above.

To Be Clear:  Each Like or Follow is considered to be one entry to the giveaway.   If you do them all, then you get 12 entries!  The winners will be chosen at random and the gifts will be presented in the order listed above. (1st winner gets the iPad, etc, etc)

Want to Spread the Christmas Cheer?

Please share this article with family and friends so that they all have a chance to win.   You know they’ll love ya’ for it!

For Facebook:

Feel free to “Like” the article using the hovering Sharebar to the left of the article or you can simply leave a comment below and share on your Facebook profile.

For Twitter:

Either Tweet the post using the Sharebar above or just post this message on Twitter to let all your followers know:

iPad 2 & more giveaway @ Good Financial Cents (@jjeffrose) compliments of @betterment for smart investing http://bit.ly/vbmozU <<Enter now!

Even More Cool Stuff!

Have any desire to learn How to Be Rich? Yeah, me too!

Well my buddy and fellow CFP®, Chuck Rylant, will do exactly that in his new book. Chuck has agreed to giveaway 3 copies directly shipped to your door.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below (either a Facebook comment or regular comment) answering the following multiple choice question:

What is the best burger in the U.S.?

A. In-N-Out Burger <<My obvious choice
B. Five Guys
C. Some other random burger joint: please share!

Don’t let me persuade you, but I’m sure it’s In-N-Out Burger, right? Right?

Time to Enter – Good Luck!

Don’t Miss Out!

Beside giving away cool stuff, I also have a FREE newsletter where I show people how to save money, make more money, and inspire you to purse your passions in life. Did I mention that it’s free? Just sign up with your email address below:

Merry Christmas!

This weekend consisted of me being surrounded by people just as geeky and obsessed over blogging as myself – it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!

My buddy Phil, from PT Money.com took on the challenge of planning the first annual Financial Blogger Conference held in Schaumburg, IL (even though he lives in Dallas!)

Over 280 joined the festivities and I was in networking heaven.  Now 3 days removed from the conference and I’m still obsessed over the #fincon11 hashtag on Tweetdeck not wanting it to really be over.

I think Ninja from Punch Debt in the Face said it best,

Ninja says it best

I could go on and one about all the cool people I met, but so many other bloggers have done a better job of recapping the event. To name a few:

The Video

A few days before the event, I got the idea to do some quick interviews of the attendees.   After 2 days of networking, I was able to complete just about 30 interviews.  With almost 300 people in attendance, I wish I could have done more, but there just wasn’t that much time.   I would have loved to interview everyone there because everyone had an interesting story to share.    Always next year, right? 

Regarding the video, you’ll notice that I say I asked “two questions”, which I did.  For the sake of this upload, I just included the answers to the first question which was,

“What excites you most about the Financial Blogger Conference of 2011?”

Note: Be sure to watch the video all the way through to see a my most favorite pic of J. Money from Budgets are Sexy.

If you were there and I didn’t interview you, please share your thoughts below.

In Closing

To leave you with some encouraging thoughts, Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income closed the show with his first public speaking gig and rocked it.  Pat closed with these remarks,

“You can always do more than you think you can do.  ….You can do so much.  You just have to believe in yourself”

Thank you Pat and thank you Phil for hooking us up with a killer event!

+++++++++++++

Just in case you were curious for an outside perspective on the conference, you can check out my wife’s post who attended the event with me.

Here's Pukie....

When your workout program has a mascot and his name is “Pukie the Clown” you realize two things about yourself really quick:

1. I’m an idiot for putting myself through this crap.
2. I LOVE being an idiot and putting myself through this crap.

In this context, “crap” refers to the workout program Crossfit and yes; I am in love with it.

I didn’t hit the weights until I was 19 years old graduating high school and at a whopping 160 pounds – look out! But once I started I really loved it. I would always try new programs just to “switch it up”.

Low reps. High reps. Olympic lifts. Super sets. Complex sets. X reps.

You name it, I tried it. In college I was in great shape and then “it” happened: I graduated college and got a job.

My workouts suffered and it didn’t take time for me to start losing the physique that I had grown accustomed to. Then another “it” happened. This “it” involved me being deployed to Iraq in 2005.

Crossfit Baghdad 2005. Like my haircut?

While conducting our training before being deployed, a buddy of mine, Ryan, had told me about this workout program that he had been doing named Crossfit. The only thing that I remember him telling me about the workout was that typically at the end of it he was always laying on the ground in a pile a sweat.

Who is That Weird Dude on the Floor?

Now when I first heard that, I thought he was ignorant. Could you imagine some dude laying down in the middle of your gym in a puddle of sweat. I mean, how bizarre is that?

I thought it was extremely bizarre until I did my first Crossfit workout (consisted of power cleans and pull-ups) and there I was – in the middle of the gym, lying on the floor in a puddle of sweat gasping for air.

I was hooked.

Crossfit has been apart of my life ever since and if not for some various injuries, work, and family – I would do Crossfit everyday. Yes, I love it that much!

Once aspect about the program that I love is that it is ever evolving and for the most part, every workout is different.

Some of the recurring workouts have a very special place.   They are both the Girl Workouts and the Hero Workouts.   I’m planning on doing a follow post on the Hero Workouts, so today we’ll just discuss the girls.

In the program, the “Girl Workouts” are the benchmark workouts.   Each workout has it’s own unique name – just like a hurricane – but that much worse.  At my Crossfit gym, we have a big whiteboard that has a list of all the Girl Workouts and the names of the top 3 scores.   I did mention that Crossfit is competitive, right?

The Benchmark Girls

“Angie”

For Time
Complete all reps of each exercise before moving to the next.

“Barbara”

5 rounds, time each round

“Chelsea”

Each minute on the minute for 30 min

“Cindy”

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes

“Diane”

21-15-9 reps, for time

“Elizabeth”

21-15-9 reps, for time

“Fran”

21-15-9 reps, for time

Note:  This is my most hated Crossfit workout.  I can explain the amount of excruciating pain that I have after doing this workout.   It takes me literally 15 minutes to get mentally prepared to do the workout, about 4 minutes + to complete it (best time ever was 3:34 when I was in Iraq), and at least 20 minutes to recover.   Yes, it’s that bad.

“Grace”

30 reps for time

“Helen”

3 rounds for time

“Isabel”

30 reps for time

“Jackie”

For time

“Karen”

For time

“Linda” Aka “The 3 Bars of Death”

10/9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1 rep
rounds for time

“Mary”

As many rounds as possible in 20 min

“Nancy”

5 rounds for time

The New Girls

“Annie”

50-40-30-20 and 10 rep rounds; for time

“Eva”

5 rounds for time.

“Kelly”

Five rounds for time

“Lynne”

5 rounds for max reps. There is NO time component to this WOD.

“Nicole”

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes.
Note number of pull-ups completed for each round.

“Amanda”

For Time

Do you do Crossfit? What’s your favorite “Girl workout”?

Mmmhmm. This is a tasty burger.

That memorable phrase was uttered by Samuel Jackson in the cult classic Pulp Fiction as he was chowing down on a Big Kahuna burger.

There’s a certain stigma for a restaurant having the title of “Best Burger” and rightfully so.  Nothing beats a good burger.  Nothing. My mouth is watering now just thinking about it. Seriously….. I’m actually drooling.  Okay, I’m out of my burger trance….for now.

When I think of the “best burger”, there’s only one that comes to mind.  Any guesses?

Let me give you one little hint:

Still not sure?   Okay, maybe one more clue:

In case you haven’t figure it out yet, it’s no other In-N-Out Burger.   If you’ve never been to the blog (shame on you), then you don’t know about my completely healthy attraction obsession with the West Coast burger ‘chain.

How obsessed?   Read this article where I share my undying love for In-N-Out.

When people tell me that they don’t like In-N-Out, I take it personally as if they’re insulting my Filipino mother’s cooking – don’t mess with momma!

I don’t know why exactly.  I just know I love it so much and can’t imagine why anybody else wouldn’t love it, too.

Have I mentioned how good it is yet?

Five Who?

A couple years ago I kept hearing about this new burger chain that was a serious contender for best burger.  Initially, I thought, “Yeah, right. In their dreams“.

But the talk didn’t go away.   This “so called best burger joint” is called Five Guys.   Originating out of Virginia in 1986 this burger joint has blown up.  They now have over 770 locations in the U.S. and are scheduled to open 200 more in Southern California alone.  Yes, they are invading In-N-Out’s backyard.

Let the battle begin.

Coming to Town

Five Guys opened a location in Fairview Heights (suburb of St. Louis) and I should have been eager to try it just to see what it’s all about.  But I couldn’t bring myself to do it as I felt like I was cheating on my wife.  It just felt wrong.   My wife wanted to try it so she took our 3 kids in and ordered while I went next door and got Qdoba (Mexican fast food joint) and brought it inside Five Guys to eat.  That was for you In-N-Out.  I’ll show them

I never really knew if I would go back to Five Guys.  I was content knowing that know one could dethrone In-N-Out in my mind.   Then I happened across the article on the Huffington Post that claimed to a survey by Zagat in 2010, that Five Guys had bested In-N-Out for “best fast food burger”.   Recount I say!

If you dig a little deeper into the survey, you’ll see that the survey was not weighted for number of locations and was more based on total reach.  This is significant in that Five Guys has almost 3 times more locations.  Nonetheless, this was a wake up call for me and I realized that I had avoided the inevitable for too long.  It was time to try Five Guys.

My Visit to Five Guys

After a family trip to the St. Louis Zoo, the stage was set.  I was finally to give this In-N-Out wannabe a chance to prove themselves.   Accompanied with my Canon Rebel and heft appetite, I entered and photographed my experience.

Five Guys Colors

When you first enter a Five Guys restaurant, the first thing that struck me the colors of red and white.  Hmmm……wonder where I’ve seen that before. <cough>Copy cat<cough>.  There was a brief moment that I felt like it was a dream and that I had mistakenly walked into an In-N-Out and I was getting ready to sink my teeth into a juicy Double-Double.  Unfortunately not.

Five Guys Menu

Other similarities are found in their menu.   As you can see their main focus is fresh burgers and fries; although they do offer bacon cheeseburgers and “Little” versions of all the burgers.  Other noticeable differences were they offered hot dogs.  While the cheese dog sounded tempting, I was here for one thing and one thing only:  a burger.

Another difference is that they offer a Veggie sandwich and a grilled cheese.  While In-N-Out doesn’t have this on their main menu, it can be found on their secret menu.   Bet you didn’t know that did you?

The biggest noticeable difference that caught my attention with the menu were the number of toppings that you could add to your burger – 15 in all.  According to the Five Guys website, there are over 250,000 ways to order a burger at their place.   Now that’s a lot of options.

Personally, I think it’s fluff.   A burger is a burger.   Meat, cheese, some ketchup will suffice.   Now you add some In-N-Out secret sauce and you just added a little bit of heaven.

Five Guys Prices

One noticeable difference with Five Guys was their prices.  I’m used to getting 3 cheeseburgers, fries and shake for less than ten bucks.   At Five Guys, a double cheeseburger, large fries and a drink was almost $12.  I don’t mind paying $5 for a good burger.  Don’t mind a bit.  I do think $4 and change for large fries is a bit much.

Get Your Peanuts

One coolness factor about Five Guys is that they give you free peanuts to munch on while you wait for your order.   Surprisingly the floor was pretty clean with no peanut shells in sight.

Five Guys Propaganda

If there’s one thing about walking into a Five Guys restaurant, they are very proud of themselves.  They have signs everywhere touting how great they are.   Now I’m not going to fault them for that…..too bad.   But the signs are everywhere.  Take a look….

And some more…..

And again…..

They even had signs leading up to the bathroom.  Seriously.

Many signs boast “Best Burger”.  But it is true?

Let’s find out.

Five Guys Taste Test

After I received my order, it was finally time to sink my teeth and give Five Guys a true taste test.   First up, the fries.

One neat thing about Five Guys fries is that you have the option to order regular fries or with Cajun seasoning.   I had a chance to try both and much more enjoyed the Cajun seasoning.  Overall, though; I was very unimpressed with the fries.   I even offered some to my three year old son who will eat McDonald’s fries like crack (seriously), but he took one bit and didn’t want them.  For my son to turn down french fries was just as surprising if you offered Charlie Sheen speed and he said no – it just doesn’t happen.

But it did.

Next up the burger.

Five Guys Burgers

When I first took the foil wrapped burger out of the brown paper bag, I wasn’t sure what to think.   The presentation was very poor and reminded me of something that I would get at a carnival or something.   But you can’t taste presentation, right?   It’s time to eat.

Like tasting a fine wine for the first time, I first wanted to enjoy the aroma of the freshly unwrapped burger.   See, I’m not going to lie.  There’s part of me that wanted to really like this burger over In-N-Out.   Why you ask?   Easy…..it’s freaking closer to me and I can eat it more often!   I only get the luxury of having In-N-Out maybe once a year and; frankly, that is not enough.

So with great anticipation I sunk my teeth into my Five Guys double cheeseburger and, and, and………..

……it’s a burger.   Nothing special.   Didn’t rock my world.  Actually, not even close.   All the hype. All the hoopla.   At the end of the day I had a $5 burger wrapped in foil that left me very unsatisfied.  Here’s my quick video reaction from the experience:

What was even funny about the experience is that the gal that took my order struck a conversation with me because I was taking pictures. She asked if I was a photographer – I guess for all the obsessive pictures I was taking I told her that I was actually doing a blog post comparing Five Guys to In-N-Out. What she said next floored me….

She told me that she had a cousin that lives in California and loves to visit them so she can have In-N-Out because she loves them. She went on to tell me that she loved them even better than Five Guys referring to their burgers as, “Ok”. Ha! Even one of their own knows the truth.

What do Others Say?

The whole experience left me bewildered so I decided to hit up some blogging friends on what they thought of the Five Guys vs. In-N-Out debate.  Here’s what some others had to say:

My boy Baker from Man Vs. Debt had this to say:

WOW – just today I had In and Out burger… (on my cheat day).

Just a Double Double – I was not impressed at all. Tomato was terrible and I had to take it off. Burger was o.k. but nothing special.

I have 5 guys in the south when we were going through – blew my mind. It was amazing.

The fries at In and Out were TERRIBLE. Neither Courtney, MILLIGAN, or I would eat them. A 3-year-old wouldn’t eat them. Think about that.

I didn’t have the shake either place – but I’d rate Five Guys a 9/10 – nearly perfect experience and taste.

In and Out was like a 5/10. Maybe slightly better than any other fast food joint.

Jeremy from Gen X Finance added:

Srsly. Some of the best burgers I’ve ever had were simply fresh ground beef with some salt and pepper. Kiss them with fire and there’s more flavor than any burger at any restaurant, chain or otherwise.

I’ve eaten a lot of burgers in my day, and my waistline can attest to that. But Five guys, Fudruckers, Fatburger, In N Out, or even the local hole in the wall that has admittedly decent burgers, nothing compares to a simple fresh homemade burger.

Doughroller offers:

The first Five Guys location is close to where we live here in Virginia. No place to sit. Just order your food and get out. One of the best burgers I’ve ever had. And the fries are incredible. We all have a favorites, but I’m surprised to hear such low opinions of Five Guys. Maybe I’m living in a cave, but nothing beats a Five Guys burger. And yes, I’ve had an In N Out burger. I thought it was fine, but nothing special.

Real Men Know Burgers

Wanting to get some more takes on the issue, I also hit up the Art of Manliness forums to see what other men thought about what the best burger was.   Here’s were some of the more memorable responses:

Just had In and Out for the first time a few weeks ago, felt it was highly overrated.  Sure it was a good tasty burger, just not near worth the hype. Down here in Texas it is Whataburger, that is where it is at.  Five Guys is a tasty burger, but I will still take Whataburger over it.

I agree, In-and-Out is overrated.  Had it for the first time (it’s new here in Utah) about three months ago.

Carl’s Jr. Guacamole burger gets my vote for best fast food burger.

Double Double with Cheese has my heart.

Literally.

Five Guys IS overrated. Since it’s the only chain mentioned here that happens to be in business in Colorado. . .we’re kind of deprived on the fast food burger front. Guess I’ll cast my vote for Freddy’s.

In n Out is fricking good. I always get 2 cheeseburgers with grilled onions and animal style fries on the side. Best on So Cal

Other great burgers are Guacamole Bacon from carls Jr, Hawaiian from Islands (has teriyaki sauce & pineapple), and Poli Bacon Chessburger from Pink’s (bacon cheeseburger with a butterflied polish sausage).

I worry Gov. Brown will revoke my Cal. residency, but I don’t like In-n-Out. I really like Five Guys, and am very happy they have come to Cal.

It seems to me Fuddruckers should be mentioned in this conversation, though I still prefer Five Guys.

Ooooh in-n-out hands down. The cold tomato and lettuce mixes with the warm patty and melted cheese is like food art. Then you have the option to add as many patties as you want.(I have single-handedly devoured a 10×10) If you want to enjoy a food poem go to in-n-out.

In-N-Out on Facebook

Lastly, I thought it would be neat to see what In-N-Out fans thought of the Five Guys vs. In-N-Out comparison.   I headed over the In-N-Out fan page on Facebook and take a poll to their 1.7 million fans.  In case you were curious, Five Guys only has 486,00.  The exact number is 1,281,936 more In-N-Out fans than Five Guys….but who’s counting

Anyway, here’s a screenshot of what some of the In-N-Out loyalists had to say:

There’s was actually a ton more comments, but I could only include so many.   If there’s one thing you can say about In-N-Out burger fans, they are extremely loyal.

In-N-Out.  You Had Me at Hello

In-N-Out is “The Burger” and will always be in my humble opinion which just happens to absolutely correct.   Now they just need to open some locations in the Midwest.   In-N-Out are you listening?    I need to have these people’s experience in the video below.  Check out the girl in the video.  I want to cry just like her.   Tears of In-N-Out joy……

Diabetes is a major health concern. The leading causes of diabetes include middle or old age, high cholesterol, family history, insulin resistance, and ethnicity.  My only experience with diabetes was through my father.  In his later years, he let his weight go and exercised less resulting in him getting Type 2 diabetes.  Luckily diabetes is not hereditary, but the symptoms that can cause it are.  That’s why it’s important to me to stay healthy and fit.

There are many ways one can reduce their blood sugar naturally and avoid medications such as insulin. This includes exercise, eating healthy, reducing sugar intake, and maintaining a safe weight.  It sounds simple enough, huh?  Unfortunately, we, as a country, do a poor job of it.

Lower Sugar Intake

Lowering sugar intake may seem like common sense, however there are many sugars we don’t consider. Diet sodas contain lots of hidden sugar, as do many cereals. Any of the starchy carbohydrates including white breads, potatoes, rice, and pastas are processed in our bodies like sugar. Having Filipino blood in me, it’s hard for me to give up my white rice and soy sauce – so yummy!  But I know I have to be careful in the amount I consume. This doesn’t mean that a person should stop eating all of these foods cold turkey. A gradual reduction in the amount of these types of foods eaten will yield the best long term results.

Eat Better

Some amount of carbohydrates are good for our bodies. Things like whole grains, fruits and vegetables, as well as dark leafy greens provide our bodies with energy but don’t add a lot of sugar. And proteins including healthy fats like salmon, tuna, eggs, and olive oil also help give us energy without adding unnecessary sugar.

Tim Ferriss, author of the New York Time’s best seller Four Hour Body advocates the use of lentils and legumes (beans, beans, and more beans) in your diet.   I’m actually testing out his diet and cutting out all “white pastas” and replacing them with beans.   I’ll report back soon to see how it works out.

Consider Cinnamon

Cinnamon has been shown to lower blood sugar. Consider adding cinnamon to oatmeal, cereal, sauces or stews. Sprinkle cinnamon on apple slices or into coffee for flavor without added fat and sugar.

Limit Alcohol

Alcohol does a couple of things to our bodies. First, it contains carbohydrates which turn to sugar when ingested, so with each drink, the sugar in our bodies increases. Second, alcohol consumption lowers our inhibitions and therefore we tend to make poor food choices, going for higher carb or sugar containing foods.

Choosing different types of alcohol can also huge impacts on your health.  For example, instead of drinking heavy calorie beers you could opt for the lower carb options.  Personally, I think they taste like crap; but it’s all in the name of health, right?

Exercise More

Any exercise is better then no exercise. Always check with your doctor before starting any exercise regimen and begin gradually for best results. Start with walking two or three times a week. Use the stairs instead of elevators and escalators, and consider parking in the back of the parking lot wherever you go (the extra distance is a great opportunity for a short walk). Also, consider taking a short walk after meals. This helps our burn glucose more efficiently and quickly. Once you are comfortable with a moderate amount of exercise, consider adding cardiovascular workouts or calisthenics to use all muscle groups. The more muscle groups you use, the better your body will burn the sugar.

When you get more hardcore you can try my workout program Crossfit or a good stay at home workout P90x.  Both programs will take your fitness levels to the next step.

Lose Weight

If you are overweight, consider losing weight. Maintaining a healthy weight for your size and age is one of the best ways to avoid many major health issues including diabetes. Implementing the points above should have the impact you need to lose the pounds.

Sleep Right

Our bodies produce insulin at different periods during a 24 hour cycle. If we interrupt our sleep rhythms, our bodies do no produce the right amount of insulin to control blood sugar levels.  Give yourself plenty of time to wind down before bed.

Decrease Stress

Long term stress causes our bodies to continually stay in a hyper flight or fight state. This increases your heart rate and blood sugar. Relaxing and reducing stress in your life can have many long term health benefits.

All the above factors can help you decrease your blood sugar naturally.  Always consult with your physician before trying anything radical of your normal routine.

photo credit: Ruin Raider

Typically I’m showing people how to make “cents” of their investments, but today I’m going to do something slightly different. Today, I want to give you some tips and easy ways on how to stay fit and healthy and how you can make it work for you. One disclaimer to that is trying to stay fit and healthy is not an easy thing to do and doesn’t even come naturally to me. It’s something that I’m always having to work on (and some days are a lot harder than others).

Let me first give you some background of what my motivation is or why am I’m always trying to eat healthy and work out and live this healthy lifestyle. The biggest motivating factor for me is the fact that I lost my father to a heart attack not too long ago. My dad was 67 years of age. He was a smoker most of his life and once he stopped smoking he gained weight, didn’t exercise, didn’t eat healthy at all, and had a few different open heart surgeries, several heart attacks, and the last one took his life.

My Dad

For me, I didn’t want to follow down that same path. I want to be here playing with my kids when they are older. I want to be that old guy that is running along the side of the road in those little short running shorts, like that 70-80-year-old guy that you see running along the street; that’s what I want to be. I want to be around for a long while, healthy, playing with my kids. That is my motivating factor, and that is why I want to share these tips with you today.

Eat Healthy Consistently

The first tip is no surprise. When it comes to staying fit and healthy it’s not rocket science here. The first tip is to eat healthy, to eat right. One of the things that I try to do is to eat more greens, and that’s either eating more salad, eating more green beans, broccoli, and spinach – just think Popeye.

The biggest objection a lot of people have is that it takes a lot of time; extra effort to cook vegetables. Don’t let that be an excuse! To buy a bagged salad with Romaine lettuce at your grocery store is super easy. Eat that before each meal to help you get a full feeling and also packed with vitamins and nutrients.

Another thing is you can buy bags of frozen vegetables at the grocery store of either green beans, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, etc. You put it in the microwave for 4-5 minutes and then you’ve got hot, healthy, vegetables there as your side dish for dinner or lunch. Don’t let time be an excuse when you can either do the salad or do the frozen vegetables that don’t take you any time at all.

photo credit: TheBrady

The other aspect is to eat plenty of fruits, whether that be apples, oranges, strawberries, berries, and grapes. Make sure you get plenty of those each and every day. Going to the grocery store and putting them on your grocery shopping list to take them home and have them in your fridge. It’s such an easy, quick thing to grab, whether it be a snack at home or take it to the office and to have that healthy snack throughout the day. I’ll have another tip for that to how you get more fruits in your diet after I address the next point.

The other thing is to never skip breakfast.

This is a hard one for me because I’m a go-go-go-type guy and to actually sit down and have a formal breakfast is hard for me. Actually I don’t do it. I do it on the weekends and typically I’ll have Cheerios, some milk, maybe some toast, etc., but Monday through Friday it’s tough for me. Having two kids, soon to be three, having to get to work, drop them off. I’m sure a lot of you are in that same situation where it’s hard to actually sit down and have a nutritious breakfast.

Tasty Protein Health Shake

One way to get more fruits in my diet and have a healthy breakfast is my health shake. I have a blog post on it, and I’ll have some pictures of the shake here. In my health shake that I make each morning I have milk, non-fat yogurt, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, ground-up flax seed, and some protein powder, all that mixed together so I’m getting my nutritious breakfast that’s filled with all the vitamins and nutrients that you need, fiber, protein, all that good stuff. It takes me about seven minutes each and every morning to make it. The best part about it is not only is it for breakfast, but I’ll also have it as an afternoon snack. When you start having those hunger pangs or hunger cravings later in your day, I just drink the second half of that shake and it gives me that full feeling that I need, gives me that satisfaction that I need to continue with my day.

The other thing, which I’ve already addressed is don’t let yourself get hungry. A lot of people skip breakfast, they eat a big lunch and then they’re a zombie the rest of the day, and they come home and eat a really big dinner. When you do that your body is just storing all those calories and it’s not utilizing it. You’ve probably heard of the whole concept of snacking throughout the day or eating smaller meals throughout the day, and that is something that I can attest to.

Typically, I have my shake in the mornings. I’ll have my shake in the afternoon. I’ll have a nice, sensible lunch, typically go to Subway, Quiznos and get a sandwich on whole wheat bread or I head to McDonalds, and they have some great grilled chicken salads there with a light balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Chocolate chips + fiber = heavean

I’ll have that smaller lunch, then throughout the day I try to snack on Fiber One bars or one of my most coveted snacks. These things are delicious. I’m a chocolate guy. They’ve got a chocolate chip Fiber One bar that I pretty much eat 5-6 days a week, one per day. Over and above that, the fruits also make a good snack to keep those hunger pangs away. Peanuts. Love nuts. Almonds, honey roasted peanuts, pecans, whatever nuts you like, another great snack. Yogurt, lots of cheese, string cheese.

Another tip to eating healthy is not eat too much of this:

Unfortunately, it's not the healthiest....but it's so good!

Sweat it up to stay fit

The second part of staying healthy and fit is you’ve got to exercise. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. You can eat healthy and you’ll see a lot of good stuff from that. You might be looking good on the outside, but you have to be good on the inside. You have to have a good heart, good circulatory system and just be in good aerobic shape. You know you have to exercise. For me, one of the things I struggled with was once I started working, when I went from my college days where I could work out twice a day, work part-time, go to class for a few hours a day it was easy to stay in shape. Once you actually go to that 40-hour, 50-hour, or 60-hour-a-week job and you’ve got a family you’re trying to juggle, it’s hard. I was working out still after I graduated, but the diet wasn’t there, and the workouts and intensity really diminished. I really wasn’t working out the same way that I was. I saw myself gaining weight. What actually helped me a lot was whenever I was deployed to Iraq.

Introducing Crossfit

When I was overseas I was introduced to a workout program called CrossFit. CrossFit is one of the best things that I have been introduced to. The cool thing about CrossFit is you can go to the website, they have free workouts that you can do. The website now is a bit extreme. They have some pretty hardcore workouts, but there are some, if you have a CrossFit affiliate local gym in your area (this is Crosffit SoILL, my affiliate gym), they can actually scale those workouts and make them a little bit easier if you’re new. What I love about CrossFit is their short and they’re intense, and you get your butt kicked in 20 minutes or less. That’s what I love, especially for a busy guy like myself. I have to get in there, get my workout, get my butt kicked, and get out and be on the rest of my day.

Me deadlifting 515 pounds at my first Crossfit affiliate competition:

That’s why I love CrossFit. It’s a very intense workout program. If it’s a 20-minute workout, you’re working out the entire 20 minutes. This is not going to the gym, putting some weight on a bench-press, doing 10 reps, resting three minutes, repeat, rinse, repeat, repeat the whole cycle. The whole time you’re really not working out, you’re just doing a few reps on a bench and some bicep curls, etc. CrossFit you’re doing pull-ups and push-ups and power cleans and squats and running, and kettle bell swings and jump rope, and rowing machines, and all this crazy stuff, but it’s an all-body workout. I’m not just talking weight training, I’m talking aerobic training. You get the full package, and that’s why I love it.

To supplement that, what I do sometimes on the weekends is I bought into one of those infomercials, P90X. You’ve probably seen the commercial late at night. That program works too. You need to have some equipment. You need to have some dumb bells, pull-up bar, but that is a good program. I would recommend it to someone to at least test it out. It’s a little bit longer. The workouts take about 45 minutes or so, but it’s a good supplement if you’re looking for something to do at home. The fact of the matter is you’ve got to work out.

Try Using Your Hips

If those are a little bit too intense for you, I can use my mom as another case study. My mom, she’s a little Filipino woman, and she used to run a lot and somewhere along the way she fell out of it. She stopped working out. She stopped eating right. She gained a bunch of weight. Then finally something triggered in her where she wanted to get back into it. She started going to the gym. One of the things she started doing was Zumba.

I have never done Zumba.  I have seen some people at the old gym I used to go to doing this dance workout routine. She actually won’t shut up about it, but it works. She tells me she’s in there for an hour doing this Zumba, moving her hips, whatever their doing, but she’s sweating her butt off, and you can see it. She has lost, I think 20 pounds or more. That’s, for my mom, whose about 4 foot 11, to lose 20 pounds, that’s a lot of weight for a little woman.

CrossFit, P90X, that would be a little bit too extreme for her, but she found a workout program that fits her, that works. She loves it; she enjoys it. The best part, she’s losing weight and enjoying it at the same time.

Get some ZZZZZ’s (Beauty Sleep is a Must!)

Another one is you have to get plenty of sleep. You’ve heard it from your doctor. You’ve heard it from on the news, watching whatever on TV. You have to get your eight hours of sleep. This is something that is a struggle for me because I’m a bit of a work-a-holic. Whether I’m doing videos or working my blog or spending time with my family, sleep is something is I guess I have to do, but it prevents me from doing a lot of these other activities. I have to wind down. You have to let your body wind down. Take a good siesta to just let your body recoup from that day.

Eight hours of sleep is what’s recommended. As a confession, I think I probably average about 6-7 hours of sleep. For me, if I get my six hours I’m good. I know I probably should be getting more, but that’s all I need to operate. My wife on the other hand, she needs her eight hours plus, and that’s good. I’m glad that she gets it because she deserves it as much as she does for our family and our kids and everything that she does. So get plenty of sleep.

Reduce Your Stress

Another tip that I will say is to reduce your stress levels, another one that is tough for me because as much as I’ve got going on there’s always a lot of pressure with my business, with my blog, with my videos, with my family to just keep at it, to keep on it. I’m always challenging myself. One of the few ways I have found to help reduce those stress levels is to sit down and just take a break and read something. Read a book. I’ve been reading the Bible and that has helped me immensely just to get away from everything, just to get away from the job, get away from the website, get away from any struggles that are going on in my life. Just to take 10-15 minutes of separation from my daily activities and just go into the Bible or go into that book that you’re reading and just take you away. That has helped immensely.

Meditation Does a Body Good

Another tip that someone shared with me as far as reducing stress, which kind of goes along those same lines is meditation. I say it and it still sounds weird to say it, but in prayer, in reading the Bible, and reading a book, you’re just taking a minute to close your eyes, just clear your mind, clear your conscious of all the things that are going on and just let it all go. My gosh, if you can actually do that for 10 minutes a day. Think about setting aside 10 minutes per day to sit there and just clear your mind and how much that would help reduce your stress levels. If you haven’t done it, I suggest you try it. I promise you it will help you in reducing some of those stress levels.

Hey Doc, How am I Doing?

The final thing I’ll say as far as staying fit and healthy is you have to keep up on your body. The way you do that is having your health checkup or having your annual checkup with your doctor. I can’t stress this enough. You have to go in for that annual checkup just to see what’s going on. You think you might be good and you’re working out and you’re eating right, but you never know what could be going on inside your body that you can’t see that only a doctor can see. As I’m filming this video, I’m getting ready to schedule my annual checkup with my doctor. Since heart disease runs in my family, it’s a really big concern of mine. I just want to check the ole ticker to make sure everything’s on the up and up, everything’s good and everything else is working the way it should.

I hope these tips were helpful in helping you stay fit and healthy. I have some other articles on the blog that can help address some of those. I will have some links and some graphs with those, but I have articles talking about one way I lost 20 pounds in 90 days, how to get over 40 grams of fiber in your diet a day, and some other good articles on the blog as well. Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll have more information to come. We’ll see you next time.

I filmed this video right after I completed the Men’s Health Urbanathlon in Chicago last fall.  It was a blast!   The following (below video) is the transcription.  Beware! Plenty of grammatical errors. 

Right now it is a few days after I have competed in the Urbanathlon up in Chicago.  I am in the office and just wanted to share a recap of how the race was and also a few tips of how I should have trained for the Urbanathlon. If you recall I really did any training other than my CrossFit workouts. Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience for anyone else who might be interested in competing in the next event so that they have a pretty good heads up what they are in store for.

The Morning Of

The race was this past Saturday. The start time was 8 o’clock in the morning, the first wave at least. The weather was gorgeous. It was up in Chicago. I want to say it was almost 50-60 degrees around the beginning of the race, and throughout the entire race I ran in shorts and a T-shirt, Under Armour shirt. So, the weather could not have been any better. It was just fantastic, perfect racing weather for Urbanathlon. The race kicked off, and we started running. My buddy and I actually did not decide we were going to do it together, but we thought hey we kind of trained and were about the same caliber as far as running, so he and I started running together.

We were just running through the streets of Chicago. It was just freaking amazing! As we were just walking or running, we were just kind of looking up and looking at all of the scenery of all of the buildings and all the architecture of Chicago, and it was just great. For somebody who hates running as much as I do, it was really good because it kind of allowed me to take my mind off of what I really was doing, running and beating the pavement.

The Race Begins!

We were running up the roads, and we started heading toward Navy Pier, and the whole course was just ingenious. The people who had to actually map out the course and the whole logistics of having the whole thing set up you could tell put a lot of time into it. We were running up the road, and then all of a sudden we were crossing some bridge, and then we were turning right by Navy Pier going down a service road. Then we turned around in some covered parking garage, and then we came out on the south side of the pier which is kind of like the main boardwalk. That was about the 2-1/2 mile stretch, and then we hit our first obstacle. In this first obstacle we had to scale a big monster tire. It is really hard to remember everything in the obstacle because I was just so focused on trying to get through it, but I remember scaling a big monster tire, and then I had to climb up a platform. Then I had to do like a tire shuffle. The first obstacle was fairly easy. It was actually a lot shorter than I thought it was, a lot shorter than the race map had shown. They had shown that the tire shuffling portion was 4 times as long as it actually was. I am not sure what the reasoning on that was, but I did not mind.

We hit that first obstacle, and we were sailing along – everything was going well. We then approached the second obstacle. I think we had to run another mile or so. This one actually was pretty tough. We had to scale I would say almost like 4-foot barriers, just high enough where we had to climb or shoot over it, and they would have like 3 in a row, so we would have to scale 3. Then they would have like these police barricades where we had to crawl under, so it was like up down, up down, up down. I want to say it like 8 different transitions of that, 3 barricades and 2 police barriers, and it was good. It was good enough to get us winded.

5k in the Bag

After that point we had run almost 3 miles. I remember getting out of there thinking, “Wow. OK. That’s pretty legit. My heart rate’s up. Let’s get to it.” So we finished that obstacle, and we started heading south down Lake Shore Drive, running right next to Lake Michigan, and I was initially scared about this stretch because once again I hate running! I can’t stress enough how much I hate running! This particular stretch from obstacle 2 to obstacle 3 was I believe almost 2.75 miles, could be a little bit wrong, but I remember it was one of the longest stretches of just constant running, and I was worried that I would have to walk or I just could not handle it. Running right next to Lake Shore Drive and having the breeze coming off the lake – it was awesome!  Never once did we even walk. We just had a nice solid pace going. The breeze and the weather definitely helped, so it was cool.

Look Out Below!

Then we approached the third obstacle. I am trying to remember everything, but I think the third obstacle they actually had was supposed to be running up and down cars, and then they had these really tall, the only thing I could call them is like steeple chases, and that is probably the incorrect term. They actually had to close off the cars because they were slippery, and people were falling. I think my wife was there taking pictures at that point in time, and she said that somebody actually fell through one of the back windshields, completely busted it out, and was all cut up, so it just was not a good scene. I missed that.

By the time we got there, they actually had closed off that portion, so I had to climb over I want to say once again it was 8 (I don’t know if 8 is the magic number) of these big steeple things that were about head level. I had to climb up, get over, and it was tough. Luckily people were helping each other out, the ones that were having a struggle. I know the first attempt, had I not locked my foot in on 1 of the side braces, I would not have made it. I was coming back over. I wedged my foot in there which probably was not recommended because I could have maybe broken my foot. Anyway, I got through that first one, and then I got the hang of it.

We finished that and started to keep going. I remember we ran a little bit, and then we went up through McCormick Place, basically just to go up the stairs and up on the outside deck and then down some stairs and through a tunnel. Then they had where we were supposed to do like the military crawl under a cargo net with some monkey bars. I want to say I was really surprised because when you looked at the map (if you go on the Urbanathlon website, you will see it), they had what looked like mostly military low crawl, walking on all fours under a cargo net, and then they had these monkey bars.

The monkey bars they had looked really, really long. The actual obstacle itself was 1 set of cargo nets, 1 set of monkey bars, and 1 more cargo net, and we were done. I thought it was weak personally. I was actually looking forward to the monkey bars – I thought it would be kind of cool. There were only like maybe 12 rungs on the monkey bars themselves. I thought there would be like 20 and maybe 4 sets of those. There was only 1. The cargo net was so loose and so high that you did not have to get on all fours. If you kind of bent over and got the net on your back, you could just walk low. If you got behind somebody who was tall, you could just ride underneath them, which I actually did on the second wave. It was kind of weak. I am not going to lie.

Cramp!

We finished that and continued on heading towards Soldier Field (which is where there are the dreaded stairs that a lot of people talk about), I think I hit mile 7 right before Soldier Field came into play. For me, this is when it all went downhill. We hit mile 7, and I remember feeling this little cringe in my left calf, the beginning of a cramp. I remember just thinking, “Aw crap! Don’t do this to me.” I felt it, but then it kind of dissipated a little bit – it was not really that bad. Then, we had to run through some outdoor steps to get into Soldier Field. When we actually finally got in the stadium where we were going to begin the stair run, it got bottle necked. There were so many people in there. I am not sure if they didn’t anticipate that many people – I don’t know what the issue was. I remember we were standing there for at least 8-10 minutes just waiting to get started. We were kind of on the upper deck at that point in time. So, we went down, finally get through, hung a left, and ran up some stairs, and then we were kind of at the top, and then we were running on this back platform. Then we ran down a platform, and we were going through more stairs.

For me, that is when it started getting really bad. Everytime I was running on an incline or a decline, my left calf really, really started to cramp up really bad. It was not so much bad on a flat surface, but incline or decline it was horrible. Imagine if you go to any type of sports stadium, how you are going up the ramps to get to your seats – we were running up and down those, trying to get to I assume the last part of the actual stair run, which was upper deck of Soldier Field. So, finally we got there, and then once again it was all bottle necked. We were just going up and down stairs. We went up 1 set, down the set, up, and down, and that was it, but I tell you it freaking kicked my butt. At that point in time, I think we had crossed mile 8 somewhere, but maybe not. Somewhere about mile 7-1/2 in that whole stretch, my legs were just toast.

Anyway, we made it through that and got out of Soldier Field. My buddy had waited for me because I had stopped a few times to kind of try to stretch out my calves. Once we exited Soldier Field, I think I heard somebody say, “Hey there is about a mile and a half left.” So, we were like, “Alright! Let’s do this! Let’s finish this!” So, we started running together, and I don’t think I even made it like 200 meters, if that, and then my right calf started cramping up. I was like, “Oh come on! Really?!?! You’re really going to do this to me right now?” So, my left calf was cramping, my right calf was cramping. I had to kind of peel over to the side of the running road and just stretch out.

My buddy did not see me. He just kept going. He was looking for me, but I could tell he couldn’t see me. I was thinking he just needed to go and finish, not wait on me. I was trying to keep my calves stretched out, and started running around. Sure enough every 250 meters or so, they would just cramp up. Part of me was like, “Man, just suck it up and just go!” But, what started happening was my right hamstring started cramping up too. In my mind I was thinking, “Man, if my hamstring cramps up, I’m done, like I’m done. There is no more running. I may have to freaking hobble my way to get there.” I think at that point in time when I started feeling the hamstring go, I was less than a mile from the finish, I mean I was so freaking close. I was just like, “I gotta finish! I gotta finish!” I would still run as far as I could before both calves started to cramp up really bad, and then I started feeling the hamstring, and I would pull over and stretch it out, walk a little bit, and get going again.

Finally, I was getting close to the finish line – I could hear the music – I could hear the people. The last obstacle had me climb over the back of cars, just on the trunk side. I had to climb over 3 cars. There was a huge bus that was draped over with a big cargo net that I had to climb over onto the top of the bus using the cargo net and then turn around and climb back down. After that there was the last 8 foot wall that we had to scale, and once I would cross that I would be home free.

So, I got there, I got to the cars, was getting ready to start the last obstacle. At that point in time, I didn’t tell you, but my right quadricep started to cramp up and lock up. Dear Lord, I just felt like, “Oh man!” at that point in time. Everything that could go wrong was going wrong. I was thinking, “Oh my gosh! Please, please just let me finish!” Part of me wanted to just kind of stretch it out right there just so I could finish it, but the other side of me was like everyone there is screaming and so pumped up, and I was like, “Screw this! I’ve just got to finish!” So, I just started jumping over cars and climbing up on the bus and got over. At that point in time I finished that, and I was trying to keep my quad loose – I was trying to jump over the wall. Finally I just said, “Screw it!” and just did it – just scaled it. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I got over the wall, sprinted to the finish line, crossed, and just felt so, so relieved that I had finally done it.

I cannot tell you how great of a feeling it was. My wife was there at the end. She was like, “How’re you feeling?” I was like, “Not good – not good at all! I am hurting bad!” I was standing there, trying to hydrate a little bit. They had a racer food section where we could get bagels and bananas and PowerAde Zero and everything we needed to rehydrate. I was chugging all that down, eating a banana, trying to get the cramping to go away. They also had a stretching area where we could stand in a line, and they had massage tables where people would stretch us out. I stood in line for maybe 15 minutes, and it was well, well worth it. I was so freaking tight. The guy even commented that, “Man, your hamstrings are really tight!” I was like, “Yeah I know! I know! It was cramping like a fool!”

It was a blast!

Anyone who is considering doing the Urbanathlon, I highly, highly recommend it. It was one of the best things, one of the greatest accomplishments of my life, to do it and to finish it. I know differently I will run more prior to, and I will also run stairs. I will try to run a mile or 2, then run some stairs, and try to run a little bit after that. I think having those 2 things would be a good pre-training for next year because we already decided we are going to do it next year. If we could sign up today, I think we would have, but we made the commitment. We had a blast, and it was cool to get up to the city, get away for a little bit, compete, and just give it everything we had. So, if you are thinking about doing the Urbanathlon and you have more questions, hit me up, feel free to let me know. I just wanted to give you a recap of just how it was and how fun it was hopefully. If you are thinking about doing it, make it a goal for next year, 2011 Urbanathlon Chicago.

I Finished!

]]> http://www.goodfinancialcents.com/urbanathlon-training-mens-health-chicago/feed/ 0 http://www.goodfinancialcents.com/high-fiber-foods-and-diet-plan-weight-loss-and-better-health/ http://www.goodfinancialcents.com/high-fiber-foods-and-diet-plan-weight-loss-and-better-health/#comments Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:55:04 +0000 Jeff Rose http://www.goodfinancialcents.com/?p=13645

I‘m not really sure when the day actually happens . I know that I started eating healthier when I was college right when working out became a part of my weekly routine. Protein, carbs and good fats became a regular staple of my vocabulary. One day though, I got a little bit obsessed. And that obsession became fiber. So much of a obsession that I started to count how many grams of fiber I took in a day.  Yes, I may need help.

You see, my father had two heart attacks and the second one took his life at the age of 67. From that point on, I’ve watched my diet a lot more than I did in the past (Although, I did hit a bit of a funk and motivated myself to lose 20 pounds).  Knowing that heart disease runs in my family, I needed to conscience of what I ate. According to the Cheerios box, fiber helps reduce cholesterol or heart disease. How can you argue with Cheerios?

So I started watching and counting my fiber intake to make sure I was getting a healthy dose. But what exactly is a healthy dose?  According to Harvard School of Health, men should shoot for 30 grams of fiber a day in their diet.

I promise you it’s not easy without some effort.  The American Dietetic Association confirms this saying that

“Americans don’t even come close to getting the necessary fiber in their diet”.

Nonetheless, I knew that with heart disease in my family I didn’t have a choice.

While 30 grams of daily fiber is a tall order, I’ve been able to get to do it.  In fact, over the years I’ve pretty well perfected to where now I can get 40 grams of fiber in one day with ease (sometimes 50 grams  if I’m on a super fiber kick).   So if you are interested in increasing your fiber in-take or if you need to perform Rotor Rooters on your large intestine, follow these tips one easy ways to get fiber in your diet.

Warning: if you don’t usually eat a lot of fiber, and you start to increase immediately, I would strongly suggest keeping a bathroom close.  You have been warned.

1. Berry, Berry Mo’ Merry

High on Fiber and High on Taste!

Fruit, fruit, and more fruit. In case you missed my previous post, part of my daily routine is drinking my nutritious health shake. In that health shake, one of the main ingredients is frozen fruit. But not just any frozen fruit.  My main fruity ingredient are frozen berries. The frozen berries that I blend in my shake are  blue berries, black berries and raspberries (I always add extra raspberries for the sweet taste and they have the most grams of fiber).

Tons of Fiber and Sweet Tasting

To give you an idea of how much fiber is in berries, one cup which will equate 21 grams of carbohydrates, will also get you 9 grams of fiber. How amazing is that? I figured that between the berry mix included in my shake  that I net somewhere in that 12 to 15 range of grams of fiber.  Even better is that they taste good!

2 & 3. Flaxseed and Wheat Germ- The Batman and Robin of Fiber

Killer Fiber Combo

Also included in my health shake is flaxseed and, at times, wheat germ. I know what you’re thinking: Flax seed? Wheat germ? That’s got to be disgusting! I have to admit, if you ate it by itself, it tastes a lot like cardboard with a dose of chopped up shoestrings. But it’s amazing, when you mix it in the shake and the frozen fruit, you can barely even taste it.  It reminds me of orange juice with pulp; just a little heavier on the pulp.

Two amazing sources of fiber

Adding a tablespoon of flaxseed and a few shakes of wheat germ usually gets me another 5 to 6 grams of fiber. As you can see, my health shake alone contributes to a large chunk of that 40 grams of fiber.

4. I’m on a Fiber Mission

Who needs hamburger buns when you got these?

The next really easy way to get fiber is a little discovery I came across a couple years ago. Mission, which is well-known for their tortilla chips and salsa, came out with one of the best products for fiber lovers. They released the Mission Carb Balance Fiber Wraps, which I can put almost anything on and enjoy it.  One of the most common ways that I’ll eat these wraps is by making an egg burrito or egg white burrito, and having one or possibly two wraps during the day, or sometimes I’ll go through a drive-through like Arby’s and get a roast beef sandwich, and then when I get back to the office, I’ll throw away the bun and then put the meat on the wrap.

11 grams in one tasty wrap.

One wrap will get you 18 grams of carbohydrates for 11 grams of fiber. 11 grams! It’s pretty easy to eat two of these wraps, so that will net you 22 grams of fiber. If your bowels aren’t moving yet, don’t worry, we’re not done.

5. Fiber + Chocolate Chips  = Heaven

Chocolate Chips and Fiber, Are you Kidding me?

Another awesome discovery that was turned on to me by a good friend of mine are Fiber One bars. I like chocolate, and it’s amazing how great one of the oats and chocolate Fiber One bars tastes. If you have a sweet tooth, I strongly recommend this.

9 grams of fiber! Amazing.

One Fiber One bar will get you 29 grams of carbs, but also 9 grams of fiber. I eat one of these at least 5 to 6 days per week.  If chocolate is not your thing, they also have a berry flavor which is also very tasty.

6. Go, Go Kashi Fiber Bars!

Go Kashi to Go Fiber

Another tasty snack when you’re on the go are Kashi Go Lean  Bars. They’re a little bit more chewier than the Fiber One Bars but they do have about the same amount of carbohydrates. I don’t eat these every day.  I’ll just snack on one of these when I’m on the go and need a quick snack.

It's Crunchy Too!

One Kashi Bar will get you about 29 grams of carbs with 6 grams of fiber. Why I also like these bars as an alternative to the Fiber One Bars is that they net you about seven grams more of protein, and we all know how much I like protein.

7. Sara Lee Soft and Smooth Like Butter

Sarah Lee is Smooth on Fiber

If you’re all wrapped out, and you actually need some bread, I encourage you to take a look at the Sarah Lee Plus 100% Whole Wheat Bread.  I have tried a few other wheat breads that have a little bit higher dose of fiber, but the Sarah Lee far excels their taste. One of my favorite snacks is peanut butter and toast and Sarah Lee definitely fits in with that craving.

Sarah Lee Knows Fiber

Two slices of wheat bread will get you 26 grams of fiber and 12 grams of fiber.

8. Update: New Double Fiber Wheat Bread Discovery

Just the other day I was in the grocery store picking up some of my usual high fiber items when low and behold I discovered this:

Nature’s Own Double Fiber Wheat Bread! Double Fiber?!  Is someone just teasing this fiber lover?

Double Your Fun, Double Your Fiber

Not at all.  Look at the label.  For one slice of bread you get 5 grams of fiber, more than double than the Sara Lee that I used to get.   How freaking awesome!  But how does it taste?  Double the fiber usually means, a double inverse on taste.

Crazy Fiber in This Bread!

I’m excited to share that the bread is actually pretty good.  Maybe not as good as the Sara Lee, but who cares!  It’s the double the fiber, remember?

9, 10, 11, & 12. The Rest of the Fruit of The Loom

Fruit of the Loom Has Fiber

Lastly, in case you need some other options to get you 40 grams of fiber, you can also try to incorporate other fruits in your diet. For example, apples, bananas, oranges, and grapes are a good source of fiber.  One large apple will get you around 4 grams, a banana will get you around 3 grams, and 1 cup of grapes have just over 1 gram.

13+. Other Notables

These are just a few of the many ways that you can get fiber in your diet.  Some other notable mentions are salads (not iceburg lettuce), nuts, green vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, spinach), and legumes (beans).  In fact, I’ve started to incorporate more black beans in my diet to replace the amount of white rice I was eating.  In one 1/2 cup serving of black beans, you’ll get around 6 grams of fiber. On a good day, I’m sure I can crack 50 grams of fiber!

Sources:

• http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fiber/
• http://www.insidershealth.com/article/most_americans_don_t_get_enough_fiber_according_to_research_do_you/4064

As I age, it seems that I’m constantly getting these nagging injuries from me doing my crazy Crossfit workouts. (You can ask the wife, she’s tired of hearing me complain). I’ve tweaked my shoulder, left knee, right trap (upper back), forearm, and; most recently, my right bicep. I had never hurt my bicep that much before and was surprised on how much it affected my day to day activities. It affected them so much that I had to rely on my left arm to pick up the slack.

The incident had reminded me about some show that I watched that discussed on how much of a benefit it was to use your non-dominant hand. You may be surprised to learn that there are benefits to you when using your opposite hand – I know I was. It feels awkward and you are likely to have much less control over what your non-dominant hand can do, but when you use your opposite hand you are “growing” your brain! I used my injury as a chance to permanently grow my brain for ever more. I made a vow to start using my left hand for as many tasks that were previously always done with my right. It was time to grown my brain. Trust me. I need all the help I can get.

This is Your Brain

The human brain is an organ that improves through mental stimulation. The brain continuously adapts, grows and rewires itself through the growth of new neurons. When people age, it’s common that they experience memory loss and sometimes their fine motor skills – but unless the mental decline is caused by disease, most age-related memory and motor skill ability loss is from lack of brain exercise. If you don’t use your brain, it loses it’s knowledge.

This is Your Brain Left Handed

Using your opposite hand will strengthen neural connections in your brain, and even grow new ones. It’s similar to how physical exercise improves your body’s functioning and grows muscles.

Try using your non-dominant hand to write. Use it to control the computer mouse or television remote. Brush your teeth with your other hand. You’ll probably notice it’s much harder to be precise with your movements. When I first started to brush my teeth with my left hand, it was hard to actually move my hand instead of my head.

Now let's see how I write with my left hand....

Using your left hand might remind you how you felt when you were first learning to write your name, or tie your shoelaces. You will probably feel awkward, but this just means you are teaching your brain a new skill.

Repetitively using your opposite hand will eventually build up the knowledge and ability to use it with better functioning, although it’s probably not going to become as easy to use as your dominant hand.

Your Opposite Hand – Unleashes Creativity

Using your non-dominant, or opposite hand, confuses your brain. The brain is in charge of keeping you functioning and it does that with predictability. It understands the way our bodies work and behaves in the world, but when we try writing with our opposite hand – it confuses the brain and it’s efficiency. The brain that operates effectively for our every day activities may not be the same parts of the brain which allows us to be creative.

If you’d like to unleash some hidden creativity, try writing with your opposite hand. As bad as my penmanship is, writing with my left hand isn’t really that worse It is sometimes the nudge our practical brain needs to “move out of the way” for the creative juices to get flowing again! The non-dominant hand is actually linked to the non-dominant hemisphere in your brain – the one that isn’t exercised as often. There are studies that show that when you use your dominant hand, one hemisphere of the brain is active. When you use the non-dominant hand, both hemispheres are activated, which may result in thinking differently and becoming more creative.

What I Now Do With My Left Hand

I was amazed on how challenging it was in the beginning to use my left hand. I felt like a doofus and realized how uncoordinated my left hand really is. Now, I consciously make an effort to use my left hand as much as I can. Here’s some the day to day activities that I’ve been able to successfully convert to southpaw:

Do my teeth cleaner using my left hand?

Can You Benefit From Using Your Non-dominant Hand?

Some therapists have used an exercise where they ask their patients to write with their opposite hands, and it allows people to access some suppressed emotions. If this interests you, contact a trained professional to help you through this activity. For use in every day life, however, you can simply try writing with your opposite hand a little each day, asking your “every day brain” to move aside, and see if it helps you become more creative or triggers improved memory functioning.

Have you ever tried using your non-dominant hand for daily tasks? If so, share your story. Did you feel as clumsy as I did?

Sources:

• http://hubpages.com/hub/Creativity-and-the-Non-dominant-Hand
• http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/exercise.html

Denial.  If you look it up in the dictionary, it means disbelief in the existence or reality of a thing.  When it comes to what my weight had grown to, I was in the strongest case of denial ever.

All through college, it was always my goal to weigh at least 200 pounds (I weighed a whopping 140lbs when I was 16 and didn’t gain that much more going into my senior year). I worked out five days a week and did the protein/creatine thing. I was in great shape.  After I graduated and started my career, the  time I had to work out lessened and I saw myself gaining a little bit of flubber in areas I wasn’t used to.  When I was deployed in 2005, it gave me the chance to resume my college workout schedule, where I was working out twice a day when I could.  I did a combination of free weights and a workout program called CrossFit, which is the staple of my workout program today.  Being a little older, I had gained muscle and weighed 205, which was the most I had weighed, but I was very lean and very content with my body weight and physique.  Returning home, I continued to work out on a pretty frequent basis, but I had justified that as long as I was working out I was entitled to eat what I wanted.

Last August 2009, I had ballooned to 216 pounds and had lost the “leanness” that I had attained while overseas.   I’m not sure exactly what it was, but I finally realized that I needed to change.   Having a family history of heart disease and high blood pressure, it was time to do something.  I made a choice that I was going to lose weight.  It’s funny when you make the choice and commitment to do something and how quickly you can see results. It only took me two months to lose 12 pounds.  As I’ve been committed through the New Year, I’ve been able to not only keep it off, but I lost an additional eight more pounds. I am holding steady at a total net loss of 20 pounds while weighing around 196.  For those of you that are juggling a full-time job and raising a family, here are the tips that helped me.

1. The health shake.

My Health Shake

In a previous post, I had shared with you the health shake that I drink religiously Monday through Friday.  It is my belief that this is the shake that has helped sustain my weight, and although I had ballooned to 216 pounds, I’m confident in had I not had this shake as a stable part of my diet, that 216 would be a compliment compared to what I think I would have grown to.  The shake allows me to get a good a healthy dose of nutrition while on the go, and by drinking half of my shake in the morning and half in the afternoon (just like good old Slimfast), it has helped me to curb my appetite and keep my diet in check.

2. The salad.

I’m one of the rare men of this world that actually enjoys eating salad, but the problem was I didn’t eat enough of it.  I’ve made a conscientious effort to buy salad for home so that I can eat a bowl before dinner to help suppress my appetite.  When I go out for lunch during the week, instead of ordering the reuben or the heavy pasta dish that I found myself leaning towards, I now make it a priority to order some sort of chicken or grilled steak salad.  Am I still hungry later?  Sometimes.   But I can just hold out and drink the second half of my shake to bridge me to my afternoon workout.

3. Portion control.

This is the huge one.  I love white rice! There is no getting around it.  I’ve tried brown rice in the past, and while it is okay, it would never take away my love for white rice.  It is something that I refuse to give up, so to make up for it, I had to keep my portions in check.  It was pretty common of me to fix two uncooked cups of white rice and consume it all for dinner. Talk about a overdose of carbs.  It wasn’t always like that.   Along the way I had allowed my portions get larger and larger.  By limiting the portion of the amount of rice I ate to the fist-sized portion that is usually recommended, it has directly helped me to lose the pounds.

4. Super size me not.

photo credit: iccsports

While I had convinced myself that I was eating halfway decent during the week, I had allowed the weekends to get completely out of control. They say that you should allow yourself a cheat meal a week,  but I had turned my weekend into a completely “cheat weekend”.  And that was a reoccurring event. There were many weekends where I would eat McDonald’s at least once.  But not just #1 with a Diet Coke.  Oh no. I would usually get the Big Mac Value Meal and a 6 piece chicken nugget.  On top of that, I would head to Don Taco, my favorite Mexican joint, and get steak nachos, loaded up will all that cheese, throw on a quesadilla and taco, and call it a day. Not to mention that we usually eat out at least one night, either Friday or Saturday.   As you can tell, I’m not shy about what I can eat.

When I made the choice to not eat McDonald’s or the Don Taco over the weekend, I didn’t eat McDonald’s for over three months.  Other than when I was in Iraq, that was a personal best for me.  When I have ate it since, I”m amazed at how salty it tastes.  By reducing the amount of fast food in my diet, I’m certain this has had a reducing effect to my weight. Since last August, I’ve probably had a “cheat meal” at  McDonald’s a total of seven or eight times (not counting the grilled chicken salads for lunch); which, had it not been for us moving to a new house, would have been a lot less. Nonetheless, that has been the driving force to helping me lose the weight.

5. Working it out.

I consider myself to be an  avid Crossfitter, which is one of the most intense workout programs I’ve ever followed. I started in Iraq  in ’05, and have kept it up ever since.  I  kept up the workouts during the week, usually getting at least three, if not four days in.  I’ve also invested into the P90x workout program, and I make it a tremendous effort to at least get one day on the weekend. All in all, I’m trying to average at least four, if not five days a week. I figure having that extra day, is once again, burning off some extra calories, and helping me keep my belt loop in check.

Are You Like Me?

Are you too suffering from the Big “D” regarding your weight?  If so, what are you waiting for?  It’s time to get off your butt and do something about it.