4 Tips Pre-Workout Meals for Weekend Warriors - Repost from 2013

I’ve noticed that in our over-abundant western diet people tend to waste a lot of energy around food by; choosing low energy foods that our bodies have to fight off, over-indulging in heavy meats (especially red-meat) that take a lot longer and require a lot more energy to digest (among other issues),

and the consistent overuse of our digestive system by constant snacking and eating.

One of my current clients has been a little concerned about what to eat both pre and post workout.  In my world food choices never really change, I don't subscribe to any particular measurement of protein, carb, and fat ratio pre and/or post workout, because I follow the YourDay BalanceGame method of CBC (clean, balanced and consistent).

The main concern to me with food is eliminating all the foods and drinks that have been known to take away from your health, the main ones being dairy, sugar, gluten and all the chemicals and genetic modification we’ve become accustomed to.

I understand some of you don’t want to let go of your milk or bread, and that’s fine as long as you understand how it may be taking away from your health and weight management goals.  I also understand you can probably show me all the research articles on “positive benefits” of milk, wine, beer, coffee, wheat etc. etc….but while I’m eating my organic grass-fed, free-range and wild-caught vegetables, meats and grains (which people have also went out of their way to try and prove are no greater than conventional pesticide filled, caged food choices) I don’t have to deal with the lack of integrity in my body as I choose foods that I am 100% sure are the best option for me given my current understanding of health. I’ve never heard anyone say not to eat organic kale because it might give me cancer or raise my blood sugar!

So, what to eat pre-workout?

Outside of organized team sports which take a lot more mental preparation; if you're an extreme athlete like a marathoner, ironman, crossfit-competitor, bodybuilder or any of the other physical competitions that take up nearly as much time as a second or sometimes first job, it’s understandable that nutrition can become a big deal. But... how many of you are truly invested in your fitness at that level? 

I see far too many people who try to emulate these athletes by getting all of the gear, swag, supplements and accessories that make them look the part, kind of like me dressing the part of a golfer when I play in my a fundraiser golf tournament once a year at most.

You know who I mean, the aspiring competitor, actually merely a weekend warrior, who buys all the gear and starts loading up on all the pre and post workout shakes and powders to create maximal energy, muscle gain, endurance or whatever other artificial benefits the products tout. 

The worst is when the ladies get super-inspired by a fitness-model or female crossfit competitors physique, get super committed to hit the gym daily, count every calorie and because they see someone else doing it, start their strict protein shake regimen, pre and post workout, and wherever else makes them feel like they're getting the protein they need to get the build they desire.

I say the women’s scenario is the worst because the majority of the women i’ve run in to in the gym are looking to be more lean and feminine, in contrast to the men who don’t really care about lean as much as they want to be as big as possible.

So, I feel for the woman a little more when they get on the protein shakes thinking they are feeding their muscles, and not understanding that with the amount of artificial sweeteners, chemicals, and milk in most protein shakes it’s inevitable that they are going to carry a little more body fat. This is only compounded when the rest of their diet isn't balanced and healthy.  

According to Dr. Bowden, a nationally known expert on weight loss and nutrition,  chemicals such as high fructose corn syrup are obesity promoters, “high jacking hormonal pathways, sending messages to cells to store fat and generally disrupting the regulatory system that helps control appetite and weight.”  

I experienced this firsthand my junior and senior year of college. I felt 205lbs was the weight I needed to be at to be the most competitive on the field.  Looking back it’s obvious that I wasn’t the healthiest 205 I’ve ever been, but you couldn’t have told me that then on my diet of EAS Meal Replacements, and my obsession with eating every 2 to 3 hours.

Check out the ingredients of the most popular protein shakes from their websites and some other perspectives:

Muscle Milk http://www.musclemilk.com/products/powders/naturals

http://www.leanitup.com/muscle-milk-or-metal-milk-whats-really-inside-the-bottle/ muscle milk metal pix

Progenex next http://www.progenexusa.com/products/1-recovery.aspx#

EAS Whey Protein suppz.com http://eas.com/product/100-pct-whey-protein-powder check it out for yourself.

As I looked for their labels on the actually product sight it was hard to find, it seemed as though they tried to hide the chemical ingredients by only discussing the “featured ingredients”.  

I would caution those weekend warriors and committed women looking to lean up and get serious about their training regiment to look at the whole picture. For all of those cross-fit athletes who are not quite competitors, when you see Rich Froning discussing his diet of peanut butter and whole milk, you better believe if you aren’t doing 3 of 4 workouts a day 6 to 7 days a week and you aren’t the worlds fittest man or woman, you will probably have some extra fat to work with.

Larry Palazzolo wrote a great article on the subject you can find here.

Around the time the article  came out in mens fitness about Froning’s not so competitive diet, I was getting my first taste of crossfit, and me and Azadeh had started traveling around the country doing nutrition seminars for different gyms and boxes.  That article was one of the most common questions brought up when we started our talk about milk and all of it’s ill-effects.

The very first seminar we put on was in San Antonio at S.O.C. Crossfit.  We had a great vibe with the co-owner and his wife and everybody seemed excited about the wisdom we were dropping, until it came to the milk subject.  JB who now owns Pillar Crossfit, who actually has a remarkably Froning look to him, was the first to bring it up.  He was all in on everything we were talking about until it came out that  he  was consuming a gallon of milk every couple of days. After a few weeks of not believing me he finally decided to cut it out completely and got to his leanest ever as you can see in the picture above going from around 12% to 9% body fat. (In men you can usually see all 6 abs defined once they are under 12%).

So here they are, My Pre-Workout Tips…

1. Let go of your obsession with food.

I started fasting years ago as a means to break some of my emotional ties to food. At times when I feel my cravings are overpowering my daily habits I take a day where I only drink water for a day or do a "Mean Green" juice fast where I only drink the juice who's recipe I took straight from the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." 

I found a great article that talks about some of the benefits of fasting on health. According to the article:

 "fasting not only lowers one's risk of coronary artery disease and diabetes, but also causes significant changes in a person's blood cholesterol levels." 

2. Stop taking your training so seriously.

The majority of exercisers are not what I would call elite, or else elite would mean average :-/ . Which means we don't get paid to train, which means we probably literally cannot afford the amount of time and energy it takes to be a full-time athlete. So, if you are not dedicating 4 to 5 hours a day to training why are you trying to eat as if you were?

3. Try something new.

If you normally eat a full course meal pre-workout in the am try going with just a piece of low glycemic fruit and a handful of nuts. Don’t stuff yourself the night before and it woks that much better. Maybe try a low glycemic juice for the boost of nutrients without all of the excess digestion and processing. Maybe even try just having water once in a while.

4. Get your nutrition daily.

The bulk of the nutrition you need comes the days before you actually exercise.

Pilon, from Experiencelife.com The Case for Intermittent fasting says,  If you tend to get hungry before working out, the sensation might be more psychological than physical. “Most likely, what we call hunger is really a learned reaction to a combination of metabolic, social and environmental cues to eat,” he says. “Consider that most people get noticeably hungry or irritated if they have gone more than two to three hours without eating. But during this time, metabolically speaking, they are still in the fed state.”

Just because your body is used to it doesn't mean it’s the only way.  

Try these tips and see how your body responds, and as always I would love to hear your feedback and stories of success or failure. It's all a learning experience.  

Wal-Mart and The Pride of Las Cruces

Their was a recent media/social media buzz in my hometown about a fourth Wal-Mart entity taking root in our community. Their were a lot of opinions swirling around representing political, economic and community pride interests. I had a month long experience that inspired this letter as a call-to-action for any New Mexican, American or human for that matter, who is tired of talking about politics and problems, and is ready to do something to change their daily experience of the places they live, play and work. If that sounds like you please read and share my letter to people of action:

Monday afternoon I had the opportunity to witness my first city council meeting and I left feeling like I witnessed something pretty powerful. It wasn’t just the event itself that impacted me, but how it fit into a slew of synchronistic events.

Synchronicity - the simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.

Do you ever feel like things are working you in a direction for a reason you don’t fully understand, yet feel fully compelled to see it through? Well, that was April for me.

I was really honored when I got the call from my buddy in Atlanta giving me the opportunity to host Ona Brown’s Albuquerque stop of her “Own Your Dreams” tour on April 6th. Among the many amazing people I met through that organizing and planning effort, was Cathryn MacGill of New Mexico Black History Month Organizing Committee. She mentioned an event I should try and come back to Albuquerque to attend, and on Saturday April 11th I received the invitation. That day I was running for the Board of Directors at the Mountain View Market Co-op’s Annual Member Meeting where I met Kary Bachman whom I found out was going to that very event Cathryn had just invited me to. I was considering going but wasn’t committed until Kary invited me to ride along with her and her colleague. A week later I found myself enjoying the ride and getting to know a little more about Kary, Place Matters, the Community Foundation and her colleague Jenna and the Health Impact Assessment she had just finished putting together.

At the event I learned about Healthy People, Healthy Places and all of the great work Con Alma and The Community Foundation is doing to not only assist the less fortunate with programs, but also effect policy change to break the cycles of “institutional racism” and create more health equity. I was most intrigued by the notion that your zip code and skin color determine your health, especially coming from my background as a health enthusiast and wellness coach. Up until now, I liked to inspire people to change from the inside, seeing that I, a black man raised in the disparaging environments of Chaparral and Gadsden High School, was able to overcome my zip code, graduate college and earn a draft pick by the highly competitive National Football League.

On this day, I found myself astounded by a map breaking down the city of Albuquerque based on income levels, which usually also includes ethnicity, and how it coincided with the locations of numerous businesses that produce chemicals and pollutants that are known to be hazardous. It painted a more clear picture as to how city planners, politicians and the wealthy don’t allow certain entities in some communities, while others such as the under-served and under-represented minorities are taken advantage of by the very systems those individuals look to for support and respite. I was touched by the plight for a people who might not know their options and who have become, or have been conditioned to be, so dependent on the system that they eagerly accept whatever they get.

That was all day Friday, and I woke up so inspired Saturday morning I wrote this letter to the people I met at the Con Alma event that resembled the manifesto Jerry Maguire wrote in the beginning of the movie.  Then, on Monday I missed the proclamation of April as Mountain View Market Co-op month, but made it to city hall in time to hear the discussion on rezoning, where I strategically gave up my two minutes to speak to Carrie Hamblin of The Green Chamber who put her two minutes plus mine together so eloquently to represent the chambers position. So, I share my opinion now:

The businessman, Dr. Aday, who wanted to change the zoning of his land to develop a grocery store, gave a good introduction to his cause; he sounded like a businessman making a viable business choice. A lawyer and a representative from a company in Colorado, most likely hired by Wal-Mart, accompanied him and reflected the legitimacy of the business transaction which could create jobs and get a portion of Tashiro built out to help with the traffic a new grocery store would create.

When the locals had their turn to speak the conversation became highly emotionally charged as business owners and employees spoke from the heart about what would be lost if Wal-Mart was able to buy that piece of land. It was quite impressive to see the employees speak so highly of their employers and their company’s impact in our community. The main issues were great jobs being lost to sub-par Wal-Mart jobs without benefits, when you look at part-time employment, as well as safety concerns about the traffic increase on Tashiro. Besides those concerns, the theme of pride in our community seemed to be an underlying notion, which is what I really wanted to speak on.

As an entrepreneur I am a fan of Sam Walton’s work. The most respected authors on entrepreneurship and business practices frequently cite what Walton and Wal-Mart have been able to do, and anyone would be a fool to deny the strength of Wal-Mart’s business model. I also recognize that there are ways of getting things done and then there are conscious efforts to not only serve individual desires, but to also serve humanity. I’ve heard it stated succinctly as the 3 P’s that the cooperative model strives to embody: people, planet and profit, known as the Triple Bottom Line.

Everyone in the room was speaking for their own selfish motives; if you are not being selfish you might be a saint. The Wal-Mart people didn’t seem like villains to me, they looked like any neighbor at work, doing what he or she is paid to do. All of the local businesses were protecting their interests; just the same as you and I go to work and selfishly secure our portion for the day whether we get paid handsomely for it, or choose to take our payment in the good feeling we get when the task is complete.

What impacted me more was who wasn’t in the room. Carrie Hamblen spoke of 23% of our population who live in poverty and change the economic structure for all of us by being supported by the government entities, which is how I interpreted her claim. These people who didn’t show up for this issue, don’t seem to show up for any issues. It seems they might be the same people conservatives despise when tax increases are made, and whom someone at the Community Foundation was talking about when they used the term “institutional-racism.” These are the people I wanted to leave behind when I graduated from NMSU and was ready to go grab my piece of the American dream. When people jokingly butcher our state motto referring to New Mexico as “The Land of Entrapment,” I believe it’s these very same people they’re talking about. Somehow the line between these people and the rest of us has become remarkably blurred, especially when looking at the state as a whole and the world’s experience of what it means to be a New Mexican. When these businesses talked about pride in our communities, it touched on a longing most of us will always have until we do something drastic to revitalize the legacy of being a New Mexican.

When I decided to come back home a year ago, I tried to bring as many pieces of my community in Atlanta with me as possible. I was scared that without that influence I would turn back in to a complacent New Mexican. I am not opposed to Wal-Mart because I think they are evil; I believe that we will continue to accept Wal-Mart as long as we feel we deserve them, and similar “big-box” entities like this will be here in droves because of the way we truly value our local businesses and their impact on our economic development.

It resembles the relationship of that buddy of yours who deserves the world, but he keeps ending up being taken advantage of by women who are only in it for themselves. You can see all the signs, tell them till you’re blue in the face, but until they truly believe they deserve better, they will have the same experience over and over again. They may cry as they play the victim role, but at the end of the day you see them make the same exact choice, so it’s hard to have pity for them.

As a health coach I experience this daily. People will tell me they want something beautiful and inspiring, but when I see the amount of effort they are putting in, versus what I told them it would take, I know what they truly think they deserve. Respectively, I know that it will be evident they will get it soon when they start making new choices.

In coaching I have learned that there is no way to make someone change, and the best I can do is continue to set an example and create as many opportunities to learn and expand awareness as possible. The more engaged I am with my client, and the more solid I am in expressing my beliefs and habits, the better chance they have of getting it, when they choose to. I have had a selfish motive for getting other people healthy since day one; I know that if I’m the only one demanding health, my access to health will be limited and thwarted by the actions of people who don’t care as much as I do. Policies and norms will be working against me if people are allowed to smoke in my office, if emissions aren’t regulated, if food-labeling standards are lowered; it all impacts my quality of life.

So, you can be all for free-enterprise, I think I am too, and at the same time make a stance for the pride of the community you live in and call home. There were people who showed up to this City Council meeting and they talked about pride and about supporting local. With my personal interest in living in a community I am excited to grow a business in and raise my children in, I am ready to stand for creating something different in our community.  My interests in the Mountain View Market Cooperative and what it means to our community, along with my new-found inspiration for the work that the Community Foundation is doing to change policies that limit health equity, gives me even more cause to voice my beliefs and opinions.

 Oscar Andrade of Pic Qwik, Eugenia Montoya Ortega of La Fiesta Bakery, Jerry Silva of Save Mart, and everyone else who showed up, made great presentations and called for supporting local. Your voices were instrumental in the unanimous vote against the zoning change. In a reactionary move we gathered quickly and powerfully, and won that battle, but in the grand scheme of things, as a community in terms of economic development, we are losing the war in an ever-expanding chasm of disparity. Seeing how eager prominent figures in our community are to embrace another Wal-Mart, I think we will be seeing Wal-Mart, Trader Joes, and all sorts of other ‘big-box’ stores coming in, syphoning money from our economy as they give us what we want, keep us desperately satisfied, and make the chances of esteem for community bleak.

It will take a proactive effort and real long-term investments of time, energy, and fiscal, physical and social muscle to make a lasting impact in the future of our community and its economic development. People already passionately working on issues that intersect with this one, and the collective voices and support could create the impact our community desperately needs. Are you willing to connect and mobilize for a more advantageous future that embraces the ideology of the Triple Bottom Line – that recognizes free enterprise as a model that works and is open to giving the citizens a dignified voice, and an engaging and inspired experience of community? If so please show your dedication to creating a new legacy for New Mexicans by showing up when your fellow local enterprises are gathering to make change. Can we count on you when organizing in support of the buy local, health equity, and the cooperative economic model campaigns? I would love to hear back from you and share ways that we can cooperate. 

Sincerely,

Siddeeq Shabazz

510-459-2671

smshabazz@gmail.com