Back to Work

Tomorrow is my first day of work after three and a half months of blissful unemployment. Gone are my days of being almost the only one at the gym, surfing uncrowded waves during the week and skateboarding in a relatively quiet Central Park.

My biggest concern about the job? Food. I eat a lot during the day, spread over several meals as a way to keep my metabolism stoked. So I need to figure out again what to take and where I can store it. I'm also planning on changing lunch. It used to a sandwich, small salad and string cheese. Now, in a bid to cut the bread even though it was sprouted whole wheat, I want to try one big salad, an idea I got from Mark's Daily Apple.

I'll let you know how it goes.

The Simplest Nutrition Rule

A friend who is a very good health writer and I were talking today about an article in Men's Health that says bad fats may not be as evil as some doctors say. It's a truly interesting piece that takes apart some of the reasoning behind the saturated-fat-is-bad philosophy.

But is it right? I don't know. I do know that I am doing things like eating eggs much more often because I read more and more about how their benefits outweigh their drawbacks.

Then my friend said amid all the debates about what's best to eat it's probably best to follow one simple rule -- if it's processed, don't eat it. When she said that it reminded of what Jack LaLanne said so long ago: "If man made it, don't eat it." Hey, he's more than 90 years old and still doing great, which ought to make you think there's something to what he says.

Youth and Vigor

I had to run by the grocery store tonight after the gym. As I waited in line, the man in front of me turned, looked at me standing there in shorts, and said, “You aren’t cold?”

“It’s not so bad,” I said, which I meant -- it was only in the mid-30s outside and there was no wind. I wasn’t cold. Plus, I was also wearing a fleece jacket over a sweat shirt.

“I wish I had your youth and vigor,” he said, adding that he was like an old man, bundled up in layers to protect himself from the cold.

But here’s the thing -- I’m hardly young. I’m 42. And he was hardly an old man. He was 50, maybe.

So what was the difference? I’d like to think it’s my approach to health and fitness. I care deeply about both, and work hard at both. Working out and eating well have become my hobby over the past 10 or 15 years, which means I’ve learned a lot along the way. I’ve learned by training with some of the best -- mainly the folks at Velocity Sports Performance in Manhattan -- and digging through articles and blogs written by some of the sharpest and most innovative minds in fitness, from Adam Campbell at Men’s Health to Alwyn Cosgrove, who runs Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, Calif.

So my thought was that others might be able to learn from what I’ve learned. No, I’m not an expert. But I do know a lot. And maybe people can see things that work for me and give them a try. Or maybe they can be exposed to the thinking of some of these great minds through my training and nutrition.

That’s my goal with this blog. Then there’s the greater goal, which is to never become the old man the guy in line at the grocery store said he’d become. I believe that’s possible. I believe that with proper training and nutrition, you can always have the youth and vigor he talked about, regardless of your age.