So Far So Good! Isagenix and thoughts on Intermittent/Alternate Day Fasting.

Ten days in since I started my new program and I feel lighter, a bit more energetic and definitely stronger.  Picking up my niece in the morning is a dead-lift for me, I love it!My work-outs routine is currently 3 days out of the week at every other day.  When I began, I felt as if I may need to take the next step up as it comes in 4 level.  In the mean time though, I have added some yoga class after work on my off days.  Along with my regular diet change (Paleolithic), I have included Isagenix.  

Isagenix is a health company founded in 2002, Isagenix embraces a two-fold mission of impacting world health and providing people with the opportunity to obtain financial freedom. Isagenix manufactures and markets products designed to address health challenges such as obesity, nutritional depletion, stress and environmental toxicity. The company's product lines include nutritional cleansing, supplements and skin care.  

My sister came across the products through a friend of hers who had recommended it so she decided to  try it with my brother-in-law.  They split the 30 day nutritional cleansing and each did 15 days and noticed a lot of improvements.  You can ask her more when you see her or just message her, she's on my facebook; Jenny Shatzel.  She's also a distributor so you can contact her if you want to order or learn more.  

My friend and I bought the 30 day cleanse and split it into 15 days each in August.  I felt great and I lost about 8 pounds I was able to maintain off my body.  Before I began my current program I was going to start another 30 days on my own.  Now how can I best describe Isagenix to those of you who don't know what it is; It's like Slim-Fast but not really.  I shouldn't have even compared it to that.  It's just when you hear two shakes throughout the day and dinner, I hear Tommy Lasorda in my head and suddenly it's 1989. 

 The Isagenix Isalean shakes are chalk full of nutrients but if you need a more detailed idea of what you are putting in your body, feel free to check out the site.  Along with the shakes you are able to have literally a handful of snacks and a low-glycemic meal for dinner.  The first couple of days were so,so, where I got hungry just before dinner time. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be ok.  Plus you can really modify your cleanse to fit you better.   

101 yr. old man who ran the London marathon.
From Eat. Fast and Live longer.

Curiously, after doing the Isagenix cleanse, I watched an excellent BBC documentary called Eat, Fast and Live Longer.  A great and truly inspiring program that I felt slightly embraced Isagenix's message. The documentary goes though a series of different ways to stay healthy and live longer.  Two studies that stood out to me were Intermittent Fasting and Alternate Day Fasting.  They both sound they same but there are differences between the two.  Alternate Day Fasting is a reduction in food intake (similar to Intermittent basically means starve one day, pig-out the next (sounds awesome right?!)    

Dr. Krista Varady and Michael Mosley
from Eat, Fast, and Live Longer.

After I showed my sister the program, Dr. Krista Varady went on to endorse Isagenix after clinical research.   My favorite part of the documentary is when the filmmaker or producer becomes part of subject.  Watch his results-If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers, 

Thoughts on First Program Work-out, importance of play-lists and stop watch!

I started my day with an Isagenix shake 30 minutes before my workout (I will explain Isagenix later, but I am incorporating it into my workout diet)  had my first workout with my program.  I started with Level 2 - "The Recruit Workout"

I started sweating during the first exercise of the warm-up, consisting of

The shake I had (minus the fancy
strawberry (la-di-da!))

-10 Jumping Jacks
-15 Chops
-5 Hip Raises
-10 Rotational Chops
-8 (incline) Push-Ups









Oh wait very important!  Get some music to Pump you up!  You don't need house music or back to back beats, my playlist is very eclectic:

This is as much of my playlist as I needed today (there's nothing like warming up to Cecilia).  I downloaded an app that is a stop watch that came in handy called Minuteur, it helps keep you on check with your time.

Stop-Watch App I downloaded.

The program suggest that you write everything down to see your progress.  My thoughts on my first Rebel Workout:   I may need to read Level 3 as soon as this week.  I'm not out of shape, I just need to tone.  I followed up my workout with a Vinyasa Yoga class before work, plus also today is a play day for me.


So I will be going out tonight.  The program does give you the option of leeway on one day if you want to have a "cheat-day."  Most people would take a food day and pig-out; I prefer to take it as a night out!  And I am curious to see how this will go and how I will keep my intake count for the day.  Thank goodness for lunch I had a Chocolate Isalean Shake from Isagenix; I have about 1500 calories left for the day, not to mention the two work-outs for the day and the basic calorie burn off of just existing.  I think I'll be fine, but if I call you at night to bail me out of jail for some reason, please pick up the phone.

Cheers,
Luis

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.  Tomorrow we'll talk about Isagenix!

Going Paleo, Counting Calories and what it really means!

So the program I am currently on recommends the Paleo-lifestyle, which after flirting with Vegetarianism and Raw-Foodism is more than fine with me (everything in moderation right?)  Let's face I'm Latin, and I love Latin food and you try and talk my mother into thinking Meat is bad for you.

On the contrary, going Paleo means just that, food that our ancestors ate that kept them fit for the hunt.   Anything that you can pick or that ran, flew or swam on this earth.  That doesn't sound so bad right?  That's what I thought and I'm going with it.  The hardest thing will be the carbs!  Your fruit and vegetables are your carbohydrates, however the good carbs.

So what can you eat?  Lol, well now that I'm a calorie counter-whore the first thing I did was think of what is already in my diet that I could keep and what I have to get rid of.  Basically you have to remove all dairy and and things that you're body, if you were living in "Paleo-Time," would have a hard time breaking down, basically anything processed, yes that includes carbs and cheese, and I love fucking cheese! But I am going to go hardcore on this for 6 weeks.

The second thing I did was find a great program with a convenient app that allows you to track all of your calories consumed throughout the day.  After entering your body info, it also gives you an estimate of calories you should be consuming a day.  If you are working out, there is a section to enter that info too and assess your intake/outtake daily.  On top of that it has a community you can talk to and log with and support!

I am sure there are many out there but this is the one I chose:

http://caloriecount.about.com/

I think my Display name is Lesalas, if you join.


A Typical Work Meal Day:

PB Acai Bowl from Juice Generation in NYC.

For breakfast, I usually have an Peanut Butter Acai Bowl from Juice Generation, on 44th and 9th. Acai something I picked up from my trip to Brazil last year.  I had heard a lot about it before but when I was in Rio it was the first time I had it and when I came back I WANTED MORE, lo.  The Acai is a superfood, it's an energy fruit:

-It has a wonderful concentration of anti-oxidants

-10 times more than red grapes and 10 to 30 times the anthocyanins of red wine

-Essential Amino Acid Complex with Trace Minerals that are vital to proper muscle contraction and regeneration.

-Essential Fatty Acids, Enzymes, Dietary Fibers...the list goes on!

http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/weight-loss/acai-berry.asp

I don't have to have one everyday but at 430 calories, I'll take this over a bagel with eggs, cheese and bacon.  I do however have two workdays where I have two egg-whites, bacon and peppers in a wheat wrap or something of that nature.  I would get the Acaî bowls everyday but I would spend more time on the toilet then working, lol.  I know that Peanut Butter is not something necessarily picked, BUT, you can make some alterations, and even this alteration isn't bad; it's natural, omega-3 laced and full of good fat!

For Lunch, It typically depends.  There is a great place downstairs that serves Vietnamese food it's delicious, Clean and bordering on macrobiotic.  I usually go there and stear away from white rice and noodles and go more for the grains, proteins and veggies.

There is also Guy and Gaillard, a super-deli, I'm sure there are a great deal similar delis all over the city.   In the picture on the right, I packed all Ready-to-Eat Turkey from Trader Joes, All-natural cranberry sause also from Trader Joes and the veggies, bok choy, broccoli and carrots all stemas with no salt from Guy and Gaillard.

For dinner, I have a good source of protein, some grains and veggies.  This meal on the left is a Filet from Trader Joes (I made the most of the trip!)  Blended Grains, mostly Barley with veggies, one medium avocado with some olive oil and salt, and steamed spinach.  SOOOO good.

One night this week I had a glass of red wine, but the program doesn't shun away from alcohol in moderation.

Usually though for drinks, it's just water or the occasional cup of black coffee.  I even throw a club soda in there somewhere.


Cheers!

L


If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

New Project: Me!

Headstand.  After practicing one form of yoga for 5 years
I started learning inversions.  

I will be perfectly honest, I love yoga.  I don't think it is a secret.  I have been a very big fan of Bikram Yoga since 2005.  I've been perfectly content with the flexibility and vitality that the practice offers not to mention the way you feel after getting out of class.

Another thing I love is running.  I love the therapy it provides when you leave your house or get on the treadmill to think of nothing but the music in your ears (if you run with music)  and the thoughts in your head.  It's about the only time you can have to yourself nowadays.  Of course you have to resist the urge of answering texts and phone calls, other than that, you're good.

I ran the New York City Marathon last year.  I trained from July up to November then ran through 5 boroughs.  I was in pretty good shape in July when I started training, thanks to yoga. After two weeks, it was pretty much a ritual, get up, go out and run and it felt great.  The best part about it was the amount of calories I was burning by the end of training, I could eat anything I wanted and it would fly off.  The one thing I did not take into consideration was the muscle mass I was losing on account of not maintaining it and excessive running; it wasn't balanced exercise.  Don't get me wrong I felt great but after the marathon, I felt a bit strange.

Right after running the NYC Marathon in 2011.

I was left with a feeling of accomplishment, but also a feeling of what next?  I was left with what runners call "Marathon Depression,"  yes, it's a real feeling.  More so, I felt a bit more sluggish.
After a two month break, I began training for the New Jersey Marathon.  I also began training to become a a Hot Yoga Instructor.  Also, I was balancing that with a full-time job and a side-project (www.deadmanworkingmovie.com)

Come April, my body said, "Woah, Woah, Woah."  I ended up with a sciatic issue that prevented me from running the full New Jersey Marathon and running a half marathon instead.  Not that it was awful!  It's just when you sign up to do something.  You really want to do it.  At least I do.

There are a lot of things we all wanted to do, but did you really want to do it?  I really wanted to run the New Jersey Marathon just like I really wanted to live in New York for a whole year and I really wanted to travel up the northeast this Fall.  I know, all three are luxuries, but they are a different kind of luxury.

  
Come May after the NJ Half-Marathon, all my projects where coming to an end, and for the first time in a long time I could not be happier!  I wanted to sit around and do nothing for awhile.

Half-Marathon....done.

Yoga Training...certified.

Movie Project...currently in festival circuit.

Me...after these three months, ready for another challenge!

I am writing a book right now and I have a web-series in a very early stage of preproduction, but it's still not just for me.



My main focus this time around is gaining muscle mass and attaining a tone and fit body (I pretty much want to look amazing naked because I'm tried of wearing clothes, lol).  I know this is not an easy task, it's a challenge and will be very arduous, but it's what I want, and not just for right now, I want to make it my lifestyle.  The first person I said this to laughed in my face, to which I added, "That only makes me want it more, you know."  

After a lot of research and I found a program that I am more than happy with.  It's not a crazy-hard DVD set, or a crazy diet, it is pretty much common sense.

After reading the food guide to the program, I started it this past Monday and it's been fairly easy as I don't eat bad unless I go out and have a crazy night out.  And I am allowed a crazy night out here and there, but I have to get right back on the ball.

So that's it.  I'm putting this out there for motivation.  In a month, you should know whether or not I kept up with it or I was just jerking myself off.  I'm very dedicated to this; haters beware.

I'll be using this blog to post pictures, recipes and progress if you are interested.  I will also publicly post the program I am using if I think it works extremely well.

Cheers!
L

Song of the Day - The Knowing

I was introduced to this artist by my friend last year and have been listening to him this past week.  This kid's lyrics are sexy, clever and nocturnally evocative.  This song is a bit much to bite off but it gives you a good idea of his music and the video is visually stimulating.  It's probably good sex music too, lol




I know, what you didI know...So I'mma let youTaste her...I ain't washing my sinsI ain't washing my sins
Now we're lying about the nightsHiding it all behind the smilesTake a look at what you didAyyyYou probably thought that you'd break my heartOh oh oh ohYou probably thought that you'd make me cryBut baby it's okayI swear it's okay
Cuz I know everythingI know everythingI know everythingI know everythingI know everything
I know everythingI know everythingI know everything
Now these tongues don't twist like they did beforeIt's hard to keep me upAnd you are dryBut baby it don't hurtOh, like you thought it wouldThe more of you the merrier
Now we're lying about the nightsHiding it all behind the smilesTake a look at what you didYou probably thought that you'd break my heartYou probably thought that you'd make me cryBut baby it's okayI swear it's okay
I know everythingI know everythingI know everythingI know everything

Dead Man Working - Official Trailer [HD]

At long last, my latest project enjoy:

Song of the Day - Float On

For every good thing you have or good news you receive there are consequently bad things that come along with it.  As bad as it may be, it should serve to remind us of how great the good really is.