Strength for Life

The Top 7 Most Common, Energy Draining, Life-Robbing Errors

In my decades in fitness and nutrition, I’ve seen more diets come and go than I can count, experienced nearly every type of workout you can imagine, worked with all types of people; from those who were hundreds of pounds overweight to world champion athletes, the Hollywood A-list, Fortune 500 CEO’s, Moms, Dads, Sisters, and Brothers…you name it, I’ve seen it, felt it, touched it and may even have tasted it.

What I’ve discovered from all my years may very well come as a surprise to you. In fact, I fully expect most people to dismiss what I’m about to tell you...

In my 23 years of experience the #1 most common road-block to people enjoying robust physical energy, stunning mental clarity and abundant vitality is…improper, out of balance, inconsistent, excessive and downright devastating eating.

Sure, you know exercise is important (or better yet “training”) but you can’t out train poor nutrition. And no, the problem isn’t that people are missing some magic pill or miracle diet. In fact, the way most people undermine their energy and well-being is as ordinary as ordinary gets… most of the errors are seemingly small things repeated day after day.

The Top 7 most common, energy draining, life-robbing errors:

1. Skipping meals to save time because you’re “too busy”
2. Eating too much at one meal and not enough at the next
3. Eating everything on your plate without regard to portion
4. Consuming “fast-drive-thru-food,” loaded with fats and carbs
5. Hidden sugars in many “sports drinks” and juices, smoothies
6. Chronic snacking on junk foods, sweets, chips and …
7. Unconscious reactive eating when you’re too hungry to choose a healthy meal.

I am sure you’ve seen others make some or all of these mistakes and know some from personal experience. They are real and they are serious. Do any of these and you are literally pressing the “early exit” button on your life.

I’m not suggesting that you’ve got to tow a perfect line or that you can’t afford to miss a meal now and then. The real question is: “How do eat 80% of the time?” Are you fueling your way to wild success or feeding failure?

If you’re seeking a quick, easy and insanely delicious way to fuel your success, consider giving the world’s finest total nutrition shake a try. Clinically proven to increase fat-loss and add lean muscle in addition to lower cholesterol and elevate energy levels by over 40%, Full Strength may be the best thing you can do for yourself in the lest amount of time.

When Life Calls for Strength—This Father Delivers

Three minutes of prime time TV or the one minutes of the daily news will give one ample reason to doubt the evolving human race. Yet, when sufficiently challenged, even in the least likely candidate a super-hero you may find.

As ordinary as they most often seem, people are amazing. Only we rarely witness a person’s full potential as we tend to keep our inner strength as hidden as Bruce Wayne does his alter ego. At least until… Until life does that thing life does—challenges us. 

The story here is one of those times that forges a hero’s true strength. It’s a story of a father and a son, a story of hope and doing the right thing. It’s a story so real, so raw and so painful it’s beyond most people’s capacity to assimilate. It’s the type of story that you may be inclined to shy away from—thinking of it as that “bad news.” We get enough of that, so I understand not wanting more but this is more than just a great read--it's important. To turn it out is to miss the real story inside the story—the infinite capacity--the true strength of the human spirit.

There are no times more taxing, more requiring of strength than the death of a loved on, an immediate member of your family. Having experienced the challenge of summing up my father’s life in eulogy (a story I share in my new book) I can attest to how deeply the moment calls upon one’s inner strength.

Yet, I still can not begin to imagine the pain that must accompany the inverse—when a parent says good-bye to a child. And in the case of this inspiring, gripping amazing story shared by ESPN’s Bill Simmons, a gifted young athlete who was counting the days until he would be able to remove his parents from a life plagued by inner-city terrorism.

Read Bill Simmon's, To An Athlete Dying Young.

May we all learn something from the too short life of Jamiel Andre Shaw II, a kid who did things the right way.

An Inspiring Story of True Strength

‘Tis the culmination of the high school wrestling season and that means at least 50 state championships are being held with thousands of athletes—the best of the best—having earned the right to compete to be The Champion.

As a wrestler myself in high school I know the sort of strength required to compete on this level is truly extraordinary. Yet, even at these rarefied levels of physical and mental strength there are those who stand out—whose strength radiates so brilliantly from the depths of their soul that even the most fierce of warriors, the most intense of combatants, stand in repose to salute their courage and heart.

For most of his life, Dustin Carter has stood out in every crowd. It’s hard not to when you’re without the standard equipment of arms and legs.

When Dustin was 5 years old he contracted a severe bacterial infection of the blood called meningococcemia. His heart stopped three times as he was being rushed to the hospital.

Eventually doctors saved his life but not his limbs.

The Strong Forge on Fueled by Belief, Passion…

In this lifetime you will come across an infinite number of easy roads, you will be offered millions of short-cuts, easy ways… there’s always another one promising you a way around the real hard work that stands between you and your vision or dream.

And guess what? You got it… take any of them and you’ll find yourself back to square one eventually, hopefully wiser, certainly more exhausted.

In order to achieve anything worthy of your valuable time on earth you will find passion and purpose indispensable co-pilots. Only when you’ve found a vision, have a purpose and are filled with passion will you have a chance in hell of making it through the long road to a worthy achievement.

When I built the world’s first and only true premium nutrition shake I never fantasized that there would be anything easy about sharing it with others. I recognized in a time when MRP’s and numerous average nutrition shakes have become an interchangeable commodity and people have learned to buy price alone, that creating a off the scale top-end passion driven product was anything but a wise business move.

What does a raspberry Taste Like?

When was the last time you tasted a raspberry? Now, I don’t mean “ate one” but actually tasted it.

What does it taste like? If you had to describe it in writing to a person whose never tasted one what would you say?

I ask for the experience of eating a raspberry is something I’ve been trying to adequately convey for a few years now. It’s not easy and I can now say successfully that I’ve never quite achieved my goal.

You see my son Nathaniel has numerous food allergies—and one of them has been to raspberries. Along with my other foods, he can’t eat raspberries. So at the tender young age of 4 years and five months, he’s never had one single raspberry. Nope, not a one.

Until today…

Today Nathaniel spent half a day at Nathaniel Jewish Hospital where he did what’s called a “food challenge” to see if he could eat raspberries.

And guess what, he did eat them. And all went well. And I’m happy to report, he likes them.

Next time you eat a raspberry, slow down and take in the full experience. Consider if you might be able to share that experience—not because you will be graded on it but because the art of paying this much attention to food can completely transform your relationship to food.