What's Eating Bald Jake?

It’s Moustache Season and I’m growing a fine moustache for Movember! Please support my growing efforts and the 33,000 men who will die of prostate cancer and the nearly 8,300 men who will be diagnosed with testicular cancer this year. Thank you http://mobro.co/baldjake

Water is the most essential element to a good diet. 

I’ve heard that phrase over and over through the years and know it is a correct statement. I always feel better when I am drinking my 8 glasses a day. The thing that blew me away though is how important it is to how your body digests food.

Did you know that if you are eating an extremely healthy diet, but are not drinking enough water, that that body absorbs significantly less of the nutrients from the food?

“Water is needed to flush the digestive system , for instance. When you’re eating predominantly dry foods, the body must draw on its fluid reserves to carry out the chemical breakdown of food proteins.

Any dry food has a dehydrating effect, while fruits and vegetables  actually provide more water than is needed for their digestion, leading to a net fluid gain.” http://bit.ly/sDM7mD

Just by not being hydrated! So my ahah today is, really, seriously, drink more water!

I am reminded today of the importance to surround myself with nothing but viable options for snack and meals. 

The day started well with my shake and morning snack going as usual. Then we decided to go to Love Shack for lunch at work. Nothing good going on there for health…

While the afterglow of my ridiculously succulent tenderloin nachos was heavenly, it soon wore off. The afternoon is draggy and sleepy and regretful.

The only thing worse is that I followed it with a sugary caramel coffee for dessert. Once again a temporary high that led to a nasty crash. 

So be warned. Carry snacks and stay strong…

I am going to go with a bit of stream of consciousness to start these first few days of blogging. Hopefully it will feel more like I am sitting here talking to you about why giving up coffee and sugar is going to make my head hurt and teeth ache!

I started today with my favorite healthy shake substitute that I’ve found out there. I’ll actually write a dedicated post to Shakeology a little later on once I have some real data in results to share. 

So to start I had the shake then went and met up with a work cohort to work mobile and have (1) cup of coffee. Can’t do Monday morning without one cup right? Buon Giorno is my favorite place locally in case you are near by :)

I have some almonds and raisins for mid morning snack. Lunch is a planned chicken and broccoli meal that really is my staple. 

What I’ve failed to mention so far is that my texture preferences are those of a 6 year old. I’m not sure if they never developed past that or if I am just too stubborn to grow out of it. Regardless I prefer to drink my nutrients to eating them.

That being said I can’t go all liquid all the time. So I have a list of veggies built over a few months by getting brave and trying former gag reflex generators. So far these are the ones that are bearable to me:

• broccoli
• asparagus
• carrots
• green beans
• legumes in general
• Lettuce
• spinach leaves raw
• and sweet potatoes

That is actually all that I eat on a plate at this point. That’s why I picked up vegetable juicing. This allows the ability to punch great vitamins and anti-oxidants into my system without the horrible faces and chocking noises that typically go along with me and veggies. 

The picture above is the juicer I chose on recommendation from a buddy of mine. It’s a Jack Lelane, and is pretty much the best basic juicer for the price out there.

So there is my first day. I am a bit hungry but I think it comes with the reduction of portion sizes and no bread and potatoes at breakfast. It’s all good though…looking forward to real full vs. stuffed and bloated!

Consider this post the shift of my blog from marketing to food. If you are looking for the marketing blog, it’s now @ www.thejakejordan.com

I’ve spent the majority of my life being thin b/c I’m active and love playing sports. Like most other thirty somethings I noticed a bit of a tire creeping in around my waste. No problem I thought, never been an issue before. I’ll just hit some intervals the next few weeks and be back in to fighting shape in no time.

The problem is of course that is that I’m getting old. Much easier said than done. The good news is that in my younger days I was a personal trainer and nutrition extrodinaire. The simple formula was eat less calories than you burn. 

Seems like an easy way to move forward. Here is where the rub is though. I don’t care so much any more about being ripped or huge on a muscular scale. I don’t really need to lose weight or slim down. 

When I really thought about what my issues were, it was much more based on how I feel. Less calories only counts when you are trying to shed weight. What I want is energy! Less sick, more rev and drive….(you know the drive I’m talking about)

SO this is a much different goal. It’s my goal to eat fruits and veggies at EVERY meal. I will be cutting the “white devils” Flour and Sugar. I will also be drinking natural veggie and fruit juice from my blender in place of sodas, tea, coffee, etc. 

Now is the challenging part. My pantry. I live in a house that 90% of the time does not share my conviction on healthy foods. This is a two fold challenge. By eating healthy I hope to influence my wife, son and daughter’s food choices.

Much like my friend John though who is undergoing the same transformation (eatinghealthyforalice.tumblr.com) I plan to still cheat per say. 

I’m not interested in a DIET in the current western sense. Looking for healthy choices most every meal, then a splurge when it seems fit. 

So here goes day 1. I will be updating as much as possible to keep myself accountable to a much more public audience than my house.

Feel free to comment, jab, make fun or simply observe from afar. I look forward to the challenge.

-Jake

Is ignorance really bliss? I often wonder on Sunday nights when the world is getting ready to head back to work: Is it more painful to know you have a talent and be stuck in a job or to think you have no talent and be ignorant to entrepreneurship?

I made a small change today around a principle that I heard long ago and thought I had grasped.

The principle goes like this. A small change in your Habits, Attitudes, Beliefs or Expectations of 1 degree, you get 100 degrees in results.

This can be seen in a prism. Light goes in the left side small and focused, and comes out the other side large and colorful. This is where the shift occured for me.

I’ve always thought by having a dream or a goal written down and visible, it would push you through the hard parts in your business. What I failed to realize is that I must re-visit that dream in my mind everyday and in every challenge, to remind myself that my dream is WAY better than what life is throwing at me. It’s not just a scheduled visit once a week to my motivational happy place.

A major part of growth life is based on how you can improve yourself. So look at your currents “HABES” and see where you can make small 1 degree adjustments to get big, colorful results.

In the book Putting the One Minute Manager to Work, one of the key concepts is this: Don’t Just Do Something—Sit There!

Too often, many of our problems arise from acting before thinking. We confuse activity with productivity. We think, “I’m so busy, I must be accomplishing something!” In reality, we may just be spinning our wheels. Like sitting in a rocking chair, you can expend a lot of energy and create a lot of motion, but you still aren’t going anywhere.

Progress and productivity always require thought!

“The wise man looks ahead. The fool attempts to fool himself and won’t face facts” (Proverbs 14:8 LB).

“A wise man is cautious and avoids danger; a fool plunges ahead with great confidence” (Proverbs 14:16 LB).

Unfortunately many parts of your work seem to conspire to keep you from thinking! Pressures, deadlines, appointments, and interruptions fill your day so you have no time to think. You stay so busy swatting mosquitoes that you have no time to drain the swamp.

Nothing is as important to your job as thinking, yet nothing is harder to take time to do. The solution is to schedule “think” time. Make a daily appointment with yourself to simply think about your work. Use your educational tools, your upline, your business plan to pick the activities that will get you to your goals.

As my dad always said: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

What actions are you doing to GROW your business today?