I wretched my posterior labrum 3 years ago exercising with free weights. This in and of itself is enough for me to implore fellow dads to stop slinging weights like we used to in our 20′s. This causes very painful bicep tendinitis in my left shoulder. My most recent bout with it kept me off of any kind of upper body workout for 3 weeks. This is agonizing as there are just so many legs and core exercises a dude can do before having to buy a pair of Old Navy Yoga Butt Pants.

My doctor gave me a shot of cortisone in the shoulder joint. It was so delightful that my left leg started kicking up and down during the procedure. I asked him if if the needle was splitting every soft tissue in the joint itself during the insertion. Once the feeling of being hit in the shoulder with a sledgehammer wore off after a couple of days, I noticed moderate relief from the pain, but nothing to make me want to drop and give you 30.

So, I did a simple superfood trick instead. Blueberries and spinach are loaded with all kinds of good stuff with scientific names for anti-inflammitories. As always, Google it for yourself. I grabbed a handful of fresh baby spinach, a handful of frozen blueberries, a banana, and a cup of water and threw it in a blender. I then proceeded to slam it down. The whole process took 10 minutes and I just got 4 servings of fruits and vegetables.

By the 3rd day of drinking this stupidly simple superfood shake, I noticed a SIGNIFICANT difference in my shoulder. The tendinitis was completely gone. It was gone so much to the point that I have been able to do light upper body exercises without any issue (taking it slow).

Before I lead you to believe this was a food miracle, let’s get a few things straight. I do have steroids floating in my shoulder and I have rested it for a few weeks. So, there is not any science that proves one thing over another. I would suggest that a combination of everything with the superfood shake as the final “oomph” got me over this hump. At the very least, this is a 10 minute exercise to give you a heaping dose of superfood goodness.

Can I borrow your yoga butt pants?

If I have learned anything from P90x, it is to respect the intensity and interval training, especially as we get older. There was a sea of new years resolution people in my local YMCA this January. They fall into two categories: walk on a treadmill (usually the ladies) or “3 sets 10″ style free weights (usually the guys).  A good 50% have already disappeared during my morning visits. Maybe their dropping is a lack of motivation or it maybe is a lack of results.

I think it is a combo of both.

You can google all day long to find out the best way to exercise. I am coming to the conclusion that as I get older, it is less about reps and “max bench” and more about wearing out both my upper and lower body. I still do the P90x plyometric and core synergistic workouts due to their intense cardio/muscular nature. I have since augmented them with a turbo kick class and a boot camp class at my local YMCA. Yes, it is usually me and 5 moms, but I have learned to respect these workouts. With a good form and focus on the core, both of these workouts will result in a sweat. In the end, I am out of breath and drenched in sweat after applying resistance to every muscle in my body. This has enabled me to stay fit after P90x without ripping connective tissue and walking like a hamster on a treadmill.

The bottom line and my encouragement to all moms and dads heading towards 40, you have to up the ante significantly. Everything we did in our 20′s just does not work like it used to. Maybe it will, but you also have to stop eating your kid’s left over PB&J crusts and Doritos. We need a good 45 minute hard cardio workout that forces all our muscles to push and pull. For dads, stop the 3 sets of max weight. That stuff was cool in our 20′s, but is now just tearing all our tendons. Instead, do 3 sets with half the weight with 15 seconds of rest. For moms, try running on the treadmill in hill intervals. You should be running until you are begging yourself to hit the “Decline” button. Also, do some push ups or do a body pump class. Everyone from Doctor Oz to the folks on the “Biggest Loser” will tell you that building lean muscle is the key.

This interval/cardio approach has revolutionized and invigorated me to stay fit. Staying fit and uninjured seems to be the key on the way to 40. I don’t want to quit.

“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” - Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

Home exercise programs do not work (at home). The amount of disciple required to actually do some turbo Tae-bo jazzer rock ab cruncher workout far surpasses the discipline of the person buying the workout “system” (why is everything a “system” now?). We buy home exercise programs because we saw an infomercial that convicted us of our lack of discipline. We mustered enough motivation to buy the program to cleanse us from our guilt and frustration of being undisciplined to begin with. It is the perfect “do nothing” marketing exercise and it makes millions.

I have yet to ever see a P90x infomercial. I knew that if I would ever be successful at any exercise program, I’d need to do the program at the gym. That is exactly what I did. After receiving the DVD’s, I ripped them all to MP4 using the most awesome application for such a task, Handbrake. I then imported the DVDs into iTunes and onto my iPod.

Once the content was on my iPod (for my own personal use), I read through the very informative guide in an hour or so. I then gave myself 3 days to watch the first 3 videos a few times and get familiar with the type of workouts I would be doing. Once I had a decent idea, I then set a goal to start the entire workout program on the next Monday morning. The workout requires 1.5 hours (plus or minus a few minutes to and from the gym) and at least 5 days a week (6 if you do Yoga). Pick a time that is going to work. Workout in the morning if you are a morning person. Do not try to take on P90x in the AM if you hit the snooze 10 times. Conversely, never do something in the evening if you have kids, sports, dinner, and general chaos to attend to. If you are married, cut a deal on kid and dinner chores with your spouse to allow for the time. You have to pick a time that is going to work.

I have a somewhat more flexible schedule than others and work from 9:30 – 6:30 every day from my house. Since Aleta is a stay at home mom, she does just about all kid duties in the morning. I take the kids from 6:30 PM and on during what Aleta calls “the witching hours”. I chose 7:30 – 9 AM every day as my workout, including the 5 minute ride to and from the local YMCA. I made sure to carb load with my normal protein shake at least 1 hour before the workout. You will need to eat AT LEAST 400 calories before these workouts or you will indeed run out of gas. Oatmeal, Clif Bars, and grape juice (no acid) make great sources of carbs for this kind of workout and these are normally what I eat beforehand.

Do not think for a second that you are too old or too out of shape or too injured to do this workout. I have a tear somewhere in my shoulder and I have learned to work around it, not stressing it or making it sore. I have met many people in the P90x forums in their 50′s and 60′s in great shape. I have also met people who ran out of breath on the warm-up exercises the first week and made it through P90x start to finish. There is a way to do this workout with out injuring yourself or dying in the first 10 minutes.

Just be sure to NEVER do it at your house…

I always find it funny how workout infomercials show the before and after pictures of people who have been through their program. At the bottom of those shots, there is always an asterisk that says “Results Not Typical”. That is because most of the people in those pictures were paid by the infomercial company, went on some lemongrass and water diet, and had some super-fit trainer named Holden or something to help them through the program. In addition, everyone sticks out their white pot bellies, unstylish mullet hair dos, and horribly out of style shorts for those “before” shots. The after always includes shaved excess hair, tans, makeup, and the latest Nike apparel.

Having “worked out” consistently for 15 years, I was at a standstill this winter. At 35, it had become so boring to me. In addition, my shoulder has some weird tear that doctors can’t seem to diagnose. This knocked me out of all the typical guy weight training of “3 sets of chest, shoulders and tri’s” and all the other “body builder” stuff we do. It was awesome for our twenties when we were trying to score chicks. All we do is tear connective tissue at gym in our 30′s, trying to pick up our wives.

A coworker told me about P90x. I had never heard of it before (unlike most of America). I don’t have cable and don’t watch infomercials, especially workout ones AND especially ones from that advertise “home” programs. Please, who actually works out by themself in their living room after sleeping in and with booger finger kids running around? I went to the website and bought the DVDs on my friend’s recommendation. I ignored all the before and after pictures as those are silly, like mullets.

Below are my “Before and After” pictures. I never thought I’d EVER take these pictures. It seems both vain and silly to do this. However, the P90x online community is surprisingly supportive of each other. Since I purchased a licensed and legal copy (yes, think about that for a second), I was given access to a personal online trainer. She pushed me to do the pictures and I did. So, here they are:

I will publish a few articles on how to get typical results from P90x for someone in their 30′s with kids and a busy life. It is all doable.

Yes, I did shave my chest. As for the tan, I mowed the grass all summer without a shirt. It is a redneck tan. This had more to do with the fact that I was sick of my wife and in-laws making fun of my white pasty body.

To be continued…

“Chin down.”

This is a phrase Aleta and I say to each other when someone is taking a picture of us. This means “make sure our fat sacks under our chins don’t show so it looks like we have a neck.” For those of us who gain weight in our cheekbones and neck, this is a perpetual challenge. Especially for guys like me who have big jawbones.

Chin down is the most critical for our annual Christmas picture inserted into those clever letters we send out. This year’s picture in our letter warranted lots of “Wow, you guys look healthy/good/young/thin.” We did not realize the difference all that much, but others did.

With that said, I’ll let the following pictures be proof of the benefits of our 6 month trek eating vegan. The first picture is from Christmas 2009 after 6 months of eating vegan. The second picture is before vegan, our meat eating days.

2009 Born Again Vegan

2008 Meat Eating Glory Days

No tricks or gimmicks or diet fads. We changed our diet to vegan and continued at our same activity and exercise levels like we always have.

We’re not so bent on chin down anymore.

Our American diet lacks fiber. Estimates are that we consume half the daily allowance of fiber required to maintain good digestive systems [google it]. There are direct medical problems that result from lack of fiber and also indirect. The most common are weight gain, high cholesterol, and all kinds of issues with your digestive system.

A friend of mine turned me onto psyllium husk a couple years ago. Psyllium is a native plant of Pakistan and India. It is much higher in fiber than oats or bran and is water soluble: to the tune of absorbing up to 10 times its original size. What does it mean for you? It provides soluble fiber that binds to triglycerides in your blood, helping you reduce your cholesterol. It also contains insoluble fiber which passes right through you. The great thing about the latter is that it literally will sweep through your entire digestive system and take anything it finds with it. Many cleansing products use psyllium as their base.

So, if you want a very simple way to massively boost fiber, go to any health foods store and get a container of it. Mix 2 teaspoons with a large glass of juice, follow up with another glass of water,  and start your morning off with it. The first day or so may be utterly shocking after a couple #2′s. Just prepare yourself. You will not believe you could make something that big. The good news is that you will start to feel better, keep stuff flowing, and not feel so bad about not eating that apple in the morning.

There are three things I like about eating vegan: I simply feel much better, my heart is the healthiest it has ever been, and I am back to my 25 year old body (with a couple nicks and dings). I achieved all of this without having to diet (verb) and worry about all of the hassle that comes with it: counting calories, “cheating”, starving, and obsessing on the scale. There is no fixed time period for a vegan diet (noun) with ‘goals” and an end. Aleta and I eat what we want and when we want it. The only thing we concentrate on is whether we ate enough balanced foods today. It is actually pretty simple: If you eat a vegan diet, you eat significantly less of all the stuff that makes you tired, unhealthy, and fat. The end result is you are more healthy and skinnier than before. I have already proven to y’all through my bloodwork that there are no adverse health effects (the “not enough protien” myth).

Eating vegan does not mean no fat. There is fat in a vegan diet, even saturated fat (the bad stuff). As a matter of fact, all fats (good or bad) have the same amount of calories per gram (9 to be exact). The issue is one of chemical makeup. Saturated fats kill your heart, while others protect it. Meat and dairy give you a one-two punch: they have 1. more dense concentrations of  2. bad fats than their vegetable counterparts. So, the more meat and dairy you eat, the more dense concentrations of these fats and corresponding calories you will intake. According to the American Heart Association, Americans eat 4 – 5 times the amount of saturated fat than their bodies can handle.

Here is a great primer from the American Heart Association on fat. The bottom line here is that a vegan diet (noun) takes all the guesswork and stress out of dieting (verb). If done with appropriate balance, your body (like ours) will naturally adjust to an ideal weight and health without you having to take drastic measures.

As a single guy, I ate the same thing for two years straight (ask my wife). Every week I made a pot of rice, beans, onions, and chicken. This was a recipe I learned from the Latino dishwashers at the restaurant I worked at for years. In addition to teaching me practical Spanish (including cuss words), they taught me this simple and sustaining recipe. I ate this for lunch and dinner (along with some steamed veggies). At the time, I did not care about the repetition of the food because: A. it was cheap B. it kept me lean (I was on the market). From the age of 21 to 28, I weighed between 180 and 185 lbs. I was able to tuck in my shirts and make a straight line and also had to wear a belt with all my pants.

Enter bacon, butter, and companionship (AKA marriage). Being from the South, Aleta introduced me to butter and bacon. I was aware of this food, but did not realize how many different ways it could be applied to the pallette. Couple that with our newlywed DINK (dual income no kids) status which essentially gave us the ability to eat out anywhere and as frequently as we wanted. During this time we developed a taste for prime steak (like $40 steaks), Brazillian steakhouses, and eggs and chorizo breakfasts at Mexican dives in LA.

By the time I hit 30, I weighed 200 lbs and my generally high cholesterol broke through the 300 barrier. This is not something to be excited about. We had a trail of great memories together in Sonoma, Maui, Big Bear, the Grand Canyon, the Texas Hill country,  Joshua Tree, and road trips through the great Southwest. During this whole time, I was exercising at least 5 times a week by running along the south runway at LAX (it is LOUD at 5 AM) or lifting weights with all the gangsters at the Inglewood Bally’s gym (I was the only white guy most of the time in the free weight section).

From 30 to 35, I hovered between 195 lbs and 215 lbs with my cholesterol between 200 and 315 (a personal “heart attack waiting to happen” record). In order to lose weight, it required me to give up all sugars, curb my portions to where I was always hungry, and cut my craving for meat/dairy in half. It would also take weeks to see results, having to stay on top of it all the time. This put quite a dent in the “butter and bacon” fun Aleta (and now our 2 kids) and I experienced together.

Enter the vegan switch this last July…

If you don’t know the reason for our switch, click here. A well balanced vegan diet (minus the political angst and hemp shoes) will bring about weight loss without any starving or sacrifice in taste. Being the computer geek that I am, I conducted a ton of research to ensure we were eating balanced diets and have wrote many posts like the “Super Foods for Vegetable Haters” series.

The short of it is that a well balanced vegan diet from my experience has the following 3 weight loss benefits:

1. 50% – 70% reduction in saturated fats. This fat is the BAD fat that makes you fat.I don’t have any “clinical reports” on this. I have been simply looking at the packages of the food I now eat and comparing them to traditional alternatives. Here is an example of a vegan cheeseburger vs. a fast food one.
2. Reduction in processed sweets – Almost all cakes, cookies, and candy have eggs and milk in them. That basically knocks out this whole category from a vegan diet. I do have a sweet tooth and found myself eating cereal, trail mix, or making Born Again Vegan Chocolate Chip cookies.
3. Massive intake of whole grains – Substituting whole grain versions of bread, cereal, tortillas, and pasta makes a huge difference in how much you eat. These are much more dense than the bleached flour alternative. They make you more full and pack much more fiber/nutrients than the white alternative. More full means less intake.

The end result (after 90 days) is that I now weigh 185 lbs again like I did when I was 25 and my cholesterol is at 160. I lost 7 lbs the first week and did not starve. For the first time since I was 25, I have the proper body mass index (BMI). The BMI is a generally accepted gauge for ideal weight for age and height.

I do not know if I will eat a vegan diet forever. The health benefits of it are irrefutable . I am enjoying fitting into size 34 jeans again comfortably and wearing medium fitted crew T-shirts from the Banana Republic. I also have a peace of mind about the fact that I am no longer a heart attack waiting to happen or enslaved to some drug.

I hope that this serves as an encouragement to you that a normal suburban father of 2 can eat a vegan diet and live the average American life. It feels good to weigh 185 at 35 like I am 25. Too bad I can’t have my 25 year old body back. It would be great if the vegan diet would re-grow my hair, fix my cranky back, and heal the weird clicks in my shoulders. Maybe I can eat some rice and beans again (minus the chicken) and hope for the best.

It has been almost 90 days since we began our vegan diet adventure. As you already know, Aleta has discovered ways to reduce her arthritis pain, I have reduced my cholesterol, we have both lost 35 lbs between the two of us, and we rarely have the heartburn and lethargic feeling after eating a steak. Many of you still have concerns about eating a vegan diet. Below I have compiled the 5 most common questions and answers from our experience.

1) Do you get enough protein eating a vegan diet?

If you don’t eat a balanced vegan diet, sure. If you eat a balanced vegan diet full of beans, whole grains, nuts, and soy products, you will have no problems getting all your protein.

2) Do you get all your nutrients eating a vegan diet?

If you don’t eat a balanced diet, sure (notice a theme here?). A plant based diet provides every nutrient you need for your daily intake. The only nutrient you can’t get in a vegan diet is vitamin B12. This is only produced in the digestive track of animals. We need vitamin B12 for healthy brain and nervous system function. We only need a couple micrograms daily. You can get vitamin B12 in soy milk and supplements. We take a multivitamin every day (as everyone should regardless of diet). Check out my post on my bloodwork before and after my vegan diet.

3) Do you have to eat salads all day?

No, you don’t. Aleta and I eat a small salad once a day for dinner. There are vegan alternatives to all meat and dairy products. There are also many vegan recipes out there that use vegetables, vegan meatless products, rice, and noodles. Just about every meal can be replicated in a vegan form. Check out our recipes.

4) How do you go out to eat?

There are many fewer options for dining out as a vegan. Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, and Mediterranean restaurants all offer purely vegan meals. Also, there is bound to be a handful of healthy restaurants in your hometown.

5) How hard is it to buy all this special food?

You can get 80% of your vegan food at any grocery store. Many of the meatless products can be found in most frozen food sections. You will have to head to a specialty store like Whole Foods to get a small handful of items: soy cheese, soy yogurt, soy cheese, vegan cold cuts, and vegan porklike products.

In continuing with our 60 day checkup, I wanted to share my full bloodwork and results of my physical from my doctor. Many of you have asked about whether a vegan diet provides enough nutrients (protein, iron, etc). You will see below that all my bloodwork AFTER 60 days of eating vegan is just as normal as it was BEFORE we started. I have lost 10 lbs while still maintaining my strength at the gym and for the first time since I was 25, I actually weigh what I am supposed to.

As you already know (or have yet read), I also have  high cholesterol. This leads to all kinds of bad things like coronary disease, heart attack, and stroke. Many of you reading this may be on high cholesterol medicine. I have resolved to never take that stuff because I believe (and you will see below) that it can be controlled by diet. For those who don’t know, any cholesterol level over 200 is BAD and of that, LDL levels over 130 are BAD. My record highest cholesterol count 3 years ago was 310 with an LDL of 200. That is a heart attack waiting to happen (in 10 years). My cholesterol is now in the very low risk category without an ounce of pharmaceuticals in my body.

My doctor was very pleased with the results and gave me 100% encouragement to stay the vegan course. The one thing I do need to do is raise my HDL level a couple points. HDL levels should be between 40 to 50 for men. Mine is now at 40. There are many ways to raise HDL levels in diet which I will incorporate.

After 60 days of eating vegan, my take is that it is the best health choice I have made in my life. It has been the easiest “diet and exercise” program I have ever been on. Aleta and I are not sure for how long we will do this, but for now we are Born Again Vegans.