Podcast - Interview with Rich Roll

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This episode is a great interview with one of the most interesting people in endurance sports.  Rich Roll hit 40 years-old out of shape and well overweight.  In just two years, he transformed himself into the machine you see above while on a vegetarian diet and also completed Ultraman: A three-day mega-triathlon.

His story is one that many of us would love to replicate.  His methods are simple, yet powerful.  You do not want to miss this interview.

Also, don't forget that I'm racing a self-supported solo Ironman on October 9th.  You can follow me on twitter to get all the details before and during the event.

Other topics I discuss after the interview include how to stomp out a faster bike and run and also my blood test that shows what foods could be giving me troubles.  You can get the test, too!

Enjoy!

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30 Days to a Habit Change - Day 4

"You unloaded the dishwasher?"

The disbelief in my wife's voice was the best part.  Yes, I unloaded the dishwasher.  Next to colonizing the moon, this must be the most difficult thing mankind will ever attempt.

So, it continues.  I'm on top of things and actually finding the time to do stuff right.  On my quest to build the habit of actually doing the items on my todo lists (I have several), I was even able to blow one list away permanently.

If you look back, you'll remember that there was a reason to pick "Actually do the things on my todo list" as the habit to create - I've learned over time that if I just did the things on the list, my life would be completely different.  I've made efforts in vain before and got a glimpse of the good life, and making Emily happy because I emptied the dishwasher is just one of the many facets.  It's the small things that add up. :)

Getting things done isn't really about hammering out goals or tasks.  Humanity has completely lost its mind with doing, doing, doing, and is wrecking itself and the planet in the process.  It's more about getting the essentials done right so you can enjoy the ride.  If you leave for a destination on a bike (or car, yech.) with plenty of time to get there and you've inspected the tires, you'll not get pissed if when you get stuck in traffic.  If you clean your dishes right after you use them, you'll have a nice clean set ready for the next meal and you can go relax.

The car thing is funny, because I ride my bike so much that I sort of drive like I ride a bike.  Biking takes some effort; you don't just sit there cramming your face with a Burger King Angry Whopper while tuning the radio and calling your doctor about your blood cholesterol report and impending stroke.  To ride a good distance, you have to conserve your energy a bit and pick your battles.  You don't pedal like everything is a sprint, which is the opposite of the way most people drive.

So I find myself driving in the slow lane, at or just under the speed limit, just enjoying the drive and angry drivers (with their Angry Whoppers) tailgating me and whipping around me, only for me to catch them at the next light.  My only question for them is the same that the cop queries when writing their ticket, "What's the emergency, ma'am?" I mean, is everything an emergency?  Why drive like that all the time?

Immediately after starting the 30 day project, I realized that the two greatest prospects of this is 1. Taking the time to do things right, which in turn makes everything easier to do in the first place, and 2. Serenity.  Not the "Serenity Now!" that George Costanza screams about, either.

Yesterday was my son's 5th birthday and he asked me if I wanted to be five.  I said sure, five is good.  Then he asked about four.  I said sure, four is good, too.  Then he scrunched up his nose, thought real hard and tried to throw me a curve ball.  He likes to put two big numbers together and use those as an even bigger number.  "What about seventy-eighteen?"  

"Seventy-eighteen? Hmm, I'd love to be seventy-eighteen," I said.  "I bet that could be a lot of fun."

When you are enjoying the ride, I'm sure it is.

30 Days to a Habit - Day 3

(This is a daily series about trying to start a new habit of actually doing the things on my checklist.)

In only 3 days, my life is already turning around. I'm already caught up with my backlog at work and starting to catch up at home.

At one point today, I even had a feeling of euphoria and relaxation wash over me. Being on top of things and able to slow down feels GOOD. Not only am I able to do stuff as it comes, I'm also able to do it right.

That's a fun exercise, btw - asking yourself, "Now how would I do this right?" Most of all, it leads me to doing the final step and picking up after myself. My desk, car, and house is all cleaner and that leads to a calmer and more soothing environment.

Being calmer and more relaxed led to a funny event. We got a phone call yesterday from a mom at Kai's school asking about a party our kids are supposed to go to. After introducing herself, there was along pause while she was waiting for me to say that I would go get Emily to speak with her. The idea that the dad would actually be ontop of a 4 year old's social calendar is pretty preposterous, after all.

After a long and awkward silence when I didn't immediately volunteer to put Emily on the phone, the mom got brave and asked me if I knew the name of a kid and the time and location of his party on Friday. I popped open google calendar and read the party details off to her like clockwork. I could sense she was surprised that I would know something like that.Being on top of my to do list and calendar sure pays off. I may not be the one who put the event on the calendar (Emily and I share our google calendars with each other), but having the time and taking the time to look it up has already sealed in my memory what my Friday is going to look like, which is even more relaxing! It's like a big reinforcing circle of relaxing love.

Going good so far, more to come tomorrow.

Nutrition Methods that Actually Work

I wrote these up for a friend that was trying to lose weight.  He lost 8 lbs. in two weeks already.  These are the 19 commandments I've found that work for me.  I'm now at my ideal body weight and rarely hungry because of this list.  I've lost a total of 40 lbs. using these methods.  You'll notice that lots of this is how to eat, not what to eat.

1. Get a digital scale at Target. $25. Must weigh to 10th of a lb.
a. Weigh yourself daily after you get up and pee.
b. This enables you to see trends.
c. Yes, you will fluctuate a few lbs. a day, but this keeps you on top of it.


2. Stop eating BEFORE you get full.
a. You can actually eat pretty crappy food and still lose weight by doing this.
b. Start paying close attention for that feeling of fullness.  
c. Stop INSTANTLY once you feel it.  Put that half sandwich in a ziploc.  You will not die.
d. The first time is hardest.  Keep trying. With time, it gets easier.


3. Chew slower.
a. Gives you more time to feel the full feeling.
b. The ultimate drill for this is chewing a sip of water 20 times.
c. Realistically, it's more like 10 chews per bite.
d. If you wait too long between snacks or meals, you'll wolf down your food.


4. Base your meals around fruits and veggies first, THEN meat and carbs.
a. This is the opposite of what most people do in USA.
b. Steak and carbs (starches, pasta, bread) should accessorize your meal, not be the center of it.
c. You can eat as much fruit and veggies as you want. No limit.


5. Don't eat late at night.
a. Studies show that eating late puts on twice as much fat.


6. Fruit juice is sugar water.
a. It's essentially fruit sugar with no fiber.
b. Eat a piece of fruit and drink a glass of water instead.
c. If you do drink juice, cut it in half with water.  It tastes almost exactly the same.
d. If it says High Fructose Corn Syrup, that's not food. That's a corn processing by-product.  Don't drink it and throw it away so nobody else will either.


7. Look for foods with tons of fiber.
a. Fiber pushes food through your system much, much faster. Doesn't let it park in your gut and give you unnecessary calories.
b. Fruits and veggies.
c. Pumkin seeds.
d. Grains can have lots of fiber, but are also calorie dense.  Be careful with those.


8. Diets are stupid. 
a. By definition, they are short-term, forced eating methods.
b. You can't avoid bad foods all the time. You'll be miserable and hungry and then quit.
c. You just want to limit the damage from the bad foods.
d. This is how the French eat some of the worst food and1
still stay skinny.


9. Instead, adopt an eating "style".
a. The Paleo diet is a great guidline (http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html)
b. Allow for mistakes, just watch the scale daily to make sure you're on track.
c. Try to stay in line with the rules, but definitely stray if you feel the need.  Treat it as a philosophy, not a diet. 


10. If it's not real food, don't eat it.
a. You wouldn't put crappy gas in your car.  Why are you putting crappy fuel in your body?
b. Just put it down and step away.  There's always better choices.

c. By not real, I mean stuff that is made in factories.  Cheetos, chips, cokes.  Quit treating yourself like a cow in a feedlot.


11. Don't get stuck at work, the airport, a car ride, whatever without healthy food.
a. If you know you're going to be in a captive environment with crappy food, then you have enough time to pack b healthy snack/meal.
c. This is why we have ziplocs and tupperware.


12. Bread, pasta, and potatoes are crazy-dense in carbs and calories.
a. You should avoid these whenever possible and only eat them when your prepping for a mega workout.
b. Treat them as emergency endurance fuels. You can ride a bike 20 miles on a single bagel.  Are you riding 20 miles on a bike when sitting at your desk?  Nope.


13. Many diet foods just make you hungrier later.
a. Diet cokes, diet whatever are nutrient deficient.
b. Your body will compensate later by overeating other foods.

14. Eat food for what it has, not for what it has not.
a. Eat an apple because it has vitamins, fiber, minerals.
b. Don't drink a diet coke because it has nothing.


15. Look for foods with "low glycemic index"
a. This means the sugar in the food takes longer to hit your bloodstream.
b. This makes you feel full longer.
c. You get diabetes from sugar hitting your bloodstream too fast and your pancrease gives up trying to deal with it.
d. High - sugar, bread (sugar in loaf form), cokes, fruit juice, potatoes.
e. Low - veggies, meat, nuts, whole fruit.


16. Caffeine
a. Can be a roller coaster of highs and lows, making you lose control of willpower.
b. Is the most abused drug in the USA.
c. You should try to limit it, within reason.


17. Graze on healthy foods so you don't overeat at a meal.
a. 3 square meals are a product of the industrial revolution so that foremen could keep the production lines running in unison.
b. Eating big meals causes blood sugar to spike big-time.  You want the blood sugar level to stay low and even.
c. Protein also makes you feel full and slows down blood sugar spikes.


18. Your body stores excess blood sugar as fat.
a. You can actually eat more food and lose weight by spreading it out instead of concentrating it into meals.
b. Mix protein and fiber in with your meal to slow down the absorbtion.

19. Statistics show that people that skip breakfast are fatter than those that don't.

Just thought you'd like to know.  :)

30 Days to a Habit Change - Day 2

Yesterday went pretty well.  I actually completed everything on my short list and then added a few more things to it and got those done as well.

I think the real habit to build might be pulling out the list and checking it off on a regular basis.  I always think, "I'll do that later."  There's a Zen practice of recentering yourself every time you pass through a doorway, so maybe I can use a version of that.  Maybe I should check my list every time I'm about to change locations, i.e. leaving the house for work, leaving work to grab lunch, leaving for a bike ride...  I'm not a neurotic/obsessive person, so this might be a little tough.

It's cooled off a bunch here in Texas overnight, so I sat zazen (zen meditation) outside this morning under the stars. That went well even though my dog tried to eat a lizard and started gagging all over the yard. At one point, I was looking up and saw a shooting star whiz by.  Pretty.

The zazen is very calming and grounding, which gives yourself permission to actually pay attention to what you're doing.  You give yourself more time to do things right, which is nice.

One of the things that my list had on it was to check my work calendar before actually going into work and being surprised at all the crap I had to do.  Did that this morning and it was very de-stressing.

Later!