Hey everyone, today I’m going to talk about some general rules for good eating habits and also Ashmeade’s top 6 power foods. The reason that I say general is because when it comes to nutrition we as human beings can almost eat whatever we want. We just need to be conscious of portion size, frequency and nutritional balance. Here are some easy rules to stick to and the best part is there are only three.

#1 Eat live, fresh, REAL foods. I don’t mean you have to eat “organic,” what I mean is simply eat foods that were once alive. If it swam in the oceans, lakes or rivers walked on the earth, climbed trees, grew from the soil or flew in the sky…EAT IT. Stay away from foods that are in boxes, cans and bags! Also try to eat cooked foods as little as possible. Most of the nutrients and vitamins are lost during the cooking process. 50% or more of your foods should be fresh and not cooked in every meal.

#2 Stay Away from Dairy. There are many studies and tests that prove dairy products are not good for us but I will leave that for another blog. I want to give you some reasons that I see and from first-hand experience that you should not eat dairy. First of all we are the only animals that drink milk after infancy, our bodies are not made to process milk and over 70% of humans are lactose intolerance. When I used to consume dairy products, I had many stomach and digestion problems. This is something shared by many of my clients, friends and family. If you’re worried about your bones, you can get all the calcium, and other vitamins and minerals from other foods such as sardines and leafy greens like, spinach and kale. Lastly milk these days is packed with sugar, making it even worse for you. I would suggest staying away from dairy as much as possible.

#3 No to Sugar and Yes to Fats. This one is simple…STAY AWAY FROM SUGAR!!! I’m talking about refined sugar. I don’t need to get specific, basically any food that MAN has made. (Refer to rule #1) Secondly, increase your healthy “Good” fats intake. “Good” fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats because they lower disease risk. Foods high in good fats include vegetable oils (such as olive, canola, sunflower, soy, and corn), nuts, seeds, and fish.

 Here are the Top 5 foods that you should add to your diet. These foods are packed with the most essential vitamins and minerals for the body and are some of the best examples of foods in macro nutrient intake.

#1 Spirulina- is a plant based Protein that is even better than hemp seeds. Dried spirulina contains about 51–71% protein. It is a fresh water micro plant that is a complete protein containing all essential amino acids. Being a plant based protein; you don’t have to cook it which reduces the amount of protein in the process. Spirulina is one of the only plant based complete protein. You can find it in the health food store and even Bulk Barn in pill or powder form. 

This one is dedicated to the ladies. You wonderful women who work hard, sweat, and limit calories to reach this magical number. This number controls your thoughts and actions and is sometimes the only thing you care about. In some extreme cases you determined divas will starve yourself, do excessive cardio and weight training and not realizing that these things are damaging your bodies. The good news is that now the mindset of you wonderful women is on being fit by focusing on body composition, functionality, and overall health and not aesthetics and that all mighty NUMBER.

This has been a challenge for Tiff and now that she is going to be my wife, I hope now I can talk about her fitness journey. In the beginning she was stuck on a certain number that she thought was her ideal body weight. First thing is, we didn’t go see her physician to find out what her ideal weight really should be. In the beginning she picked a “number” and that number has changed more than once in the first six months of her journey. The funny thing is, we have no idea what her ideal weight will be until she gets there. In her younger years she was active and athletic and over time she gained some extra weight due to external and internal factors that she has been continually overcoming on a daily basis.

My fiancé has been through some very difficult lows and challenging situations in the past couple of years. Sometimes I don’t know if she really knows how amazing she is and what she has accomplished and continues to accomplish. Now in her fitness challenges, she has put the same amount of determination into changing her lifestyle for the better, not only for herself but also for her daughter. She has completely changed her lifestyle. Increasing her fruit, vegetable and water intake along with training 4-6 times per week. These changes have not only reduced that number but it also has given her more energy, increased her mood and she is doing things and seeing changes that she never thought possible.

Tiffany is a beautiful woman that I saw from that first day I laid eyes on her. She was living in the wrong body and I don’t just mean physically. Her self-esteem was low and she was hurt bad. She limited herself due to negative influence from external parties and years of being told certain lies that she eventually started to believe. The worst part, like most of us was that she was her hardest critique. She has now gotten herself out of that environment and has truly started a new life and she has told me that she feels like she is getting back to her young, ambitious and confident self. She has been one of my best clients and is now a gym rat like me and loves all the changes that have happened; how she can bench 135lbs, and squat 205lbs, she can do 6-10 full body weight dips and run 10k. Now she can where sleeveless shirts, buy lulu and bench clothing which has lead us to have a new shopping problem on our hands….lol jk. Her best friend showed her an old picture of herself seven years ago and she was 15lbs lighter then but looks WAY better now, proving that a number is just that… a NUMBER.

Everybody that sees her is amazed by the changes she has made and has even inspired people to start to live a healthy life including me. It’s easy to maintain a healthy life if that’s all you know, but to change the way you’ve lived your whole life and maintain that is true success. The best part is nobody cares about the number, they will never say you look any different once you tell them. So why should you care about it? Once you reach your ideal weight that is determined by your doctor or other health professionals, it will fluctuate up and down 5-10lbs, which is normal. Instead of focusing on the number only, I challenge you to focus on everything else that living a healthy and optimal life has to offer you. Trust me, you are better off and will love seeing and noticing all the other amazing changes and positives that will happen in life.

Until next time

God Bless

Photo: Tiffany in 2007 at 170lbs and Tiffany in 2015 at 185lbs

I was training my client last week and we were watching this little kid trying to use one of the machines and you could tell that he was way too small for it. He couldn’t even sit properly in the machine and the handles were too big for his little hands. She said that kids that young shouldn’t have to go to the gym and worry about reps and sets to be active. Children should be outside playing with friends and siblings. It is sad that children these days have to pay for recreation and organized sports instead of just going outside. Growing up, my sister and I were always outside playing with each other and friends. We would play outside in every season. We were lucky enough to have the Greenbelt in our backyard. We would play in the forest, play with our dogs and just enjoy nature. It wasn’t structured or monitored, it was free, fun and natural.

Being active and healthy is natural, that’s the way God made us. He made us to be active and healthy. He put nutritious food all around us in the ocean and on earth; all the plants and animals for us to eat. He also made the lands and waters for us to enjoy and explore and be a part of. In the past most of the population were naturally active. They walked everywhere and swam to stay healthy, for transportations and for fun. In our generation we all are living the lives of kings and queens and we are getting lazy because of technology. People don’t want to go out and do something physical due to lack of energy, time, interest, or availability.

The truth is, it doesn’t take much to be active and you don’t always have to go to the gym. A friend of mine hates the gym but he is very active. He runs, plays golf, soccer, snowboards, and plays other sports with his buddies. That’s an awesome way to stay fit and healthy. I encourage you to find what you are passionate about and pursue that passion. It can be organized like a sports or other recreation with friends or by yourself. It can be a leisure activity that you enjoy doing when you have free time like swimming or running. It can even be spontaneous and free like going to the park with your kids, wrestle or a good pillow fight! Just enjoy it and do it as much as possible because the more you do, the better off you are. When you enjoy it, you will want to do more and more. On top of it being fun, you will have reduced stress, increased stamina and muscle endurance. It will reduce your chances of life threatening illnesses and keep you looking and feeling young.

If you feel that you are too busy in life because of your responsibilities, then there are still choices you can make and things you can do to be active; take the stairs, stand up more often, hold and walk with your baby, instead of a chair sit on a stability ball, or walk to shorter destinations. These are all things that you can do to improve your health and quality of life. Along with a conscious balanced diet, you can live an amazing and long lasting life. So wake up and be active everyday my friends, it’s one of the great gifts God gave us to enjoy!!

Until next time…keep fit and have fun! (sorry I had to)

God Bless

Daniel

Picture 1: Tiff and I wake boarding at the cottage
Picture 2: Capri and Tiff Paddle Boarding
Picture 3: Capri playing in the lake