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AI 101: AI Explained
Do you struggle with AI? Have parents, friends, and others who struggle with terminology and understanding what AI is good for?
The guide defines basics terms that are often mentioned in numerous online videos and definitely can be confusing to a new user.
Check out my guide, free to use, no data collected.
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Which supplement should I take? #Supplement Explorer
Are you always on your phone looking at which supplements you should take? Do you look at reviews? How do you decide what to buy?
As someone who has been in the nutraceutical industry for over 10 years, I’ve worked with many suppliers and companies to understand why an ingredient is chosen, what research is behind it, and how to sell it to a consumer, so if you are looking for some answers to questions you may have, drop a comment, or even better check out the Supplement Explorer on the site. It is free to use, 3 questions, and a simple output. No info is stored.I made the Supplement Explorer purely for my use and then thought, well, if it is useful for me, maybe it is useful for others. The tool is not affiliated with any company or brand, but was just a way for me to showcase what I find useful. If you use it, do give me feedback as to what you’d like to see it on too.
Stay well and remember, before taking any supplements, check with your doctor if it is a good fit for you or not!
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Should I sacrifice my diet on work travel?
Traveling for work is something that I do a lot and never consistently but sporadically which makes it even worse to follow up on your exercise and diet routine so what can you do?
One thing that I do willingly is to stop exercising at the gym. What? Why? When I’m at home, I go to workout at least 4-5x a week so I take the travel week as a rest week. Usually for me, on work travel, I don’t have much time to hit a gym but would love to if I could so this not going definitely fits my schedule. The diet part gets tricky. What can I do? I can’t cook in a hotel room so I have to find healthy versions of my food when I travel. How do I do this?
Well, if I eat out, I just modify it per my macro requirement for the day. For example, if I order a mahi mahi burger, I get it without the bun and eat half the fries that come with it. This is a good enough modification for me plus I’m not isolated from the social aspect of work dinners. Eating out can be simplified.
While at home, I do snack a bit but during work travels that is more impossible so I can carry Kind Bars and Bear Naked Granola and am set with something to munch on too. Travel with healthy food items and then you won’t be as hungry when it is time to eat lunch or dinner.
No need to sacrifice your diet while on work travel if you plan ahead and modify the meals as you eat out!
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Fiber in my water!
Yesterday, I wrote about water and why it is needed. Another important ingredient for satiety is fiber so lo and behold, HelloWater delivers on both. I was skeptical in having a water drink with fiber and was unsure how it would taste but was I right to be? Read on.
Fiber water is something that I’m slowly seeing more and more of. Typically, when I used to have bad stomach aches, one of the things that I knew that I had to up was fiber. Most of us get fiber from fruits and veggies but for those of us who need more, products like Metamucil exist but what if you want something quick and easy to go? Here is where HelloWater comes in.
This drink not only tasted great but also has zero sugar and zero net carbs so definitely is keto friendly too. Plus, if you are not a fan of regular water, this is a nice treat that is doing your body good. Plus, remember if you are unsure about how much fiber you are getting, a good check is viewing how soft your stool is. Fiber has many health benefits including satiety.
Image from pixabay
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Dehydration overload
I recently traveled to an exceptionally dry town compared to where I live and the one thing that I need to drink more of was Water! Yes, the drink that most of us don’t drink too much of is the one that can help you most with dehydration.
Drinking coffee or juice or a soft drink may quench your thirst but without water, you won’t be fully hydrated. Back to my anecdote, by day 1 ‘s end my hands and skin were drying out. Day 2 was slightly better because I had some more water (2 bottles versus one) —usually I drink about 2 liters of water a day and due to travel, I was drinking so much less. Day 3 and 4 were not much better as I was only able to notice more issues from lack of water, restless sleep and even some breakouts on the face. Day 5 was time to get home and that meant the dehydration would be over as I will be back in my own environment and not dependent on the hotel for food.
What does this all show, you need to drink water! Plus, when you leave your environment, it is so much harder to continue your regiment so you must try to stick to it the best you can, if time allows it. I should follow my own advice but implementing is always tough to do so will need to find out the best way to execute when I travel the next time!
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Cheerios!
One of my favorite cereals growing up was Cheerios. My favorite one was Honey Nut Cheerios. Though, the brand has launched many versions since then—pumpkin spice one, fruity, chocolate, etc.—the memories of the honey nut one is still what gives me good feelings. Well, imagine what happened the other day when I walked into Target.
As I was walking down the cereal line looking for oatmeal, I see this new peanut butter Cheerios. Of course, I did a double take because I love peanut butter. I read the label and purchased the item. Usually, I don’t buy cereals due to the high sugar content but this time I bought it because Cheerios has surely cleaned up its label and the third ingredient in the box was peanut butter!
How does it taste? It tastes great! The peanut butter chocolate combo just works. Pour some almond milk in and you have a good breakfast (did you read yesterday’s post about why breakfast is important?). I also like this Cheerios for its ability to be eaten like a snack, sorta like Chex.
Sometimes we aren’t looking for new items and that’s when you find something you enjoy!
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Break-fast
Do you get up hungry? I know that I sure do but why is that? Well, your body has slept—hopefully, at least 8 hours and it craves some nourishment to rev up your metabolism otherwise it will burn what’s in your body—your body will utilize all the macros it has and even break down muscle to feed itself as it can’t run on an empty tank so what’s the solution?
Breakfast is something that you should eat if you can. For me, since I workout, I sure don’t want my body to utilize and reduce my muscles just because I decided to not eat breakfast. Breakfast doesn’t have to be eggs everyday but definitely try to eat whole foods or some lean proteins if you can. Don’t grab that muffin as an easy go to because eating breakfast is just as important as what you are eating.
Your body needs to break its fast after sleeping with some food otherwise you will more likely grab something unhealthy when lunch rolls around. Find what works for you after you get up and begin your journey into healthy eating!
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Diet struggle
Yesterday, I wrote about my new way of eating and if you thought a simple macro tweak led to success, let me update you on one of my many struggles—eating enough protein!
No matter the diet that I have tried, protein is always a component of it and I always find it hard to eat enough of it. Why? I don’t like to eat too many eggs. Sure, I’ll eat it when dining out but willingly eat it at home, unlikely. I can take protein shakes once a day but after that not so much. So what else can I eat?
I eat turkey slices, grilled chicken, and shrimp. Since I don’t eat red meat, these are the only other items that I enjoy. Can you see how I don’t hit my protein numbers? So is my diet a fail? No! read on to find out why.
My diet isn’t a failure b/c even though I don’t hit my 30% number every day for protein, I come super close. Plus, I am still eating healthy items and my muscles are recovering better after working out so all in all a win for me! Don’t you agree?
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My diet
I have been sharing on and off about what if I’ve been eating and so today, I decided to share what I’ve been eating macro-wise and share how I am doing on my diet.
After doing keto for months and realizing that I always got derailed during small work trips so though keto kept me full and I did well in my workouts, my physique didn’t really change much and eating keto was expensive and couldn’t be sustained when making family trips. At this point, I reached out to a nutritionist who suggested I eat in thirds protein, carbs, and fats for my 2200 calories. Would this work? I was willing to give it a shot.
I’m currently doing this ratio of macros and know what? I’m not loading up on unhealthy carbs but getting more carbs has given me a new burst of energy and my workouts are better and my physique is going in the direction that I want. The lesson here is that try something for a few weeks and if it doesn’t work, tweak your diet again.
For me, this new way of eating allows me to eat well and still socialize without being restrictive so find what works for you!
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Diet not working?
Are you doing a diet and think it is successful for you? Perhaps you like the keto diet or you like doing Intermittent Fasting but how do you tell if these are working for you?
For most people, just looking in the mirror is an indicator of whether it is working or not but what if the results are good and you don’t have energy at the end of the day or you are struggling to stay awake during your evening commute? Would you consider that as a diet that is working? I don’t think so.
Remember, a good diet is one that gives you the nutrients you need and lets you achieve your goals without being too restrictive. It also should allow you to have sustainable energy during the day and night. If you have highs and lows of energy, likely the diet is not tailored for your activity level. So what should you do? Reevaluate your diet and approach and speak with a nutritionist if you can. Otherwise, figure out where you are lacking in your diet—should you eat breakfast, should you eat more veggies, have an afternoon snack that is a fruit, etc.
Dieting isn’t easy so it’s best to find an optimal macro amount for your needs and follow that versus doing a fad diet that will eventually catch up to you somewhere along the way.
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Should your snack have CBD?
With the growing debate of whether CBD (cannabidiol) can be introduced into food, beverage, and supplements, the one thing we are aware of is that this ingredient is definitely going to continue to be the news-maker of 2019.
CBD currently has a market and the FDA doesn’t believe it should be used in the food and supplement space due to its use in the pharmaceutical space first. The ways people are getting around it is by one, waiting and watching to see what the FDA will do about products that have CBD in them and two labeling CBD as full-spectrum hemp extract; thereby not calling out it as CBD.
I do think CBD is an ingredient that will show up in more snacks, yogurts, and beverages this year but there is a lot to be considered before buying them. My concern is who is testing the product to ensure you are getting the CBD amount listed. How do you know that the amount listed is actually going to help you for whatever reason you are going to take it? Where is the science to support that X amount of CBD is needed to alleviate Y symptom?
The CBD industry is going to keep growing and I think the science will eventually get there but first companies need to work with the FDA to figure out how this ingredient should be a part of the industry because I certainly don’t want to take something that is just “cool” and then mess up my body. I would highly recommend doing some research before buying CBD. It may show up in new snacking products this year but do you really want to experiment with a new ingredient on your own body?
*Image from pixabay
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Eggs for snacks!
One of my favorite things to eat for snacks is hard-boiled eggs. We already know that eggs have numerous benefits but they also are convenient to make. Lately, if you shop at convenience stores like 7-Eleven, you’ll even see them selling hard-boiled eggs. Why? Because consumers want healthy snacking options.
Aside from protein, eggs have zero carbs, zero sugar and wait for it…choline in it! Choline helps to keep your liver functioning well and is great for keeping your mind sharp too. Unless you are eating poultry, shellfish, collard greens in high quantity, you are likely missing out on this beneficial nutrient which is part of the egg yolk. Plus, eating the egg yolk allows for choline to transport fats throughout your body–especially essential for this to happen if you are on the keto diet but something we all need nonetheless, no matter the diet as well.
Eggs are great for you and if you are concerned about the impact on cholesterol in your body, just consuming less full eggs or speak to your doctor as to how many full eggs you can eat.
One of my favorite recipes is:
Garam Masala Eggs
1) Peel two hard boiled eggs and place in a container and set aside
2) Add your favorite mayonnaise (Sir Kensington’s spicy fabanaise is my favorite as it uses aquafaba, chickpea water) and garam masala powder (or curry powder)
3) Add the hard boiled egg and season with Himalayan salt and pepper to taste
4) Garnish with cilantro, if you like
5) Serve and enjoy!
This recipe adds a twist to egg salad since you add a kick to your recipe via Indian spices.
*Image from pixabay
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