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  • Building a Winning Culture

    Building better teammates and creating a winning culture are intertwined. In order to build a long-term, winning culture, it takes months and years of continuous, dedicated, deliberate effort. It’s a never-ending commitment to sharpening each other at every turn. The New Zealand All Blacks, the national men’s rugby team, were smacked in the face with this…

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  • Want to be Fitter? Eat Fat.

    Fat does not make you fat! I just hung up the phone with my teammate from 2006, Mike Lowell. Mikey was musing about how he buys low fat ground beef for his chili, sometimes even turkey. He can’t help it; he’s simply doing what society told him to do. By the time we hung up…

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  • Choose Dark Meat (With Sample Recipe)

    Dark meat has taken an unreasonable fall from grace over the years. It’s scrumptious, so block the noise of those folks who speak of its unsavory implications. At your next shopping excursion, choose dark meat over white meat; its health benefits are numerous and as an ancillary benefit, cheaper, too. I remember Thanksgiving with my…

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  • Food Synergy

    I’m often asked what food should be eaten prior to competition for fuel, consumed prior to bed to burn fat or to assist in getting a good night’s sleep. While there are certainly individual choices that are better than others, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Synergy is defined as the interaction…

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  • Choosing Organic

    I buy organic food whenever possible. However, it’s not always an easy or straight forward choice to make, particularly for folks with budgetary concerns. Organic foods are undeniably more expensive than their conventional counterparts. When it comes to investing in health, however, I recommend biting the bullet if possible. Conventional foods differ from organics in…

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  • Portobello Pizza – Cravings Made Healthier

    If it’s your last meal, forget about health and well-being. For all the other times, maintain your nutritional goals by finding a healthier substitute. If you were a fly on the wall last night on the Fox Sports Live set, you would have witnessed me tackle the following question from anchors, Ryan Field and Cole…

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  • muscle building

    The other day, I broke bread with a very good (and very strong) minor league baseball player. Over the meal, we discussed lifting. He shared his off season routine with me, and I realized how much more efficiently players are training these days. They are far better educated than when I was a moppet, and…

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  • Take the Almond Challenge

    Are you up for the almond challenge? My man Joe from New York spends a portion of every day at Penn Station. Penn Station is the nation’s largest candy vending machine (oddly, folks also get on and off trains here). Joe loves Skittles, so every day is a temptation. You can’t really blame the guy…

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  • weight loss

    [Editor’s note: I requested that Gabe allow me the use of this platform once again. I wanted to share my thoughts on obstacles on the path to achieving our goals. He generously agreed to the request. The words below are all mine. –Stephanie]If we had to pick a motto at Kaplifestyle, it would very likely be…

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  • Building a Winning Culture

    Building better teammates and creating a winning culture are intertwined. In order to build a long-term, winning culture, it takes months and years of continuous, dedicated, deliberate effort. It’s a never-ending commitment to sharpening each other at every turn. The New Zealand All Blacks, the national men’s rugby team, were smacked in the face with this…

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I aim to plan and consciously choose all of my indulgences. I have the knowledge and willpower to do so, but occasionally, I will have a substantial misfire.

I was in Boston, my home away from home, for the 2004 World Series reunion. I splurged nutritionally as I had intended, but I didn’t map out my large nutritional stumble while watching the game.

I had it all pre-navigated. My two men (12 and 14) and I love to experience travel through food. We think it’s the most efficient and interesting way to explore the culture of a city. We discussed the trip ahead of time and decided on three restaurants where we would fully indulge and eat like kings. We’d start with the team dinner at a fine steak and seafood house, follow it up with breakfast the next morning at a bakery, and finish it out with lunch at a tapas joint in the South End.

The first night the three of us shared bone in filets, swordfish steaks, oysters, giant shrimp, crab cakes, lamb chops, chocolate cake, apple crisps and cold vanilla ice cream. I enjoyed a few glasses of whiskey, neat, and my boys drank Sprite. We left the restaurant 1 for 1. Remember, this indulgence was planned.

The next morning, we went to a bakery suggested by a Boston-based chef friend. The boys picked up scones and French toast; I scored big with a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on a crusty roll with spinach and tomato. The bite came complete with a Dijon mustard finish that struck a chord with me, managing to last all day. 2 at bats, 2 knocks.

After mobbing around on the T train all morning, making our way to Harvard and back to Downtown Crossing, we landed at our destination for lunch, Toro. Theo Epstein made the recommendation after I mentioned that my boys and I were on a food adventure. This is the guy who went out to get the “washed up” 2002 version of David Ortiz, so he’s proven his scouting mettle. If he thinks it’s a worthwhile trip, I’ll take his advice.

Back to food.

Rather than turn this post into a restaurant review, I’ll keep it simple. I had an out of body experience. Every small plate that arrived was visually captivating and stunning on the palate. We sprinted the gamut. From spicy curry beef empanadas to cauliflower with golden raisins and pine nuts to the pièce de résistance, roasted bone marrow with radish citrus salad and oxtail marmalade. This dish, holy fuck. Our waiter described it exquisitely as “like rich, hot, beef flavored butter.” I was now 3 for 3 and ready for my final at bat.

A theme throughout this entire trip was advance planning. My first mistake was not preparing for this final meal. I figured my boys and I would just eat at the ballpark and didn’t put much thought into it. I knew that the options would be plentiful and come in large quantities. I wasn’t necessarily wrong, but I quickly got off course.

I was running around at Fenway from this place to that, answering questions and meeting folks. My boys were on their own and already up in the suite by the time I arrived around the start of the first inning. They had eaten pizza, snacks and fruit, totally what I expected for them. I walked in starving, my second mistake.  I reached for a plate and piled on decent looking veggies, a huge mound of guacamole, and the only available protein, stale fried chicken strips. I could have reached into my bag and opened a can of wild caught salmon. I didn’t. My defenses were down. I hadn’t snacked. I ingested that garbage and suffered strike one.

You know my stance on processed foods. Those frozen chunks of flour covered meat product provide little nutritional value. I had already experienced a whirlwind day filled with emotion and exertion, and the pizza under the heat lamp began to look lovely.

I advocate indulgence, but I advocate planned, quality indulgence. This was neither. I scarfed down a piece and the drugs hit my bloodstream. I couldn’t chew fast enough. Strike two.

The final pitch of the at bat came in and I chased it. I scarfed down a few more slices, knowing even as I did so that it wasn’t my finest hour.

3 for 4. In baseball that’s a hell of a day. Nutritionally, I expect 4 for 4s from myself almost always. I’m in control, so the high bar is appropriately set. Rather than dwell on it, I’ll do what Manny tells us to do after a rough at bat. “Turn the page, papi.”

I write this from the plane the following morning. I’ve turned the page. Today, I’ve ingested steel cut oats, fresh organic blueberries, a pile of kale, a chunk of a ham steak, a few fresh scrambled eggs and organic black coffee.

In my bag, I have a large salad with tons of fresh veggies, almonds, chicken, organic Hannah yams. I also still have that wild salmon I passed over for pizza in a box.

I’m back on track. I remember last night’s at bat and will make the adjustment without carrying the emotion of yesterday over into today’s game.

I hope you’ll share your stories of strikeouts or home runs in the comments section below.

Kap