If you’ve been following this blog, you know I throw hot sauce on almost everything. From jalapeños to habaneros, I love me some spiciness. I recently started a garden. While I’ve done pretty well at killing off my other plants, my ghost peppers have made it. Survival of the fittest! I eat spicy foods for the culinary experience, but was delighted to learn of the health benefits of trying to set my tongue on fire. Metabolism Capsaicin is the compound that gives hot chilies their pop. Sweating your way through a meal burns off some extra calories and helps… Super Bowl Sunday is the day when folks consume the second highest number of calories of the year (after Thanksgiving). Luckily, taking care of yourself during the big game isn’t as hard as it seems, and it doesn’t require that you skip the activities and food that make you smile. With a tiny bit of planning, Monday will be less managing regret and more prideful recollection of your willpower. Here’s your path to success for tomorrow’s big game: Grab a workout in the morning, even if you typically do your workout in the evening. Let’s face it, once noon… Taking the first step is the most important thing you can do. For today, I want you to take a step – off the scale. Your scale is like your worst ex. It’s a liar; deceitful, manipulative and behaviorally inconsistent. It’s most dangerous characteristic? It’s intoxicating, luring you in day after day with the promise of better things to come. It’s time for you to end the dysfunctional, toxic relationship with your scale. Kick that SOB to the curb. The scale only measures weight. More times than not, weight is a poor indicator of how we feel. Medical studies are… Fast food is evil. The goal of the entire industry is to sell the lowest quality food possible in massive quantities. That’s their model in a nutshell. I hate fast food and everything it stands for. That being said, fast food is inarguably convenient and inevitably part of some lifestyles. I can’t recommend it, but if you have to continue to patronize these businesses, here are some tips to prevent it from completely disrupting your fitness goals. Pick options in the Chipotle mold. If you can choose ingredients, you have a better chance of finding food less processed and… I headed to Cal State Fullerton out of high school, baseball scholarship in hand. I found myself living in a dorm room as a young 18 year old with no clue how to be a man. Everything was new, and I was totally unaware how nutrition would impact me, either on the field or in terms of my health. My tuition was paid for, but I still didn’t have much in the way of a bank account. When it came time to have a meal, I made friends with Del. Taco, that is. My go to meal was a… Mindful breathing is one of the easiest changes that you can make in your life, and one that you may see the most benefits from.  I learned about meditation from my dad. I remember him going into a room for hours; he would come out looking stoned. Maybe he was, but I like to think he was just blissfully relaxed. According to pops, mediation is simply paying attention to breath. By his definition, I’m a monk. I don’t practice traditional meditation consistently, but I continue to use the techniques daily. Even though I’m not sitting in a lotus position… 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 several ways, including the use of chemical versus natural fertilizers, e.g., compost, to feed soil and plants. Conventional farmers also use synthetic herbicides to manage weeds, while organic farmers use environmentally generated plant-killing compounds. Traditional produce with porous skins or outer portions that are…