Posts Tagged ‘Abs Diet’

Day 12- 70 Day Challenge- Abs Diet

Posted: February 23, 2012 in 70 day challenge, Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, diet, Health, health and fitness, obesity
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I think I fell off the blogging roll.  Even doing a simple post is pretty taxing.  I will leave out the update for the past several days and continue to update you on my progress once I catch up.  But here is the link to the 70 Day Challenge and also the link where you can find the links for all my days- hold me accountable at youtube, pinterest, and twitter.

Most influential for my health consciousness was Men’s Health magazine because it introduced me to “The Abs Diet.”  The magazine editor and author of the book is David Zinczenko.  Although the book is written in a way to attract males towards the diet, any dieter can follow it. I learned that each person has to make a personalized way to get to the goals you have and the book I think best presents the way to do it on a great foundation.

Following the steps in the book  I got a way to transform the fat into muscle, as well as steps to sculpt the rest of the body.  I know I put down the “diet” trend, and yes, I am not a fan of diets but that term is associated with a “lifestyle” where you purge yourself of your natural desire to eat carbs or other things.  Here your body and your personal habits are taken into account and there is a way for you to incrementally change and add the healthy lifestyle choices to your life.

The Meal Plan

The meal plan consists of a 7-day plan, filled with what the author calls “power foods.” There are twelve power foods listed in his book, accompanied by recipes. You get one meal per week that is considered a “cheat” meal so you can et anything you want. The diet suggests that foods, such as fat-filled meats, processed and refined carbohydrates, as well as foods high in sugar, should be avoided.

The Power Foods

The foods below are referred to as the “Power 12,” and play an important role when following the Abs Diet.

  1. Nuts: almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, etc. These should be eaten with the skin still in place.
  2. Beans and otherLegumes
  3. Green Vegetables: spinach, asparagus, broccoli, lettuce, etc.
  4. Dairy: This includes fat-free milk, low-fat milk, yogurt, cheese, as well as cottage cheese
  5. Instant Oatmeal: When eating this food, no sweeteners should be added and it should also be unflavored.
  6. Eggs
  7. Turkey and other lean meats: This includes lean steak, chicken, as well as fish
  8. Peanut Butter: This selection should be all natural and contain no sugar.
  9. Olive Oil
  10. Bread and Cereals: These items should consist of whole grains.
  11. Extra Protein Whey Powder
  12. Berries: raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, etc.

Day 4- 70 Day Challenge- Inspired By

Posted: February 15, 2012 in 70 day challenge, Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, Health, obesity, Social
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Checking in for Day 4 on my 70 Day Challenge- hold me accountable at youtube, pinterest, and twitter. Today I am feeling a bit meek- its raining and I feel I slept way to much.  I want to go work out but at the same time I sort of feel like just being lazy.  It doesn’t help that I am listening to J*DaVeY’s Evil Christian Cop.  Its this really chill kick back sensual heart beat inducer after inducer.  

Today I guess I can reflect on how I got here.  I would say that after being told by my Physician that I was overweight I laughed it off and continued to not care until the the next physical I had a year later where I was told that I now qualified for being “OBESE” medically speaking.  (I was puckering my lips with Class I obesity I guess? Or my Physician was trying to scare the shit out of me and telling me I needed to get my act together either way here I am not wanting to be like that!)

Its ironic, you know, that during the course of human history, society perceived being FAT, or obese, to be a sign of wealth and great worldly achievement.  Back then only the rich got to that “obese” status and now, look at our society, everyone is fronting by getting morbidly fat to the point that they dont fit into their jeans, or maybe its the fashion to wear two sizes smaller then what supposed to fit you- but regardless, the new “RICH” is to look superbly slim.  I am sure CoCo would be very much welcomed in King Henry VIII’s time, but he might need to put on a mini skirt to go with the jeans.

But I am not trying to get myself into a pair of skinny jeans, but rather trying to prevent myself from suffering all the horrible things that come with being fat- the increased stress due to increased levels of cortisol,  or the snoring and sleep deprivation from being to round in the belly, and obviously from the possible inability of being able to run around like a teenager.  What started this path to health conscious, well I would say this is a partial list in chronological order:

  1. Men’s Health- what I would consider to be the primer Mens magazine on the planet.  It gives the introduction to men’s health issues, and better, if you dont know anything about anything- from how to tie a tie to what sort of clothes  you wear to an interview and what to wear on a weekend getaway with your in-laws- this is the source of all manhood answers.  Better yet is the fact that after a year or two of flipping through the magazine you will find that the articles are repetitive in nature and incrementally build on the base information that you find from one month to the next.  So in a way after a year of reading through it you probably dont need it all that much.  However, I would add that its great to go through there and just get an idea of whats in fashion for men and also new things to try out.  It might inspire you inner Leonidas and have you yelling  ”THIS IS MY BODY!”  I guess the continuous infatuation with “The Abs you want by summer” or “the rock  hard arms” it might just motivate you toward the goals of achieving such great heights.
  2. The Abs Diet- which I mentioned in my last post- is a GREAT BOOK.  I started last year by just implementing the food habits suggested by DAVID ZINCZENKO are pretty straight forward and in my eyes totally reasonable.  I lost the initial weight just by doing the bare minimum, which was changing my eating habits to be in line with the Abs Diet.  Now its time to take it to the next level.
  3. P90X- God this shit is hard.  But the guy is freaking 50 years old and  he looks like he’s 30.  I like the workout, granted I am not at all doing it regularly like I should but its a goal I have to be able to eventually get to the point in my life where I can keep up with this grandpa.
  4. The Heart of a Champion- or the 70 Day Challenge- or just the guy Chris Kreuger- when I ran across his video on youtube I was totally taken aback that the guy went from being a blob to being cut in 70 days.  I know how much of a difference eating healthy made in my life, but in 70 days if I could get rid of the last 25 pounds of fat and get lean, how GREAT WOULD THAT FEEL?!  While I didn’t buy any of the products THE HEART OF A CHAMPION is offering, the video got me motivated to do my own 70 Day Challenge.  In that way Chris is an influence in my efforts.
  5. My brother- he calls me fat, and then he signs up for boxing classes.  I will beat the crap out of him and look good while doing it.  Nothing like sibling competition.

Day 2- 70 Day Challenge- Get Up Off That ‘thaang!

Posted: February 13, 2012 in 70 day challenge, Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, Asian American, diabetes, Health, heart disease, obesity, Social, Strategy
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Checking in for Day 2 on my 70 Day Challenge- hold me accountable at youtube, pinterest, and twitter.

Some thoughts to reflect on, especially if it pertains to you:

The average American man’s waist size is a ponderous 38.8 inches, up from 37.5 in 1988, according to the journal Obesity Research. (David Zinczenko, The Abs Diet, Kindle Locations 263-264)

Physicians’ Health Study that has tracked 22,701 male physicians since 1982, they found that men whose waists measured more than 36.8 inches had a significantly elevated risk for myocardial infarction, or heart attack, in which an area of the heart muscle dies or is permanently damaged by a lack of bloodflow. (id. Kindle Location 261-263)

The National Diabetes Education Program suggests that there is a direct correlation between heart disease and diabetes.  They suggest that 65% of people diagnosed with diabetes die from from heart disease related issues- 65%!  Diabetes in essence increases the chances of creating more problems for Americans when it comes to heart issues and complications.  Whats even scarier is that year after year an average of 13 million Americans have been diagnosed with adult-onset diabetes, the most recent being Paula Deen from Food Network.  So while Americans don’t like being told what to do- or what to eat- and we don’t like being told how to live- more specifically, what to not eat (i.e. diets)- we definitely value our lives, but unfortunately, the culture of consumption in this country is killing us.  All those advances in allowing us to live longer, get nutritious foods and live healthy lives are being destroyed by our waist sizes.

My goal is to go from a waist size 36 to a waist size of 32.  Currently I am at 35, so just by exerting a whole lot of energy over two days- including crunches and push ups at night and in the morning- controlling my diet, mainly being very cognizant of the amount of food intake, I cut back an inch- yaay for results!  I love the VW commercial because it shows that if a dog can “get up off that ‘thaang” to do what it loves, so can I!

An this is a epidemic in the US, especially amongst kids.  Obsiety is literally sapping away our youth into a world of diseases that to me seem worse than polio or influenza, in that the cure lies in the habits and education of individuals; no flu shot or vaccination will make diabetes or heart disease disappear off the face of the planet.  The First Lady has an initiative that you should check out, called “Lets Move“, where I found this report, which to me is quite startling:

Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. The numbers are even higher in African American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40% of the children are overweight or obese. If we don’t solve this problem, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. Many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma.

You can check out the report for yourself here.  One of the key recommendation is for kids, and families, to do 40-60 minutes of physical activity a day!  Having seen the recommendation now over and over again from various health institutes, initiatives, doctors and remembering back to how much I hated that 1 hour of Physical Education I had to do in elementary, middle and high school- I realize that it really was keeping me healthy, and what I need today is 1 hour every day to do something physical.  It doesn’t have to be the gym, or lifting weights, but 1 hour of continuous activity that pushes your body and builds a sweat is critical to stay healthy!