I found that statistically, vegetarians live longer, are healthier, and hardly ever suffer from the major diseases that plague American’s today. More and more people are choosing this lifestyle because it makes them stronger, smarter, thinner, calmer and happier than their counterparts. After 7 days into it, I’m beginning to understand why.

I started to read “The Kind Diet”, by Alicia Silverstone, and formulated recipes based on her cookbook to jumpstart my Vegan fast. I’ve already learned a ton from her and I encourage you to check it out!

When I decided to go on this journey, you would not believe the responses I got from people. My mother thought I was going to kill myself because of a deficiency in protein (which BTW, is incredibly uncommon among Vegetarians and somewhat unheard today when there are so many food choices). My friends thought I was going to loose a ton of muscle and I’ve had people ask me constantly “What are you going to eat if you can’t have chicken, pork, beef, or fish?”.

Well, it turns out that there are hundreds of different varieties of plant-based food you can get in any grocery store. As I started to research, I came to a bunch of conclusions that just made sense to me. Did you know that cup of beans has more protein than a steak? Also, more calcium, iron, and other vitamins. Of course, you don’t have to live on beans, there is a significant source of protein in sea vegetables, tempeh, miso, soy products, nuts, seeds, and tons of other veggies too. Whole grains, like legumes, are also a significant source of protein.

So why do we all think we have to eat animals in order to be healthy? If you do a little investigating, you’ll find that the meat and dairy industries spend billions of dollars to make you think this is true. The fact of the matter is, American’s consume way too much dairy and meat products. In most countries, meat is not the main ingredient in a meal. Usually a tiny bit is mixed in with their whole grains, vegetables, beans, and other organic ingredients. That might help explain why we are the fattest country in the world.

Let’s face it, meat is freakin’ awesome. Where most people in the world would consider it a great luxury, thanks to a thriving meat industry, we get to have it every single day. It’s cheaper than vegetables and it has most of the nutrients we need in it. If you stop for a minute and consider WHY these meats have so much good stuff in them, you’ll realize how they got there in the first place: cows, pigs, and chickens are all plant eaters. Yup, the nutrients you get and benefit from when eating that chicken breast, got there from the plant-based foods they consume. Vegans and Vegetarians are just getting them straight from the source—except with none of the bad stuff attributed with meat (like heart disease).

One scary thing to think about is the ingredient list on popular foods and trying to avoid eggs, butter, and milk. It’s in EVERYTHING! For example, I’ve made one or two slip ups already because I didn’t realize that my veggie burger was held together with a tiny bit of mayonnaise or that my Morning Star meal starter had a small amount of eggs in it. On my first day, I went to pick up orange juice from the grocery store. There were two kinds on the shelf, one that was just regular juice and another that was enriched with calcium, protein, Vitamin A and extra Vitamin C. When I read the ingredients, I realized that the second choice contained dairy products in order to achieve this nutritional fact.

I’ve committed to this for 21 days and now that I’m 1/3 of the way through it, I have already started to feel the benefits. I’ve lost a lot of water weight that I’ve been holding onto for months. When my alarm clock goes off, I’m able to wake up more peaceful rather than hitting the snooze button and crashing back to bed. I have a lot more energy throughout the day, where before it was only after a Monster energy drink in the morning and afternoon.

I’ll keep you all updated on my progress and I invite you to give it a try with me. Here is a recipe from tonight’s dinner:

AJ’s Vegan Chili Mac

• 1 can of organic tomatoes (or fresh if you can get them)
• 2 cans of variety organic beans, usually labeled chili beans
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 1 can of water
• 1 whole onion
• a handful of chopped bell peppers
• 4 tablespoons of chili powder
• 1 package of ground beef replacement (don’t use Morning Star though, it contains eggs and dairy)
• 1 package of whole wheat rotini (again, watch out for eggs and dairy)

Cook on high the ground beef replacement in medium sized pot. Add tomatoes, beans, tomato sauce, onions, bell peppers, and chili powder.

Cook in a separate pot the rotini. Strain.

Combine pasta and chili into a bowl. Top with Vegan sour cream and vegan cheddar cheese and enjoy. Also delicious with a nice tall glass of almond milk.

December 6^th marks one year I’ve committed to regularly going to the gym and strengthening my body and mind. It’s not too often that one can make a New Years resolution and a year later continue to benefit from it. It’s been a very long journey and I’m excited to finally share my experiences with you all. I hope that this testimony helps others commit to living their best life possible.

Last year, after eating a very unhealthy meal, I noticed construction signs for a brand new boxing gym and I immediately started to think how cool it would be to learn different styles of Martial Arts and apply self defense techniques to finally getting my body in shape. It was a very strange feeling considering I’ve never really enjoyed fitness at all. In school, I avoided Physical Education classes like the plague and sought out every opportunity to get out of class. As an adult, I was incredibly skinny with no muscle and a surprisingly round belly that just wasn’t attractive at all. I knew that traditional fitness wasn’t going to work with me—I needed to be in an structured environment with teachers and peers if I was going to be successful at this.

So I pulled out my credit card and signed up for an L.A. Boxing membership in Herndon, VA. Pat, the gym’s owner, offered me so many membership plans that would have saved me a ton of money. Knowing the kind of person I am, I signed up for a month to month membership because I had already convinced myself that this was something I wouldn’t be able to do and in my mind I had already given up. On the day of their soft opening, Pat asked me to pick up my boxing gloves and hand wraps and start my first class. I was so nervous, but I got off my butt and went to my first kickboxing class.

I was immediately hooked. I started going to classes two days per week, but the more I enjoyed it, I quickly moved to three days per week and then finally five days per week. I worked with trained fighters from all around the world. It gave me a lot of perspective on the different styles of Martial Arts and the results followed very quickly.

The discipline didn’t come very easily. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to give up. There was a time toward the beginning where I was in horrible shape. I had to take several breaks just to finish the class. A lot of people couldn’t handle it at all and would walk out 30 minutes into it, but one instructor (James) taught me to relax and enjoy the workout. I gave up happy hours, lunches with friends, and parties to accommodate my new fitness lifestyle. I knew that if I decided to play hooky one time, I would do it every opportunity I could find.

I learned that all I had to do was show up to class. Being there is the hardest part, so the rest came very easily. If I couldn’t do jump squats, I’d do regular squats. If couldn’t jump rope, I did jumping jacks instead. If I couldn’t run, I’d walk. If I couldn’t do the workout, I’d modify it to where I could do it. If I got injured, I worked around the injury. I learned that there is never reason to give up. If you put yourself in a mindset of success, you will be successful.

After 6 months, I was in amazing shape. I had lost 20 lbs of fat, had six pack abs, and looked amazing. I was doing so well, that my regular routine was becoming easy. It was then I met Carlos Hernandez—who made the last six months look like preschool. I had new goals. I no longer wanted to be lean.  I wanted to be a body builder. I knew that if I committed myself again, I could accomplish this goal too.

For the second half of the year, we trained together every single day. The first month was the most difficult training regimen I ever experienced in my entire life. He introduced to me a technique that shocked my body into being conditioned for extreme fitness. We ran on tredmills wearing sauna suits, sweat pants, and a sweat shirt for hours at maximum incline. We did cardio with interval and circuit training. We lifted heavy weights every day until I couldn’t lift my arms anymore. When the weather was nice, we went for 8 miles runs outside and did strength training on playground equipment. I truly experienced blood, sweat, and tears and it was the most fun I’ve ever had working out.

I learned that having a coach that is willing to push you harder than you could ever push yourself is essential to getting ahead and becoming a master at what you do. When he became my workout partner, it was even more encouraging because I didn’t want to let him down. I had to keep up and by doing so, I grew stronger every day.

2009 was the most productive year I’ve ever had. All of my training paid off big in all areas of my life. I’ve gone from 162 lbs to 195 lbs. That’s over 30 lbs of muscle in one year. Not only is my body is the best shape it’s ever been in, but I’ve been able to master many things in my life that have always been challenging for me.

• Anxiety, worrying, depression, boredom, and sadness are no longer words in my vocabulary.
• I’ve learned to live in the moment and let my emotions come and go, which is huge breakthrough.
• I’ve learned how to get more things done by doing one thing at a time and I’ve accomplished many projects this year because of this.

How will 2010 turn out? The only answer to this question is “any way I want it to”. You are the designer of your life. Live it!

I’d like to share something with you that has been very close to my heart lately. A few months ago, I was browsing YouTube and I came across this video of Steve Jobs giving a commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

This speech changed everything for me. It took zero effort to change my life. All I had to do was listen. Every time I’ve caught myself doubting my choices, feeling anxiety, or wanting to worry, I keep reminding myself that I’ll be dead soon. It sounds completely morbid and sad, but this attitude chases away all negativity leaving what is most important—following your heart.

For those of you who have been following me for the past few years, I am most thankful for you. I hope that you all have had a great holiday and I can’t wait to see what this next year brings.

I solemnly swear I will treat today as a blessing.

I will remain optimistic for the outcome of any situation and I will limit thoughts of negativity. I will replace complaining when finding solutions.

I will never speak ill of anyone, I will give respect where it is due, and I will go out of my way to give where it is not due. I will not pass judgment upon anyone and I will take the high road when people push my buttons.

I will help those in need and I will show gratitude to those that help me.

I will put healthy food in into my body and nourish it with the nutrition I need to fuel my passion.

I will live in the moment and I will not allow my fears, thoughts, or anxieties impede on my growth, progress, or self esteem.

I will lead by example and I will never give up on my dreams.

This I solemnly swear.

Enjoy your day everybody and live life to your fullest!

We’ve been told for years that American’s are overweight. I completely agree we need to eat healthier and stay fit if we’re going to win the fight against obesity—but how can people do this whenever the information provided to us is wrong. Most Americans are under the assumption that eating more makes you gain fat and eating less makes you loose fat.

For example, to gain 1 lb per week, someone with my stats who is very active would need to consume 3978 calories a day, to loose 1 lb per week, 2978 calories to maintain their current weight, and about 3478 calories to gain 1 lb per week. This is assuming your diet consists of 55% carbohydrates, 15% protein, and 30% fats. What is the problem with this assessment? It doesn’t take into account my lifestyle, genetics, eating habits, and history.

I don’t believe that calories have anything to do with weight loss or weight gain. If a calorie is the agent that causes weight gain, then why is it that somebody can eat an excess of calories that come from beans, lentils, nuts, and other “slow carbs” and not gain a single pound of fat? How come someone with a high metabolism can eat an excess of the recommended amount of calories and not gain any weight at all? Why can some people can eat triple the amount of recommended calories, and depending on the kinds of foods they eat, can actually loose weight. Why are the numbers not the same for everybody?

Calories are just energy that your body burns as fuel. Depending on the kinds of foods you eat, your DNA, and your fitness regimen, your body may take the excess fuel and store it as fat or muscle, but for a lot of people, the energy just runs its course and isn’t stored in the body at all. It’s not the calories that make you fat! I believe that loosing weight due to a reduced calorie diet is just a side-effect of consuming less of the foods that make you gain weight.

This is so unfortunate. People in this country starve themselves everyday, only to find that their weight loss is ineffective and torturous. There are plenty of foods out there that can sustain your lifestyle, make you feel good, and help you reach your perfect weight. I wouldn’t know what I would do without the occasional delicious medium-rare steak or Italian inspired pasta dishes I eat so often. Food is supposed to be enjoyed.

Everybody is different. One diet isn’t going to work for everybody, so I recommend treating your body like an experiment. Find what works for you and stick with it. Many people can loose weight simply by changing their style of food. I have a friend who switched to a Mediterranean-style diet and shredded tons of pounds. It wasn’t because of the calorie count; it was because that style of food was better for his needs.

Before low-calorie diets, it was eating too many carbohydrates. Before that, it was eating fatty goods. There have been countless diet fads throughout history. The best diet for loosing weight is not the one that works for everybody, it’s the one that works well for you. Before you follow the fads, experiment!

Resource: Check out Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes

Here are a few things I’ve done that have freed up some extra cash and given me more control over my finances:

• Removing reoccurring charges. I could not believe how many subscriptions that hit my credit card every month for $10 to $20 a pop. Everything from credit report monitoring, to music streaming services, to discount programs—removing these services have saved me almost $60 a month.
• Doing a reality check. Do you really need a home telephone service when you carry a cell phone with more than enough minutes? Removing a home telephone service can save you from $30/month (if you’re using VOIP like Vonage) to $60/month if you have a land line through a company like Verizon. I’m sure you have your reasons for keeping it. If you only use it sparingly, you’re throwing your money away.
• Ask for discounts. Cell phone companies negotiate. The first thing you should do is find out if you are eligible for a corporate discount through AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile. If you work for the government or a Fortune 500 company, chances are that you can save up to 25%. The second option is to call your cell phone company and let them know you’re having difficulty making your next payment. Ask them nicely what they can do for you. Many companies will lower your bill or add a discount to help out. A friend of mine got his minutes doubled for free. Anything is possible—these companies have a lot to loose if you leave.
• Do you really need that channel? Call your cable or satellite company and see how you can save. If you pay for HBO, Showtime, or Cinemax, you can save up to $15 for each channel per month by cancelling the networks you don’t need. Many companies will give you the premium channels free for 3 months, and that can save you up to $50 per month. You can also negotiate a lower monthly fee on your base service.
  
• Don’t pay setup fees. A friend of mine was able to convince his gym to wave $200 in setup fees, reduce his membership from $60 per month to $39 per month, and give him a month free. Setup fees usually go straight into the pockets of the person who is trying to sell you something.
  
• Saving by making small changes. My family is now saving $4,800 per year simply by choosing not to take a toll road to work every morning. Although the toll road is convenient, the extra $400 per month in our pocket makes the extra 10-15 minutes on the road worth it. Eating breakfast at home rather than eating out every morning can save $100 per month. Making coffee at home rather than enjoying Starbucks can save another $100 per month.

There are hundreds of other ways to reduce spending without resulting in a huge impact to your lifestyle. I’d love to hear ways that you’ve saved.

Coaching is such a powerful mechanism that can do wonders for your personal and professional life—especially if you’re a creative entrepreneur like me. Over the years, I’ve been so lucky to have found great mentors that have helped me achieve greatness in every opportunity I’ve sought after.

About a month ago, I started a fitness program featured in FLEX Magazine’s June edition promising an amazing athletic physique in four weeks. Six days a week, for two hours a day, I would go to the gym at noon and go through all of the exercises in my plan. I was extremely disciplined and tried my best not to cut corners or cheat in my workout—because after all, I’d only be cheating myself.

After thirty days of self-motivation and control over my diet and fitness regimen, I saw a significant increase in my strength. While I did see an increase in my appearance, nothing could compare to what I was about to experience next.

Recently, I started working with Carlos X. Hernandez, a professional fighter with over 25 years of experience in Mixed Martial Arts. He created a personalized fitness program tailored to help me reach my goals through intense athletic conditioning, cardio, and strength training. After completing my first week with Carlos, I’ve experienced many revelations and surprises about my ability to do things as a human being—things I never thought possible until now.

Here are some “ah ha” moments I’ve learned so far:

• Working with a coach accelerated my results by 400%. I experienced more gains in one week than I did an entire month of working on my own. This actually makes a lot sense if you think about it. How far are we willing to push ourselves? Your concept of “the limit” is much closer than “the limit” actually is. Too many people either give up early or lessen the burden to make things easier. Working with a trainer has allowed me to step outside of this comfort zone that’s been holding me back.
• A coach knows a hell of lot more than you do. This is a really hard thing for people to grasp, but you simply can’t know everything. When you work on your own, you learn 100% based on your mistakes. While this is very valuable, learning from someone else’s mistakes is much more lucrative and saves a ton of precious time. Think about it. Every exercise I did incorrectly was wasted time. Only about 20% of my workouts were actually useful. When working with a professional, you replace the 80% of waste with 100% of effectiveness. You can get better results in less time by cutting waste.
• Coaches teach you to be a champion. When you invest in a coach, you’re telling your subconscious that you’re going to meet your goals. It’s much more difficult to cheat because you know someone besides yourself is holding you accountable. You work a lot harder fearing the shame of someone knowing you’re not giving your best.
• Coaches help you stay in the present moment. Too many times when we start new projects, our minds get in the way of our progress. Negative thoughts impede on our ability to perform well. A lot of people don’t realize this, but positive thoughts can get in the way as well. Doing and thinking are two different things—one involves action, and the other doesn’t involve anything at all. When you work with a trainer, you are putting things into action. Pulling your mind out of a task and letting your body do the work naturally yields results. Let your trainer do the worrying, all you have to do is focus on the task at hand.

Imagine if you had a coach for everything in life. How much better would you perform? How much more money could you make? How much time would you save? How healthier could you be?

If there is any area in your life that you are unhappy about or would like to improve, find a mentor or coach to help you get where you want to be. You simply cannot do everything alone.

• Create lists for everything and use them everyday. I use OmniFocus for Mac and iPhone to keep track my tasks for all of my projects. A simple notepad will do just fine as well. More is not better. It’s really important to remember that your goal is an empty checklist, so don’t bog it down with useless tasks that don’t provide value. Be realistic.
• Don’t multitask. This is a really hard concept to grasp, but if you think about it single tasking gets things done faster. Think of your brain as a microprocessor. It’s very fast, until you open too many programs and the system either slows down or crashes. If you’re working on task, finish it before you move on to your next task. If you feel that you need to run tasks in parallel, outsource the repetitive tasks for someone else to do.
• Limit your access to e-mail, instant messaging, and the Internet. Keep that inbox empty at all times, except for those that require action. Act on those e-mails immediately. Limit social networking websites to about 30 minutes per day.
• Do not be available at all times for everybody. Use a service like Google Voice for business use to allow you to screen calls. If you are working with a client and another client tries to get a hold of you, call them back when you’re finished. They would expect the same respect in return.
• Think 2-3 days ahead of yourself. What do you need to accomplish tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that? Don’t think too far ahead because your tasks will get overwhelming.
• Throw out long term goals. They really don’t work. It is far easier to accomplish things “in-the-moment” rather than a few months or even years from now. Remember, a goal without any action is only a dream.
• Wait until the last minute. This sounds crazy because it goes against everything you’ve ever learned, but the amount of time you spend on a project is usually equal to the amount of time you allocate to it. Studies have proven that if you put time limits and short deadlines on projects, not only is the quality significantly better, but it doesn’t cost as much to produce.
• Go for bigger projects. You can do more good on a project when it is properly funded. I often turn down projects that are full of frustration, baggage, and hassle because it takes way too much of my time. You should want to work with people that make you feel energized and happy.
• Working 80 hours a week at 50,000 per year is exactly the same as working 40 hours a week at 100,000 per year. Think of your work as hourly dollars and be fair to yourself and your client-you deserve to get paid for your time and your client will get a better product if you are compensated appropriately. It’s up to you to set these expectations.

I’d like to thank Marie Forleo, Tim Ferris, and David Allen for providing this insight to me. It has freed up a lot of my time and allowed me to do things I’m passionate about.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t feel sorry for anyone. These companies have gone bankrupt because they didn’t prepare for an economic downturn-an event that cycles naturally in our economic system. Those who are loosing their jobs are just as responsible. The inability for a worker to be staffed on another extremely low-paying job is the result of poor life planning and lack of higher education. Those who have lost on the stock market know investing is always a huge gamble.

Belkin is an excellent example of such a company. Over the weekend, The Daily Background, uncovered a huge scandal where a development representative, Mike Bayard, was caught paying people $0.65 to write fake positive reviews on Amazon.com for a product that received horrible market feedback:

“give [it] a 100% rating (as high as possible).” It doesn’t matter if the reviewer doesn’t own the product or has never tried it- the requester has helpfully written, “Write as if you own the product and are using it.” It even goes a step further, asking the Mechanical Turk user to “Mark any other negative reviews as “not helpful” once you post yours.”

Within a few hours, Gizmoto, Slashdot, Engadget, and Digg picked up the story. Suddenly everyone was doing research, finding Bayard’s LinkedIn profile, the Google Cache history of the product, and other products that have been affected. They found Bayard lowered the price of the product to $69 as positive reviews came in. The scandal got worse as the price soured to $200 in the matter of hours. The president, Mark Reynoso, made the following statement regarding the scandal:

“Belkin has always held itself to the highest standards of corporate ethics and its employees to the highest standards of personal integrity. Similarly, we support our online user community in discussion and reviews of our products, whether the commentary is good or bad. So, it was with great surprise and dismay when we discovered that one of our employees may have posted a number of queries on the Amazon Mechanical Turk website inviting users to post positive reviews of Belkin products in exchange for payment.

Belkin does not participate in, nor does it endorse, unethical practices like this. We know that people look to online user reviews for unbiased opinions from fellow users and instances like this challenge the implicit trust that is placed in this interaction. We regard our responsibility to our user community as sacred, and we are extremely sorry that this happened.

We want to stress that this is an isolated incident and to re-instill trust with you, we have taken the following courses of action:

- We’ve acted swiftly to remove all associated postings from the Mechanical Turk system.

- We’re working closely with our online channel partners to ensure that any reviews that may have been placed due to these postings have been removed.

It’s also important to recognize that our retail partners had no knowledge of, or participation in, these postings.

Once again, we apologize for this occurrence, and we will work earnestly to regain the trust we have lost.

Sincerely,
Mark Reynoso
President, Belkin”

After Reynoso made his statement, the story worsened as larger blogs found more evidence of wrong doing with other Belkin products. Suddenly the LinkedIn profile, Amazon profiles, and the solicitation were scrubbed and anonymous tips came in from Belkin employees claiming they have a history of wrongdoing and scamming the public.

It isn’t shady employees and bad business practices that are hurting them, however-it’s a collection terrible products and poor customer service that is brining them down. This could have easily been prevented with suitable product testing and quality assurance. In other words, poor quality products and services are almost always the source of these corporate meltdowns.

Belkin’s solution, of course, is to terminate the parties responsible and make sure the public knows this is an isolated occurrence. It’s going to take a lot of work to repair their reputation. Many consumers, especially in this economy, are more likely to choose competitor products. Some of the damage will never be repaired.

While this issue is far from over, it should serve as a reminder that no matter how much you get away with participating in shady business practices, it always comes back to haunt you in the long run.

I was prepared with an agenda before I started the show, but it was not in any way scripted. I spent a few hours writing a clear series of pointers a few days prior to the event, so it definitely kept me from going off topic too much. This was a good and bad thing for me. A script would have been less entertaining, but a list of topics that I had to adlib at some times seemed as if I were unprepared.

Here are my tips to making a good podcast:

• Be confident. There would have been no way for me to accomplish this without really knowing the information I was about to discuss. Run each topic through your head a couple of times and make sure you’re prepared.
• Be “in the moment”. You absolutely have to create a distraction free workplace. Turn off your cell phone, IM, e-mail, and close the door.
• Be comfortable. Sit in a cozy chair, have good posture, and speak in a relaxing, resonant voice. This will keep your tone pleasurable to listen to.
• Be hydrated. Bring a bottle or two of water-not soda, coffee, or tea. This will ensure your voice sounds the same throughout the entire broadcast.

Here are a few bonus tips I’ve learned:

• Use a good sound editor, like Logic or Pro Tools.
• Use a powered condenser microphone and an audio interface. This will keep your voice sounding crisp, clean, and professional. Adjust the EQ or apply digital filters until you’re satisfied with your sound.
• Use a “pop” filter to prevent unwanted vocal sounds from showing up in your recording. These sounds include “pa”, “ta”, “da”, and many others that sound as if you are tapping the microphone.
• Breathe properly through your mouth. Never, ever, ever breathe through your nose. The proper way to breathe is immediately before you start talking. This should be a very quick sounding breath.
• Don’t record everything at once. Just like when you record music, you record the verse, then you record the chorus, then you record the bridge, etc. Podcasting can be the same way. Record topic one, pause, record topic two, pause, and so on. Edit as you see fit.

I hope these tips are able to provide a good source for you to get started with your own podcast and I look forward to sharing insightful Internet Marketing advice with you!