Sugar Is A Ninja

What if I told you Bruce Lee’s middle name was Sara?

I would be lying, but it would be funny.

Sugar is a sneaky mother***er.

Sugar is a ninja.

You are never safe. You need to be watching your back at all times. It lurks in the shadows, it infiltrates from the inside out, and you never see it coming.

Bruce (Sara) Lee

Cobra Kai Johnny

And sure enough, Sho’Nuff.

Masters of deception. Masters of manipulation. Striking without ever being seen.

Ninjas.

Sugar is a ninja.

Hell, sugar is THE ninja.

Hiding In Plain Site

As much as sugar is a ninja, I am an assassin. I am going to show you how to snipe the sugar from a distance. See it coming and react before it gets to you. Think of me like Chris Kyle. I have the record for sugar kills.

To make it easy, I will give you the places you are consuming sugar the most without even knowing it (ninja tactics). I am leaving out bread, pasta, rice, etc. If you don’t know sugar is in there, I don’t know if you are safe from the sugar ninja at all.

Here are the hiding spots:

Cereal

Yogurt

Granola/snack bars

Juice

Dried fruit

Artificial Sweeteners

Wait? Did you say artificial sweeteners? Those are sugar? No, but you will see how they may be even worse for you than actual sugar (which is NOT an excuse to just eat sugar. I know what you are trying to do, stop justifying, please).

Fat

Sugar makes you fat. If you are fatter than you want to be, there is a 99.99% chance that it is because of sugar. You eat too much of it. If you are burning sugar you are not able to burn fat, on top of the fact that each sugar calorie that is not burned will eventually be stored as fat.

Sugar = fat. Remember that.

Each gram of sugar is about 4 calories. If you are eating a bowl of cereal, a yogurt, granola/snack bar, a glass of juice, or fruit before work, then sitting, how many calories do you think you are burning? 

Right. Not many. That sugar is not only keeping you from burning fat, it will eventually become fat.

Sugar = fat.

Alternatives for breakfast: 1. Eggs. Hard-boiled if you are in a hurry. Make them all on Sunday so they are ready to grab during the week. Your neighbors in the office will hate you, but you will be healthy, so screw them. 2. Plain, Greek yogurt, with some blueberries. There will be no sugar in the yogurt, and blueberries have a very low sugar content. 3. No juice. Water is boring, but so much better for you. Coffee is fine, but do NOT add sugar, even artificial sweeteners (section on that later).

You should not be eating close to your bed time anyways, so ideally, by the time you wake up, your body is close to, if not already, in fat burning mode. By not consuming sugar, you will be burning fat while you work! How great is that!! When your body does not have sugar as a fuel source, it switches to fat. No gym, no Stairmaster, no kettle bells, just chillin, burning fat. Hooray!

Avoid sandwiches for lunch. Salads are great, but watch the dressing (sugar, sugar substitutes). The best thing you can do for a salad dressing is use olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss in all the vegetables you want. Lentils, walnuts, avocados are great additions for protein as well. Go nuts, as long as you go healthy.

Are we comfortable with all this?

Focus on grass fed meats, wild fish, tons of veggies (I make huge smoothies and just dump them all in there. If you want the recipe, hit me up on the socials — links at the bottom).

One thing to be cognizant of when you eat out is to check and see if they use olive oil. Most restaurants use vegetable or canola oils when they cook. So you may be getting something inherently healthy like chicken or fish, but if it is cooked in canola oil, it is going to irritate your system and you won’t be digesting the food well, yada yada yada. Just something to keep in mind.

Artificial Sweeteners

Here is the king of all ninjas.

To put it plainly, fake sugar will f*** you up.

Direct enough for you?

Good.

Basically, fake sugar tricks your body in to thinking it is getting sugar, so you spike your dopamine and leptin, but never supply the sugar that your body thinks it is getting, and it creates cravings for the carbs you never gave it.

Make sense?

It also spikes your insulin. What does that do? Remember when you were younger and you had to clean your room? What did you do? You took all your crap and threw it in the closet. Viola! Room is clean!! That’s what insulin does (basically) to your system. Everything you ate gets absorbed. It doesn’t disperse it correctly in your system, it just throws it all in the closet. All done!

Sweet taste + no calories = insulin spikes and cravings = no bueno

Oh yeah!

It gets worse!

It damages your gut flora. You know, the good bacteria in your gut that allows you to process food correctly, distribute it to where it needs to go, absorb the good, get rid of the bad? Basically, everything your gut does. It hijacks that.

I told you it’s a ninja.

What happens when you don’t digest your food correctly? You don’t release vital chemicals because your system is all messed up, which can lead to depression, inflammation which effects joints, organs, etc. Think of it like a stick shift, you are revving your RPMs to 5 and 6k, when you should be shifting at 2500. Over time, you wear out. Breaking down the good bacteria also means things are left in your system that can lead to auto-immune diseases, allergies, etc.

It’s bad.

Real bad.

People don’t realize that a major center for dopamine release is in your gut. If your gut is not functioning correctly, you don’t get that release of dopamine when you should. That can lead to depression, which can lead to low self-esteem, not caring, and eating more poo poo.

Don’t eat poo!!

Make sure you don’t take that last statement out of context. Not a good look. And not very helpful as 

I am sure most of you are not poo eaters. My dog is, but I hope you are not.

Questions

If you have any questions regarding any of this info, please feel free to contact me through any of the socials at the bottom or directly to this post.

Here is to being (truly) healthy!

Joey

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What Are You An Example Of?

Whether you like it or not, you are an example to someone.

What exactly are you an example of?

That’s a great question.

You tell me.

Biographies and Autobiographies

James Altucher says, “advice is autobiography.” I totally agree, but it is also biography. I can give advice based on other people’s stories, and I do. When I am answering questions on my podcast/vlog, Just Ask Joey, I only answer things that I know about. The only way I can know about anything is if I have lived it or seen it lived. Do my friends and family know I am talking about them? If they are self-aware enough they know. And to be honest, if they are self-aware I am probably saying good things about them. If they are not self-aware, I am probably saying something negative about them. Not in a gossipy sort of way, just a statement of fact.

So What Kind Of An Example Are You?

To make this easier, let’s look at the major aspects of your life: work, home, and friends.

Work:

What kind of an example are you there? What do people say about you? What would they say if they were asked?

Are you nice or mean? Hardworking or lazy? First to arrive and last to leave, or last to arrive and first to leave?

Be honest.

Are you the best, the worst, or somewhere in between?

If someone were writing the story of your company or your office, what character are you?

Are you the type of person that brings the office up or down? Is the quality of the work better when you are involved? Is the moral higher when you are on a team?

The big question is, when they are training a newbie, are you the example of what to do or what not to do?

Ask yourself that.

And if you are anywhere on that spectrum other than the top, why are you ok with that? Mediocrity, or laziness, sloppiness, never going the extra mile. How have you allowed yourself to be okay with that?

Recognize your example for what it is, and make it better.

Home:

What kind of a spouse are you?

What kind of a parent?

When your kids grow up, are they going to want to be like you, or the opposite of you? Where are you strong? Where are you weak?

If you don’t have kids this is even better. You can think about the type of parent you want to be. Are you going to be the example that your kids emulate? Or the opposite?

Look at your parents. Do you do the same thing as them or totally different? Why? What type of an example are you going to be for your kids?

These are the kinds of questions we need to ask ourselves.

This is an even bigger one to ask yourself: if you think you are a good example as a parent, would your kids and spouse feel the same way if they knew everything that they don’t know? The things you don’t tell them? That they don’t see?

This is a huge question, and one that many people get caught on. If they don’t know it can’t hurt them. That is poisonous thinking.

Everything effects everything, whether it is known or not.

Whatever you are hiding, either knock it off, or tell them so it forces you to knock it off (I suggest this, the truth really can set you free).

Friend:

Do your friends look at you as someone who adds to their life, or takes away?

I am not talking entertainment value, I am talking about real value.

What do you bring to the table?

Do you find yourself with the same friends as you always have, or do you cycle through friendships?

What does it mean to be a good friend?

Are you there for them?

Do you keep track of favors to make sure you don’t do too many without getting some in return?

Can they count on you?

Can you count on them?

Are they good people to have around? Are you good for them? Do you fight? Do you argue?

If they were making a list of the “best” (as in best person) friends, where you on that list?

Purpose

What I am taking the long way to say is, you need to live with purpose.

You need to audit the hell out of yourself to make sure you are actually living the life you think you are. Don’t fool yourself. Don’t ignore the questions because they are too hard to answer. Get in there. 

Clean out the wounds, and be stronger than ever.

Work with purpose.

Be a part of your family with purpose. Be a child with purpose. A spouse or partner with purpose. A parent with purpose.

Be a friend with purpose.

Any time you get in to a situation where you need to question what you are doing you can ask yourself, what example am I setting? Why? Because it is not only about you. Someone, somewhere is watching. They will either use you as an example to, or an example not to.

Choose to live better.

Choose to be better.

An example that we can all follow.

Joey

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Be Your Own Victory Story

Hello?

Are you there?

Of course you are.

You Are Still Here

Have you ever had a bad day?

Ever been devastated?

Think back on the three worst days of your life. I am sure there were points during that day when you saw absolutely no way out. As much as you tried to see the positive, tried to gather some meaning from whatever you were going through, you just couldn’t see it. You were in a dark place. Pitch black. No way out.

But you are still here.

As much as it felt like it would never come, you made it to the next day. You felt like you were going to die, but you opened your eyes, and it was a new day. The sun was up. The stars were gone. And you were still here.

You Are The Victory

We like to look to others for motivation.

“If they can do it, I can do it!”

What we need to realize is our own stories should be all the motivation we need. All the positive we need when we are trying to pull ourselves out of the darkness.

Why?

Because you have already done it. In fact, you have done it over and over, yet you still doubt your strength and resilience when the next issue arises.

You ARE the victory. You ARE the story you should be telling yourself. The one that picks you up when you are down.

Why?

Because you CAN do it.

How do I know?

Because you ALWAYS do it.

As long as you keep pushing, keep fighting, and keep grinding, the darkness will break way to light. It always does. As long as you keep digging, you will get there. The same way you did it last time, the time before that, and most importantly, the next time.

Remember

The next time you feel down. The next time you are having a bad day and can’t see the silver lining, remember who you are. Remember what you have been through. How you have persevered. How you have gone from darkness to light when there was no hope. No one else did that for you, you did that yourself. It was your will, your heart, and your strength that pulled you out. You don’t need the motivations of anyone else, you have it all within yourself.

I would tell you to be the victory, but you already are. You just need to recognize it.

Take a look.

It’s a beautiful thing.

Joey

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30 Days Of Genius Blog: Arianna Huffington

When you take over a medium that has been around as long as newspapers in only 10 short years, you have to recognize the leadership and vision of that venture as absolutely brilliant. Even if you don’t know her name, you know The Huffington Post. Arianna Huffington delivers insights in to what allows her to stay on top of her game. As she says it, “Sleeping your way to the top.” I guarantee it’s not what you think.

I have taken her interview on 30 Days of Genius with Chase Jarvis, extracted the information, and used it to answer common questions by readers just like you, who are looking to take their lives to the next level, or at least a different level than the one there are on.

Please enjoy.

How Do I Maximize My Potential?

Simple.

Sleep.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

“Burning the midnight oil.” “Burning the candle at both ends.” “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

Do those sound familiar? They should.

They are very common, and very bad for you if you are striving to be your best.

Did you know that being sleep deprived can put you in a state similar to drunkenness?

It absolutely can (and without all the fun).

When you do not get enough sleep you: put yourself in a state of partial attention, are more irritable, unhappier, more reactive, more likely to get sick (because your immune system is weakened), more emotional, fatter (seriously, the hormone that tells your brain you are satiated turns off!), and in the long term, can potentially increase your risk for heart disease and even cancer.

Not sounding so crazy any more is it?

If you are only getting 4–5 hours of sleep a night, transitioning to 7 and 8 will change everything. You become: more effective, more present in meetings, productive, creative, and healthier. You will have more stamina, and because all of your hormones are balanced, you will be happier, more joyful.

So many high functioning people believe it is all about exercise and nutrition. Sleep may be the most important of all.

Historically, there have been many misconceptions about sleep and the brain. Up until recently, people assumed that sleep was down time for your brain, as if it were a car parked in the garage. It turns out that the brain is extremely busy during sleep. It processes everything it was working on during the day, it processes things you will be working on tomorrow, and most importantly, your lymphatic system is activated during sleep, which is when and how accumulated toxins are cleaned out.

How Do I Get A Good Night’s Sleep?

Your first step is prep your sleep the way you would prep your children’s sleep. No one throws their kid in to bed after watching TV. There is a routine: bath (hopefully), brush teeth (hopefully as well), story time, and then sleep.

We need to do the same thing for us.

The key is to start slowly, don’t just jump in to it. We are trying to create lifelong healthy habits. Taking on more than we can handle at once increases the likelihood that we will “fall off the wagon” down the road.

Your goal should be to prep your sleep 30 minutes a night, and actually sleep 7–8.

You don’t need to do that all at once. Build up to it. Start with 5 minutes of prep, maybe 10. Build up 

from 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night to 5 or 6. Build slowly but assuredly.

Some tips to help you sleep: turn off your devices, get them out of the room, have designated sleep clothes, read real books (no devices, remember?), make sure they are calming subjects, don’t rile your brain up right before bed. Keep your room temperature under 70 degrees, cut out as much light as possible, and wear a sleep mask or ear plugs if necessary.

You need to find the nighttime routine and sleeping habits that work best for you.

Sleep is essential to success, not only as a business man or woman, not only as a creative, but as a human being.

Please take it seriously.

Quotes

“You can’t entertain the guests and clean the house at the same time. “

“Being sleep deprived is the equivalent of being drunk.”

“You are not your work.” — this allows for more freedom to be creative, stretch yourself, go bigger.

Arianna Huffington Links

Huffington Post

Website

Book

Chase Jarvis Links

Website

Creative Live

iTunes Podcast Page

Joey Links

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