Health

NSNG – How to keep the pounds off

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NSNG

NSNG stands for ‘No Sugars, No Grains’, coined by celebrity Trainer Vinnie Tortorich, is a nutrition plan (don’t like using the term ‘diet’) that is great for keeping the weight off.  The idea behind NSNG, is that sugar and grains are hard for the body to process and burn off; thus an excess of sugars and grain products lead to weight gain. And when you think about it, I’m sure you can see the parallels of eating too many grains like your cereal in the morning with that bagel — this mix of ‘Simple Carbs’ takes hours if not days to fully burn off if you are not physically active for the day. So removing or severely reducing the amount of sugars and grains from your palette will help keep the weight off. Now, by ‘sugars’, this refers to any added sugar (natural sugars from fruits are okay).

So WTF to eat?!?!

So you might be saying, ‘Hey, what am I supposed to eat then if you take out my morning cereal and bagel?!?’, and I hear yea – that is why I have made an example meal plan:

Breakfast
- Plain Greek Yogurt w/ frozen or natural fruits
- Bacon and Eggs
- Sausage
- Sweet Potato
Lunch/Dinner
- Ground Turkey or Chicken
- Veggies: Cauliflower, Broccoli, Carrots, Spinach, Kale
- Sweet Potatoes, Potatoes, Plantains

 

Just try it for a week, and you’ll start seeing the differences. For more info visit:

 

Oh and of course, it is good to do physical activity at least 3 times a week, 168 hours in a week, I’m sure you can find 3 hours there for yourself and betterment.
Thoughts

Still Here

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still here

I realized that I haven’t wrote a blog post in awhile, and just wanted to write a quick post.  Last post was in May 2016, and a lot has happened in the world since then — a lot.
However, in such a tumultuous state of time, we have to stay true to our goals, dreams, and desire – that’s been a constant battling theme with me. And for those that are battling the same, keep your head up, and keep moving the feet forward … even if it is a slow pace.

Stay tuned.

 

Technology

With BB10 until the End

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blackberry-passport-vs-keyboards

More often than not when I am in a social setting and I pull out my lovely BlackBerry Classic Smartphone I get similar comments:

- “Oh, you still have a BlackBerry?” (shocked or frowning face)

– “It’s been a looong time since I have used one of these”

– “Why do you still have a BlackBerry?  I thought they stopped making them”

The last comment can be blamed on BlackBerry’s lack of marketing for BlackBerry 10 and the Priv.  But as for the comment “Oh, you still have a BlackBerry?”, the answer is quite simple: It gets the job I need it for done faster and efficiently – and I don’t play games or care for timesink apps

Now, don’t get me wrong; timesink apps have their place and are very important to a vast majority of users – as is evident with the abundance of apps in the ecosystems of Android and iOS.  And when I say ‘Timesink’ apps I am referring to games (a la Candy Crush, etc.) and social media apps (Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc.).   The primary function of a phone; or at least 80+% of what a phone is used for is communications – that relates to phone calls, e-mail, sms.  Throw in another 10-15% for organization such as apps for calendars, GTD’s, and contacts.  Every other app is virtually a timesink (and yes, there can be positive timesink apps that allow you to learn).  And on BlackBerry 10, and on my BlackBerry Classic, nothing beats the communications experience.  As for the ‘app gap’ situation, doesn’t bother me as much as I don’t have that much down time to download the latest doo-hicky app – and the Android runtime on BB10, though limited, serves up for the few Android apps that I do use.

With the current state of BlackBerry always in flux, and the state of the BlackBerry 10 OS in a greater state of flux, I still stand behind the device and platform because it is truly a great innovative fast and fluid OS that has an only hindrance of not being able to cater to the ‘lore’ of timesink apps that exist on iOS and Android.

.:: LiBM ::.

sports

Stop Hack-a-Jordan w/ 5-on-4 Basketball

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5-on-4 Penalty Basketball

A lot of talk in the NBA this year has been about how to stop the ‘Hack-a-Jordan’ technique that certain teams employ on terrible Free Throw shooters; case in point DeAndre Jordan of the LA Clippers. DeAndre is a strong Offensive and Defensive presence, but he is one of the worst Free Throw shooters in the league – for the 2015-16 season he shot a staggering 43% during the regular season.   ‘Hack-a-Jordan’ is a strategic technique that is well within the NBA rules, but it slows down the game, is lackluster, and is a sad sight for sore eyes to watch Power Forwards/Centres try to make free throws. The whole ‘Hack-a-Jordan’ is spawned from the ‘Hack-a-Shaq’ technique when teams used to intentionally foul future Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal (usually in the 4th quarter and when the game was close), Shaq was a horrible free throw shooter, but a dominant scorer.

NBA: Playoffs-Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Clippers(
(DeAndre Jordan shooting a Free Throw)

Fast forward to the current Era, and the ‘Hack-a-Jordan’ has altered courses of games and is different than the ‘Hack-a-Shaq’ because we are seeing the technique used all throughout the game — not just the 4th Quarter. The Basketball journalists and armchair experts have loudly chimed for a rule change; and I am sure Commissioner Adam Silver is working on one. But I have an idea that can radically change the game – and it involves borrowing a concept from Hockey and Soccer: introducing disadvantaged scenarios.

Penalties for Fouls

In Hockey, when there is a penalty committed, the penalty offender is relegated to the penalty box for 2 mins, while his team is down a player; causing a 5-on-4 situation. This concept can be applied to Basketball. Imagine what 5-on-4 basketball would do to open up a game? I propose in situations where there are intentional off-the ball fouls, flagrant fouls, and technical fouls, part of the punishment should include that the offending player is removed from the court for a predefined set of time. Now, if we borrow from the Hockey rulebook, the player would be off the court for 2 mins – resulting in a 5-on-4 situation. And the player would only be allowed to enter back in the game after the 2 mins, but can only enter after a stoppage in play (ball goes out of bounds, foul, etc). Allowing for 5-on-4 situations would deter teams from employing ‘Hack-a-Jordan’ and would force players to think twice about committing a technical or flagrant foul.

Now, I know in Hockey, the power play is stopped after the the advantaged team scores a goal, but this wouldn’t work in Basketball as it is a high scoring game; and you would still have disadvantaged teams scoring as they could jack up 3’s. Basketball has changed from a post-up game to a more nimble run-and-gun game that has opened the court up and put a focus on smaller line-up that can shoot 3’s. But imagine how the game could open up with less players on the court? The defensive and offensive strategies that would have to be employed to play 5-on-4 would bring a new dynamic and excitement to the game — and most importantly it would stop this scourge of ‘Hack-a-Jordan’ so that we don’t have to witness terrible free-throw shooters.

UCN, videos

The Benefits of Living w/ a Hype Man

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I got the idea for this sketch after listening to some 90’s Hip-Hop, specifically listen to Busta Rhymes and his hype man ‘Spliff Star’.  Then I just took that idea and wondered how living w/ a Hype Man (which is essentially a motivational accomplice) would be.

Thanks to Matt & Anthony Engelbrecht for being a part and doing some amazing improv (especially the bedroom scene).

Producer of Things