Bruce Lee on the cover of Muscle & Fitness
Bruce Lee, one of my biggest heroes, had a set of abs that have been absolutely legendary. Even after 35 years from his death, the cover of the April 2009 Muscle & Fitness magazine was Bruce Lee. "35 years after Bruce Lee we celebrate the most famous abs of all time" was one of the main captions on the front cover.
As one of his biggest fans, I own a copy of a fantastic book titled, "The Art Of Expressing The Human Body". The book shows the progression of Bruce Lee's physical training, martial arts training, and a section about his nutrition. That section was entitled, Fueling the Dragon (Nutrition). The first quote in the book was, "When you are a martial artist, you only eat what you require and don't get carried away with foods that don't benefit you as a martial artist". As you can see, Bruce was all about putting the right things in your body. It's not like he never ate anything bad, he just never went overboard with it. That's currently the mentality that I have right now. I'm trying to eat as many healthy things as possible, and if there is something that is a little unhealthy, I just know not to eat too much of it.
The art of expressing the human body
As I was continuing to read, it displayed a sample diet of Bruce's. The first meal he had of course, was breakfast. This was one of the hardest things to integrate into my daily routine at one time. The reason why? I just love sleep too much. However, I started to try to get to sleep earlier, and or, make sure I wake up earlier anyways so that I can get a good meal in. It's vital for you start your day off eating breakfast so that you can turn your body into a calorie burning machine. Of course you aren't suppose to eat anything too unhealthy so that you can kick start your metabolism!
Anyways, it listed that Bruce started his day with a bowl of Muesli. I've never heard of Muesli ever before. I thought it almost sounded like some Italian dictator! Well, with the power of the internet, I wikipedia'd it. It turns out that Muesli "is a popular breakfast cereal based on uncooked rolled oats, fruit and nuts. It was developed around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital. It is available as a packaged dry form, or it can be made fresh.".
According to Wikipedia:
All the main ingredients of muesli are considered important elements of a healthy diet:
- A diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of cancer and other age-related diseases, and a serving of muesli can contain one or two servings of fresh fruit.
- Oat products have been shown to help lower high blood cholesterol concentration (hypercholesterolemia) and thereby reduce the risk of arteriosclerosis. Raw oats contain phytic acid, an essential nutrient which the steam process used to create "quick oats" destroys.
- Products made from whole oat and wheat grains are rich in fibre and essential trace elements.
- Some types of nuts (especially walnuts) are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are associated with many health benefits, including the development of the nervous system.
- Milk products, often served with muesli, are a rich source of calcium and protein.
- The fruits that are in Muesli, as well as the oats are a source of fiber as well.
The low glycemic index of muesli without added sugar or honey helps with diabetes control.
While Muesli can be a vegan or vegetarian dish, it is not a raw food dish if the rolled oats are heated or steamed or "processed" in some fashion, but it is if non-steamed, non-heated, just-rolled oats are used.
After one of my sessions at LA Boxing, I went to a local Harris Teeter to buy some groceries. As I was looking through the cereal aisle, I found out that they had a version of Muesli. There was also a Kellog's version called Mueslix. I went with the Harris Teeter version since it was cheaper. Now, this isn't your sugary Coco Puffs guys. It's actually a really tasty, healthy cereal! It's almost like raisin bran but with other great nutrients. It's something I've tested and recommend. So start off your day with Muesli just like Bruce Lee!
Today's Data:
Body Weight: 153lbs
Body Fat: 17.9
Body Water: 56