Tuesday Tweet of the Week: School Lunches

School lunches are undoubtedly the topic of much discussion. You may have heard Michelle Obama has started a campaign to change school lunches. Jamie Oliver is hosting a TV show called "Food Revolution" in order to illustrate the difficulties in the school lunch programs, as well as see if he can help a largely obese community. As I am very involved in nutrition and eating healthy this is really exciting for me to see such big efforts being made.

Jamie Oliver has an online petition that anyone can sign in order to show the President how much America cares. A recent tweet by queen food blogger Jaden Hair caught my eye. Click on her link and go sign the petition!

@SteamyKitchen "Have 30 secs? Pls sign @jamieoliver's petition-I stand strong for better nutrition & healthy kids http://ow.ly/1sFhn (plsRT)"

Friday Food Fact: Red Meat

Are you a fan of red meat? Are some cuts better for you than others? Find out as I give you all the info in my "Athletic Foodie Tip of the Week"



Please disregard the misspelling in the video...I have no control over that:/

Tuesday Tweet of the Week: Governor Perry's Appointment

Never did I think I'd post one of my own tweets as the "Tuesday Tweet of the Week". I like to think of myself as a very humble and down to earth guy who is not one to toot his own horn. Last night I was thinking about what to feature for today's tweet. As I searched through tweets I'd seen in the previous week I couldn't stop thinking about the one tweet I've received the most response from. So I did it. I went there. I decided I had to blog my own tweet. So here it is people. Don't judge me;)

"Hot off the wire...@GovernorPerry appoints @G_WeberGale to his council on physical fitness and sport! http://ow.ly/1pkSn"

As many of you know I'm super passionate about food, cooking, and nutrition. This passion has led me to found AthleticFoodie, which is a company dedicated to helping people live a better life through better nutrition. Recently Texas Governor, Rick Perry, has appointed me to his council of physical fitness and sport. I am super pumped about this. I can't wait to help make a difference and promote, exercise, nutrition, and overall health. It is a great honor to have been appointed to this position and I look forward to working very hard to help in any way I can!

Finally I think I'm actually starting to make a difference and get somewhere with all of this:)

Friday Food Fact: White Rice vs. Brown Rice

How does white rice differ from brown rice? A friend asked me this the other day and I couldn't give the exact answer. Immediately I knew this had to be the Friday Food Fact. So I did some research and here's the skinny.

First, after the rice is harvested it goes through a huller/husker to remove the outside grain husk. After this process is complete you're left with brown rice. From brown rice the grain becomes further processed by the removal of the germ and inner husk (bran). After the removal of the germ and bran the only thing left is what's called the endosperm. Finally the grain is then polished using either glucose or talc. What's left is white rice.

In the processing of the grain many nutrients are lost including Vitamin E, Thiamin, Ribofavlin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Potassium, and Iron to name a few. In addition white rice has been totally robbed of it's dietary fiber containing about 1/4 of what brown rice contains. Often you will see white rice that has been 'fortified' or 'enriched which means they have synthetically added back some of the original nutrients into the white rice. Crazy huh?

The same process and loss of nutrients is largely true with white vs 100% whole wheat baked goods such as breads, bagels, English muffins etc.

Here's an idea. Let's get back to eating the 'whole' foods nature intended us to eat. There's no question we'd be better off for it.

Tuesday Tweet of the Week: McDonalds and Health?

Do you want to eat like an Olympian? Well according to a McDonald's commercial which aired constantly during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics now you can...by eating their food. You may remember the commercial stating, "Now you don't have to be an Olympic athlete to eat like one." Wait, really? Is McDonald's 'sweet chili sauce' really the fuel Olympians eat for performance? Although I wish there weren't two sides to this story, sadly I must confess there are.

In my experience eating in the dining hall at the Beijing Olympics, I've seen first hand that many athletes do in fact eat McDonalds. Some even eat it right before their events...I even know a couple personally (including ones who won medals). So it's evident McDonalds does have truth in their statement. I shall bear all truth, too, 'after' my Olympic events were over I too delved into some McDonalds. It was a rare treat however.

On the other hand most Olympic athletes do not eat at McDonalds during their competition schedule. In fact many athletes turn their nose up at the thought of it. While training to compete at high levels of sport can and sometimes does include infrequent fast food and junk, generally it does not.

Social responsibility. The 'appropriate' phrase which came to mind when I saw McDonald's Olympic commercial. Is it socially responsible to link healthy Olympic athletes to unhealthy, yet tasty food...and imply that by eating it you too can be like an Olympian? Obesity in America continues to break historic records. Companies like McDonalds continue to try and align themselves with health through special meal programs, and commercials like the one discussed here. In this case, McDonalds should be ashamed. Do they not realize the negative effect they're having on society? Just like some of you, there were some other thoughts that went through my mind when I saw their commercial...explicit ones!

The following tweet reignited my thoughts about the McDonald's Olympic commercial, which brings us to the Tuesday Tweet of the Week. The tweeter is a guy named Rich Roll who is an UltraMan. Rich is as fit as they come. Check out his website to learn more about the crazy races he undertakes.

@RichRoll "Weight Watchers deal with McDonalds!?! This enrages me. Just another way McD is co-opting American health. MUST READ http://bit.ly/agjd35"

What are your thoughts? Please let us know!

Training Our Lungs with Underwater Bikes

I'm basically holding up over 250lbs there...no big deal baby!
Just cruisin'

Poppin' a wheelie. Holla!
Just another sweet trick in my arsenal...

Stretchin' out for max points

Friday Food Fact: Some Food Life Facts

For a few minutes let's just imagine humans could live on air. What if the feeling of hunger is simply to force us to get together and communicate with other people? I don't obviously mean this in a literal sense but what if this were true.

2010, the birth of the "Friday Food Fact" here on the Food and Water blog. 2010, my first experience in attending foodie/chef potlucks here in Austin. How could I have only found out about these this recently? A potluck...what a genius idea! Great food, unique drinks, new and interesting company...brilliant. What's even better is that you're not solely relied upon to create everything. My mind tells me the more potlucks the better. We'll see if my midsection agrees.

Fact: I've met more new and exciting people in a few short months attending food-enthusiast potlucks and food events than I have in the previous couple years in Austin.

Thoughts: The more I get involved and intertwined in the food and cooking world the more I realize how food can bring people from all walks of life into one conversation. People from all over the world from different socioeconomic backgrounds, different races, different ethnicities etc. can all discuss food. Of course they can all technically discuss anything but food is something everyone has at least some knowledge about. For instance, what foods did you eat growing up, what's the family traditional cuisine, were there certain crops or staples used in what you ate/eat, how do spices vary among cultures???...the list goes on. Not to mention, everyone attending is totally into the fact that we're about to eat some really legit food baby. The environment is set for a great time as well as the perfect place to meet like-minded people.

Fact: Before cooking in Italy and New York I was always very apprehensive about cooking for others. My expectations were always very high which always led me to think my food was never good enough.

Thoughts: Working in a kitchen in Umbria, Italy for over a month this past summer and doing a "stage" working at restaurant Daniel in NYC gave me a huge boost of knowledge, skill, and confidence. They also gave me the "kitchen cred" to spend time in other kitchens. My expectations are still high (they always will be) but now I'm getting closer and closer to meeting them. Just like anything the more you do the better you become. No longer do I shy away from having others over for food. Cooking for potlucks has made me even more fearless. (Check out the stuffed striped bass above from Wednesday's event.) At a potluck I attended last month I was the only non-chef to prepare an entree. I made Bison heart. Not only was this an odd thing to make but I had no idea what I was really doing. The final product was delicious and got rave reviews from other chefs. Let's keep this going. I love getting more and more confidence in the kitchen...such a pleasure.