Top Ten Snacks!

I know a lot of people are trying to shed some pounds for the Pan Ams tournaments and have to get creative with cutting calories. So, I thought I would open up a discussion on healthy eating. I am not a nutritionist, nor do I claim to be an expert on healthy eating. I am going to list the things I do. I don't claim to stick to these rules all the time. Far from it, unfortunately! But when push comes to shove, this is what I do.

Some of the basic things I do when I am trying to drop a few pounds are pretty simple:

1. Drink lots of water

2. Up my cardio. For me, part of this means that I try to make every the most out of every grapple. It DOESN'T mean I go crazy and try to get as many submissions as possible. It means that I move as much as I possible can. A lot of times, I don't hold positions where I normally would, because I want to keep my heart pumping and don't want to allow my body to rest. I also like to add in walk, jogging and sprinting intervals at home.

3. Cut as much salt as possible from my diet. Unfortunately, I am a salt-o-holic. I prefer salty things over sweet, but salt is horrible when you are trying to lose weight.

4. I try to eat mostly fruits/veggies and protein. Lots of chicken. Lots of fish. I try to limit --but not cut out--carbs. For me, it is all about portion size.

5. As a general rule, I try to keep every meal under 400 calories. But inbetween meals, I eat a snack that is around 200 calories or under. I don't stick to this strictly. I just try to keep my portion sizes small and eat healthy things when I'm hungry. I try not to deprive myself too much. If I am craving something salty, I try to find an option that is as healthy as possible. The same with sweets. Otherwise, I am tempted to binge when the cravings become too much! lol When I am trying to lose weight over time, I aim for around 1600 calories a day. If I am actually cutting -- losing weight that I don't intend to keep off -- it drops down to around 1200 calories, and then even less the week before the tournament. But I am not good at being disciplined about cutting, so if I know I need to lose for a tournament, I try to start as far out as possible and lose the weight slowly.

6. Even though I am no expert, I know there is more to food than just how many calories are in it. I try to pick foods that do double duty -- low calorie but also rich in vitamins, protein, fiber, etc.

My Top Ten Favorite Snacks (from lowest calories to highest).


1. Popcorn – One bag popped 50 calories

2. ½ Cup Unsweetened Applesauce – 52 calories

3. One Borden Part-Skim Mozzarella String Cheese – 70 calories

4. One Cup Strawberry Applesauce – 80 calories

5. Small Veggie Plate and Ranch – 90 calories
- Celery Stalk cut into fourths – 5 calories
- Five baby carrots – Around 35 calories
- Five grape tomatoes – 10 calories
- Marketside Low fat Buttermilk Ranch dressing (2 tsp) – 40 calories

6. Rice Cake Pizza – 159 calories
- White Cheddar Rice Cake – 45 calories
- Teaspoon of pesto – 58 calories
- Sprinkle of Mozzarella cheese – 30 calories
- 2 Tomato slices – 10 calories
- 3 onion slices – 16 calories

7. Lowfat Yogurt and Granola – 180 calories
- One cup “Great Value” Banana Cream Pie Yogurt – 80 calories
- A teaspoon of Craisins – Around 30 calories
- 1/8 of a cup Bear Naked granola – 70 calories

8. Hummus and Pita Chips -- 200 calories
- 10 Stacy’s Pita Chips – 130 calories
- 2 tbsp Sabra Spinich and artichoke hummus – 70 calories

9. Sweet Trail Mix (I usually eat less than one serving. Just kind of pick at it.) – 293 calories
- ¼ cup mixed berries – 130 calories
- 1/8 cup yogurt covered raisins – 93 calories
- 1/8 cup Bear Naked granola – 70

10. Salty Trail Mix – (About a ½ cup. Same as the sweet mix. I don't usually eat a whole serving.) – 300 calories
- ¼ cup mixed nuts – 170 calories
- ¼ cup Mixed dried berries – 130 calories

What are your go-to snacks? What secret, easy recipes do you rely on? How do you change your exercise habits when you are trying to shed pounds for tournaments? Good luck to everyone in their last week of training for the PanAms! Wish I could be there with you guys!!

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What's The Difference?

Something I have been wondering about lately is what the difference is between a good white belt and a blue belt. I know that the determination of who is a white belt or a blue belt is completely in the hands of their instructor. But I want to know from you higher belts, what is your understanding of what the difference is between a good white belt and a blue belt.

Just wondering. :)

Dedication

If you had an illness or an injury that prevented you from training, how long would you wait before you gave up on your desire to train BJJ? I complain if I have to miss one week of jiu-jitsu. But imagine if you were diagnosed with a disease that had the potential to take you off the mat for good.

A friend of mine, Daniel, went through exactly that.

He was annoyed that I took this picture because my stupid phone refused to behave. If you're reading this, Daniel, sorry it took so long. :)

Daniel trained at Fabio's before I even knew what BJJ was. But in June of 2007, Daniel was diagnosed with Crohns disease, a very painful and physically limiting disease. After a major flare up in 2009, Daniel was sidelined for almost two years.

Ever since I began at Fabio's, Daniel has been there. He wasn't grappling, but he always came to class and watched from the wall, supporting his teammates and soaking up the technique as much as he could without actually drilling. For nineteen months he waited patiently, hoping the medicines he was taking would bring him to the point where he could have the surgery he needed to get him back to his career and back on the mat.

A few months ago, he got the news that he would be able to have the surgery. And now, almost two years after Daniel had to stop training, he is back in the gym. He got in his first grapples on Monday night and will be bringing the ruckus again tomorrow. Other than being tired and a little sore from his first day back to grappling, he said he's doing well and is just glad to be able to grapple again.

I asked Daniel if he ever got to the point where he thought about quitting BJJ for good. His simple response was, "Never." When I followed up with the question of why BJJ had such a powerful hold on him, he described the feeling that I and so many of us have had about the sport. He said, "The biggest number one thing was that I just love it. I love the comraderie, the competition. The brotherhood. That it's a lifestyle, a philosophy."

I've had conversations with several of my friends about why BJJ is so addicting, and I can't narrow it down to any one reason. There is something intensely emotional about the sport that keeps us all thirsty for one more class, one more grapple. We all go through so many of the same challenges and are forced to face ourselves when we hit the wall or when we succeed. The team becomes so much more than just a group of guys and girls trying to figure out techniques. It becomes a big, sometimes dysfunctional, always entertaining family.

Anyway, I want to say kudos to Daniel for sticking it out. Glad you didn't give up. And welcome back!! :)

Humility

What do black belts normally do when it is time for them to get a stripe? I have only ever been a part of one school, with one black belt and all I know is that his recent promotion to third stripe left an impression on me.

Fabio been a black belt for 9 years now. As I understand it, you get one stripe every three years for the first three degrees after you get your black belt. Then it bumps up to five years for a while and then seven, I think. Stephanie was telling me all the details last night and it is more complicated than I care to process in the pre-coffee hours of a Sunday morning.

Last week, Fabio hit his 9 year anniversary of becoming a black belt. He was standing around in the office with some of the guys from class and he just put on his new stripe. No fanfare. No announcement. Not even in front of the school. He just put it on and went out to teach class like normal.


Of course, the guys didn't let him get away with that. They cheered for him and congratulated him when people were lined up after class. He said thank you and that was pretty much it. I wouldn't have even known about it if some of the guys who saw him put the stripe on hadn't told me. I don't know if part of the reason there wasn't more done about it is because his teacher, Marcelo Saporito, lives in Brazil and isn't around to stripe him. But I think it goes deeper than that.

I want to brag about my instructor for a minute. I can do that without being a suck-up on here because I know Fabio doesn't read this blog. lol.

He always tells us it isn't about the belt or the amount of stripes on it. He doesn't just say that, though. He really doesn't make that his focus. I am sure he is proud to have earned his third stripe.

But for him, jiu-jitsu is about his team. He lights up when he talks about his students. He puts tons of hours outside of his regular classes into the people who are a part of his school. He is not just our instructor. Everyone knows that he will be there in a heartbeat if we need him for anything, Jiu-jitsu related or not. At the school, he doesn't let us call him sensei or master or anything like that. He just wants to be called Fabio, because he doesn't want to make it about him. It's funny because I think the guys in our school respect Fabio more because he doesn't demand respect. He earns it from everyone he meets. On top of that, the bjj that he teaches is top notch.

I have heard stories about schools where that black belt doesn't even grapple or when he does grapple he just submits the garbage out of everyone. When Fabio grapples, he doesn't destroy us and submit us a thousand times (though that is a little different when he is training for pan ams). He moves and lets us try stuff--then catches us off balance and dumps us over on our butts.

My point is, Fabio's gym is one of the most relaxing places I can go because of the humble, family-type mentality that he demonstrates both on and off the mat. So, even though you won't see this, congratulations on your third stripe, Fabio. I hope I will have the privilege of seeing you earn many, many more.

Reverse! -- Half Guard Sweeps

This afternoon, Fabio taught us a series of bottom half-guard sweeps. I say series because it is one of those things that is an "if/then" situation. If your opponent does this, then you do this.

Two major things stuck out to me as "most important" in this series:

1. Getting your opponent off balance by switching directions. One of the central ideas of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is not fighting force with force, but instead "going with" your opponent and using their momentum against them. First you try to sweep one way, but they block. You be prepared to either sweep them the way that they are pushing or to take advantage of whatever space they are making. Instead of trying to force something, go another way. And then another way. And then another way. You keep switching directions until you catch them off balance and then take them over.

I used to waste a lot of energy trying to force sweeps to happen. Now, I try to be more patient and to keep moving. Sometimes it takes a while to actually get the sweep, especially if the person is bigger. Sometimes I don't even get the sweep, but instead have to use the space created by the sweep attempt to return to my guard.

The important thing I am learning is to go with my opponent and use their movement and weight distribution to my advantage as much as possible.

2. Bringing your opponent on top of you. For a long time, this seemed counter productive to me, especially if my opponent was heavier than me. How would bringing their weight on top of me help?

I am only just starting to understand how to do this with bigger people, but the benefits I see so far are that(1)it removes the effectiveness of their posts. Their weight is on you, not on their arms or legs and (2)when you bring the person on top of you, they have to go where your body goes. If I bring someone on top of me and turn my body to the side, they will fall off to the side.

Other random things I noticed that are important with half guard sweeps:

1. Hipping into the person or diving under the person (in order to bring the person on top of you).

2. Using your knees to pinch the leg and help bring the person up on top of you and then over.

3. NOT using arm strength, but instead using arms to remove bases or swim things.

4. UNDERHOOKS!! :)

I think for the next month or so, I would like to focus on trying to get better at half guard sweeps and side control escapes; especially side control escapes from the scarf hold. We'll see how it goes.

What is Brazilian Jiu-jitsu?

Check out this awesome video of Fabio explaining what Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is.



This really explains a lot about Fabio's philosophy of BJJ. It's not about strength. It's not about size. It's about leverage, momentum and flow.

One of the things he said in the video is that he doesn't want to hurt the people he grapples physically, he wants to "hurt them inside" to make them take a look at themselves. I have experienced this under Fabio. He makes you face challenges that you hate. He puts you with people who can just pick apart your game and frustrate you. He doesn't say much about it, beyond a little encouragement. He makes you work through it. That approach has forced me to grow so much--not only in bjj but as a person--over the last year and a half.

By the way, I am in this video at one point (in the background) but I was only able to grapple with one arm because I hurt the other one at NAGA. That's why I am scooting around weirdly. lol Hope you enjoyed the video!