food prep – Tony Gentilcore

This past summer my girlfriend, all of you know her as ~~She-Ra~~ Lisa, went to Europe for a month as a present to herself for surviving 6+ years of school, defending her dissertation, and finally becoming a doctor!

In the middle of June, she headed to Germany to meet up with her good friend, Leslie, who’s husband is stationed there at the Ramstein Air Base. This worked out perfectly because Lisa didn’t have to spend an inordinate amount of money on lounging, and, if need be, I could always fly to the base to borrow a Tomahawk H-2 helicopter if any dude tried any funny business with Lisa.

It was a win-win, really.

Anyways, as it worked out, the game plan was to head to Italy for a week – Tuscany, of course – to peruse wine country, and indulge themselves in everything Italia!

Serving as a second course, they returned back to Germany, and with Leslie’s young daughter in toe, they travelled all across the country visiting places like Dresden, Prague, Strausberg, Frankfurt, and because Ramstein is really close to the border of both France and Luxembourg, they also had the opportunity to experience those countries as well.

In a nutshell, it was the trip of a lifetime and Lisa enjoyed every second of it.

Side Note: and while I missed her tremendously, I enjoyed every second of not putting the toilet seat down, and being able to toss my socks wherever the hell I wanted.

Living room floor? Hell yes!

Kitchen sink? Whatever!

Freezer? Sure, what not?

As most can surmise, spending a month in Europe means enjoying the hell out of food – and that’s exactly what happened. It was what it was, and when Lisa came back to the States she knew it was time to hunker down and get back to her regular eating habits again.

Easy peazy.

Now, it’s not like she let herself go or that she had a lot of weight to lose – far from it! Even though she was away for so long (and enjoyed herself), it’s not like Europe is some barren wasteland devoid of gym equipment and green vegetables. Lisa still went out of her way to exercise and make daily trips to the local grocery store to purchase healthy food.

What’s more, it’s not like she came home and we had the conversation that every guy dreads. You know the one where your significant other walks into the room, the theme music from Jaws starts playing, and in slow motion she says those four words that strike the fear of god into us:

Do I look fat?

Um, uh, um, uh, uhhhhhhhh.

Haha. Thankfully it never came to that!

Well, one month went by and her weight would go down, then come back up again, go up a smidge, then stay, then drop a smudge, and the same pattern wound ensue for the next few months.

It was frustrating on her part – because it’s not like much changed. She started a new job, her stress levels were infinitely lower compared to when she was trudging through school and internships, she was still going to the gym three times per week to strength train, and she was still teaching her spin classes every week.

Too, her and I would do our normal weekend ritual of hitting up Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s loading up on veggies, fruit, grass fed beef, eggs, and the usual stuff we stuff our fridge and cupboards with. And, to top things off, Lisa would do the bulk of the weekly meal prep on Sunday morning. BAM!

All the containers on the bottom are the meals I take with me to the facility each day of the week. It’s awesome.

So, as you can see, it’s not like too many things were different. Except for one thing which Lisa nipped in the bud just last week.

You see, at her work (and everywhere else in the world) people like to bring in baked goods or fill the “community” candy dish with things like M&Ms or Skittles, or whatever other yummy candies you can think of.

And, like any other human being out there, Lisa can’t help but “dip in” on occasion and grab a few pieces here and there. No big deal, right? Everyone does it, and besides, a piece of candy here and there isn’t the end of the world and certainly won’t make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.

Just out of curiosity, Lisa decided to nip things in the bud and actually stick to her normal eating schedule for a week.

Low and behold, she lost seven lbs in one week!!!!!!! And the only thing that changed was that she stayed true to her word and didn’t deviate from her plan. At all.

Giving full disclosure: Lisa also taught a double spin class on Saturday and fasted through Sunday which I’m sure played some role, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary or anything she hasn’t done in the past.

She stuck to ger guns, and actually followed through with everything she laid out. In her own words, “I told myself to NOT TOUCH anything that’s not included in my meal plan.”

In short, she was compliant!

And this can apply to anything – whether you’re trying to clean up your diet, lose a few lbs, gain a few lbs, improve your deadlift, save up for vacation, or I don’t know, do your part in helping to bring awareness to the rights of gay seals…….

…..being compliant is kind of a big deal, and will almost assuredly lead to success.

For most, it’s not a educational thing, as my astute colleague, Mark Young, has stated on numerous occasions.

Most people know that daily exercise is important and that M&Ms aren’t the best choice of snack in the middle of the day. It’s not necessarily about having will-power or anything like that. It’s merely about recognizing that certain things in your life may need to be “adjusted” – whether it’s social, emotional, or even physical – and setting up a plan to help you become successful.

Compliance doesn’t even have to be an all-or-nothing affair, either. Almost always, it’s just about starting small, like getting up five minutes earlier if your goal is make sure to eat breakfast in the morning, and going from there.

Once you’ve established that you can do that, then you can add more to your plate like taking your fish oil or making some scrambled eggs with veggies.

It’s isn’t necessarily about conquering 18 tasks at once and trying to do a complete 180. Most people who do that fail…..like, all the time.

But in the end, you HAVE to be compliant to some extent, and to hold yourself accountable. Without that, you’re just setting yourself up to fail.

Food.

For some, food is just a means to an end, just a bunch of calories that serves no other purpose than to provide “fuel” and allow us to “do stuff.”

These are generally the individuals who eat the same things everyday – egg whites, coffee and maybe a piece of toast (NO BUTTER!!11!!) for breakfast, plain chicken breast and some spinach for lunch, a handful of almonds with an apple and protein powder that tastes like powdered fart as a mid-afternoon snack, and for dinner, maybe they’ll spice it up with some beef and veggies.

If that’s your schtick and it works for you, more power to you. Speaking truthfully, I used to be one of those people.

Sure, I’d enjoy the occasional slice of pizza here and there, and if I was really feeling dangerous I’d have a cookie (or two), but for the most part food was fuel. That’s it.

I’d bust out my grill on the weekends and stock up on grilled chicken breast for the week, and I’d also prepare a bunch of beef too. As a bachelor, my spice rack was pretty much relegated to salt, pepper, and the occasional vat of Adobo.

You could say that my palette wasn’t used to a lot of variety.

If you were to take a gander into my fridge back in the day, you’d pretty much find nothing but an endless supply of eggs, thawed bags of frozen vegetables (which would get kinda messy), and maybe a container or two of salsa.

It was pretty pathetic to say the least.

On the other end of the spectrum, for most people, food is (as it should be) much much more. Food is culture. It’s the centerpiece behind birthdays, 4th of July, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Yom Kippur (after the fact, anyways), anniversaries, weddings, graduation parties, movie marathons, you name it – food is usually the cornerstone or main attraction of any event or get together.

I’ve come a long ways since my bachelor days. Granted the kitchen is still no-man’s land for me and really the only thing I’m good at is turning the toaster on.

But give me a recipe to follow and a watchful eye, I’m fairly confident I won’t blow up the apartment building.

To that end, I recently read an article by the great Dan John where he noted:

Recently, I added a list of “Ten favorite meals” from the insights of Sean Greeley. These lists give me an idea of how I am doing socially, spiritually, emotionally, physically and fiscally.

A light bulb immediately turned on in my head, and I thought this had potential for a pretty neat and fun blog post.

Everyone’s relationship with food is different. As I noted above, before, food was just a means to an end – simply fuel to get me from one deadlift session to another. But in the years that I’ve matured (poop!) and the more I have experienced life and all its trials and tribulations, food – and all that it means and represents – has blossomed, and has grown to mean much much more to me.

While I still tend to eat the same things on a day-to-day basis, below are some of my favorite meals. Some are the healthy, “I’m still a meathead” variety, while others are there solely because they’re deliciously badass.

Lets get to it!

1. Date Night

Where I’m from “eating out” doesn’t have quite the same connotation as it does here in a big city – mostly because there isn’t nearly as many options.

Where I’m from a romantic evening out is generally reduced to Applebees or Olive Garden.

Nothing says “I love you” more than a bottomless bowl of garlic breadsticks. BOM CHICKA BOM BOM!

When I first moved to Boston, “fine dining” was not in my vocabulary. Place three forks in front me, and I was more likely to start pretending they were spaceships than anything else.

Luckily, with practice, my culinary and dining aptitude have improved, and one of my most favorite things to do now is explore new and interesting restaurants.

Just about every weekend Lisa and I head out on the town and head to the Back Bay to hit up a steakhouse and dominate a succulent filet mignon, or maybe we head to the North End and drown ourselves in vintage marinara sauce and pasta.

Whether we’re in the mood for seafood (rarely on my end, I hate seafood) or eating “dirty” (NACHOS!!!!!!!), Boston has it all, and I love being able to explore new foods and flavors.

2. My Morning Omelet

In a word: EPIC.

Every morning I look forward to two things:

1. Peeing

2. Eating my omelet.

Here’s the stats:

5 Whole Eggs (with the yolks). I try my best to purchase “free range” eggs from farms that I know allow their chickens to roam.

1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2-1 cup chopped broccoli
A few sun-dried tomatoes
Garlic, turmeric, oregano, pepper, parsley
Goat cheese, and salsa

I’m good to go.

As an aside, one game I like to play when we go out to brunch is to see the reactions of the waiter or waitress when I ask for a double order omelet. I’ve gotten everything from, “are you sure about that? That’s like, six eggs!” (mind you, the stack of pancakes and syrup that the person at the table next to me ordered has like twice the calories) to looks of disbelief that I can’t possibly eat that much to the chef coming out in person to congratulate me and offer me a free shirt.

It’s weird, but always makes for interesting conversation.

3. Pizza and JP Licks

I know it’s blasphemous to say that anywhere other than New York City or Chicago has good pizza, but Boston has it’s fair share of stellar pizza joints. No, really, I’m not kidding!

One of my go to places is Upper Crust Pizza – which is literally right down the street from my apartment. On occasion I’ll head down after a grueling training session and order a few “slices of the day” (buffalo chicken with blue cheese is a staple) and then top that off by walking diagonally across the street and hitting up the JP Licks for some peanut butter Oreo ice-cream.

4. My “Earth” Protein Shake

I know it’s kind of lame to list a shake as one of my favorite meals, but there’s rarely a day that goes by where I don’t have at least one (sometimes two) of these due to my busy schedule and the fact that I spend upwards of 6-8 hours of my day coaching.

Assuming you have a Magic Bullet or something to its equivalent, give this bad boy a shot:

I start with placing half a bag of (preferably organic) baby leaf spinach into a container, along with a scoop of creatine, SuperFood, and 1-2 tablespoons of chia seeds (all of which are optional).

Pour 1/2-1 cup of almond or coconut milk into container and mix.

From there I’ll add a scoop of protein powder (Grow), maybe 1/4 cup of rolled oats, some unsweetened shaved coconut, a scoop or two of cacao nibs, and some frozen blueberries or mixed berries.

Mix again, and you’ll end up with a greenish/brownish “earthy” looking concoction that will taste GREAT and almost certainly get some weird looks if you drink in public.

5. Healthy Fajitas

I love fajitas, but not the gluten-fest that they’re often affiliated with. Don’t get me wrong: sometimes I’ll go for broke and crush the flour tortillas like the next guy, but more often than not we’ll make our version of fajitas that are little more guilt-free and far healthier.

We’ll ground up some grass fed beef and cook that in a fajita mix along with some cutlets of chicken.

From there we’ll lay ou the prerequisite sides of guacamole, cheese, salsa, and while sour cream is great, to be honest, greek yogurt works just as well.

Instead of the flour tortillas, we’ll use huge leafs of bibb salad and use those as our wraps.

And for the record: We got rid of that white couch looooooooooog ago. One guess as to who wasn’t allowed to eat on it during fajita night?????

6. Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday because there’s no commercialized Hallmark way about it. It’s all about family and friends and FOOD!!!!!

I mean come on: what else is better than eating some of Mom’s homemade apple pie???????

7. Meatza

I “stole” this meal from my pal and fellow lover of all things lifting heavy, Nia Shanks.

Essentially it’s a flattened meatloaf cooked in a way that mimics a pizza. Genius!

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I’ll just defer to Nia’s post about it HERE.

And there you have it! Those are just a handful (well seven, so a little more than a handful) of my favorite meals. Got any you’d like to share? Sound off below!

Just Be Compliant!

Seven Favorite Meals