You there; try these magic weight-loss pills

Over the past few years, it's been my observation that most people are thoroughly confused when it comes to diet and exercise. I find this discouraging, because eating well and feeling good are relatively simple endeavors once you cut through all the misinformation. That being said, I'd like to share what I've learned thus far about "healthy living" – it's changed my life for the better to a much higher degree than I ever really imagined it could.

But before I do that, I'm going to fill you in on exactly how I got to this point.

Four score and seven years ago...

Well actually, like twenty some-odd years ago, I was born weighing 10 pounds and 5 ounces. I wouldn't necessarily call myself "fat" (although others may have), but throughout childhood I was a rather large and tall boy, and pretty much ate everything in sight. Luckily, I was active and outdoors pretty often. I played mostly basketball as a kid, but also took part in a lot of football and baseball as well. So, as I got older and taller, I ended up being reasonably athletic (yeah I know, who cares).

While I never liked soda, aside from that fortunate coincidence I never really ate that well, even as a teenager. I pretty much subsisted on meat, white carbs and cheese for the majority of my adolescence. While I realized that this was definitely suboptimal in terms of diet, I was young and played for the basketball team so I didn't really care. I felt good, and I thought I had plenty of energy, so I never bothered to learn too much about nutrition.

Then one day, I turned 22.

The natural fitness of youth wore off, I was less active, and I bounced between 225 and 245 pounds from age 22 to 25. I eventually got back into playing basketball regularly, but it wasn't the same. I didn't even notice until I had the misfortune of seeing some game film of myself someone had recorded. That pudgy white guy with the tight jersey on was somebody I did not recognize.. unfortunately it was also me. My mind immediately conjured this dystopic fantasy of a 35 year old version of myself sitting on a couch somewhere looking like the bloated shell of Antoine Walker.

This was me in 2011.. if I was black and played in the NBDL

So, in order to prevent this terrible fate from coming to pass, I took action.

I ventured into the wild and decided to rediscover "real food". I did research. I developed a modicum of self-discipline. I stopped eating after I was legitimately full. I could go on and on about this for quite some time, but for the sake of brevity I'll boil it down to some super-trendy bullet points (I'd hit you with a Power Point presentation but I'm not that cliche yet):

• Eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains and good fats in abundance. It's not just about raw vitamin content when it comes to food (you hear me, "fortified" cookies and Pop-Tarts?). The natural combinations of vitamins and antioxidants that occur in whole, unprocessed foods are vital
• Fat is necessary for health. There is a such thing as good fat. Nuts and olive oil are two great sources of this fat
• Stop drinking your calories so much. Have water 95% of the time.
• Learn to cook -- healthy eating would have been completely unsustainable for me if I couldn't make it delicious
• Eat breakfast. Don't skip it.
• It doesn't matter if you eat at night. It does matter if you're eating garbage. But, if you're eating good food, eat whenever you want, and until you're full.
• You need to exercise. Find something you like that involves movement, lol. Luckily I love basketball.
• Ignore marketing and read labels. Particularly ingredient lists. These food companies are out to make cash and will do anything within their means to get you to buy. Beware of buzz words like "multigrain" and "fortified".
• Processed food should be avoided as much as possible. Even if it's not necessarily "unhealthy", it can be far less nutritious than whole food. The processes used to manufacture many food products rob them of their natural health benefits.

If you follow the above advice, you'll be a healthy person. I can promise you this because I've done it -- I weighed 245 pounds sixteen months ago, but I've been steady at 195-200 for the past eight months. I never deprive myself, I do have snacks from time to time, and I drink beer regularly. It's not about being perfect or flawless. It's about making the right choices the majority of the time, being balanced, and being happy. I don't count calories, and I don't weigh myself every ten minutes. I love food and I eat whenever I want until I'm full. And if I'm out at the bar and I want a big burger with a bunch of fries, I'll get it. Why? Because I fill my house with healthy food, and I've learned to cook so that said food tastes great too.

Living this way is one of the best decisions I've ever made, and I truly hope I've motivated someone to do the same. Leave comments at the bottom if you have any questions at all; I tried to cover as much as I could, but I'm sure there are things I left out.

Healthy living is not complicated. Eat real food, and get outside once and a while. You will not regret it!

Of Kobe, LeBron, and where wins come from

Recently on Facebook, a friend of mine made a post asking "the panel" (i.e. the nebulous and ever-changing circle of friends/acquaintances who weigh in on matters of substance like NBA basketball) who the better player was, Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. In order to truly answer this question, we need to think about what creates wins. I also need to reiterate an important point that many NBA fans seem to lose sight of:

Offense and defense are equally important.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we can begin to resolve the Kobe vs. Lebron debate with some level of clarity.

"Hey LeBron.. there ain't a big enough headband to cover that hairline bro"

I'm gonna tackle these two Hall of Famers one at a time.. and to be fair, I'm comparing these players at their peak. For Kobe that was obviously a few years ago. For LeBron, it may not have come yet, but I'll go by what he is today.


Kobe Bryant

One of the top ten players of all time IMO, and the most talented and effective SG in the league since His Airness hung up his Nikes. He can score in any way imaginable, and has several NBA titles on his mantle. A fierce competitor with relentless drive, he has a well-rounded offensive game complete with fadeaways, a competent three-point shot, an array of spins and post moves, and (moreso in his prime) raw explosiveness enabling him to finish around the basket with authority. He's not afraid of the big moment and can create his own shot at-will. Has aged gracefully due to an improved outside shot and high basketball IQ. In his heyday was an All-NBA caliber defender, and even at age 33 is still plus in that area.

Kobe has so much faith in his ability to score that he tends to use too many possessions at the expense of his teammates (and by extension his team's overall offensive efficiency). Oftentimes the shot he takes is not the best one that the team could have gotten, and when he's not feelin' it this habit can put his team in a hole. A much more natural scorer than creator; while certainly more than capable of finding open teammates for easy offense, he passes these opportunities up too often in favor of more difficult shots. While Kobe's extreme skill as a scorer can at times justify such forays into selfish basketball, too much usage on his part can hinder the offense as a whole, both in terms of allowing his teammates to find their rhythm and also through lower percentage shooting on his part. No longer an elite defensive player at this stage of career, although he's still an asset at that regard.


LeBron James

If you had to build the optimal basketball player from scratch, you'd probably end up with something resembling LeBron. At 6'8" and 275 lbs. with elite speed, strength and explosiveness, the physical skills are obvious and unparalleled in the history of the game. But his acumen as a distributor, a plus jump shot and the ability to create for himself as well truly set him apart. The NBA has never seen a combination of skills and athleticism quite like LeBron. Simply put, he generates more wins above replacement than any player in the game through a near-optimal balance of efficient scoring and frequent, productive passing. By generating extra possessions (via rebounding), finding open teammates with regularity, and scoring the ball at a high percentage (is putting up a career-high .534 mark from the field this year), LeBron plays the game how it should be played. Also an elite defender who can guard nearly any position effectively, and can be dominant for long stretches on that end of the floor.

Lacks a well-developed post game, although work in the 2012 offseason with Hakeem Olajuwon seems to have paid dividends in that area thus far this season. Has had several high-profile postseason failures in his career thus far, which have led some to label him all sorts of "unclutch". While I don't completely agree with this premise, he has experienced dry spells at a few painfully crucial times (to the point where people have either forgotten or discounted the triumphs he's experienced during these times as well). All in all though, it is still open for debate whether or not LeBron has the necessary mindset to be the "alpha dog" when the game is on the line.


Summary

Kobe's a better closer at this point, a more talented pure shooter and better at getting himself open looks off the dribble. LeBron is a better distributor and defender, and does more than Kobe does in terms of positive overall impact on the game as a defender and distributor while still performing at an elite level as a scorer himself. All things considered, both of these players crack the top 10 of all-time already IMO in terms of peak talent and production.

But.. if I start a team tomorrow and have the choice of getting either player at age 25 and healthy, I'm going with LeBron. If you're convinced that LeBron plays poorly in the clutch due to some inherent personality flaw, I can't stop you from believing that. I personally think that last season was the first time he's had a talented enough team to even think about a title, never mind win one. The bottom line is, LeBron does more to ensure a win throughout the course of a game than Kobe does.

That being said, I'll admit that if I need one player to create their own shot to win or tie a ballgame, I think Kobe would be the correct choice right now. However, that is only one of many important skill-sets, and if my overall object is to win the game, the greatest percentage chance of that happening lies with LeBron. He carried mediocre Cavs teams to relevance for years; Kobe did not do the same when given a subpar supporting cast during the dark ages after Shaq and before Gasol. Bryant has won a handful of titles, but I'm fairly convinced LeBron would have as well with the teams Kobe had. I realize this is an impossible hypothetical exercise, but it really just serves to emphasize the point that Kobe's titles weren't just his doing while the rest of the Lakers came along for the ride. Basketball is the ultimate team sport, and blindly looking at titles as a means to break ties between all-time greats is overly simplistic at best and foolish at worst.



Feel free to drop some knowledge in the comments area if you feel so inclined, but come with facts and evidence, lol.

I see what you did there.

A few things about me:

- I've given thought to writing a blog for several years now.

- I have managed to not write a blog for several years now.

- I have now decided to write a blog.


Here are a few more things about me:

- I hate logical fallacies and conversational terrorism with a passion.

- I love logic, justice and morality.

- I think it's important to share ultimate truth with others in a way that they can understand clearly.

- I love sports, music, cooking, reading and craft beer.

- Apparently I am an ENTP personality type, which upon examination I find describes me quite well.


I've chosen to write this blog for a few reasons.

1. To record thoughts I feel are important.

2. To organize and save information I think is worthwhile.

3. To share with others.

4. To engage in meaningful discussion with others.

5. To learn to communicate better.

6. To understand the world I live in more fully.

7. To build something permanent I can be proud of that accurately reflects who I am and what I value.


Wow, that was a lot of "few" for one post. I'll try to set expectations better next time.

I don't expect that very many people will read this for a while (or possibly ever), but for anyone that happens to, just know that I appreciate it. I may not have specific knowledge that you're taking the time to do so, but just understand that I've considered the likelihood that this will be read and have preemptively experienced inner gratitude at this taking place.

That being said, I do not at all expect to receive charity attention; I expect this to be entertaining and addictive.. like fantasy sports*.

But yeah.. introductions are boring and long-winded.. and with the Twitter and the Facebook and the Google the kids these days just don't have any kind of attention span. So on that note, I'll leave you with this timely message:

*Or if you're female (insert random female interest here)