Breakfast: The Meal of a Champion

I wasn't really a big breakfast guy.

When I was younger, my mom would make me 2 egg done over easy and serve it with rice. She would make this for me couple of times a week in the morning but I would never finish a whole plate of it every time.

She stopped making breakfast for me some time when I was in elementary school and started to buy cereal instead. And even then, I never really ate breakfast. The only reason I would eat cereal was because one, I loved the Flintstones and two, I absolutely loved eating the marshmallows from Lucky Charms (who didn't?!).

Also, when I used to go work with my dad at his job, he would always stop by McDonald's when ever I went with him. I would always order a Sausage McMuffin and would only finish half of the sandwich.

In middle school and high school, I wouldn't eat anything until after lunch because I knew I would have to go use the restroom right before my mom would drive me to school or have to go use the restroom during school hours, which I despised doing.

Even for half my time in college, I never woke up early to make and/or eat breakfast.

My mom would always tell me every morning, " You have to eat something in the morning. You not going to have enough energy for the day."

And honestly, in retrospect, I don't know how I had the energy to play baseball everyday during those times.

I think it was back in May 2011, I met Logan (one of my best buddy, Taylor's older brother) in Santa Monica at his Functional Fitness at the Bluffs. I asked him about protein shakes versus eating. There, he talked about his foundation of nutrition and how University of San Diego, where he played 4 years of  college baseball, they had a program that consisted of CrossFit training and had a nutrition program.

After the conversation, it really made me think about how I should eat, but of course when during college, we make the decision to eat fast food because it is convenient.

But during my senior of college is when I started to make breakfast, which would only consist of 3 eggs scrambled every other day.

Now fast forward to 2014, I can't go without a day without having breakfast, especially after I workout in the morning.

A daily routine

Now my breakfast will usually consist of 3-4 eggs, 3-4 bacons or a rib eye steak and 3-4 breakfast sausages with 2-3 cups of coffee every morning after I workout. 

On a day I don't workout, I usually have the same amount of coffee but with 2 eggs, 2 bacons and 2 breakfast sausages.

After I started to make and eat breakfast religiously, I feel the energy difference between not eating anything in the morning compared to eating in the morning everyday; I feel more confident with myself throughout the day whether if it's going to work 8 hours or going to the batting cages to take some hacks.

It's not on everyone's agenda to eat what is called the most important meal of the day. I was there too. Then, I rather sleep for the extra hour or two so I can relax. 

But now, I can't wait to wake up in the morning to eat breakfast.

For those of you who don't eat breakfast, I recommend you to take a chance and eat breakfast in the morning for a month, even if it's just a piece of fruit.

You'll start to notice something different throughout your day.

Jun

#HalesYeah

First off, I want to thank all of you who suggested some topics I should write about. I'll try to get to some of them in the near future.

...

The other day (July 24th, 2014) I had a meeting with my boss about an interview that my co-workers and I had for a different position.

After the meeting was over, as I was opening the door on my way out, my boss asked me about the purple bracelet I have on my right wrist.

My first thought was, "He probably thinking it's purple. It's probably inappropriate for work." So on and so forth.

I explained who and what the bracelet was for, and after I told him, he said "I'm glad I asked about it."

...

For those of you who don't know, I have a purple bracelet.

The purple represents the favorite color of the person who is engraved on this bracelet, Haley Rinaldi.

Haley was one of the student-athletes at Mount Mercy University, which is where I met her.

Personally, I didn't really know Haley that much. I probably had a handful of conversations with her.
I remember one conversation I had with her was with one of my roommates, and that we were all going to go visit her hometown one day, which is Aspen, Colorado.

Another time I kind-of, sort-of talked to her was during the summer of 2013 in Iowa, on the day before she left to Aspen for a little bit during the summer. She told some of us she was going to hang out with her family and would be back in a week or so.

Couple of days later on July 26th, 2013, everyone in the Mount Mercy community heard horrible news that Haley was involved in a freak boating accident and her life was taken away.

It was terrifying when my friends and I heard the news just a couple of days after we saw her. All I saw was everyone sitting on the couch with their faces dragging to the floor with sadness along with mine...

Now every time I look at this bracelet, I think of how I could have talked and became better friends with Haley. It's a personal reminder for myself to not be shy and not be afraid to talk to someone because you never know if you can make an impact in their life or not and vise versa. And from what I know and heard, Haley was that game changer.

Thanks for watching over every single one of us, Haley.


Jun


"Life is too short. Hug the people you love most and tell them "I love you" because you never know when you'll get to tell them that and see them again."


R.I.P. Haley Rinaldi 9/20/91 -7/26/13