From Fried Chicken, Chili Cheese Fries & Cereal, to Sirloin, Spinach, Yogurt & Healthier Eating.
I grew up in a family that ate anything that came to mind, at any time of the day or night.
My dad used to eat MASSIVE bowls of cereal at 1 in the morning while lying on his stomach watching TV.
My grandma used to wake up in the middle of the night to fry chicken and/or an entire pack of bacon for everyone to “snack on.”
When my grandmother made tacos, she would yell from the kitchen into the living room, “How many tacos do you want?!” And if you said anything less than 4-5, something was “wrong with you.”
When I was in high school, I used to brag about being able to drink an entire Minute Maid carton per day… like, I actually thought it was cool.
We only ate vegetables out of cans, and they were always made the same way - with nearly half a stick of butter, seasoning salt, garlic powder, etc.
Thankfully, no one in my family has any significant health issues today as a result of all this, but I wanted to introduce you guys to the eating lifestyle and the only way I knew to view food growing up into my adult life after leaving my family.
In 2012, after I almost died from a pulmonary embolism, I decided that I wanted to change my eating habits. My PE was a result of a basketball injury - it didn’t have much to do with internal health. I was actually in pretty good shape at the time. The PE was the first significant injury I had ever had, so while I could barely walk, it was the best time to think about health and improvement.
This was the first time I had ever stopped drinking juice and soda. I started drinking water instead and lost 20 lbs, despite not being able to do cardio, just by replacing soda and sugary drinks with water. But that was as far as my health consciousness went back then - I still ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, because that’s how I grew up.
There is a rite of passage in my family where everyone (even the boys) learns how to cook at a young age, so I’ve been cooking full meals since I was 8 or 9 years old. By the time I was 10, I was cleaning, cutting, and frying whole chickens. Today, I can pretty much cook anything on a restaurant menu, and if I don’t know how to make it, give me a few days, and I’ll figure it out.
Fun fact: I was planning to attend culinary school in 2013 to become a chef once I stopped making music and after my leg injury. Culinary arts have always been a passion of mine since I was a kid, and I always said that I would become a chef after music and open my own restaurant… but music had other plans for me. Anytime I tried to do something outside of music, an opportunity brought me right back into it.
For the past three months, after all these years of bad eating habits, I have finally been learning about proper dieting.
This is the first time in my life that I have cared about and monitored everything - from sodium and sugar intake to calories, ingredients, and making sure that when I eat, I include all food groups: fruits and vegetables, dairy, grains, and protein.
For example, dairy: The only dairy I consumed over the years was from eating cereal like my dad. Now, I’ve learned that I really like yogurt, so I’ve been trying different kinds daily, to the point where I’ve made it a habit to include one yogurt per day.
Fruits and vegetables: Nearly every day for the past three months, my daily diet has included two bananas, an apple or an orange, and I alternate other fruits weekly - pears, plums, peaches, and watermelon. For fun, I even bought a dope-ass $90 combat knife just for cutting fruit… I used to buy apples and not eat them because I hated having to wash them. Now, I can wipe them off and cut the skin off - the knife has actually encouraged me to eat so much more fruit.
I no longer eat anything processed, or I’ll say, I have drastically cut down on eating processed foods - I’m not trying to sound like I’m some food or health guru after 3 months. I have always had a bad habit of eating chips & candy, but I’m proud to have been able to replace a lot of that with healthier options - Raisins, organic nuts, organic fruit bars, etc.
I have eaten more steak in the past 3 months than I have in, probably my whole life. I’ve been doing a lot of cooking at home, preparing meats to eat for the week. A lot of sirloin, rib eye with rice, potato’s… man, it’s been a lot of change & growth.
I used to always hear people say that dieting was more important than working out, but I wasn’t ready to stop eating whatever I wanted. Even though I believe you should eat what you want - but in moderation - I’m proud to say that I have finally adopted dieting into my daily habits.
This is a new journey for me, but I have already lost 8 lbs (since December) just from changing my diet and working out nearly every day.
I’ve been so enamored with exploring & discovering healthy ways of eating, on top of learning so many other things that one of the last things on my mind as of late has been to stream all day, when I felt like shit (because I was eating terrible) any time you guys ever saw me on cam.
I made a promise to myself that the next time you guys see me on cam, you’ll notice IMMEDIATELY how different I look, and hopefully it’s because I am much healthier & conscious of better life habits.
Thanks for reading, y’all.
Shoutout to my real supporters. I love y’all for real.
We still don’t turn down no fades. That ain’t ever changing. We’ll let these corny niggas breathe until I come back. It’ll be quiet again.
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