The Affiliate Marketer’s Diet

That’s right. We’re going to be talking about your diet in this post. Whether or not you want to you better read this. Your life (or quality of life) depends on it.

The Lifestyle

It’s not all “big ballin” like some would have you believe. In fact it’s quite the opposite. The lifestyle of an affiliate requires long hours in front of a computer. That sedentary lifestyle leads to all kinds of problems as you get older. Hell… in my case chronic health concerns decided to hit me early.

I was 29 when I started noticing low back pains. I ignored it for a while and carried on. Then one day I got on a scale and noticed I weighed in at a heft 245 pounds on a 5’8” frame. Granted I’ve always been muscular… that’s pretty damn fat for my height.

It hit me. I had turned into that typical computer nerd fatty. I didn’t exercise, I ate out 5 times a week, and had no girlfriend. Loser with a capital L. But hey… at least I was an affiliate.

The truth was my body was in decline at a scary young age. Turned out that my cholesterol was high, my blood pressure was high, I have several bulged discs in my spine, and a degenerative bone disease to boot.

1 year, 2 knee surgeries, and countless hours of rehab later I’m doing better. I weigh 185 pounds and physically look better than I ever have.

Let this be a cautionary tale. Despite my success and sexiness today – I deal with chronic pain that may have been avoided if I didn’t let my lifestyle drag me down. Sure I eat right and go to the gym 4 times a week. But I literally have to work out or deal with higher pain levels. Those are my choices today. Don’t let that be you.

The Turnaround

To get on a path to a healthier body I had to change things up dramatically. You don’t transform your body by drinking slim fast or eating out less. You have to make fundamental changes to the way you eat first. Then the way you act.

Here’s an example of what I eat in a day

Breakfast

Green smoothie

• 2 cups kale or spinach
• 1 cup mixed berries
• ½ frozen banana
• protein powder

1 Cup of Coffee with Coconut milk creamer

Lunch

Soup

• Low sodium soup of any kind
• I prefer tomato and red pepper soups

Sandwhich

• whole grain toast with
• hummus
• tomato
• onion
• pickle

If I’m still hungry I’ll eat a spinach salad with olives, scallions, and balsamic vinegar

big glass of water

Snack

Almonds

Whole Orange or Apple

big glass of water

Dinner

Lentil Sloppy Joes (a vegetarian sloppy Joe made with Lentils)

Spinach Salad with

• crumbled egg
• olive
• tomato
• onion

big glass of water

This is obviously just an example. It varies day to day. Adding the morning smoothie is a big deal though. That’s got a flood of nutrients that will go straight to your brain and keep you fueled for a solid few hours.

At the start of the turnaround I went strict vegan. It just had the most upsides despite the fact that I love meat. Read books like The China Study, How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, and the All Pro Diet to learn more about the specifics of this kind of nutritional approach.

I learned over time though that it is tough to keep muscle mass on as a Vegan. Since then I’ve added lean meats in a few times per week.
The big take away though is that you should add at least 1 vegetarian meal to your diet per day. Doing that alone will help you lose a bit of weight.

Action

Your action over the course of a day is a big deal. There have been a number of studies on sedentary lifestyles. Basically it’s bad news. It leads to heart disease and early death. No kidding. look it up.

So what to do?

Try a stand up desk. If you don’t want to buy one come up with a make shift version. That’s what I did to test it. It helps my back and surprisingly keeps my energy levels up.

The other option is to try the pomodoro method. Set a time for 25 minutes. Use that time to work at an incredibly focused rate. Do nothing else but the task at hand. Then when the timer goes off get up and stretch or walk around for 5 minutes. Rinse, repeat. This is an awesome way to train yourself on focusing while getting out of the chair consistently.

The other aspect of using a computer all day is the typing. Unless you have impeccable typing posture YOU WILL GET CARPAL TUNNEL. It sucks. It’s painful. And it will slow down your progress. Avoid that. Get a pair of those ergonomic typing gloves. They keep your wrists straight and prevent carpal tunnel.

And for God’s sake – get some exercise in. Walk, go to the gym, play with your dog, chase your kids, whatever. If you’re not exercising an hour a day or the equivalent of you’re not doing it right.

Conclusion

There’s so much more to talk about when it comes to diet and lifestyle. But that’s all I’ve got for today. I truly believe in what I’ve shared with you. Is it for everyone? No it’s not. There is no doubt in my mind that everyone can and should take away something from my story. Don’t wait until you have an emergency to live a healthier life.