Welcome to 1-3-1 Fridays, my weekly newsletter, where I reveal evidence-based strategies to get lean, strong, and create optimal health.

You'll receive one personal health insight, three actionable tips, and one concrete action step. Let's dive in.

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What's in store for today:

• How to get lean without counting one calorie and turbo-boost your fitness results in under 60 minutes.
• Where most people land in the fitness continuum and how to rise above the status quo.
• Why 95% of people eventually lose their fitness results and go backward... and how you can avoid this mistake.

I've been running a health experiment for 18 months. Because of this, my usual shopping basket looks a bit different.

The amount of bananas and celery that fill my cart leads to raised eyebrows.

(Although I've mentioned that if I were coming to the line with three boxes of diet coke and ten bags of chips, no one would bat an eye.)

Anyway, I spoke to the cashier at the line.

The topic of bananas came up, my basket was full of them.

The cashier said she was a health coach. Because bananas contain sugar, she usually doesn't recommend eating many of them to her clients.

Interested, I stayed quiet and listened.

She mentioned that she was confused and that bananas seem great, even though fruit has sugar.

She wasn't convinced that they were safe to eat in large amounts. She explained that fructose is a big problem for many people, so we must be careful.

I nodded and listened.

She recommended around 1 banana daily, with a maximum of a couple per day.

It's fascinating seeing how strong health propaganda is in our world.

I often notice that when people are set in their beliefs, sharing new ideas is tough.

In this case, the trend was similar.

So I paid for my groceries and as I was leaving, I mentioned that I eat 8-12 bananas a day...

'Will I be okay?'

'You should be fine. But most people might be unable to do that,' she replied.

Again fructose.

I should know better, Gabriel.

Fruit fear is a real thing.

Weight loss aside, fruit is your best ally for healing and nutrition.

It's 4x more nutritious than vegetables.

Bananas, in particular are antiviral and antibacterial (hence my experiment).

It kills streptococcal bacteria, at the core of many health issues.

Bananas are quick to absorb, making a great snack before or after a workout. I often eat mine with a protein shake or on their own.

Will most people eat 8-12 a day like I am?

Probably not. Refer to fruit fear.

When's the last time you heard of someone getting sick from eating too many fruits or vegetables?

You won't. You'll hear the opposite.

Even diabetes, known for its link to sugar, can be healed with fruits.

Natural sugar isn't the problem for our society.

The real problem stems from high-fat, ultra-processed foods (many of which are animal products). So yes, sugar is a part of the problem, but it's processed sugar, to be clear.

If you're going to toss out the bathwater, don't toss the baby with it.

The past 36 months have taught me one lesson that I've never forget in my health:

Food is medicine when used correctly.

In this case, bananas are one of the top 5 foods I'll eat for life.

Being our health scientists is the best way to discover this for ourselves.

Test, experiment, and verify truths for yourself.

Be your own scientist.

Lesson: When challenging the status quo, expect pushback from those who resist change and growth.

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Here's Your 1-3-1 Friday:

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#1.) Berardi’s Law of Nutrition

Primal Fit Miami has a great way of sharing Berardi’s Law.

Berardi’s First Law: If food is in your possession or residence, you will eventually eat it.

Corollary to Berardi’s First Law: To be healthy and lean, eliminate all unhealthy foods at home. Then, replace them with better, healthier options.

Second Corollary to Berardi’s First Law: If you know someone who eats only healthy food at home but is not fit, check under their bed.

I solemnly swear that I am going to eat these ;)

What’s around you - you’ll eventually eat.

If you have junk food around you, you’ll eventually eat it.

And if you have healthy food around, you’ll eventually eat it.

Your environment is 50% of your success (if not more).

Set up your environment for success and remove willpower from the equation (you’ll need it for bigger habits and situations).

Design an environment that breeds and oozes health.

And strip away the factors that take away from your health.

While not rocket science, 95% of people skip this crucial step.

If you’re reading this now, create an action step on your calendar to prime your kitchen for success.

Remove offending foods you know you’ll binge eat, overeat, or overconsume.

Add plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole foods from the soil.

Prime your environment for success from the start.

I've noticed this for myself.

The better I keep my environments (kitchen, office, workout gear, etc), the easier it is to see success in the outcomes I want to create.

This is one of the simplest laws of fitness, which is unavoidable.

It's why people struggle to stop watching TV, Netflix, and using their devices all evening long (hint: it has to do with their environment).

Without counting calories, I've watched clients melt body fat from their bodies.

I've seen clients achieve their best health without exercise by eliminating troublemaker foods and creating a health-optimized environment.

It's amazing to see every time.

You truly do become what you eat.

You'll regain energy if you prime your environment for success.

Willpower or energy needs to be expended every time you resist something.

The less resistance you have, the better your results will be.

If you resist something long enough, eventually you'll cave in.

So why not start with success from the beginning?

#2.) 10-80-10 Rule

The 10-80-10 rule states:

10% of the time, you’ll be ahead of the curve and in the top 10% of people crushing their goals.

80% of the time, you’ll be more or less consistent with a few ups and downs but overall making solid progress.

You might hit low points about 10% of the time. During these dips, things can get tough. You may lose momentum and face challenges with consistency.

Find your deep WHY to stay in the top 80-90% of winners and avoid the bottom 10%.

Why is your health and body important for you?

Ask yourself this question 5 times and peel back the layers of the motivation onion.

One of my favorite parts about coaching is the Day 0 onboarding session.

Your new vegan body: lean, strong, and confident.

This is the first official coaching session I run with clients on my 1:1 roster.

We cover a lot during this session, but one of the main topics is the 5-year vision question.

Here's a taste of what the session looks like:

• We highlight the 5-year vision for the client
• We clarify their deep WHY (3-5 layers deep), which connects them emotionally to their vision
• Then, we break things down into strategic goals and tactical actions
• We start with 12-month goals, then move into 90-day aims
• We close out with monthly 30-day goals and weekly action steps
• Finally, they leave with 1-3 specific action steps that are tied directly to their 5-year vision

It's a transformative experience when you can connect your five-year vision to the action step you should be taking today, down to the very minute.

Unfortunately, vision casting and intelligent goal-setting were never taught in most schooling systems (wonder why...).

But once you develop this skillset, you're set for life.

You'll have a clear path towards any goal in life and a way to reach it.

It's the golden thread of consciousness that connects your vision to your daily actions.

It can change your life.

It's been done so with 100s of our clients.

Do the same for your life.

#3.) Fitness Principle of Entropy

According to physics, everything in the universe moves towards chaos and disorder.

Stop cleaning your house? It gets dirty.

Stop taking care of your kids? They become unhealthy or sick.

Stop talking to your parents or partner? Terrible outcomes….

Stop taking care of your health and body? You know the answer…

The way to counteract entropy?

Pour positive energy into a system to organize and develop your life.

Workouts. Healthy meals. Proper sleep. Meditation. Walking. Laughing. Spending time in nature.

This all (and more) can help organize your body and move it into an organized health system.

NOTE: Letting things fall into chaos and disorder takes no effort. However, reorganizing entropy and creating something beautiful requires intention and organization.

You can't avoid entropy in life.

It's part of being human.

However, you can create systems that counteract entropy and safeguard your health for life.

(New YT video on our channel: have a listen and drop a sub to follow along.)

It's simple when you use the right systems.

Focus on the big levers of fitness like:

• Strength workouts
• Tracking your nutrition
• Eating 80% whole food plant based /20% favorite foods
• Sleep 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night
• Walk 7-10k steps per day
• Get 1/2 -2/3 your bodyweight in ounces of water daily

Entropy sucks.

But it can be beaten.

James Clear wrote a great article on the Law of Entropy​ that elaborates more on this topic.

According to Murphy’s Law, ‘Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong’.

Stay focused on your systems, beliefs, and habits, and be prepared for the inevitable dip.

When it happens, you’ll be ready. 🙂

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1 Action Step

Create a nutrition environment for success. Choose 1-2 foods to swap out this week. Commit to this for 30 days. See what happens.

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Client of the Week

Courtney has a busy life.

She has a lot on her plate as a mom, wife, and career-driven professional.

Her fitness wasn't on her top list of priorities.

It finally slipped down to the bottom.

The reality priorities are a myth.

You either have one priority or you have none.

Courtney realized this and decided to take ownership of her health.

So we got to work and started engineering her fitness success.

Due to her busy schedule, we needed to prioritize her fitness investment time blocks.

Every workout mattered, even though we weren't aiming for perfection.

One of her main goals was to build a lean, strong body. After years of not feeling good in her skin, she wanted to feel confident.

Strategy: We set up a moderate caloric deficit at negative ~500 k/cal. The goal was to lose 1-1.5 lbs per week.

Next, we made a sustainable strength plan. This plan helps keep muscle while focusing on fat loss.

Three days of full-body training using a push, pull, and push/pull format created the base of her training.

We aimed for at least 7,000 steps daily. We also added 1-2 cardio sessions. This helped boost her heart health and improve conditioning.

Wins: Courtney didn't have an easy ride. Traveling to conferences and working long hours took a lot of time.

She wanted to be a positive role model for her daughter, too.

But she became a leader.

She dropped 20+ pounds, 6 inches from her waist, and built 2 pounds of lean muscle.

She's in the best shape since her pre-mom days and feels confident enough to wear a two-piece.

She toned up and got lean enough to show off her new abs. We spent extra time rebuilding them with specialized core workouts.

She's a reminder that having a busy lifestyle isn't an excuse that you can't be fit.

The only thing getting in the way of your best body is you.

So raise your standards and go for it.

​Apply here to get lean, strong, and healthy using plants. Deadline to apply each month is the 20th. Create your best health and body using a fitness system that's handcrafted for you.

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One Quote To Finish Your Week Strong

"Unhealthy meals don't just cause internal damage decades down the road, but right here and now, within hours of going into your mouth."

Michael Greger

Headed back to CO next week.

Looking forward to being back in the mountains.

Also, Tuesday's newsletter edition is evolving.

I'm redesigning our long-form guides on the website, videos on our new YouTube channel, and some other fun projects in the pipeline.

Tuesday's letters will most likely be less frequent (every now and then), but my main focus is on creating high-quality, best-in-class content for you.

I refuse to sacrifice quality in writing for quantity (even though that goes against the grain of 'marketing' rules).

Anyways, just wanted to give you a heads up if you notice any changes.

As promised, get lean on plants in under 5 minutes.

Till next week,

Whenever you're ready, there's 3 ways I can help you:

1. Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram and let's be friends.
2. ​Join our free Facebook Group. Get free trainings on how to get lean and strong with plants.
3. Want to drop body fat and build lean muscle in a fraction of the time with ease? Apply for Accelerator 1:1 coaching.