Jason Sani is a trained and licensed Culinary Nutritionist that has worked in the Athletics and Sports Medicine industry for 10+ years. While still active in competitive sports Jason turned his focus to Nutrition and training geared towards the active population.

With an open-minded, yet focused approach, Jason has committed to being a student of life, worldly wisdom, and motivation. He practices what he preaches and leads an energetic lifestyle by example.

In this episode, Jason talks about the positive and negative sides of paleo vs. plant based diets, and how a “gray area” in between might be an optimal choice. He also covers the “Dirty Dozen” of the organic foods industry that should always be avoided because of how well they hold on to residual pesticides. Jason’s advice goes beyond the kitchen, he encourages folks to be mindful and show gratitude as part of their life.

Enjoy!

– Jeff and Mycal

A post shared by Jason Sani (@jasonsani) on Oct 5, 2017 at 6:54pm PDT

Making clean meals exciting

Jason takes simple foods and adds a flare making eating something that should not be liked, but loved. Jason offers a variety of sauce recipes that he uses in order to make something bland, like a chicken breast, more exciting and enjoyable. He encourages his audience to have a handful of these sauces on hand to help make leftovers enjoyable. He also promotes the idea of having a fridge that resembles a “mini salad bar” with lots of options to throw something together in a pinch.

“Let sauce be your hero.” — Jason Sani

Key Takeaways

• Managing your energy is just as important as managing time  —  We may have a couple hours at the end of the day to get something done, but may not have the energy to do quality work. Figure out ways to trade activities that require more energy for time slots when you are more energized. Often times 1–2 energetic hours can be more productive than 4 hours at the end of the day.
• It is important to get yourself in the appropriate headspace for creative work  — Jason likes to do a few things to get in the right headspace including meditating, taking cold shower, drinking coffee with mushrooms, or arranging his desk to minimize distractions.
• Flavor insurance: Find 5–10 “go to” tricks that you can have on hand to make food more exciting  —  A lot of times this can come in the form of a few sauces or even having things like citrus around to bring some life to your food.
• Get creative: Making ordinary foods that can get mundane into something exciting is an effective way of meeting macro requirement —  For example: Oatmeal and eggs in the morning can be blended together, add a little protein powder and make some waffles.
• Shifting the mindset around the cost of high-quality foods  —  Food should be thought of as an investment. Do not be afraid to spend money on high quality foods, the money spent now will be saved on medical bills later. Shopping for clean ingredients can be less expensive than we think. Looking for seasonal vegetables and shopping at farmers markets is a great way to get quality for less.
• Fed and Fueled by  —  Jason takes some quiet time every morning to be filed with gratitude, which is the source of his fuel. He is fed by motivation and inspiration in YouTube channels, Podcasts and books when he is feeling down.

“Your fridge should look like a mini salad bar.” — Jason Sani

Connect with Jason Sani

Connect on social: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube

Resources: Arizona Health Club, The Dirty Dozen

Book: Making Healthy Taste Good