Interview with Yano Anaya, ASM Wellness Personal Trainer Program Director

YA: I absolutely love food and have a keen knowledge of what portions fuel my body to optimize daily performance. Since I have been eating only what my body requires to function optimally for close to 10 years it is very sensitive to the types of food I ingest. A year ago I made a decision to eat only organic meats due to the poisons that saturate non-organic meats sold in this nation. I will be honest that eating clean is a task. And it is attainable. I made small positive changes in my eating habits over a long period of time to manifest the change. What helps is surrounding myself with people who care about the body they live in, feed it quality foods, and lead a positive active lifestyle. My daily eating habits look like this:

• 4:15am, I start off with 16oz of water and continue to drink water all day until I get a gallon in.
• 4:30am. I enjoy 2 shots of organic espresso with 1 teaspoon of organic brown sugar and ¼ cup of organic 3% milk.
• 5:30am. I enjoy 25 grams of organic oats cooked with water, half of a banana, one tablespoon of organic peanut butter and 25 grams of whey protein all mixed together. YUM!!!!
• 9:30am. I enjoy a pure protein bar. 20grams of protein, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of fat (1.5sat)
• 1:pm. I enjoy 6-8 OZ of either organic chicken, turkey, pork or fish with 2-3cups of veggies, sometimes with a starch (sweet potato or red potato).
• 4:pm. I enjoy a protein shake or protein bar with a combination of 25 grams of protein, 20 grams of carbohydrate and less than 5 grams a fat.
• 7-7:30pm. I eat another 6-8 OZ of lean organic animal protein with another 2-4 cups of veggies, sometimes with a starch (sweet potato or red potato).
• 9:30-10pm. Most nights I get a sweet tooth so I eat 2 heaping table spoons of Faje yogurt with a 20 gram scoop of protein powder and a small hand full of almonds, pecans, or cashews in it for crunch.

This routine happens 5-6 days a week. Once or twice a week my wife and I go out for Sushi or the local organic restaurant where we enjoy everything.

EM: How have you experienced fitness impacting people’s lives?

I remember back when I was a kid I was very active. At age 5 I began gymnastics and soccer. At age 7 dirt bike riding and surfing were my favorite sports. I rode my dirt bike 5 days a week and surfed two days a week. I used to ride either my skate board or bicycle to school 5 days a week. Climbing trees was too easy. Mastering the ability to go from one side of the jungle gym to the other without touching the ground was no sweat, laughing the whole time. Age 8 I began Tang Su Do, a martial art. By the time I was 13 years old there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t try doing. I was fit. Did I realize it at that age? No! I took it for granted that my body was very conditioned to perform optimally in any given situation.

I believe to the core of my being and the experiences I have had that just by having a sedentary person get moving several days a week will begin the physiologic changes needed to impact his or her life in a positive way.