1. The message I would send to kids today that I wish I knew back then is that eating healthy doesn’t mean yucky food, it means as the cliche goes “growing up to be strong.”

I absolutely loved eating meat and rice growing up, but I never knew the benefits and the tasty alternatives about the other alternates such as brown rice and grilled foods. When I was younger I thought healthy meant “salad” and I just wasn’t going for that.

2. My lesson was learned after multiple attempts to be “fit and healthy” through Insanity, P90X, and Insanity P90X + Insanity Hybrid. I always did the exercise, but not the nutrition. And when work got super busy, I didn’t have time to work out and I gained the weight back.

And to add to that, I have knee arthritis from all the b-boying (break dancing) I did, and the added weight was making it more painful to dance.

3. Growing up in a Filipino household, rice was a HUGE part of our diet, specifically white rice. I would have substituted my rice with spinach and tomatoes and changed the fried chicken I ate to grilled chicken or fish.

4. I teach break dance classes to the ages of 8-teen. During the class I not only teach dance, but I also do basic strength and conditioning which is needed for the dance. I explain to them if they don’t eat properly, they will definitely feel sore the next few days. On most days I tell them to make sure they get plenty rest, and get some protein and potassium to help rebuild their muscles.

For my teen students I tell them for a quick solution of protein, I tell them to get a protein shake, and for potassium, I tell them to eat a banana before bed to help the muscles contract and relax.