What I Eat in a Day

Including white rice and homemade ice cream. Plus: an overdue admission.

Welcome to HEAVIES, a modern and spiritual Substack about health and wellness. You can learn more about me here.

Housekeeping:

• I did a really fun interview with Embedded (thanks,

  Nick Catucci
  !) about my Internet habits, specifically what I like to read, watch, and look at. It’s also the first time, I think, that I’ve publicly said that I wrote that anonymous viral essay about menswear that made the rounds a few months back. Obviously menswear is something I don’t actually hate and, in fact, enjoy thinking about so much that I feel the category is worthy of critique (a la film and music). As I was writing the piece, I was certain that the prevailing forces of overconsumption, nostalgia, celebrity worship, and whiteness were easy targets we could all agree were detrimental to a thriving creative culture but… little did I know lol. As I mentioned in the interview, watching the fallout was akin to floating above your own funeral and hearing honest assessments of your work divorced from your reputation. An interesting exercise. Would recommend. (Granted, there are some cool people doing great work in the space; I just feel like a lot of the really popular stuff is frivolous in the sense that it’s not making a convincing case for its existence in a world already brimming with way too much shit.) Anyway! I’m just glad that all the elite fashion Asians liked the essay, and at least three people (to my knowledge) thought it was written by HEAVIES board member and spiritual advisor Mary Choi. An honor of a lifetime.

• If you haven’t read Mary’s latest essay in The Cut yet, what are you doing? Go go go: funny, vulnerable, yet rich and expansive in at least four dimensions. One of the best things I’ve read in a minute. Finishing it had me feeling both like an embiggened version of my former self and like I needed to have my remains scraped off the pavement.

• Also in the interview with Embedded: I mentioned that I’m helping my friend Tony Wang, former brand director of Ssense and 032c who’s consulted for every notable brand under the sun, with a big report he’s putting together about why everything in culture—music, streaming TV, clothes—feels so shitty and half-baked right now. The report is one of the more compelling arguments I’ve read in a long time. It’s coming out in early September, and I’m excited for you all to read my forthcoming conversation with Tony—a powerlifter, supplement demon, and fellow appreciator of moisture-wicking fabrics.

~*My Feelgood Routine*~

As I’ve been putting together this series about the Feelgood Routines of people I admire, I realized that I should probably outline my own perspective on eating. So here’s what I try and eat on most weekdays in order to have sustained energy for keeping up with a rambunctious toddler, build muscle, and perform at a level I’m happy with—and it all comes from a place of loving food.

(Essentially the whole HEAVIES philosophy on eating can be distilled down to: Eat food that’s as close to the real thing as possible, most of the time.)

MORNINGS

I used to be more of a morning person. Someone who would wake up before sunrise and head out at 6:30 a.m. to get a workout in before work. (Two 45-minute-ish classes at Five Points Academy in Soho/Chinatown, usually some combination of bags, kettlebells, hitting pads, and sparring.) But since turning 39, I’ve prioritized recovery and getting that extra 90 minutes of sleep instead.

My alarm clock goes off at 7:50 but it’s merely a suggestion. Our toddler usually wakes around 7:30 so my wife and I take turns getting up, making him toast or oatmeal, and get him dressed before our nanny arrives at 9 a.m.

As he’s eating, I’ll usually take my morning supplement stack (nothing crazy, although I have added in beetroot powder to help with recovery), which takes about a minute. I usually eat a heavier dinner full of carbs the night prior, so breakfast tends to be light: usually a slice of good bread, toasted—I love the Old World Sourdough from Dutch Meadows Farm—with grass-fed butter and a sprinkle of Maldon salt or some almond butter and Bon Maman blueberry jam. The bread is made with like five ingredients but tastes like heaven.

I’ll walk the dog in there somewhere and take a swig of whatever coffee is left in our Moccamaster.

Then it’s off to Manhattan…