I was born and raised in the rainy city of Seattle. I spent the first 29
years of my life here, going to college and laying the foundations
for the career choices I have made so far.
My fascination with lifting weights at the gym started when I was 16 years
old and has never really diminished. In highschool I played Basketball,
ran track and wrestled. In the off season I would lift weights to improve
my strength and endurance. I used to get up at 5 a.m., long before any
of my classmates were awake, and make my mother drop me off at a local
gym. This gym was the epitome of the sweaty and grungy muscle-head gyms
that were popular back then. Today those types of gyms have all but vanished,
being replaced by the mega-million dollar franchise health clubs. A professional
power lifter named Willie taught me how to perform a proper squat. Willie's
limbs were as thick as tree trunks. His life was ruled by how many plates
he could get stacked on the bar.It was amazing but this guy was really my first inspiration!
After High School, I attended college at the University of Washington,
majoring in Microbiology and Biochemistry. Yes it is true, I was a self-professed
lab geek Even with working full time on the weekends and taking full semester
loads I never sacrificed my commitment to weightlifting. No matter how
late I was up studying (or drinking beer), I still set the alarm for 5
a.m. and dragged my roommate out of bed to go work out at the university
gym.
It was in college that my obsession with food developed. I LOVE TO EAT!
I was a regular at the all-you-can eat pizza buffets and 5 Big Mac lunches
were regulars on the menu for me. Yes, I was being gobbled up by America's love affair with fast food and
I soon became fat as a pig. At this point, I started cooking regularly
for roommates, family, and friends and I quickly became enamored with it.
At first it was Hamburger Helper and Rice-A-Roni, but soon I began to venture
out on my own and started reading cookbooks and cooking magazines and inevitably
became intrigued by the countless possibilities.
After five long stressful years, I graduated college and became a full-fledged
science nerd, working in a lab. By then I was tipping the scales at 240
lbs and was portly looking with a double chin. I had not even an ounce
of self-esteem - I hated my body and myself. It was obvious that, despite
going to the gym every day, my diet was not fitting into the fitness equation.
Something had to be done.
Shortly after this, I attended my first body- building competition, the Emerald Cup, and bought a subscription to Muscle and Fitness Magazine my life began to change forever. It was an epiphany. I went completely cold turkey, trading those Big Macs for cans of tuna and the 48-ounce Big Gulps for protein shakes. Instant I started seing results in the form of strength and muscle endurance, but I wanted more than just that. I set a goal to compete as a bodybuilder. Reaching that goal is forever burned into the very depths of my soul as the single most excruciating and life-altering year I ever experienced.
In the course of one year, I transformed my body from that of an average
overweight male into a lean vascular statue, weighing 212 lbs and 3% body
fat. It was anything but easy. By the week of my first contest I was ready
to quit and head to the pizza parlor. I remember thinking at the time that
I no longer cared about my physical appearance, all that mattered was being
able to eat. I think I could've eaten a cardboard box at that point! I
used to make my wife eat her dessert in the garage of our house and to
immediately hide the evidence in the trash so as not to tempt me. I made
it to the contest and competed on stage in front of thousands of strangers
wearing nothing more than a string bikini. I took fourth out of six bodybuilders
and although I had higher hopes than that, I was happy with my placing.
Afterward I swore to myself that that I'd do it again and again, each time
honing my body to look better and better. When I competed for the first
time, I saw that bodybuilding is not about winning or losing against your
peers, it was about achieving your personal goals.
After sustaining on protein shakes and supplements for more than a year,
it occurred to me that there had to be a better way. There had to be a
way to remain in championship form and not sacrifice taste. Around this time, I returned to school - culinary school. I traded in my
white lab coat for a white chef's coat and my microscope for a bag of knives.
I trained in four-star restaurants under talented chefs who taught me all
the tricks of the trade that one doesn't learn in school. I learned to
be creative and efficient. At the same time, I learned that to be a chef
requires working 12-16 hours a day without breaks. The culinary industry
has got to be the toughest most demanding field I have ever known, but
I definitely find it the most rewarding. Over the years I have become an
expert at Asian, French and Italian cuisine and has cooked my way through
every other aspect of the culinary world.
Being a chef has helped me to create my philosophy toward foof - eating
healthy does not mean eating boring. While admittedly, whenI train for
a competition, I still drink the occasional protein shake, I have found
a way to make flavorful, healthy meals.
