The Blue Sweater (Part 1)

Jacqueline Novogratz really has an amazing story to tell in The Blue Sweater. This book is a first hand account of her journey from being a international banker to a social activist and entrepreneur. Specifically giving her account of tackling the world crisis of poverty. When Jacqueline was hired by Chase Bank, her job was to travel the world and review the loans that her bank had given out. Upon her travels learned more and more about the world's poverty and also learned how little of a roll banks had in helping poverty. The books title, all started in Jacqueline's childhood when she had a blue sweater that was a prized possession. When she outgrew the sweater her family gave the sweater to GoodWill. Twelve years later, she saw a young African child wearing a blue sweater just like the one she had when she was young. It was her very sweater she had when she was younger and it really made Jacqueline realize how connected we are all in the world.

Novogratz knew that trying to help global poverty was not going to be an easy fix, obviously. She knew that she couldn't just throw money around hoping that problem would just fix itself. She took a job at a non-profit bank to help create loans for low income women in Africa. Jacqueline wanted to help the women of Africa and help them run their businesses in proper fashion. When she was in Africa, she saw all the problems the African women faced and their inability to run their own business. The African women didn't respond well to Jacqueline's help, she had to come to realize that things were run very differently in Africa.

Jacqueline had to go through many obstacles as she transitioned from working at the well payed job at Chase, to helping fight poverty in Africa. Many unexpected things and times where she had to persevere and show some real mental toughness. It is going to be interesting to see how she continues to fight this uphill battle in the rest of the book.

Why Are The Things That Taste the Best, The Worst For Us?

As some of you know, I am an athlete. And in being an athlete, I try to do everything I can to put me in the best possible situation for success. I try to train my body in the off season as hard as I can to prepare myself for the long season ahead. In doing that I also try to eat as healthy as possible to fuel my body for the work I put in, in the weight room. I love food and I love food that is not good for you. If it is sweet, and has a good amount of sugar in it, chances are I’m going to enjoy it. I love ice cream, donuts, candy, pizza, etc – you name it, I like it. I break the week down into the 7 days there is in a week. Monday through Saturday I try to eat as healthy as possible. I don’t eat any processed food, I try to eat as many fruit and vegetables as possible for good carbohydrates and nutrients. I eat of lot of bananas, apples, pineapple, broccoli, spinach, asparagus and many other fruits and veggies. I eat other carbs like sweet potatoes and brown rice that help fuel my body properly. I eat lean meats like chicken breast and lean turkey burger for my sources of protein. And I try and get my healthy fat from stuff like avocado or certain forms of nuts. Like I said before, I eat this way to help fuel my body to train and get myself in the best possible shape for the season. It does get boring, but I know it is the most nutritious and healthy lifestyle I can live.

Now for the awesome part – Sunday. On Sunday I take the entire day and dedicate it as my, “Cheat Day.” Eating throughout the week really clean and healthy is a little easier because I know it will all be worth when Sunday rolls around. On Sunday, I don’t train or workout, I take the day to rest and recharge my batteries a little. On Sundays, I do not restrict myself at all as far as eating goes. I eat donuts for breakfast or have a nice big stack of pancakes with a bunch of syrup and some nice strips of bacon. I’ll get Mexican food for lunch or a pizza for dinner. Obviously, I don’t go insane and eat myself into a coma, I have normal portioned meals but I let myself enjoy the the kinds of food I don’t eat during the week. I usually always end the night on Sunday by taking down a pint of Ben and Jerrys ice cream, because that is my absolute favorite. Now, in saying all this, life is too short to be so crazy you can’t enjoy yourself. So if I’m out at dinner and the restaurant isn’t exactly in my meal plan, I’m not going to starve myself just because they don’t have “healthy” options. I’m going to order whatever is the healthiest thing I can find and enjoy myself. Life is all about making yourself happy, and I am just trying to live the healthiest and happiest I can.