Generally constant travelers and studio
rats, artists often struggle to find a route for good nutrition. Nights filled
with fast foods, slow movement and long hours can kill your metabolism and your
energy, but Lyfe Jennings has been able to find balance through a vegetarian diet and a
positive attitude.
Now on the verge of releasing his third
album, Lyfe Change, he is all about
maintaining his focus and energy. We spoke with him in January about the new album and where he’s been. In our latest conversation with him, Lyfe offers
AllHipHop.com a few pointers on how he stays in shape and maintains a positive
mental outlook through the chaos of his career.
AllHipHop.com: Give us a rundown of your basic eating plan.
Lyfe Jennings: When I wake up I try to eat something with grains in
it, some cereal like some Corn Flakes or something like that, and as my day
goes on I really don’t eat anything in between meals per se. I really only try
and eat two times a day – that’s my thing. At the end of the day, I try and eat
a veggie chicken patty and some starch, some fries or something like that, and
I try and eat a piece of broccoli and squeeze some fruit in there. Then
I wash it all down with a Heineken. [laughs]
you always been a vegetarian, or did you decide to do that later in life?
in life, I’ve been a vegetarian for about 15 years.
types of changes did your body go through in going from eating meat to just
eating vegetables?
a lot of weight, and my energy level went way down. But then after a little
while I gained a lot of weight back and my energy level went right back on up.
I guess my energy level was feeding on itself.
you balance out exercise with changing your diet like that when you first
started?
really didn’t change anything. I played basketball a whole bunch and definitely
I started getting more tired quicker once I became a vegetarian. But the more I
did it, it seemed my body got even stronger.
road you’re faced with a lot of fast food places, diners and things like that.
Do you find it hard to keep your diet balanced when you’re traveling?
find it harder, but Burger King offers a veggie burger. I go to Burger King and
get me a veggie burger. I try to stay away from those fries ‘cause they are too
salty. Like I said, I pretty much only eat two times a day, so it’s not like
I’m searching for food and stuff that all the time.
talked a good deal of trash about how great you were on the basketball court.
Are you playing a lot with friends or are you in tournaments?
Well, right now I don’t get a lot of chances to practice, but I still do
tournaments. I do celebrity basketball games and things like that, and I’m
about to get me a personal trainer to create ‘me’ time so that I can still be
able to play.
feel that a personal trainer gives you a little more structure?
think what a personal trainer does is look at your day and see the things that
you can’t do without, because one of the things you can’t do without is
exercise. He can look at your day and eliminate some things, and I guess
incorporate some things, and he can be that driving force in the beginning.
Obviously you’ve stayed very fit throughout the course of your career and you
have your new album coming out next month. Have you had to change up your
photos and things like that to make sure you look right?
do the same thing. Part of why people be affected by that stuff is because they
worry about it so much. It is what it is, it ain’t never what it ain’t, and
when your jumpshot ain’t working you take it to the paint.
have a new single out right now. Why don’t you talk a little about the single
and how it’s a prelude to the album.
single is my fastest growing record ever. I think it’s gonna be my biggest
single yet. It’s called “Never Never Land” and it’s just about a lot of people
not handling their responsibilities and saying “Well, I’m not old enough to be
doing this.”
It doesn’t even have anything to do with
age, but those people are living in Never Never Land, right next to Peter Pan
where they didn’t want to grow up. But just like in Peter Pan, the only one
that didn’t get any older was Peter Pan. If you ain’t
got on green tights, you’re kind of out of luck.
been through a lot of things in your life. Has there been any particular book
that influenced the way you look at life?
Yes, actually the first book that I read. I used to think that I didn’t like to
read until I was in a situation where I ain’t have nothing else to do, and the
book was just sitting there, so I said “Hell, let me read this. It’s been
I grabbed the book and it was called Make Me Wanna Holler by
Nathan McCall. It was the first book I read that didn’t have a happy ending,
and it wasn’t a sad ending. The ending was that he was still looking for his
happy ending. The book was about him going to jail, coming out of jail and
trying to live up to a lot of other people’s expectations. His happy ending was
that he still had the mental and physical strength to look for his happy
ending.
sure that through all of the experiences you’ve had with the ups and downs in
the music business in general, you have to do a lot of self-therapy and help
yourself stay positive day to day. How do you inspire yourself everyday when
you wake up?
business world, I definitely try and read something encouraging before I get
out of bed. I try to smile, even if I ain’t got nothing to
smile about, I try to smile before I get out of bed. Then in this business, I
always try to remind myself that this is just business.
This is just a game of chess, I know a lot
of people try and put compassion into the rules and all that, but just as you
put that stuff into the rules, some people don’t put that stuff into the rules.
That’s the way they play their game, and in this business it is just that, just
business. I don’t take it personal, you know?
kind of advice would you give to a person that’s coming into the music
industry? Realizing that there’s a lot of pressure to look good and keep a
positive attitude, be a role model, etc.
advice to them is to figure out what’s your strongest attribute and then feed
that. Let that be your purpose and guide, and always go where you’re wanted. In
the beginning, go where you’re wanted. If you’re not wanted there, don’t go
