Monthly Archives: April 2015

The Truth About Women’s Weightlifting

When I train females, I always hear about their fear of getting “bulky.” It’s a real concern of a lot of women and I want to tell them to stop. Lifting weights and getting muscles doesn’t make you bulky–it makes you strong and it gives you definition. For too long, the fear of “getting bulky” has stopped women from lifting weights, leading them to only do cardio. There is nothing more empowering than lifting weights and feeling strong. Here I go with another infographic from ChuzeFitness.

Truth about women's weightlifting infographic

So I want to ask the female audience a question.

*If you do lift, why do you lift?

*If you don’t lift, why don’t you?

And as always, stay hungry and fit!

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The #8 Greatest Video Game of All Time

We continue our way down the top 25 video games of all time! Our choices are weighed quite heavily now as these games that have been in our hearts for many years must be decided upon. You have now seen the same game pop up for multiple people. I can’t wait until the end when we list them all out for everyone and see what stacks where. We could even weigh the games with the most and highest picks! And if you missed the others on our countdown, please check them out: #25, #24,#23, #22,#21,#20#19#18#17#16#15, #14#13#12#11#10, and #9.

Kai – Rise of Nations My favorite RTS (real-time strategy) game ever, Rise of Nations is a historical RTS spanning all of human history.  You pick a civilization and start with a small settlement in the Ancient Age, build farms and buildings, conduct diplomacy and trade, raise armies and research technologies, and eventually end up in modern times with stealth bombers and nukes.  

Rise of Nations combines a great theme with really solid mechanics, getting rid of a lot of the tedious elements of earlier historical RTS games.  In addition to fun multiplayer, the Thrones & Patriots added some fun historical campaigns, allowing you to play as either side of the Cold War or Alexander the Great.
 
My best memory of Rise of Nations is my friend Jason and I stay up all night playing game after game (each one lasting 45 to 90 minutes).  We put in dozens of hours in both multiplayer skirmishes (usually allied against the AI) and single player campaigns.
 
 I haven’t played it in years, but I can’t imagine it’s any less fun now than it was then.  There’s a new “Extended Edition” on Steam, so there’s no excuse not to pick it up and give it a try if you’re looking to spend an afternoon taking over the world.
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How to Avoid Dairy Products

This post is brought to you by Catherine Lavinia.

Surely, for most of us milk is associated with childhood. Our mother or beloved grandmother was adamant that drinking milk is the pledge of child’s health and happiness. Milk contains a series of crucial nutrients: protein, calcium, Vitamin D, B-6 and B-12, magnesium, potassium and others. Besides these elements, sugar named ‘lactose’ is present in milk and other dairy products. Normally, our body produces the enzyme ‘lactase’ to digest this sugar. When there is a deficiency of lactase, however, lactose becomes very difficult to digest which leads to intolerance. And since lactose is present in dairy products, a lactose intolerance means a dairy free diet. Otherwise, uncomfortable side effects will make their presence felt at once, which can range from bloating, diarrhea and abdominal pain.

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LeBlanc Frank Wedding 2015

I’m lucky enough to go to work and work with this really awesome person, Meagan, every single day. This really awesome person happened to get married and also happened to invite me! Those who know Meagan, know that she’s an incredibly hardworking, hilarious, [windy–inside joke (and no, it’s not a fart joke)], and caring individual. I was so happy to be able to partake in her wedding and enjoy the magical night with her friends and family. I truly feel lucky to be among the love-sharing and vows that night. Meagan married Brad, an over-the-top funny individual from Tennessee who is also very hardworking and generous. These two match each other like chocolate protein powder and bananas (go with it) and just thinking about them makes me smile

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Homemade Lemonade Recipe

Spring is in the air! Can you smell it? The flowers are blooming, the fruit is growing, and the sun is shining. Hooray at last! Although in Southern California, you can’t always tell what season it is, we know Spring is here because everything is blooming. With the start of Spring, comes the start of fresh fruit recipes. My mum has a lemon tree that grows fruit all year round. There are no pesticides or anything like that and there is a constant flow of huge lemons wanting to be used. She can’t consume lemons because of the acidity–but I sure can! I usually put her lemons in my water every morning for a refreshing start to the day. 

While I was busy house sitting at my parents’ place last weekend, the sun was shining along with a gentle breeze and I decided that I should make lemonade. I don’t know why I’ve always been intimidated to make lemonade from scratch. I know now that making lemonade is easy and incredibly rewarding. Now, I like my lemonade tart. Sweet lemonade isn’t my cup of tea. So if you go searching for other lemonade recipes, you will find more sugar in them. Let’s get started!

Beautiful!

Beautiful!

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Simply the Best BBQ Sauce

 One of the goals here at Hungry & Fit HQ is to provide our readers with low-budget alternatives. We also try to keep things as healthy as possible. I was alarmed recently when I decided that I wanted to have some BBQ sauce at home to add to our condiment arsenal and found some less than stellar options at multiple groceries. Every single option at a major grocery chain had high fructose corn syrup in it as one of the top ingredients. (The macros were NOT the friendliest, even to flexible dieters.) When I finally found some healthier choices at Whole Foods, the value just wasn’t there. I was looking at $5 small bottles, and I don’t know about you, but I like to use a lot of BBQ sauce. I decided at the time to bite the bullet and spend the extra money (because I love good flavor) but unfortunately, I was not impressed.

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How to Be a Vegetarian

Often times, when people find out I’m a vegetarian, they look at me sadly like they just found out I have a terminal illness. Funny thing is that I choose to be a vegetarian. And many other people do too! Now, the transition into being a vegetarian isn’t always so heartfelt and easy. There are tons of books out there with the purpose of instructing one on how to be a vegetarian. This is going to be a much simpler guide. I’m not telling everyone to be a vegetarian, I’m just showing you how to in case you were ever curious–how to get enough nutrients in a plant-based diet. Sometimes people turn into starch-atarians when they go veggie, but fear not–there is plenty of protein when you come this way!

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#9 Greatest Video Game of All Time

Striving into the top 10–we arrive at #9! If you have no clue what this post is about, please read here. And if you missed the other on our countdown, please check them out: #25, #24,#23, #22, #21,#20#19#18#17#16#15, #14#13#12#11, and #10. This list was created by the video game brain trust–please enjoy!  

#9 Greatest Video Game of All Time

Kai – Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight Coming out in 1997, Jedi Knight was a revolutionary shooter that took the Dark Forces world and applied the lessons that Quake had brought to the FPS scene.  It created a real world within the Star Wars universe with evil Sith, hapless stormtroopers, and lots of drama.  Mysteries of the Sith (an expansion) came along and really filled in the detail, with extraordinary level design.

Even better than that, it had great multiplayer (played on the Internet Gaming Zone, Microsoft’s foray into online gaming).  Only 4 players could play at a time and there were lots of hackers, but it was my formative online gaming experience, and was really a lot of fun.
 
The game has not aged well and there are few benefits of playing it today (other than seeing the laughable live action cutscenes).  If you want to play similar game today, I’d recommend the sequel Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.
 
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