May022016

Fresh Avocado Tomato Salad

With Spring here and it feeling like Summer in California, the desire for fresh food comes forth. Raw, fresh food but certainly not lacking flavor. So it was, a Saturday night, hanging with my brother and his girlfriend, Sophie. Sophie is an excellent cook and has a lot of experience doing so. She was going to make us tacos–perfectly cooked steak for everyone and wild-caught fish for me. I was all in. Growing up in California, tacos become your soul food. Along with tacos, come the necessity of the avocado in one’s life. Rich with delicious healthy fat and the creaminess to save any dish, I was ready to be her sous chef and make the side dish–fresh Avocado & Tomato salad.

May012016

The New Protein Superfood: #FeelAmazingEveryDay (Giveaway)

Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to present to you a product that does everything in one perfect scoop. You get your 7 alkalizing greens (wheat grass, barley grass, alfalfa, spirulina, chlorella, broccoli, and spinach), your plant-based protein, and a healthy serving of your fruits and vegetables. It seems like a lot. And it is! But we aren’t pulling your leg. Amazing Grass dug deep and produced this great product for the public. It’s your daily nutrition all-in-one package. At Hungry and Fit, we try new products all the time. Some are hits and most are misses. I was a little nervous about this one. All this stuff in just one scoop? Won’t it be gross? Spoiler alert: it’s not!

Apr222016

My First Home-Baked Bread

For the longest time, I’ve wanted to bake my own bread from scratch. It seemed like a wild and hard thing to do. Spoiler alert: it’s not. This project is also part of my goal to use cookbooks to try new recipes. This one comes from A Feast of Ice and Fire yet again. You’ve seen me cook for King’s Landing, dine in the South, and bake for The Wall. We are at The Wall yet again, cooking for the Night’s Watch. And yes, we’re making crusted white bread, just like they would eat. Two dreams coming true! All it took was a little bit of yeast. I would say the hardest part is kneading it out and keeping it non-sticky. Otherwise, it’s pretty simple: mix the ingredients, knead it out, let it rise, and bake!

Apr212016

A True Lifestyle Supplement: ON Amino Energy

The supplement industry can be a huge, intimidating monster for many. Think along the lines of that dark and scary maze at the end of the Triwizard tournament in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Yes, it can be that bad for millions of people who are overwhelmed by the flashy labels, crazy names, and exhaustive ingredient lists of thousands of brands. Thousands of powders, hundreds of flavors, and yet, they only aim to accomplish a few things. Mostly, they help you get ready for your workout, assist you in getting through your workout, or benefit you in recovering after your workout. Some companies like to put them in separate products that you buy and combine while some combine them into one proprietary blend for you, but what if you’re perfectly content working out without supplements?

Apr202016

Easy Healthy Shrimp Pasta

Since both Hungry and I are eating healthy, we’ve been doing a lot of home cooking. I’m lucky enough to have a partner who cooks food beautifully. He will even come home from a long day at work and cook for me, and it makes us both happy! Cooking at home is usually healthier (depends what restaurants you frequent), so we’ve been stocking up the fridge and pulling out the pans. These meals are especially special when we use wild caught seafood (a protein I will eat since it’s wild-caught). We have a great Bristol Farms in walking distance of us so we often go there and pick out some decent wild seafood. This time, it was shrimp. Mmm, mmm good! This recipe is simple and light–you will absolutely not feel heavy afterward. It packs a punch of flavor and will have you looking for more.

Apr182016

Our Last Few Weeks in Pics

I was sick for about 1.5 weeks, out of the fitness game, but still eating well...this weather mirrored me

Fit was sick for about 1.5 weeks, out of the fitness game, but still eating well…this weather mirrored her

Apr142016

Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies

I have tried recipe after recipe to find the perfect protein cookies. They often come out too dry, too cakey, or downright rubbery. We can’t have any of that! I have finally found a recipe that comes out well! Hoorah! These aren’t the healthiest, but they have significantly more protein than other cookies and less sugar and fat than other cookies. We’ll say it’s healthier. These puppies have 7g of protein a piece–pretty awesome for a cookie! It’ll be a crowd pleaser and they won’t even know that it’s healthier than normal. Careful of how long you keep in the oven, I left mine in a minute too long (as you may be able to see).

Apr132016

Crustless Kale Quiche

It’s one of those mornings…when you’re still eating quite healthy, feeling a little lazy, and want to have something yummy. You also need to clean out your fridge. What to do….quiche! We keep it crustless to keep the unneeded carbs and bad fats out and we throw in whatever may go bad in the following week. For our fridge, we had a whole lot of kale that I wanted to go through. Kale is a wonderful green and gives a nice texture to a quiche. You can follow my recipe, or you can use it as a base and throw what you want into it! Grab some eggs and here we go…

Apr122016

Grip Strength Workout

Whether you’re having a hard time opening a jar of pickles or can’t lockout that 600+ lb deadlift, your grip is an essential component to your overall strength. Instead of buying a pair of straps or the most technologically advanced chalk, the best practice is to develop a grip that can crush apples and tear phone books. These exercises will help you develop stronger hands and have a direct practical application to competitions such as powerlifting and strongman since you’re simulating the same technique. Even if you’re a martial artist who grapples or throws, being able to hold onto a gi is key and no matter what your goal, this routine will push your mind (and forearms) to the limit every set.

It’s important to note that in between every set, I will stretch the muscles that are being contracted for such a long amount of time. For example, I might use a thick rubber band (like the one from broccoli at the grocery) to expand my hands so they and my forearms are not in a state of constant flexion. I train many lab workers, nurses, and bakers who have developed the equivalent of a shin splint in their forearms because they’ve created such an extreme muscular imbalance. We want to avoid that in our effort to strengthen our grip. We don’t want to cause injury when trying to squeeze that level 3 Captain of Crush.

(I will mention that you’ll notice Captain of Crush work is not included in this workout. I generally superset every exercise in my bodybuilding upper day with my CoC so I avoid using them in this workout.)

Apr112016

April and the Twisted World (2015)

It seems as if everyone in Los Angeles came or stayed in the area because of their dream to be in the industry. One of my colleagues at the gym is an actor and screenwriter, but when I told him that I was going to see April and the Twisted World, he claimed that animated films aren’t really his thing. Well, Hungry & Fit are fascinated with animated films, but our fascination rocketed to a whole new level with this somewhat dark and comical animated treasure.