7 Tips to Boost Your Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 illness is taking the world by storm. Particularly in large countries, like Italy and the US, the number of reported cases continues to go up. As we face this pandemic, we are looking for ways on how to protect ourselves from the new coronavirus. One important way is to boost our immune system.

Source: Freepik

Is it really that important?

Let’s put it this way – if your body is a house, then your immune system is the entire wall that protects it from the outside world. So, yes, it is essential to have a healthy immune system when battling aggressive illnesses, such as the COVID-19.

So, here are ways how you can keep yourself healthy:

Apr062020

First Grocery Trip of the Quarantine Kitchen Challenge

Last Thursday, we announced a challenge that we were going to take part of during quarantine, where we’d push ourselves to use the food we already have at home. To summarize, we allowed ourselves two meals out (delivery or take-out a week, Monday through Sunday) and SIX grocery items for each of us, once every two weeks. Today was our first trip to the grocery in two weeks, and based on what we had at home and what we were craving, this is what we each decided to buy.

Apr052020

New YouTube Video Alert!

Once upon a time, we posted a decent amount of content to YouTube. I think it was probably within the first year of us living in Los Angeles, while we lived in our apartment in Koreatown. Years later and it is one form of social media that we really stopped using as an outlet for content, which is unfortunate because it is one of my favorites as a user, or subscriber. Well, we’re trying to change that now!

Apr022020

Corona Quarantine Kitchen Cupboard Challenge

What a mouthful! As we move into our fourth week of self-isolation, we can count the number of times we’ve left the house on one hand. Alana left once, to take Noke for a hike at a local trail that isn’t very heavily used. I’ve made a few trips to the grocery store to replenish our food supplies, although looking back at it, we were still living a little too luxuriously. I wouldn’t say that we were being careless, but we definitely didn’t need the groceries that I bought. While milk and yogurt certainly aren’t that much of a stretch, we think we could make it through this with less. Thus, the Corona Quarantine Kitchen Cupboard Challenge was born.

Feb182020

Bring Back the Morning Star Riblet!

As most of our longtime readers know, just like everyone else in the world, we have eating preferences. These aren’t just rooted in what tastes good or what will help us achieve our fitness related goals. These decisions are heavily rooted in what we feel comfortable eating from an ethical standpoint. For example, many of the large chocolate companies were found to use child/slave labor in Western Africa. We don’t eat Hershey’s as a result. (You can find out more about this via The Dark Side of Chocolate.) While Hershey’s acknowledged their wrongdoing, after Whole Foods put pressure on them, and vowed to change their practices, we’re skeptical until we see results.

Another one of our issues is with the agriculture industry, specifically with the treatment of livestock. We only buy cage free eggs from the store. I try to consume free range meat. Also, we try to limit the amount of meat in the house, especially since Alana doesn’t eat any. We’ve taken a liking to using alternatives over the years and while we’ve enjoyed many brands, our go-to has always been Morningstar Farms. We enjoy their wide variety of products, which include both vegetarian and vegan options. They try to provide you with non-meat versions of meat favorites such as chicken nuggets and bacon.

And riblets.

Feb122020

Built Bar: The Ultimate Unbiased Review

Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of it took me forever to publish this article. How long? Well, way back in late June of last year, Charles from Built Bar reached out to us and asked us to provide an honest review of their “fairly new” protein bar. They’re not fairly new anymore. Within a week, they arrived, but were completely melted into oblivion as our delivery driver left them in the sun. Logan from Built Bar quickly sent us another box and we grabbed them without any issues since Hurricane Barry protected them from the sun.

So, here is the honest review.

If you don’t like any of the protein bars you’ve ever eaten, you should buy THIS.

Feb112020

Celebrating Tet Fest in New Orleans!

Bao!

When we decided to move from Los Angeles to New Orleans, we knew that there would be less diversity. Even though New Orleans is one of the most diverse cities in the country, especially with its rich history, it is hard to compare any city in this country to Los Angeles or New York. We were, however, quite surprised when we discovered that there was a massive Vietnamese population here.

Jan062020

Easy Meals in 2020

2020 is the year to do more with less. 2020 is the year to work smarter and not necessarily harder. (Although, we are strong supporters of hard workers.) 2020 is the year to see through all the myths and make the right decisions. We’re here to help you do that. We might be a week late, but we’ve been working on our own plans for this new year.

So, how are we going to do this? By making simple and delicious meals at home of course–without spending too much money. Here is our first recipe of the year, but this is about much more than this $7 meal for two. This is about you starting to understand how to balance the three important aspects of your diet: flavor, nutrition and cost.

Dec192019

The Ultimate Guide to Better Nutrition

Are you thinking of changing the way you look or your lifestyle? It’s an excellent decision to live a holistic life. The human body is quite magnificent as it has the DNA genes, which encompasses the blueprint that contributes to changes. The food you consume can directly or indirectly affect the genes.

If you are intolerant to some foods, you will note that the body turns into ways that lent degenerative or chronic conditions within the system. It often results in excruciating pain, weight gain, ailments, inflammation as well as destruction.

However, when you adopt a healthy lifestyle, all these will be a thing of the past. You will have a new chance to fight off illnesses, depression, gaining weight, or even hunger. Below is the ultimate guide to better nutrition.

To start, you ought to adopt the ideal concepts of nutritional wellness. They are as follows;

Sep132019

6 Foods to Avoid if You Want Clear Skin

Just when you thought that you’d left acne behind in your teenage years, it comes knocking once again in adulthood. It’s a frustrating problem for a lot of guys, made worse by the fact that male adult acne tends to be particularly stubborn and difficult to treat.

While research has shown that women struggle with adult acne just as much—if not more—than men do, a 2018 study published in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology found that men generally have more severe acne symptoms compared to their female counterparts. To pile on more bad news, a powerful acne treatment alone may not be enough to combat your stubborn breakouts.

If nothing you do seems to clear up your acne, it may be time to take a closer look at your diet. Though the research is far from certain, there is some evidence that suggests that these six foods could be secretly sabotaging your skin.