The Best Exercise Ever.

by hungryandfit, posted in Exercise

I know it’s a bold statement. Some people would definitely have something to say about it. The CrossFit community, the weightlifting community, the powerlifting community… just about any sport would defend their key exercises. Hiking, however, really is something else entirely and I’m not the one making the claim that it is the best exercise ever.

I grew up practicing martial arts and there were few men I respected more than Grand Master Kim. As a native of South Korea and an individual who trained the Korean Army in hand-to-hand combat for the Korean War, Master Kim is the physical embodiment of Taekwondo. Still, even he says that TKD is the second best form of exercise.

Why? Because hiking is the best form of exercise, of course. It’s hard to clearly understand all of his explanations, but the idea is that the connection to nature creates the perfect environment for you to feed off of the energy of the earth. Also, it’s obviously a great full body workout and can easily be relatively low impact.

So, with today being National Take a Hike Day (or something along those lines) try to either go out for a hike or plan one. Hiking is so versatile and can really be done anywhere. Hiking can be a glorified walk with whatever pace you choose. I prefer steep and challenging hikes up with an easy way down or just long steady grades.

Either way, get out there and enjoy nature. Hiking can be peaceful and relaxing by yourself and with a four-legged friend or it can be a fun social time with others. Let us know what you think about hiking, but don’t disagree with Master Kim or he’ll kick you through the ceiling!

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Trader Joes is the WORST!

by hungryandfit, posted in Food

I don’t get it, seriously. You see all these videos and read all these articles about how expiration dates are nothing close to being accurate because companies are forced to put an earlier date for federal regulations, and then this happens. What is this? Trader Joe’s products “go bad” long before the best before date listed on the product.

Best before… yes, that’s very vague and I’m sure they could argue it was definitely best before that date. I’ll tell you what though, on November 13th, this milk wasn’t good. It wasn’t pleasant. It was sour and I can’t understand why. It was sitting in a brand new, expensive, and cold refrigerator for its whole life… at least in its new home.

The thing is, this has happened so many times with TJ’s food in the past and while some people give me the old, “it’s a good thing because they don’t use preservatives” I know better than that because they do have preservatives and plenty of them! So again, why does this happen so often?

Cheese gets mold far in advance, jarred marinara sauce under the lid, milk spoils, frozen products... the list goes on and it’s been in different places with different fridges and freezers. If the milk goes bad in three days, that’s fine! Just let me know when it’s actually going to be less enjoyable to consume. Then, I can chug accordingly.

The Best Vegetable Ever?

by hungryandfit, posted in Food

We could talk about my love for olives, capers, anchovies, and the long list of other foods that are heavily underappreciated in many cultures, especially here in the US. Mushrooms, however, are on a whole different level.

They’re the meat of the vegetarian kingdom and who doesn’t love meat? Vegetarians and vegans, of course, so they love mushrooms instead. There are big mushrooms and small mushrooms, light mushrooms and dark mushrooms; there are definitely enough mushrooms for Dr. Seuss to write a book about them.

They’re on the healthy side and they also take flavor so well. Curries, white wine, garlic… you name it and it will taste good with mushrooms. Ice cream? Sure, why not, we’ll see it on Chopped one day. And they cook down so well into the most pleasing texture possible.

While we’d love to call them the best vegetable, technically they’re a specific kind of fungus. Still, because we’re so rebellious, we’re going to call mushrooms the best vegetable. Don’t worry fruit lovers, I won’t even joke about going there. Tell us your thoughts about mushrooms!

Are Subway and Chipotle Healthy?!?!

by hungryandfit, posted in Uncategorized

Who cares? They’re convenient and somewhat affordable, which are two of the most important factors that contribute to consistency. We all know consistency is key if you’re looking to achieve your goal of being a healthier person, whether that means losing weight or building muscle, or both.

You see, here in LA, there has been a growth in the past two years (probably even longer than that but it’s becoming absurd now) of restaurants/eateries/fast food places that have taken the Subway/Chipotle approach to serving you food. There’s a buffet on the other side of a glass window and for a relatively flat rate, you get to choose what you eat.

We now have at least three pizza chains (Pizza Rev, Pieology,  Pizza Press) and so many poke places (and a ton more are opening from Santa Monica to Hollywood) that are doing the same exact thing because apparently, it’s a good business model. You can’t blame them for trying to take advantage of the opportunity when Subway and Chipotle are billion dollar revenue companies, although 2015 might not have been the best years for them.

Getting back to the question that we’re addressing, the answer is yes and no. While Subway and Chipotle might be healthier fast food options than Burger King and Applebee’s, they’re not as healthy or as affordable as preparing your own meals at home. As always, if you can make it work for you then got for it, but at the end of the day nothing beats cooking at home for health and wealth.

The picture of poke (sliced or cut fish) shown above was taken at Sweetfin Poke in Santa Monica and cost nearly $15.

A Piece of Pizza

by hungryandfit, posted in Uncategorized

A piece of pizza on the street, waiting for someone to come and eat… it. A beautiful poem if I say so myself. It’s not entirely fiction as it is loosely adapted from a true story where we, while walking our dog at 5:45 am had to pull her away from two sad and cold pieces of cheese pizza laying on the ground.

I’m sure the three of us had the same thought; what cruel individual would ever do this? It’s one thing to waste food, considering the fact that there are people starving not only all over the world, but also within this very nation. It’s an entirely different issue when the food being wasted is something as lovable as pizza.

In the second most populated city in the country where there are estimated to be over 80,000 homeless sleeping on the streets, could you really fail to find someone willing to take it? I find that hard to believe. Maybe you needed to try a little harder. Maybe this is a summary of how you’ve lived your life. Maybe the title of your biography will be “Yup, I’m that Guy” or something equally self-deprecating.

Or perhaps, it wasn’t your intention or effort that caused these two slices to find their way to the poorly paved concrete walkway that we think of as a safe haven. Perhaps your intention was to devour both of the slices at once, stacking one on top of the other in the effort of making a pizza sandwich. Perhaps you, accidentally in your drunken stupor dropped these pieces on the ground by total accident. If this is the case, I only have one other question for you. Have you ever heard of the five second rule?

Stay vigilant, my friends.

 

The Best Month EVER!

by hungryandfit, posted in Uncategorized

As if the transition from Summer to true fall, and moving closer to winter, wasn’t already a satisfying enough time of year… here comes a loaded November to make life even better.

There has been a serious drop in our visits to the movie theater and purchases of new video games this year because it’s been on the quiet side, but in truth, everyone seems to have been waiting for this month. Without thinking beyond December’s releases of The Last Guardian and Star Wars: Rogue One, November brings an onslaught of top tier material for us to consume.

For three consecutive weeks, gamers will take sick days and push through sleepless nights to complete Dishonored 2, Pokemon Sun/Moon, and Final Fantasy XV. Moviegoers from three different but very popular universes will be treated to Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Moana. 

It’s all Greek to me as to how everything worked out this way since you wouldn’t think these juggernauts would want to compete against one another, but at the end of the day, I can’t even begin to think of how I could possibly ever fabricate a complaint about it other than what took you so long.

Throw in the fact that we have Disneyland and Universal trips scheduled for the next month and this has to be the BEST MONTH EVER! Let us know what you’re excited about for the remainder of 2016 and you can even be so bold as to tell us about 2017 if you’re thinking that far ahead.

Welcome to the Hangry Life!

Featured by hungryandfit, posted in Uncategorized

A warm welcome to you! The picture above is a stock image, but I think it’s extremely peaceful and since there might not necessarily be a ton of that on this blog, I thought it’d be nice to create some balance.

As professional bloggers with multiple projects, we thought it’d be fun to use this as a source for some of our content that doesn’t make it to the bigger, more successful blogs and websites that need to maintain a certain standard of excellence.

Don’t dismiss this as some Jr. Varsity or B-Team effort, it’s just something a little different. You might get hear about some political, religious, or other controversial topics such as bad driving, but it could be a fun ride!

We’d love for you to be involved, leave comments, provide some energy, and share some of your hangriest experiences with us. If you’re not hangry, you’re in denial because calories are the solution for just about everything.