All About Astyn

Here is a quick and easy recipe for the avocado lovers out there!

For one serving you'll need

1 cup of white or brown rice
Half an avocado
Lime Juice
Salt
1 Chicken breast

My chicken was seasoned with lots of things. I used a little garlic, turmeric, onion salt, crushed red pepper, black pepper, and a pinch of seasoning salt. Season your food folks, it won't kill ya!

While was chicken was cooking I scooped out my avocado and added it to my rice along with a little bit of salt, pepper, and lime. I wish I had cilantro so get yourself some of that too!

SMASH SMASH SMASH

When my chicken breast was done cooking I sliced it up and topped my bowl with it.

This dinner is about 450 calories per serving.

Enjoy!

All About Astyn

Warmer weather brings cooler drinks. So lets have a real chat about smoothies.

When you hear the word smoothie you think healthy, fruity, nutritious. Sadly that isn't always the case and sometimes you end up loading your body with artificial ingredients, unnecessary sugar, and enough calories to get you through the day.

Lately I've been a tad under the weather so I've been trying to get an immunity boost through healthy foods. My green smoothie from whole foods had spinach, kale, pineapple, banana, strawberry, and apple juice (the only ingredient being apples.)

Beware that all smoothies aren't as simple. Take a look at the nutrition info for the 2 smoothies below.

This is the nutrition info from a strawberry banana smoothie from Orange Julius (Dairy Queens smoothie spot.) The ingredients include: Banana, Nonfat Vanilla Liquid Yogurt (11 ingredients,) and Strawberry Fruit Beverage Mix (9 ingredients.) This is loaded with a bunch of junk! Don't do your body like that, unless you want a smoothie to be your cheat of the week.

Next up is The Hulk from Smoothie King. OH MY GOODNESS THIS IS TRASH! 964 calories in the smallest size available. As you can see this is more of a milkshake than a healthy snack. Just say no!

Moral of this story is to always check the nutrition facts before you order or make it yourself at home.

All About Astyn

I don't know what the weekend means for you, but my weekends mean eating out and having a few drinks. I think my new thing every Monday will be to recap my weekend eats.

So let's start off with Friday's dinner. Shake Shack chicken sandwich, fries, and a beer. This was after the 2 glasses of wine I had at happy hour.

Saturday morning started off clean with a green smoothie and a spinach and cheddar omelette.

My eating schedule on Saturday afternoon/ evening was totally weird!

Around 3pm I was at Busboys and Poets having a vegan parfait and a slice of a chicken quesadilla.

Then we headed to Mulebone formerly known as Eatonville. The food here sucked so I only had a few bites of that mac & cheese and 1 deviled egg. (The deviled eggs were actually pretty good)

Our meals at Mulebone were terrible so we went to Bethesda to pick up cupcakes and dinner.

For dinner I got a salad from Chopt. My salad had romaine lettuce, black beans, corn, tomato, avocado, chicken, and caesar dressing.

These cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes blessed me! My gf and I like to split things so I had 1/2 a cherry blossom cupcake, 1/2 key lime, and 1/2 vanilla. The key lime was to die for. I picked up chocolate, red velvet, and an extra vanilla for my parents.

Sunday brunch day! We headed to Smith Commons for an awesome meal! Gf and our friend Joe both ordered the smoked salmon hash, Joe also ordered chicken & waffles, and I ordered the brunch sandwich with a side of grits. The sandwich has so much going on and has SO much bread. There were scrambled eggs, chicken, kimchi, potatoes, and guacamole on the humongous ciabatta bread. I only ate about a third of that plate along with my grits.

To end the weekend my gf and I spent some time back at busboys and poets. I had a red wine sangria and we split a chicken quesadilla. My mom cooked dinner at the house so we didn't wanna fill up too much.

To wrap it all up I ate way too much but I enjoyed myself and my company. Next weekend will be much cleaner and I'll eat at home wayyyyyy more!

All About Astyn

Dammmnnnn Galley! back at it again with the healthy lunch!

(I am a corn ball!)

Today I ordered the Honey Chipotle Chicken Quinoa Bowl from Galley Foods and it was really delicious and filling.

The bowl had a bed of mixed greens topped with quinoa, chicken, avocado, tomato, cilantro, and onions. The dressing was light and the serving size was perfect!

Bonus: The salad was only $12!

Lunch on the go can be healthy just make sure to eat at places that are transparent about what is in their food and offers very detailed nutritional facts on their website.

One of my wellness goals is to stop calorie counting and start focusing on eating less processed food.

All About Astyn

When the weather gets nice I like to switch it up and work out outside. I did some cardio moves using outdoor stairs. I did three rounds of this workout with the reps listed below.

1) Step Up & Curl

8 pound weights
15 reps per leg
Start with one foot on the ground and the other on the first step. Stand up and lift your leg while also curling your arms.

2) Jump Up

No weights
15 reps
Start with both feet flat then bend at the knee and jump up as many steps as you can.

3) Toe Taps

8 pound weights in each hand
30 reps (15 taps per foot)
Start by curling your arms and then alternate tapping each toe to the step. This should be done in a continuous jumping motion.

4) Squat, Jump & Press

8 pound weights in each hand
10 reps
Start with a deep squat and the jump up to the highest step you can. When you land push the weights up for a shoulder press.

My legs and booty are burning thanks to this workout. Happy Cardio!

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Mozzarella sticks, giant bowls of pasta, fried things covered in awesome sauce. Those are all of the absolutely wonderful things about eating out at restaurants, but it doesn't always have to be that way. Even though I do like to have cheat meals when I am out, it is a best practice to cheat at home and keep it clean when you're out.

I started my late lunch with a glass of Pino Grigio. Another glass followed shortly afterwards. I like to stick to wine when I'm out unless it's specifically a cheat day. I love a good margarita but there is way too much sugar in them to order non-chalantly.

Girlfriend started off with seafood miso soup. It has broth, scallions, shrimp, scallops, and tofu. I LOVE this stuff but I decided to spend my coins and calories on wine instead.

Then came the sushi! When ordering sushi stick to the rolls that are just rice, veggies, and raw fish. Once you start to order tempura and rolls covered in sauce you start to order hundreds of calories as well. My girlfriend and I always get eel sauce on the side. Today I got a spicy tuna roll and a crazy roll. The crazy roll had spicy yellowtail inside and was topped with tuna, salmon, avocado, and fish egg. It was so freaking good and filling!

Good luck ordering! Things to remember:

Say no to fried rolls.
Get your sauce on the side.
Use the ginger! I am sure it has health benefits but what I know is that it is delish!

All About Astyn

Let me be the first to scream it loud, HEALTHY SHOPPING ON A TIGHT BUDGET IS THE STRUGGLE! I shop at a bunch of different places and it all comes down to budget. I go to Walmart when I am on a very tight budget, the supermarket (Giant) when it's a normal month, and every once in a while I am blessed with Whole Foods money.

Shopping on a budget is very difficult because there are certain foods I refuse to buy unless it is organic and that is not always an option for me. Luckily places like Walmart and Aldi are catching on so shopping has been getting better and better.

This is a normal haul for me. This food will last me 2 weeks and all I'll have to do is come back a week later for more chicken breast and maybe some more fruit. I do enjoy eating out 3-4 times per week and that is why my groceries last so long.

Sliced deli turkey
Individually wrapped chicken breast

Organic romain lettuce
Organic spinach
Organic spring mix
Frozen Broccoli
Frozen green beans
Mushrooms

I love a good smoothie in the morning so I always buy frozen fruit. Canned fruit is not the best option, but it is better than cookies and chips. I always rinse it off before eating it to get all the extra sugary juicey syrupy stuff off.