Facebook

17 Nov 2013

Some healthy snacks


I have been on a healthy journey since February this year. Over Korea's long and cold winter (cue sad violins) I enjoyed far too many premix coffees, teas, biscuits and ice creams. While those are all perfectly fine in moderation, they had become daily staples to fuel us over the snowbaording season. For the winter months we rent a house with some friends and spend every possible moment out of the city and up the mountain. In early February I realised that I was feeling a constant lethargy and was craving these sugar filled snacks like crazy. It occurred to me that I hadn't eaten a baked chicken breast with mashed spuds and steamed broccoli in months!! And so began my healthy 2013!

 I immediately cut out processed foods and started eating REAL food only. Fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy and grains. Of course I still eat ice cream when the need arises and I still eat sweet pop corn when I go to the movies.... but in my day to day life, I'm eating 'clean'.

Clean eating was a new concept for me. Did it mean washing my food of dirt?? I wasn't so sure about this. But after some research I found it was a pretty easy and simple concept. Eating clean means eating REAL food. Try to cut out as much processed food as possible and stick to the basics. Especially sugary drinks. For me that meant powerades, sodas, energy drinks and alcohol. The alcohol is optional...but I'm happy without it. I felt better immediately. I also started working out, but thats a different blog post that I will share soon.

 It can be hard to change our eating habits. I don;t recommend trying to eat clean from day 1 as I did.  I was just in a horrible place with unhealthy food, and so I was so ready to cut the rubbish out of my diet. If you want to start eating clean, start slowly. Minus 1 'unclean' meal or snack from your diet each day and slowly work up to a clean diet free from rubbish. It's a slow process, but your body will thank you for it.

And so this brings me to this blog post. I still have a sweet tooth that needs to be listened to from time to time. Did you know you can make clean, healthy and delicious treats?? I didn't know this! Instagram is such a wealth of knowledge for all things health and fitness and that includes very yummy healthy treats. Here are 2 recipes I want to share with you. Try them. Love them!

Cacao and Coconut Bliss balls
Recipe from @soniakumar_

Ingredients
1/2 Cup of desiccated coconut
1/2 Cup of cacao powder/nibs
3 heaped tablespoons of cold coconut oil
3 heaped tablespoons of almond/peanut butter
2-3 tablespoons of honey/agave nectar/maple syrup (Choose your sweetner and adjust to your taste)
Dash of milk (normal, soy, full fat, lite....whatever you like) or water
2 tablespoons of rolled oats

Method
Blend all ingredients except oats in a blender on a high speed.
scrape down the sides and then blend again until it resembles a thick paste.
Add oats and stir/blend in. I just stirred them in with a spoon.
You could also add some protien powder at this point if you wanted.
Finally - Roll into small ball and then coat in coconut. Refrigerate until chilled and firm.

And then EAT!!! So yum..... Wilbur was hoping for some. But too good to share with him ^^


Nut Bread
Recipe from @mylittlefitspo (instagram)

Ingredients
6 free range/organic eggs (only if possible)
3 tablespoons of nut butter
1.5 cups of ground nuts (I used a mixture of almonds, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Put them all in the blender and zap them until they are all nicely blended. This becomes your 'flour'.)
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
2 tablespoons of pure honey or maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (or a little more if you LOVE it like me)
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons of coconut

Method
Turn oven onto 180 c. Prepare your baking dish - grease or line with baking paper.
Grind nuts and set aside
Combine eggs, nut butter, honey and baking soda. Mix well. (I did it all in the blender)
Add ground nuts, coconut, salt and cinnamon. Mix well.
Pour into your baking dish.
Cook for 20 minutes and check. My oven required an extra 5 minutes.

SO GOOD!

See below for the same bread with a variation.

This is the same Nut bread recipe as above, but I added a ripe banana in with the egg mixture and cooked it in these gorgeous little flower moulds.

Happy baking!! I'm going to do some more health related posts in the future. It's something i'm very passionate about and want to share.


1 comment:

  1. these treats look so yummy! I have been doing a lot of the same lately, really craving sweets and crappy junk foods. i think my new years resolution will be to start clean eating too, not dieting just eating real food! and you are the best inspiration! lots of love xxx

    ReplyDelete