267/365 Homemade Energy Granola Bar

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Though I totally love Kashi's GoLean Crunchy! granola bars, I've always wanted to make my own bar. FYI: if a granola bar says "energy" in the title, it usually means its high in carbohydrates and/or fat. If it says "power" then it is most likely high in protein. Moving along, here is my first attempt at this allrecipes.com recipe:

note the incredible texture  :)

It is loaded with carbohydrates and good fat from all the oats, seeds, and peanut butter (I also added sweetened coconut flakes). Sadly, I didn't have enough peanut butter when I made this so it kind of falls apart. Still, it is very good! If you want to try this recipe, cut the salt down to 1/4 tsp because 1 tsp is a little too much especially when you've used roasted and salted sunflower seeds and mix in the chocolate chips. Anyway, I recommend this recipe and I will definitely try this again with all the right ingredients; it makes 24 servings. Each bar has about 200 calories according to livestrong.com's "My Recipes" feature.

In health,

Lauren

262/365 Make Your Own Energy Bar on YouBars.com

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I received a Groupon offer in my inbox for a company called YouBars where you can custom create your own energy bar. While you build your bar, you get to see how each ingredient affects the nutrition label. Not only do they offer to help you build your own bar, you can make shakes, cereal, and trail mix. I think this is a really neat idea and I am very tempted to make my own. However, Sunday will be my big cooking day, so look out for recipes from yours truly!

In health,

Lauren

230/365 Happy Snack Tip 2: Granola Bars with Protein

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

When deciding what to snack on, choose something with protein and good fats. Where carbohydrates take about an hour to digest, protein takes 2, and fat takes 4. The point of a snack is to keep you satisfied until your next meal right? A happy snack choice would be something that can do that. Go for protein!

Granola bars can be great sources of that ideal mix of macronutrients. Brands I recommend are Clif, Kahshi, FiberOne, and Odwalla. The goal is something with protein, fiber, and healthy fat that is also tasty. As always, be wary of high fructose corn syrup and other synthetic products that your body won't recognize. If your body doesn't register it as energy, you will continue to crave food until you reach something that is recognizably calorie dense and nutritious.

What are your favorite granola bars to snack on?

In health,

Lauren

161/365 Coconut Granola

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

My yogurt's best friends for breakfast are fruit and granola. I tried making granola once before and ended up burning it. This time, I decided to be inspired by a recipe then do my own thing.

Here is my version of granola:
2T olive oil
5c oats
1T ground cinnamon
1/4c butter
1/4c honey
1/8c molasses
1/4c sugar
1c sweetened coconut flakes

1/2c diced walnuts
1/2c ground flax seed

1. Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Add oats and cinnamon. Stir to coat oats for 3-4min.
2. Pour coated oats to a baking sheet. Melt butter in saucepan. Add honey, molasses, and sugar. Heat until simmering then add the oats back in. Be sure to coat all the oats with the sweet mix.
3. Remove oats from heat. Mix in coconut flakes, walnuts, flax seed, and whatever else you like (raisins, craisins, mini chocolate chips etc.). Spread granola out on baking sheet. Granola will harden as it cools.

Hope you like it!

In health,

Lauren

72/365 Don't Be Deceived

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Though I advocate reading nutrition labels before you purchase something, I was deceived by the packaging and ad design of a particular granola cereal.

To my dismay, Nature Path's Organic Acai Apple Granola was not as nutritious as I hoped it would be. I was intrigued for three reasons: 1. It was on sale. 2. It had acai in it. 3. It was organic. What should have intrigued me was its nutrition label. For 1 serving (3/4 cup of granola), you get 5g protein and 4g fiber. This is wimpy compared to Bear Naked. For only 1/4 cup of their Peak Protein version, you get 6g protein and 3g fiber. My other complaint is that the acai in Nature Path's granola is really "acai powder" and did not prove to have very many vitamins; it was merely a ploy to get you to buy it. Unfortunately, I fell for it. Something else I hadn't done was look at the ingredient list. Those listed first are most abundant in the product. Acai powder was towards the end, very sad.

The lesson here is to look at the nutrition label. The marketers may do a wonderful job of making a product seem tasty but, do not be deceived. When buying cereals and other grain products, it is important to look for ones high in fiber (3 and above is pretty good; the higher the better), high in protein, and low in sugar. This will ensure that you will have a slow release of sugar meaning a constant, steady release of energy for the morning and rest of your day.

In health,

Lauren