Happy New Year Friends!!
It’s crazy to think we are starting 2017. There is so much ahead of us. I am praying for many blessings in this next new year for A L L !!
We start a corporate fast at our church right after the New Year. It begins today and will go for 21 days. Every year I like to participate as a family, because I want to fast and pray for break through in our nation and in our family. This year I have already decided what I will be giving up: sugar. I have been eating far to much sugar, even with all my ranting on how it is poison, I still found myself eating loads of it over the holidays.
I am usually so good with self control, but this year was a bad year folks. Just being real. I couldn’t resist cookies and chocolate, and I couldn’t only have one!! Time to reel it back in. I know I have acquired a sugar addiction and I have to get the gunk out. Thankfully the fast ends before my birthday at the end of the month, so I can enjoy my birthday cake. What can I say, I live in moderation 😉
Healthy “sweets” will be apart of my next month and beyond, especially as I get ready for marathon training in a few months, more on this is a later post. I need to make more of my protein bites and bars. These help to curb my sugar cravings and leave me satisfied. I have learned that when I give up sugar and go without for a stent, when I eat it again I get headaches and it leaves me sick. Also, the more I eat sugar the more I crave it, and it becomes an endless cycle. This is why I limit myself. I know it’s poison to our body, bones, and system, and it creates toxins and the potential for free radical damage, accelerating the aging process.
To limit it, I don’t by it and I make healthy snacks, so I don’t have to even reach it. Although, getting it out of the house makes it hard to reach for it. But as we know sugar sneaks into everything. Need a sugar detox this new year, find my posts on sugar here and read how it ruins your health. Healthy alternatives to sugar can be found here. Just ditch it friends.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars, vegan, gluten free & reduced sugar*only sugar in the mini chips
These bars are a great snack for post workout refueling. They are packed with protein and easy to make with only six ingredients. I used honey to sweeten them, and have used agave in the past. Making your own protein bars is actually quiet simple. Once you get the hang of it, you can come up with endless variations.
This is a recipe I just stumbled upon that I had written down 3 years ago. I haven’t made them in some time. I was going through old recipes and cleaning up around the house, another one of my purging episodes. I thought I would give them ago again, enjoying them while I get rid of clutter & junk. Definitely worth sharing and tasted good on my way to goodwill with bags of old toys & clothes. Nothing sweeter sometimes than detoxing oneself and one’s house.
Stick them in the kiddos lunchbox to start the New Year on a healthy note and pack them to their practices, or hand them out as the treats after their practices when it’s your turn to bring some. No need for wasting money on sugary junk. You can omit the chocolate chips to make these sugar free, which I will do for my fast. There’s little sugar in my chocolate chips, but it all adds up.
Prep time: 10-15 minutes    Chill time: 1 hour
Ingredients:Â
- 1 c Peanut Butter (crunchy or creamy)
- 1/4 c honey or agave
- 1/2 c chocolate protein powder (I use orgain)
- 6 tbs water (may to add more to make it moist, so they bars stick together)
- 1 1/3 – 1 3/4 c oats (or favorite granola)*depends on how oily the peanut butter is I have found
- 1/4 c Enjoy Life chocolate chips or 1/2 c dark chocolate chips
Directions:Â 1.Line 8 X 8 pan with parchment paper or wax paper. 2. Â Mix together peanut butter and honey in medium bowl, until mixture is smooth. 3. Mix water and powdered protein together, it will be a brownie like consistency, then add to peanut butter mixture. Stir until smooth. 4. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips, combining well. 5. Press into prepared pan and chill for 1 hour. Cut into bars and ENJOY!!
Servings: 16 bars
**Can store extra bars in fridge to grab as a quick snack after working out or just because you need a snack.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars, easy #gf #vegan #runnersfuel Share on XUntil Next Time Be Whole and Be Fit