Vanilla Pumpkin Protein Bars

I’m on my way to Italy for the Week folks! Bring on the Pizza, Pasta and my favorite GELATO! As much as I’m nervous for all of the new foods, this time I’m not going to let fears stop me from enjoying the italian culture as it should be enjoyed.

I’m a big meal-prepper as y’all know so i whipped up some snacks to bring with me for the ride to the airport because sadly it takes a good 2 hours.

These bars were just made by throwing the remaining ingredients I had left in my fridge so they wouldn’t go to waste when I left. I HATE wasting food which isn’t always a good thing let me tell you.

Anyways, here’s the recipe for those who want it! Enjoy!

RECIPE

Makes: 4 Bars

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup white beans, mashed

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1.5 tbsp coconut flour

1/2 tbsp baking powder

Squares of chocolate

DIRECTIONS

Boil and Mash pumpkin if not using canned. Combine with rest of ingredients until combined into a thick dough.

Form four bar shapes onto baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 mins at 350.

10 minutes into baking them place squares of chocolate in batter.

Remove and enjoy!

Exercise addiction and how to overcome it

What classifies a love for exercise to becoming a harmful addiction?

• Do you feel the need to exercise every single day, even when your body cries for rest?
• Do you feel guilt or a sense of depression after missing a day of exercise?
• Have you missed out on social events because you chose to exercise instead?
• Do you find yourself constantly planning when your next workout will be?
• Do you work out even when you’re sick, exhausted of even injured?

Sadly, just a short three weeks ago I could have answered yes to every single one of these questions.

I was an exercise addict without even knowing it.

I went two and a half years believing that my obsession with exercise was nothing more than the love for the activity, little did I realize that it had become an unhealthy addiction and was affecting my life in an immensely negative way.

I have a hard time putting a finger at exactly what point in my life my love for exercise became an addiction, but I think that goes for addictions in general; they happen subconsciously.

When I first decided to make a change in my lifestyle I found motivation by seeing the progress of others, which was readily available on the wonderful world of Instagram. I religiously followed the daily lives of athletes working out for hours every single day and saw that they didn’t seem to have an unhealthy obsession so I figured my own habits had to anything less than a problem.

Growing up I never had to essentially “exercise” because I was involved in sports on a daily basis. Then once I realized what a couple extra workouts could do , the pounds seemed to fly off. The comments started flowing in “Oh you look so good” “How did you lose so much weight” … These comments fueled my obsession.

In the beginning I was still enjoying exercise but then my thoughts started to turn negative. It wasn’t as if I was spending hours in a gym but the reason why I would be spending my time exercising WASN’T positive.

So what was so unhealthy about it?

Better question , what WAS healthy about it.

The last thought when I went to bed at night was how I was too be able to plan my day so that I would be able to get some sort of exercise in as well as to plan how I would walk as much as possible throughout the day.

I went years stuck in a routine of sneaking in exercise as often as I could, even if it would be simply a quick ab workout or a five minute walk. I was that strange girl who would walk for hours while reading a novel to try and kill two birds with one stone. 

Then I started using the excuse of exercise being my only way to exert stress. I stopped seeing my friends because I felt I had to stay home and get my daily workout in. I started using Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide as a way to create a structure with my exercise habits which I thought was beneficial. Little did I realize that it was only creating more problems and less flexibility. Don’t get me wrong I think her guide is amazing and someday maybe I will be able to do it again, but I am in no way, shape or form in a place to do that in my current state.

What was the final push?

Sadly my breaking point only came after suffering from an injury to my tendon in my knee. I put off going to the doctor because I knew exactly what the treatment was going to be and mentally I didn’t want to accept that. My host family forced me to get my knee looked at which resulted in the diagnosis of patellar tendonitis. This meaning no exercise for at the very least 6 weeks… SIX WEEKS… I couldn’t even go a day without doing some sort of exercise. Yoga had even began to feel like it wasn’t enough to satisfy my addiction and here I was being told that I needed to stop cold turkey.

Needless to say, I did it and it’s been three weeks now and the desire is no longer there which on another hand is scary. I’m constantly faced with the thought of whether of not I will ever actually want to exercise again, but i’m sure these thoughts will pass.

The smartest thing I’ve done by far is that I’ve changed my surroundings in order to mentally be in a good place.

• I said goodbye to about 200 instagram accounts that I was following that focused mainly on fitness and healthy living.
• I hide my exercise clothes and my sneakers.
• I’ve started reading novels again instead of fitness blogs.
• I proactively make an effort to see friends and spend time away from home.

When I thought of the ultimate healthy life I thought that meant exercise had to be the focus which I’ve found not to be true.

I’m not exercising, yet I feel happier and healthier than ever.

I feel that our perceptions are based on what surrounds us; what we believe to be true. We can’t change everyone else, but we can make an effort to put ourselves in a positive position with less negative influential factors.

Find what works for you and KNOW what doesn’t and eliminate those negative influences .

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

Ask me a year ago how I would make any baked good using pumpkin and I would have been using the good old e.d. smith canned mix. Since being abroad in Europe using a mixture didn’t even cross my mind.

Quite frankly even if I wanted to use a mix, I would have to go to the speciality american grocery store to buy a small can for triple the price.

Yeah, I think I’ll stick to the real deal and get my pumpkin fresh from the market

If you’re pressed on time, yes opening a can and dumping it into a bowl sounds a lot easier and time efficient than preparing your own but cutting and steaming pumpkin really doesn’t take that long to be honest.

Since I’m pretty much on bed rest for the next couple of weeks I have a lot of time, too much to be honest, but it’s allowed me to experience a bit in the kitchen which is always fun!

Recipe

2 TBSP Pyllisum Husk

1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder

1 egg/ 2 Egg Whites

1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree (canned or fresh)

1/3 cup water/milk

1/2 tsp baking powder

cinnamon/nutmeg

Directions:

If you’re using fresh pumpkin then first you will have to peel, cube, steam and mash it. (Okay, now that I see it put like that, I guess it’s more work than I thought).

Once cooled, add in the rest of ingredients.

Place spoonfuls onto preheated pan OR bake on baking mat for 12 mins at 350.

(I prefer mine baked because I’m horrible at flipping pancakes).

Top with greek yogurt, syrup, nuts.. the possibilities are endless!

I’m not sick enough to need help

If I had a dollar for every time that this thought went through my head I’d be rich.

 As humans we compare ourselves to those around us, especially the ones who we surround ourselves with. Now this doesn’t just mean physically being around those people either. This could be on advertisements, magazines, and more recently social media.

Honestly I wanted to believe for so long that mentally I was completely normal, which was because I was constantly comparing my situation to those I would see.

Was I ever hospitalized? No.

Did I ever pass out from malnutrition or over-exericinsg? Nope.

Did i ever restrict my daily calories to below 1000? Hell no.

So that means I was healthy right?

Wrong.

If you have to even for the least bit question yourself on the fact of being sick enough or not, the answer is right in front of you.

Gosh, it took a year of being trapped in the cycle, of what I learned was orthorexia, for my parents to finally say something to me to essentially wake me up. 

 

I thought I was 100% healthy. I mean, I ate “healthy” foods and I exercised on a daily basis.

Little did I realize that my life was actually changing beneath my very eyes but I was too oblivious to see.

I lost my friends, I lost my self-confidence and I lost my love for life.

Evidently, I was sick.

I may not have been laying on my death bed but who’s to say that if I didn’t make a change when I did that I wouldn’t have ended up there.

Today I struggle as anyone dealing with a past addiction does but I’m finally seeing progress and that’s been my biggest motivation to keep going.

Coconut Cashew Pro-loaves

You all are aware of my love for questbars that I am sure of, but the coconut cashew flavour isn’t one that I consume alot of. Why? Couldn’t tell you because it’s actually delicious, minus the fact that it’s chunkless.

Thanks to my sample pack of questbars that I just recieved I figured that I would give it a go. The result was more than I expected to be honest. Maybe it’s because the sun is out and I was already in a good mood but these loaves were so light and airy and better yet, delicious!

Ingredients

1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder (I used Myprotein which you can order here)

1 egg

1.5 Tbsp Coconut Flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup steamed/riced cauliflower

3 Tbsp Water/Milk

1/2 questbar cut into chunks

Directions

First steam your cauliflower if you haven’t aready and let cool. Mash and add in rest of ingredients, ending with the questbar.

Bake for 20 mins at 350.

Remove and top with greek yogurt, cashews and coconut flakes!

Strawberry vanilla protein waffles

After having a rough start to the morning, finding a waffle maker in the back of the cupboard was probably one of the best things that could have happened. I’ve been without one for 8 months now and I have desperately been missing my waffles, little did I know that the family here actually does own one. I will admit it’s seen better days but hey it seemed to do the trick.

Waffles aren’t the easiest thing to make especially if you don’t grease the pan enough before adding in batter.. I’ve had pretty unsuccessful attempts in the past but this time I made sure I greased it well enough and guess what? They finally worked out. Don’t fear the oil.

I may be a little too proud at the fact that these didn’t fall apart or stick to the pan!  

Recipe:

1 tbsp kodiak cakes

1 tbsp coconut flour

2 tbsp vanilla protein powder

1 egg/2 egg whites

1 tbsp yogurt

1/2 tsp baking powder

Topping

Strawberries + vanilla protein fluff + whip cream

Directions:

First things first- GREASE your waffle maker. If not you will end up with a bowl of waffle crumbs instead of a nice stack

After greasing pan preheat the maker while you prepare the batter

Combine dry ingredients first, then add in liquid until combined

Pour into preheated mould and allow to cook thoroughly – Be Patient

Remove from maker and layer with yogurt and strawberries.

Don’t forget the whip cream! 🙂

Peanut Butter Protein Cupcakes

I’m a peanut butter-a-holic if that’s even a thing. It honestly baffles me that I survived growing up with in family that doesn’t like Peanut butter. I mean, how can’t you love the taste of the creamy nuts, and mixed with chocolate.. oh boy there’s nothing quite like it.

I’ve been on a Kinder egg kick lately with all of the Easter deals going on throughout the stores so I felt almost obligated to top my cakes with them.

Recipe

Serves: 7 mini muffins

1 scoop Peanut butter flavored protein (Can use any flavor but the peanut butter flavor will be stronger with this)

1 tbsp Peanut butter/1 tbsp PB2 + water

2 tbsp Oat flour

1 tbsp Coconut flour

1 egg white

1/4 cup water

   Directions:

Start by combining dry ingredients today then adding in wet ingredients, ending with water

Bake for 15-17 mins at 350 degrees

Remove, let cool and layer with greek yogurt and kinder eggs!

Questbar Love + Giveaway!

Two years ago I had my first quest bar and since that first bite I knew they were going to be an addiction; and not a cheap one at that!

I first started eating them when I was on my protein kick where I thought that I would instantly become this bodybuilder figure once I started eating them.. LOL that mindset didn’t last long. I will admit I have yet to find another bar on the market with the macros that these provide.

For 60 grams they range from 160-210 in calories, contain 20 grams of protein, on average 5-7 grams of fat, and 25 grams of carbs. If that wasn’t enough they also are low in sugar with only 1-4 grams per bar!

The texture of the bars are quite chewy and sticky depending on which flavor you have. I prefer to bake min for 3-5 mins at 350 degrees because they taste more like cookies and also take longer to eat so the incredible flavor lasts longer.

My Top 3 Flavors

White Chocolate Raspberry

The very first one bar that I tried 2 long years ago was the White Chocolate Raspberry and let’s just say that my initial thought haven’t changed one bit since then. This flavor is by far my favorite of all of them and since It’s not extremely full of chocolate (I let myself believe that the white chocolate isn’t actually chocolate) I can eat it in the morning without the guilt of having chocolate so early. If you’re going to try them for the first time, I would suggest this flavor without a doubt.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

This is a hard one to beat as well and comes extremely close to being as much of a favorite as the WCR. The chocolate chunks are definitely what make this bar incredible. The CCDC is one that I enjoy to eat raw or baked.

Vanilla Almond Crunch

I’ve always have a love for almonds and in fact vanilla as well. Along with the WCR this is a bar that I can eat in the morning and not feel weighed down with eating chocolate so early. There aren’t any chunks like the other 2 bars but instead pieces of almonds throughout them. This bar bakes really well because their aren’t’ any messy chunks to deal with.

Where can you buy them? 

I prefer to order them directly from their site because I find it the most reliable and fastest. I’ve never had any issues dealing with their company directly and even when I did have problems with a package of bars, another one was sent out immediately free of charge. You can check out their site here. If you’re looking to purchase other products along with the bars then I would suggest checking out IHERB or VITACOST .

Now let’s get to that Giveaway!

I’ve parterned up with Quest Nutrition on my Instagram and we are giving away Questbars!

Head on over to my account @fitnessfoodiecreations for your chance to win a 17 bar sampler pack!

Plantain Blueberry Protein Cake

Can you believe that I have never ate a plantain before? I mean, I honestly thought that they were the same as bananas but after making these I can tell you that they are different. I guess this goes for a lot of things in life that may look similar on the outside but on the inside are unique.

I myself, can fully admit to doing it subconsciously especially with the social media craze. I will see a picture or post for example, and instantly create a feeling towards it without even knowing the story behind it.

Let’s say you see a post of a girl who is pretty and you instantly think “Yep she’s had an easy life looking like that” or “she’s probably been blessed with a stress free life”. This is what our brain leads us to believe simply because of what we’re surrounded by. Theoretically that girl who you’ve made assumptions about probably has a history that you, yourself can’t relate to or even begin to understand what led her to that point but yet on the outside she looks like every other girl you’ve seen. These prejudgments are completely wrong in terms of how we should react but this is what society has become.

Now back to the Plantain. At first glance a plantain looks very similar and we don’t discover the true difference until we unravel what’s on the inside to find out what lies inside.

Plantains 

• Starchy
• considered a vegetable
• Longer and typically larger than bananas
• Thick skin
• Look like green bananas, but can be yellow, black and brown

Bananas

• Sweet
• Fruit
• Shorter and smaller than plantains
• Thin skin
• Color changes from green when not fully ripe to yellow when ripe

 

Recipe

Serves: 6 pieces (one person!)

1 egg

1/2 mashed plantain

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 TBSP coconut flour

1 TBSP milk

1/3 cup shredded zucchini

sweetener if needed

1/4 cup blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mash Plantain and then add in the rest of the ingredients. Place blueberries on top.

Grease small cake pan and pour batter until equal distributed.

Bake for 15-20 mins. It will depend on the size of your cake pan.

Remove and top with greek yogurt drizzle!

Cut into 6 slices and enjoy anytime during the day.

What actually is healthy?

Healthy

that one word that seems to differentiate our food and lifestyle choices.

but, what exactly does healthy mean?

For some it may mean low fat, other’s maybe it could be high carb and maybe even eliminating certain food groups such as dairy.

I have a really hard time using the word “healthy” when referring to my own personal lifestyle because quite frankly as Joshua Rosenthal says; what works for one may not work for someone else.

I prefer the word “clean” as opposed to healthy when talking about a certain way of eating because honestly I eat a heck of a lot of foods that aren’t clean but that shouldn’t determine if I am healthy or not.

Currently my metabolism is on fire and I am consuming 3000 calories a day where my friend is maybe eating 2000. She stays away from carbs when my body requires them for energy. I can easily drink 4 glasses of wine where as she can only drink one. She doesn’t eat meat whereas I can eat 2 chicken breasts in a sitting.

Are we both healthy?

Yes.

This is called bio-individuality. We are both fueling our bodies with what they uniquely require even though they are completely different. It’s often hard to determine what exactly our bodies need in order to technically be the healthiest they can be, and it’s not something that happens overnight; it takes time. I’ve tried everything from gluten free, vegan to vegetarian and even paleo and you know what? I always came back to the same way of eating which works for me. I eat bread, I love meat, and I also love vegetables. I may not love milk, but i’m able to consume it which I should be fortunate about.

Trust me, it’s hard at times to focus on your own body’s needs and not what society leads us to believe, but once you stop comparing yourself to others you’ll see yourself in a whole new mindset.