Peanut Butter Raisin Granola Bars!

I have always absolutely LOVED granola bars ever since I was a kid. I remember I would always eat the Quaker chocolate chip granola bars. When I was in high school, I would always eat the nature valley crunchy bars. All of the bars on the market taste AMAZING, I will give them that. That is all the credit they are going to get though. These bars may taste amazing, but they really are not good for your body. They are okay in a pinch if it is all you have and really need something, but these are not something I would buy daily. They are very highly processed and contain a ton of sugar and chemicals that your body does not need. That goes for protein bars as well. Are they better than donuts? Yes, but still. Not something you want in your body every day. Now, there are some bars out there that are completely clean, but they are super expensive and hard to find. Making your own at home will save you money and you can put whatever you want in them. Plus, they are convenient. The recipe I am sharing today contain protein, good fats, fiber, grains, & other stuff that is good for your body. Oh, and they do not contain any flour. I have so many other recipes, let me know if you want to see them! Hope you enjoy this recipe!

            INGREDIENTS

. 2 cups oats

.1/2 cup Peanut Butter

. ½  tsp salt

.1/2 cup raisins

. 2 TBS sunflower seeds

. 2 TBS cinnamon

. 1 Scoop Protein powder ( if you don’t have this, that’s ok, they just won’t contain as much protein)

.1/4 cup of Honey

.1 TBS pure maple syrup (if you don’t have this, replace it with honey)

.1/2 tsp vanilla

.2 TBS oil

.1/2 cup applesauce

-Mix all ingredients together, use your hands to really blend ingredients.

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees

- Pour ingredients onto a pan and flatten it with your hands or a spatula. Cut into bars.

- Once oven is preheated, put in oven and bake for 20 minutes. 

- Let them completely cool when they are done. Once they are completely cool, split bars apart. You can also drizzle melted peanut butter on them if you want. Keep in the fridge.

Advanced Lower Body & Core Workout

     Welcome back! Hope you are ready for an intense workout because this one is NOT easy. Anyway, if you are a beginner, do not be frightened. This would be a good workout if you know how to modify it. If not, I have a couple you can do! This is for people who like to switch up their workouts and challenge themselves. If you are anything like me, I get bored SO easily. That is why I have to switch up my routines every single day. Anyways, onto the workout! 


         To start off, this workout is going to be three sets of five different workouts. It is going to be repeated three times, doing most exercises ten times. (10 reps) Some of the Pilates and core exercises are timed for a minute, and some require more than ten reps. Each set is going to include a lunge exercise, a Pilates exercise, a dead lift / squat exercise, a plyometric exercise, and finally that core exercise. I suggest using dumbbells for all the exercises except the pilates one. (Although, you can use ankle weights to make it a lot harder)  

                                                             SET # 1 Repeat 3 Times

1. Lunge pulses x 20

2. Leg circles (each side, left & right)  (1 min) 

3. Dead lift x 10

4. Lunge jumps x10 (plyometric)

5. Toe touch crunches (1 min)

                                                           SET # 2 Repeat 3 Times

1. Side lunges x 20 

2. inner thigh side leg raises x 10 (each side, left & right)

3. Straight leg dead lift x 10

4. Static squat ( 1 min) 

5. Breast Stroke ( Back exercise) ( 1 min) 

                                                           SET # 3 -Repeat 3 Times

1. Lunge with knee up x 20

2. Quad`Lifts x 20 (10 on each side, left & right) ( this is easier to do sitting on something, like a bench, couch, or fitness ball for more range of motion, but the ground is fine too) 

3. Squats x 10

4. Pop Squats x 10

5. Russian Twists (1 min)

Beginner's Low Impact Workout ! Cardio & total Body Toning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryHP0rBh8Lw

The video is very helpful for beginners, especially since it demonstrates each of the exercise. This workout is kind of TABA style, 30 seconds on, 10 seconds off. This is great for cardio and toning your muscles all over your body. This routine is also good for people who are fit, but would like a low impact workout because of any injuries or you can use it for active rest.

1. squat with a front kick. Squat as far down as you can control and when you come up, kick with your foot. Alternate which leg you kick with each time you come up.

2. Front Lunges with a bicep curl. Do a regular lunge with good form, making sure your knee does not go past your foot and you can control your weight as you go down. As you go down, do a bicep curl.

3. Jumping jacks. Make sure you go as fast as you can. Contract both your upper and lower body to get more calorie burn and tone.

4. High knees. bring your knee up to your hip, make sure it is at a 90 degree angle. Bring the opposite arm up as well. Make sure to contract your muscles to get more out of the workout.

5. Plank walk downs. Start standing up and walk your hands down until you are in plank position. When you are in your plank, tap each shoulder with your hands and then walk your hands back up to standing position. This move is great because it works not only your legs and arms, but also your core.

Repeat this workout 2 or 3 more times.

Vegetable Tomato Stir fry Recipe!

This is definitely one of my go to meals for lunch! It has whole grains, vegetables, and a lot of protien that will keep you full for a long time and give you a lot of energy. I hope you like recipes because I love sharing healthy desserts and meals that I create in the kitchen! All you need is:

-1/4 cup of brown rice(I just heated up leftover rice that was already made earlier)
-1/4 cup of black beans. You can either cook them yourself by soaking them or just by them in a can. Make sure if you buy canned beans they do not have any preservatives & wash them off. This will prevent digestion issues. (Being gassy haha)
-A mix of your favorite vegetables. I used green beans, peppers, onion & snap peas. You can work with whatever you have and your favorite combination. Or, if you are too lazy you can buy a mix of frozen vegetables and just defrost them (make sure they do not have preservatives though!)
- Next I added a variety of spices. Usually I add them in as I cook if I cook them on a stove. I add a lot of pepper, parsley leaves, basil, and Italian seasoning.
-Next add your tomato pasta sauce. Again, make sure it is pure tomato sauce and there is not sugar and other unnecessary things added.
-If you choose to microwave, mix everything together and cover your plate or bowl with a paper towel so the sauce does not splatter everywhere. If you cook on the stove, you can add the sauce as it is cooking and wait for the vegetables to turn a light brown so they will taste nice and crispy!
This meal is so easy to make,but a lot people think that healthy cooking takes too much work even though it doesn't. Hope you guys make this!

Easy & Clean Delicious Oatmeal Cookies!

These cookies are super delicious and 100% clean (unless you add chocolate chips!) They are chewy and have a kick of cinnamon to them. I also made a video on them if you would like a demonstration on how to make them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q33qkABmYLo
Anyway, here are the ingredients.

Dry ingredients:

- 1 cup of oat flour (you can take raw oats and put them in a food processor if you do not have any)

- 1 1/2 cups of raw rolled oats

-1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

-1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

-2 tablespoons of cinnamon

-1/2 cup of nuts, seeds, dried fruit or dark chocolate chips

Stir the ingredients 

Wet Ingredients:

- 1/4 cup of applesauce

-1/2 cup of honey

-1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

-1 egg

Mix all of the ingredients so if forms a thick cookie dough. Preheat your oven to 330 degrees and refrigerate cookie dough for 15 minutes. 

Once the 15 minutes is up, lightly grease your cookie sheet and drop the dough onto the cookie sheet. 

Let cookies bake for 10-20 minutes on 350 until they are golden brown.

Take cookies out of the oven and wait for them to cool. Should take about 15-20 minutes.

These taste so good for being pretty healthy! They are healthier than most granola bars on the market since you know exactly what you are putting in the cookies and there is no processed ingredients.   

What Diet is Best for Me?

    Okay so when you are first starting off with your health and fitness goal, it can be very confusing and stressful. Society makes it seem so much more complicated than it actually is! There are people telling each other what and when to eat and there are so many different "diets" people follow. There is high carb, paleo, weird coffee and tea diets, etc.
   The only thing you need to do is listen to your body. That is it. That does not mean if you are hungry to grab a bag a chips, but everyone's body is different. Some people's bodies need more carbs than protein and other people respond better to higher protein and fat. It just depends on your body. The best way to go when you are starting off is just eat balanced meals. Eat clean fruits and vegetables, a small portion of protein and grains and go from there. Also, eat when you are hungry. If you get hungry every hour, then eat! If you stay full for 4-5 hours then do that. Again, everybody is different. What works for you most likely does not work for your friends or even family members. Once you get used to listening to your body and eating clean whole foods, it is much easier to tell what your body needs. Also, do not deprive yourself of all unhealthy food! If you are at a party and really want a dessert, eat it! You just have to make sure you only have a small portion and eat it in moderation. Make sure you actually want it and you are not just mindlessly eating because it is sitting in front of you and it looks pretty. If you end up eating too much, it is okay! We are all human, just go right back to your good habits and remember how good your body feels physically and mentally when you make healthy choices. Remember, everything is healthy in moderation:)

Low Impact at Home workouts for beginners! Introducing Strength Training & cardio!

If you are brand new to working out and do not know where to start this is the place for you! You need very minimal equipment or none at all is perfectly fine.
1. The first thing you always start out with is a warm up. Warm ups should be about 2-5 minutes, just to get your muscles warmed up and get the blood flowing so you are ready to go. You can start off with very light jogging, dynamic stretching (stretching one muscle for 10-15 seconds) or other forms of light cardio like jogging in place, butt kickers, jumping jacks, or even lunges in place. If you need any examples, youtube is a great place to help you out!
    

2. Now it is time for resistance training. You can chose to work out one muscle group per day and just focus on that. I like to do all over body resistance training.
- Start off by doing 8-10(reps) crunches and repeat 2-3 times. (2-3 sets)
- Now it is time to workout the arms! Start off by doing anywhere from 3-5 pushups and repeat 2-3 times. Push ups are a very brutal workout when you are first starting out, so do NOT get discouraged if you have a hard time. Take a break and do the best you can if you need to.
-Now it is time to work the lower body. In my opinion, I think lunges are a great way to start when introducing lower body workouts. It is very easy and effective for toning your legs and butt. Do about 5 lunges on each side(10 in total) and repeat one more time.

3. Yay! Good job you just finished your resistance training. Now it is time for a quick cardio session. Cardio is very easy to get in. You can bike ride, jog, dance, walk etc. Cardio machines are effective as well, but not necessary. Do a 10-15 minute cardio session. Make your cardio fun by doing something you enjoy and putting on your favorite music.

4. Now it is time to cool down. Cool downs should be about the same length as your warm up(although I am guilty of cutting them shorter!) Your cool down should be light cardio with some stretching. Make sure to stretch your muscles! It is VERY important for muscle recovery.
If you would like some at home workout ideas, going on youtube and following the workouts on your phone or TV is VERY helpful. I do this almost every time I workout since I do not have a gym membership. I recommend Fitnessblender. They have FREE effective workouts for every fitness level (beginner, intermediate, & advanced) Look up fitnessblender beginner workouts and I am sure you will find some great effective workouts to do!

Hope this helps! Comment if you have any questions or requests. I will be making blog posts for all fitness levels & recipe ideas, so stay tuned! I am also thinking of posting workout videos if you are interested in that. Let me know, I would really appreciate feedback. Thanks so much for reading:)