You know me, I love to try a new gym and a new challenge. Since my previous post, I have moved on to other health and fitness shores. In December 2012 I joined Vision Personal Training. My goal was to lose those last few kgs that I just couldn’t budge before our wedding. Vision have a very detailed food education program and a goal-orientated approach to health and fitness. They teach you how to understand macronutrients and provide you with smart-phone apps, web tools, you tube videos, recipes, not to mention you own personal trainer, and they teach you the good, bad and down right dirty about food packaging information. As long as you turn up and do most of what they say, it’s a no-fail to lose weight and improve fitness. I was able to shift those last few kgs and, post-wedding, I am continuing to stay with Vision because there’s so much more to learn and more that I can achieve.
I asked my trainer for some new healthy snack ideas for work. He gave me a heap of suggestions, and here I share my modified protein/energy snack bars that do a pretty good job at representing sweet treats, without adding all that fake stuff that goes into sweets. Here is a choc-coconut protein bar, and a choc almond energy ball. Let’s see how they go at the beach tomorrow!
Chocolate coconut protein bars
50 g oatmeal *(I used almond meal)
120 g chocolate protein powder
50 g crunchy peanut butter
100 g skim milk powder *(I don’t like milk, and didn’t have a substitute in the cupboard, so I added a little rice flour ~ 20 g ~ but coconut milk powder or soy powder would have been a good non-dairy substitute)
5 g desiccated coconut *(I added 20 g and dusted more on the top)
1 cup of water *(I used 2 cups)
20 g raw cacao *(this was my addition)
1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Gradually add water while stirring, until the mixture has a sticky consistency.
2. Line baking tray with baking paper and spread the mixture evenly, at about one inch thick.
3. Refrigerate for 30-60 min until the mixture becomes hard (I gave it an additional 30 min stint in the freezer too, for good measure).
4. Cut into bars.
5. Wrap each bar in cling wrap and store in the fridge (mine are in the freezer).
Makes 20 bars.
Per serve (35 g bar, my modified version):
Carbs 1.5 g
Protein 6.8 g
Fat 3.7 g
Calories 67
Choc almond energy balls
60 g chocolate protein powder
50 g crunchy peanut butter
2 egg whites
5 ml vanilla
2 g cinnamon
2 g xylitol
20 g crushed almonds or pistachios
1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl until the mixture forms a course dough-like consistency. Roll the dough into a ball and place in a sealed container in the freezer for 30 minutes until the mixture becomes firm.
2. Remove from freezer and divide the mixture into 5 parts. Roll the parts into small balls, and then roll through the crushed almonds.
3. Store in the fridge in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Per ball:
Carbs 2.5 g
Protein 21.3 g
Fat 7.5 g
Calories 163
la petite cuisine 