One of my guilty pleasures since
starting Crossfit and changing my diet has become nuts, particularly almonds
and cashews. I don’t know if something has changed about my metabolism or what,
but I used to NEVER eat them, like ever, and now I’m fairly certain that I could
live off of them alone. Tree nuts contain a good bit of fat, but it's a healthy
fat so I suppose it's better to binge eat on almonds than Twinkies. This is one
of my down falls though, because although they are healthy and completely
Paleo/Whole30, I still believe that you should practice some self-restraint and
only eat them in moderation (something I tend to epically fail at). I’ve even
read in some places that you should only eat them in amounts equivalent to a
topping, like for your salad or other meals, rather than eating them in
handfuls on their own as a snack. On the other hand, I have read or know of many athletes who will have a palm
full of nuts with breakfast or lunch, so as always you just have to figure
out what amount works for your body and your level of workout intensity.
I have
to admit that I haven’t had time to finish reading “Paleo Solution” by Robb
Wolf, but I hope to sometime in the relatively near future and I will hopefully
be able to give you a little more insight on this topic when I do. Dallas and
Melissa’s book, “It Starts with Food,” contains a table that is helpful to
decide which nuts (and seeds) are better for you when you do choose to eat
them. The best nut choices include cashews, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts. The
middle category contains almonds, brazil nuts, pecans, and pistachios. Flax
seeds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and walnuts
make up the lowest tier of this type of food.
A big
mistake that I made shortly after starting crossfit, but before my Whole30
challenge was that I would have peanuts as a mid-day or pre-workout snack from
time to time. Contrary to their name, peanuts are NOT nuts! Peanuts are
considered legumes, a food group that includes beans and lentils; and legumes
are not Paleo or Whole30. The argument against legumes, and therefore peanuts,
is that they act similar to how grains affect your gut, whole separate topic
for a future blog.
Nonetheless,
granola (when eaten in moderation) can make for a delicious, yet, healthy and
filling snack. My favorite is to eat it like cereal with almond milk and maybe
some fresh sliced fruit or berries, but it’s just as good on its own! Here is
the original recipe, but I made a few changes:
http://lexiscleankitchen.com/2013/05/25/paleo-granola/
(I get a lot of my recipes from “Just Eat Real Food” on facebook…they post a
lot of great stuff, but be sure to read the ingredients because I have found
some non-Paleo stuff on there and some of it is Primal instead of Paleo; you
can also pin this stuff to your pinterest which is what I do…feel free to
follow me there as well!).
Ingredients:
•
2 cups nuts (I used cashews, raw
slivered almonds, hazelnuts and chopped pecans- pulsed in magic bullet to break
into to small pieces, but not ground completely)
•
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (I
used desiccated, but shredded would work as well)
•
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
•
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
•
2 tbsp sesame seeds (I used pumpkin
seeds instead)
•
1 tbsp cinnamon
•
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional and
I used apple pie spice because I didn’t like pumpkin pie when I last tried it
so I figured pumpkin spice granola may not be my favorite either)
•
Dash of salt
•
3 tbsp coconut oil
•
3 tbsp honey (I was running
short on honey when I made this last so I substituted the difference with pure
maple syrup)
•
1 tsp vanilla extract
•
2 tbsp pure maple syrup (can
sub agave/or omit)
•
1 tbsp almond butter
Directions:
1.
Preheat oven to 350
2.
In a large bowl combine nuts, coconut
flakes, sunflower seeds, flaxseed meal, pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, pumpkin/apple
pie spice, and a dash of salt.
3.
In a pan on the stove combine coconut
oil, honey, vanilla extract, pure maple syrup, and
almond butter; Let boil.
4.
Once boiling, pour over dry mixture
in the bowl. Mix thoroughly.
5. Pour onto baking sheet. A lot of times I'll double the recipe, but regardless be sure to spread the mixture well so there's only a thin, even layer otherwise you may end up with the thinner parts burned and the thicker sections a little undercooked. Bake at 350, stirring
occasionally, until slightly brown (watch carefully to ensure that it doesn’t
burn!)
6. Let cool and then break apart and its ready to eat or be
stored!
Enjoy!
~ Hailey ~
