Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein No Bake Energy Balls

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Cooking, Food, Health

How’s that for a title that is bigger than the food itself? About two weeks ago I posted my first energy ball recipe (a Peanut Butter Cup recipe– it’s delicious!), and this is just a fun variation of that one. Again, no need to exactly measure out these quantities- I just eye ball them (but I’ll give you a rough estimate for each of the amounts).

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry oatmeal
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup honey (plus about 2 tablespoons)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons of cinnamon
• 1/5-2 tablespoons of chia seeds
• 1/4-1/3 cup chocolate protein powder

I tossed everything into the bowl all at once and mixed it thoroughly together, and then put the bowl in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. When I took it out, I just rolled the dough into individual balls.

Delicious looking, right? For all of you flower folks out there- that’s a verbena in the pot behind the ball.

It’s SO easy, and really only requires 1 bowl and 1 spoon to be washed at the end. You can’t get better than that, can you? I’ve already come up with another 4-5 different flavors of these balls to make, and can’t wait to try them out. I’ll be sharing them all with you as I make them!

So seriously- make these as soon as you possible can! They’re worth it! For more recipes, click here.

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Peanut Butter Cup No-Bake Energy Balls

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Cooking, Food

I’ve recently been a bit unhappy about my sugar intake, knowing that it’s in my best interested to decrease it a bit (please note that I’m not trying to cut out sugar completely AT ALL, but just get down to what the recommended daily serving is). I’ve been eating far too many homemade peanut butter cups, and while they’re delicious, I don’t need 5 or 6 a week! To satisfy my peanut butter and chocolate craving, I decided to make some delicious energy balls. I searched around online, and then I modified this recipe I found on smashed peas and carrots. Here’s what you need:

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry oatmeal
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of honey (minus about 2-3 tablespoons- just eyeball it!)
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds (which I chopped up further)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• approximately 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1.5 or 2 tablespoons of chia seeds

I started with sliced almonds, put them on a cutting board, and then diced them up into much smaller pieces. Then I tossed everything else into the bowl too. I put it in the refrigerator for awhile to let it set, and then rolled the dough to make the individual balls. This made 16 balls I believe, and I tried to make them all as even as possible!

The result was absolutely delicious! I’ll definitely be making them again, as they are really fast, and a much healthier (but still delicious) snack option.

 I popped them in a container and put them in my refrigerator… but had to go back a few times to get a ball throughout the afternoon!

This was my first time making no bake energy balls, and I can’t wait to try out other flavors and variations! The day after I made these I ended up spending 14 hours helping a friend pack and move to a new apartment (I carried 59 loads of boxes and furniture up stairs- each time up was 17 stairs), so needless to say I needed a lot of energy! I brought some of these balls with me, and they worked wonderfully! This was a great way to put them to the test:)

So seriously- make these as soon as you possible can! They’re worth it! For more recipes, click here.

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• Connect on twitter @kalolainastar
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PureLyft Clean Caffeine

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Review

Disclaimer: I was given 2 PureLyft sticks to try out through my affiliation with Sweatpink. All opinions are my own.

I have an interesting relationship with caffeine. I love it and hate it all at once. I’ve seen too many people addicted to caffeine, and want no part of that. That being said, I still drink caffeine an average of 3-4 times a week because I enjoy it and it helps me wake up in the mornings. Since I teach pilates and barre classes early in the morning, and then head to a dimly lit office to counsel all day, sometimes I need an extra pick me up.

That’s where PureLyft could come in for me. I tried it out early on Tuesday morning, deciding to mix it in with straight water. There is no real taste to the caffeine, so you could mix it in with any fluid you’d like. I unpeeled the packaging off the stick, stuck it in the water for about 10 seconds as I stirred, and it was ready to go. The powder dissolved quickly for me, and it felt like I was drinking regular water. I liked the fact that there were vitamins in it as well– a much better start to my day then the sugar laden coffee I often drink (yes- I’m working on it).

The sticks could be stored in your purse, gym bag, while traveling (for all you caffeine addicts this could be HUGELY helpful!), or desk drawer for easy “in a pinch” use!

Would I choose to use these sticks every day- nope! I definitely am not ready to give up my coffee and tea all the time. However, like I said, in a pinch these would work great, and I plan to keep them around for that purpose! You can check out PureLyft at their website or on twitter.

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s your favorite way to consume caffeine?

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Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

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Cooking, Food, Lactose Intolerance

About six weeks ago I became obsessed with the chocolate/peanut butter combination. A friend of mine picked up these huge peanut butter cups for the two of us, and I happily ate it over the course of a few days. The next week she picked them up again for us. Somewhere in there was Easter (with lots of PB/chocolate combinations), and then again she brought the PB cups over. So, needless to say, I’ve been enjoying a few bites of peanut butter cups most days of the week, and I love it! However, the last time she brought them over she mentioned that they were $5 a piece. While they are absolutely delicious, that’s just ridiculous! Because of that, I decided to try to make my own. While not quite as pretty, they were just as delicious, and MUCH much cheaper! I used this recipe from “comfort of cooking” (head over there for actual recipe). This can easily be made lactose free, which is another great benefit to making your own candy and desserts!

Ingredients 

• chocolate chips (I chose semi-sweet)
• peanut butter
• butter (I used Earth Fare which is lactose free)
• powdered sugar
• salt (optional- the original recipe doesn’t call for it, but I thought it might be fun to add a little salty to half of the batch)

each layered step of the process

That’s it! It was really easy to mix up. The only thing that took a little time is that each layer of the cup needs to be made and frozen at each individual point, so that takes a bit of time.

With the top layer of chocolate, I put a little sea salt on half the batch. It was definitely delicious to have the salty and sweet together (I’m a fan of that combination), but it’s certainly not necessary.

With just a little salt on top!

One thing of note: it didn’t work the best to have the peanut butter all the way to the edge of the cup. With the first bite of the cup, the layers separated a bit and the peanut butter spilled out the sides. Eating them inside the liner definitely helped. While it didn’t impact the delicious taste of the cup, I’d definitely suggest leaving the peanut butter more in the center of the cup instead!

If you’re looking for a cheaper, healthier (I didn’t say healthy, but it certainly has less chemicals if you make them at home), and fun way to make candy/dessert, this is it! You can store these in the refrigerator for a few days to keep them delicious 🙂

If you want more delicious recipes, check out my recipe page!

Looking for more ways to connect?

• Connect on twitter @kalolainastar
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How To Make Jello Eggs!

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Cooking, Family, Food, Holiday

When I was in mid-elementary school, my mom got these jello molds and started to make jello eggs for us at Easter time! Not only are they fun, but a great snack to take to all sorts of spring get togethers (I even made them for the fourth of July last year!). They’re relatively easy, but you need to plan ahead a bit to let them solidify in the refrigerator.

I have the recipe that my mom sent me, and I’ve spent about 10 minutes looking online to see if I could find it somewhere to link to. I couldn’t find it, so sorry if there’s one exactly the same that’s already out there!

Ingredients

• 4 packages of unflavored gelatin
• 3 boxes of flavored jello mix (your choice in flavors!)
• 3.5 cups of boiling water
• 0.5 cup of ice water
• oil spray (could use olive oil and a piece of paper towel I suppose)

Spray jello molds with oil spray so that the jello eggs will come out easily! Once you’ve done this, close the molds tightly together.

Bring about 4 cups of water to a hard boil. While you’re doing this, mix the gelatin packages with the jello packages in a bowl. Make sure to stir thoroughly together. Once the water is up to a boil, pour water from pan into a measuring cup and dump into the jello mix. Mix water and jello mix together thoroughly before putting in the half a cup of ice water. Quickly dump the mix into the measuring cup again (you want a good pouring spout) and pour slowly into the jello mold. When I made these on Saturday after my half marathon I made a mess (I blame it on all the energy I used earlier in the day), so you want to try to avoid that (but it’s not a big deal if you spill on the outside of the molds).

You want to fill right up the top of the egg part. Once you’re done filling them, put the tray that the molds are on into the refrigerator for 3 hours. Once they are set, use a knife to pop the molds open and shake the egg molds upside down into a bowl. You can also slide a knife between the egg and the mold to loosen it.

Store in a container in the refrigerator and enjoy! Kids LOVE these as they’re really a grab and go snack, but adults love them as well! If you’re looking for other recipes, check out my recipe page.

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s something you grew up eating on Easter? 

Looking for more ways to connect?

• Connect on twitter @kalolainastar
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Setting Yourself Up For Success

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Behavior Change, Health, Mental Health

With behavior change, there are plenty of “action steps” to take before actually changing your behavior. The first step in this process is to track your behavior and get to know it (because you can’t really change what you don’t know!). Once you get to know your behavior better, you know how to better set yourself up for success.

Here’s an example: When I first started working out, I realized that if I sat down on my couch after work, it was all over for me, and I was almost 100% going to not work out. Because I tracked my behavior and realized what was going on as I wasn’t working out, I was able to create effective steps to help set myself up for success. Here are some of the different options I came up with: I would change into my workout clothes before I even left the office (getting into workout clothes is half the battle!), I would bring workout clothes to work and workout either at my work gym or go on a walk or run in the neighborhoods around work, or I would lay out workout clothes on my couch so I’d have to pick them up before sitting on the couch (win- they were already in my hand then!).

How we plan to set ourselves up for success can be hugely important in attaining the goals that we want.

Here’s another example: My dad has said over and over again that he doesn’t register thirst until he’s already pretty dehydrated (like headache-y dehydrated), but he felt stuck because he wouldn’t remember. Well, I’m a fan of not being a victim to the circumstances we find ourselves in, and I like proactive steps. So, I set a reoccurring alarm in his phone for 2 pm every day that told him to go drink water. Every day it went over, and he told me by about a month or two in he started to feel thirsty on his own right around 1 or 1:30 just because his body had been trained to want water at this time. Cool, huh? What an easy way to deal with the issue of not remembering to drink some water!

I set myself up for success by stocking my snack drawer at work with good foods, by trying to be proactive in dealing with injuries, by practicing gratitude, and by changing my language to healthier phrases and words. I do meal prep on sundays so that I have meals ready to go after I work out! Pre-cut veggies are there for easy, go to snacks.

As you work on behavior changes, I challenge you think about what you need to do to set yourself up for the best chances of success! What can you do to try to take away or decrease the excuses or plan ahead in being proactive? What mental health choices do you need to make to help impact you in other areas of health?

Now it’s your turn to share! Do you have any little tools or tricks for setting yourself up for success in terms of health behaviors? What’s a time you’ve been successful at setting yourself up for success in the past? 

Staying Healthy On Vacation

Tags

Health, Travel

‘Tis the season for spring break trips, and quickly leading up to all sorts of summer vacations! Staying healthy while on vacation is something that can weigh heavily on peoples’ minds, so I thought I’d write a quick post sharing a few of the tips I use to stay healthy:

1. Walk around to people watch and explore! When I’m at the beach in Marco Island, I end up walking around 4 miles a day. I could just sit on the beach, but I get a little bit of exercise AND get to see all sorts of odd people on the beach! It’s so fun! Walking is also a great way to explore a new city!
2. Pack some healthy snacks. When I travel, I tend to bring a number of healthy snacks with me to carry in a back pack so I’m not stuck in a pinch and hungry. Of course I’ll eat local desserts, but I try to balance it with some healthy things too! Protein bars, nuts, and dried fruit are staples that I bring with me while traveling.
3. Bring a resistance band or workout DVD to use in the hotel/condo/house that you’re at! A resistance band takes almost no space but you can use it to get a little workout in if needed. DVDs are also great, or you can find workout clips on youtube!
4. Bring something fun to read! Vacation can be a great time to catch up on that book you’ve wanted to read but haven’t had time for! I tend to stock pile magazines for the 2-3 months before a beach vacation so I’ll have lots of fun reading material for the plane and the hours of sunshine!
5. Don’t be afraid to mix up your normal routine! Again, when I’m in Florida, it’s just too hot to do much in the way of running (for me at least!). To get in a few “running” workouts, I do pool running 1-2 times a week! It’s a great cardio workout, and you can do it while still spending time with friends or family in the pool! I also love hiking (if I’m somewhere where that can be done), or kayaking in Florida. Don’t be afraid to mix up your normal routine and plan and try something fun and different!
6. Stay hydrated. It’s really easy while on vacation (and out of our normal routines) to forget to drink as much as we need to. This can lead to feeling groggy, tired, and head-achy, which is exactly what we don’t want to happen on vacation! Set alarms throughout the day if you need to to remind yourself to get enough to drink!
7. JUST RELAX and be flexible! Understand that one week isn’t going to “ruin” anything, so be careful to not catastrophize. If you gain a pound or two because you really want to enjoy local pastries (that was me in Spain last year!)- oh well, the world isn’t going to end! If all you do on vacation is walk from place to place and you can’t get in any other workouts for the week- well, that’s ok, just start up again when you get home! Stressing about not being “healthy” will only lead to a bigger lack of health. Sometimes having fun, enjoying the moment, and not stressing about it is what’s the most healthy in the moment! Vacations ideally are more relaxing and stress free, so don’t stress yourself out by all the “shoulds” you give yourself.

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s one way you try to stay healthy while on vacation? 

14 in 2014 Challenge First Quarter Update

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2014 Challenge, Barre, Biking, Exercise, Pilates, Race, Racing, Running, Thankful, Walking

Happy April (and Happy April Fools’ Day). Did anyone play any good pranks on other people? I don’t play pranks on people now, but when I was little I did stupid little things (screaming about a huge spider in the bathroom was one that I’m embarrassed to think about. haha). Since we’re now through the first quarter of the year (WHAT?! How did that happen?), I decided to do a “14 Challenges in 2014” Update.

I challenge myself to run 200 miles. I’m at 60.3 miles for the year, which has me right on track with about 30% of my mileage done.

I challenge myself to walk 275 miles. I’m at 74.8 miles for the year, which also has me right on track with a bit over 26% of my mileage done for the year.

I challenge myself to bike 900 miles. I’m right at 237 miles for the year, which also has me just over 26% done for the year. All of those miles have been done on my bike trainer, and most of them were spent studying for my big test I took in mid-March.

I challenge myself to 75 hours of pilates. I am starting to think that it might be difficult to get in 75 total hours for the year, and I don’t want to push myself to do it just because I HAVE to, and then get burnt out on it. Either way I’ll end up pretty close. Right now I’m at 17.5 hours for the year, which puts me at 23% done for the year. Obviously this doesn’t even put me at the quarter mark. Like I said, I had no idea how many hours of pilates I did each year, so I just chose a random number.

I challenge myself to 250 minutes of planks. This one has been REALLY easy so far, and I’ve clocked a total of 100 minutes for the year, putting me right at 40% complete! I guess this winter just called for lots of planks?

I challenge myself to run 10 races for the year. Like 2013, these races can be in person or virtual, but I’d like at least 5 of them to be in person! So far I’ve done 4 virtual races, but I have my first “in person” race of the year coming up soon! I’m on track with this for the year!

I challenge myself to read at least 14 books. This one has been so fun! I’ve read 6 full books and half of another book so far this year. I’m doing great with this goal.

I challenge myself to go through all the clothes that I own. This one I finished at the end of January when I got rid of 54 or 56 (I forget which)

I challenge myself to continue to be present. Am I present every single moment of every day- no, but I don’t think that’s fully possible for most of us! But being present has really changed my life, and I’m continuing to enjoy this challenge!

I challenge myself to continue to hunt for provisions and blessings (continuing to develop gratitude in my life). Yes! I’ve written it down twice a week, and am really enjoying it. I even started a gratitude journal outside of this blog, and it’s great to have a hard copy I can flip through.

I challenge myself to read the entire Bible this year. I found a plan online (it’s this one if you’re interested) and have been following that. I don’t necessarily exactly read what is outlined on the day, as sometimes I get ahead or behind (and then have to catch up). I’m right on track where I should be at this point in the year though.

I challenge myself to publish an article this year. I haven’t published it yet but I’ve written it and it’s gone through a few rounds of revisions now! On my way…

I challenge myself to put more time and energy into friendships and relationships. YES! This one has been so much fun, and I’m loving the relationships that I’ve either strengthened or built over the last three months.

I challenge myself to be brave. Oh yes! I wish I could write blog posts about this, but at this point I can’t so much. Brave (or courage) is my word for the year, and while this probably deserves an entire post of it’s own, I thought I’d throw it out there anyways. I want to continue to push myself to be brave in any area of my life…

So, overall, I’m pretty much on point with where I “need” to be for the year in each of these goals, although slightly behind with pilates. It really hasn’t felt like too much effort, but knowing these goals are out there helps keep me motivated. So, we’ll see how this next quarter goes–

Now it’s your turn to share! How are you going on your goals/challenges/resolutions etc… for the year? Is there anything that you hope to accomplish in the next three months?

Proactive vs. Reactive In Dealing With Injuries

Tags

Exercise, Ice Bath, Injury, Prevention, Running

One of the things I’ve learned over the last 5 half marathon training cycles is that it’s far better to be proactive than reactive in dealing with injuries (or potential injuries). The first time I started to increase mileage, I started to have IT band pain. I got some physical therapy exercises, but did I do them? Not so much. My first half marathon training cycle, I got shin splints. Again, I got some exercises to help strengthen some weak muscles that the sports medicine doctor decided that I had. Did I do the exercises, no? I only iced or stretched if I started to notice things getting tight. I gave up lifting and pilates to just focus on running. All of these things led to exactly the opposite of what I wanted, which was to run. These left me sore, aching, and injured.

I want to state up front that I struggle with all sorts of re-occurring injuries. Between genetics (my brothers (one in the Air Force and one playing college soccer) are both incredibly injury prone too) and POTS (increasing chances of injury in general), I’m more shocked than not when I end a training week and actually feel somewhat put together (my left shin is hurting a bit right now… and I’m REALLY hoping it’s just sore and not the start of shin splints!). But I’ve learned, regardless of how I feel, to be proactive in dealing with things, hoping to decrease my chance of (or severity of) injury.

Here are the things I do on a regular (at least weekly on average) basis to help prevent or decrease injuries:

• Compression sleeves! Always and forever!! haha. I wrote an entire post about the benefits of compression and why I use them in running, so you can head over there if you’re really interested. I wear compression sleeves while I run, and where compression sleeves or socks after long runs to help aid in recovery! They are like fantastic hugs to the legs.
• Foam Rolling/using “The Stick”: I love and hate both these things. I tend to foam roll immediately after following a long run, and then use the stick on tight spots over the next day or two. My IT bands can get really tight, and this helps knead out those tight areas. Another bonus? The foam roller can act as a great little back massage.
• The Ice Bath. People have all sorts of lines they draw for when they actually start ice bathing. I have so many body parts that I want to ice after longer runs (ankles, shins, knees, IT bands) that after about mile 5 it’s just much easier to take an ice bath than to rotate ice packs for all those places. I actually don’t mind taking ice baths at all, as long as I follow these steps.
• PT exercises. I’m obviously not going to list them all out, but I do clam shell exercises, the hip bridge, and walking side steps w/exercise band around my legs (not sure what that’s really called) at least once a week. I also do a few exercises to help try to decrease my piriformis syndrome flare-ups.
• Planks! Extra core strength will only help your running! Just do it.
• Pilates & stretching. I wrote an entire post on why I do pilates, but flexibility and stretching out muscles that get tight with the same use while running or biking is absolutely critical in staying healthy and strong while training.
• Hydration. Absolutely critical for every aspect of exercising and training. If you struggle to get enough, set an alarm on your phone every hour or two that will remind you to drink (yes- I’m serious.).

So, these are a few of the things that I do very regularly to help myself stay strong, healthy, and decrease the severity of the injuries that are inevitable.

Now it’s your turn to share! What do you do to help avoid injury? Do you tend to be proactive in preventing injury or work out until you’re injured and then go into crisis mode?

What’s In My Snack Drawer?

Tags

Food

I eat breakfast at about 7 am, and my lunch hour doesn’t start until 1 pm, so most of the time I need a little something to get me through those 6 hours. I have a big drawer in my desk that holds all sorts of snacks and drink items so that I have a variety to choose from depending on my mood. I thought I’d give you a peek into my snack drawer:

I have Luna Bars in my drawer for my “2nd breakfast” on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when I teach pilates and barre before work. Cheese sticks are obviously not kept in my snack drawer, but I keep a bag of them in our work refrigerator, and they make filling and delicious snacks in the middle of the morning or right after work if I’m heading to work out. All the way on the right are some flavorings for water. Sometimes I just need a break from straight water, and these are easy and convenient.

More drinks!

I have a number of boxes of tea, as I usually end up drinking 3-4 cups of it a day (I reuse tea bags a few times). I also have apple cider mix to mix it up.

I usually have some sort of peanut butter, both for a snack item and to put on apples or bananas during lunch if I want. Almonds and other nuts are constants in my drawer. Occasionally I have dried fruit or trail mix as well.

Now it’s your turn to share! What are some snack items that you keep at work?