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banana muffins, gluten free
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Looking for something to do with those overripe bananas just sitting on your counter top?? Whatever you do, do NOT throw them out! They are perfect for smoothies, pancakes, but more importantly, muffins! Well here is a very simple and moist muffin recipe, that my children just adore!
banana muffins
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 bananas, mashed
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1. Combine dry ingredients.
2. Whisk together wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
3. Add dry to wet, until incorporated, fold in nuts.
4. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.
ENJOY!
*yields 8 muffins
First Good Food Decision of the Day
First up… breakfast. I’m going hard again, so I’m starting with a key lime Dannon Light & Fit. I love these things. They’re 80 calories, 0 fat, and they’re light yet filling. No, this is not a paid post for Dannon, lol, I just love the stuff.
Any yogurt will do, really, I also like a lot of the Yoplait flavors. It’s a pretty easy breakfast, and paired with an apple or banana, it’s light and filling. So, this is me, getting back on that proverbial horse I was talking about. See ya at 290.
It’s Hard to Lose Weight When You’re Busy
Well, at this point it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve posted, mainly because I’ve been too busy. It’s almost like when you’ve done something wrong and you need to come clean but too much time passes and you get embarrassed and it makes it even harder to come clean, so you put it off. It’s a vicious cycle. Anyways, I’m back, I’m blogging, and I’m doing ok.
The first month of my new diet went well. I went from 311.5 lbs down to 297 lbs (a ~15 lb loss). However, the second month was more difficult. I’ve realized it’s much harder to lose weight when you don’t dedicate time specifically to your goals. Right now, five days away from the end of the month, I weigh 295. I had a couple weekends away that made it hard to stick to my guns, at my lowest, I was 292. With these last five days, I plan to get back on the proverbial horse and hit about 290.
Punching a hole in the wall
So, last night I was at a friend’s house just hanging out and watching a couple shows we like. It was a blast. I started to get hungry towards the end of the night and my brain started to screw with me, as I’ve talked about before. I was real hungry and it took everything in me to just drive straight home without stopping at some fast food place on my way and just gorging. Luckily, I did go straight home, and had something little and fat free to subside the hunger and went to bed.
Image via This Is Why You’re Huge
This got me thinking why we want to do that. What makes me want to just damage myself by eating crap and overeating at that? Like the proverbial depressed girl who eats a whole container of ice cream by herself, what makes us do that?
Fishing and Skates and Ribs, oh my!
I went away this weekend, needed the break. I went to my friend’s beach house which isn’t really a beach house at all, there’s no sand and it’s on the bay, but, hell, it’s just as cool as a beach and just as fun. We went fishing the first day there and I caught a skate. I’ll admit, I didn’t know what a skate was but everyone said they were rare to catch there, so go me. Here’s a picture of the thing:
I Scored Higher On My SATs
I only took my SATs once, in the 10th grade, without studying, which turned out to be a bad idea. I probably should have taken them again sometime but I decided I was going to community college first and then transferring my credits to a 4-year university, so why go through the trouble. I didn’t end up so bad, 3.94 GPA from AACC and then went on to Towson University and graduated Suma Cum-Laude a couple years later. Not bad, eh? But this post isn’t to talk about how good or bad I was in school.
The post is actually about how my weight is lower than my score on the SATs, and it should be because I scored over 1,000 on those, lol. Recently, I reached my first goal of being under 300lbs. To date, I’ve lost 13.5 lbs and it’s only downhill from here (as in weight). So, go me!
What’s the Big Deal With Fiber?
All I know about fiber is that if i eat more of it, I can offset the amount of carbs I eat. However, I imagine it’s not that simple, because if that were the case, I’d just eat a bowl of bran cereal every morning so that I can eat a donut or two every night for dessert.
I think a key to making a major life change like I am doing is to understand the foods I’m eating and what they do to my body. So, let’s attack a few questions about fiber:
1. What is fiber?
2. How does fiber help you lose weight?
3. What are some high fiber foods?
What is Fiber?
Basically, fiber (also referred to as roughage) is the indigestable portion of plant foods. All plant foods contain fiber, this includes fruits, vegetables, seeds, beans, and grains and come in two forms, soluble and insoluble, each having a different effect on the body.
Soluble fiber: Found in many fruits and vegetables like apples, oranges, carrots, etc. as well as many dried beans, oats, bran, seeds, peas, etc. Soluble fiber binds with fatty acids and extends proper digestion time which helps regulate blood sugar.
Many studies praise the use of soluble fiber for its ability to reduce cholesterol, specifically your LDL (the bad cholesterols).
Insoluble fiber: is found in whole wheat, wheat bran, vegetables such as cauliflower and green beans and the skins of fruits and root vegetables. Insoluble fiber helps remove toxins from your colon and balance intestine acidity. It also helps move waste through your intestines and bowel.
The recommended total daily fiber intake for adults is 30 to 40 grams. But most Americans get only about 10 grams of fiber a day.
Read more…
Eating is a Competition
This weekend was fun. We had the first ever eating competition, sponsored by Ledo’s Pizza and TopCultured.com, my other blog. The main challenge was between my friends RJ and Flacco Libre (or however he spells it) though there were two other competitors, myself and my best bud, Joe. I should tell you that RJ, Joe, and myself are all big guys, but Flacco Libre (who shall be known as FL from here on out) weighs about 130 lbs. Oh, and did I mention he thought he could beat us all?
That up there, that’s FL. And guess what, he DID beat us all. In total, he ate over 1.5 large Ledo’s pizzas. Now, 1.5 pizzas doesn’t seem like a lot for an eating competition unless of course you’re hip to the size of these things. One large pizza = two trays = 30 slices of pizza. In all, FL ate 50 slices of pizza, and just for show, 2 oz of ice cream and a chocolate covered ice cream cone. Weirdo! He won by a margin of 20 slices.
The Attack of the Sneaky Calories
I’ve been doing really good lately. If you read my last post about reaching my first of many goals, you’ll know that I’ve already lost over 11 lbs in 20 days. However, this post’s purpose is not to brag. Yesterday, I consumed more calories than I have in a long time. I’ll give you the quick run down:
Breakfast: Low carb, high fiber wrap with 4 egg whites, 2 sausage links and hot sauce
Lunch: Salad with bacon, tomato, crumbled blue cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette
Dinner: 4 buffalo wings and half a bbq ranch chicken salad from The Cheesecake Factory
Dessert: Fat free pomegranate fro-yo with about an ounce of shredded fresh coconut
All in all, I didn’t do too bad, I mean I chose salads over less healthier foods and my breakfast was packed with fiber and protein, and honestly, though it’s sad to say, at my weight, the calories I need to maintain weight are pretty darn high.
Tomorrow I Reach the Frist of Many Goals
Tomorrow is a big day for me. It marks the day I reach the first goal I have set for myself which is being under 300 lbs. This morning I was 300.8 and at the rate I’ve been losing with my dieting and exercise, it should definitely be under 300. It feels pretty good right now to know that I’m so close to my goal, and that I’ve lost 11.2 lbs over the past 20 days.
That’s me on the right in the CAPS shirt (go CAPS!) before starting my diet. I can already see the difference the 11 lbs I’ve lost so far has made, and can’t wait until I reach my next goal.
