Healthy Snacks That Won't Make You Hate Everything

Being healthy is super good for you; I mean, it's the only way to really ensure you'll be rockin' and rollin' for a long time to come. The problem with being healthy is that with all the terrible stuff out that taste just so damn good, it's really difficult to be good when you're surrounded by demons all the time. I pass every fast food restaurant you could imagine, there are two donut shops close by that DELIVER, there are three ice cream establishments within a lazy walking distance, and Amazon Prime makes it possible for me to have cookies auto-shipped to my house twice a month. It's really easy to get off track, and I have a thousand times. My weak points are when I don't have a snack before lunch and that dangerous time before dinner when I'm as ravenous as a bunch of starved wolves. The key is healthy snacks. Healthy snack can keep a craving from turning into a 4500 calorie, open-gullet,  food dump. I demonzied snacks until I realized that I can't clean the same for room 25 times without replenishing the fuel supply. I have a little arsenal of healthy snack now to keep the fire burning before lunch, before my workout or before dinner!

1. Apple with Peanut Butter

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Any apple, any low-sugar peanut butter. Done. It's great if peanut butter runs through your veins and want something a little healthier than crackers to eat it with. This is great in the fall when apples are in season and super cheap. this can also be made into a sandwich for a hefty-yet-healthy lunch.

2. Rice Cakes (With Toppings!!)

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Rice cakes have gotten a bad wrap as a tasteless cardboard disk, but it's an edible plate full of possibilities! Rice cakes are the vessel upon which healthy dreams can occur! Herer are some of my favorite combos:

Plain rice cake, peanut butter, coconut flakes

White cheddar rice cake, hummus, red pepper strips

Popcorn rice cake, almond butter, blueberries

The possibilities are really endless! Stop throwing rice cakes to the curb and add something to them!

3. Tuna Salad

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Get out of here mayonnaise! You're not invited to this tuna salad partay! Tuna salad is a versitile wonder fish that can go with all sorts of different mix-ins. Here are some good ones:

Greek Yogurt

Avocado

Red Onion

Green Onion

Hot Sauce

Spicy Mustard

Red Cabbage

Dried Cranberries

Diced Tomatoes

I reccommend axing the usual mayo and using Greek yogurt for extra protein and fewer calories. Eat it on some wheat crackers,on a rice cake (!!), or just plain out of your tupperware! Tuna has lots of protein and not a lot of carbs so it's a great snack!

4. Deviled Eggs

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Deviled eggs are not just for cookouts and unwanted office parties. Eggs are eggcellent (hur hur!) sources of protein and keep you full and satisfied! Eggs are good for you, it's been proven over and over again, and these deviled eggs don't need mayo to make them delicious. Good things to mix in with your yolks are as follows:

Guacamole Eggs- egg yolk, mashed avocado, diced red onion, diced tomato, lime juice, cayenne pepper
Classic- egg yolk, spicy mustard, relish,salt, pepper, smoked paprika

Sinus Clearing- egg yolk, horseradish, sea salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese 

One or Two eggs are all you need to pump the energy levels back up and get back to doin' your thang!

All of these snack are easy to make ahead of time, travel well, and taste great. They are full of protein, fiber, and stuff that keeps your body happy and healthy. No celery sticks or baby carrots here, these are great for people who are looking to keep the muscle and hustle! Ok, enough with the stupid rhymes, try bringing these to work and school and see the difference in your energy level and ravenous end-of-the-day hunger! Eat up, everyone!

Renegades of Funk: Homemade Deodorant

I am a sweater and you better believe. I'll sweat because of anything: putting on lotion, sitting in a chair, carrying groceries, watching a tense movie, taking too hot of a shower. It really doesn't matter what season or what climate I'm in, I'm probably going to be sweating, which has led me to try about every goddamn deodorant under the sun. In the past, I was desperate to find the strongest, beefiest, sweat-annihilating deodorant known to man. It could have made me grow hair on the soles of my feet, but as long as it kept me from having any sort of moisture under my arms, I was prepared to try it. After a while of using store-bought and prescription strength antiperspirants, I noticed something. When I wore these ridiculous antiperspirants, I was sweating profusely everywhere else, and to tell you the truth, the stuff I was using wasn't doing that great of a job. I took a leap of faith, a shunned antiperspirant deodorant all together and took to using crystal deodorant, which was good for keeping me from being smelly. I like crystal deodorant, and if you want a deodorant totally free of antiperspirants, then I highly recommend it. But I needed a little more assurance, and that's when I discovered the magic formula. I found out that if you mix coconut oil, baking soda, arrowroot powder, and a few essential oils, that you got a pretty damn good deodorant out of that. Now, I am sharing the secret with you!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Baking Soda

1/4 cup Arrowroot Powder

5 Tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Your Favorite Scented Essential Oils (I used lemon, bergamot ,and ginger oils)

Step 1.) Melt your coconut oil in a double broiler, or as I use, a pot with an inch of water in the bottom with a glass bowl fitted over-top. Turn on medium heat and let the oil melt down. The coconut oil melts at 76 degrees Fahrenheit so it won't take long, in fact, you could melt it halfway and let the residual heat do the rest.

2.) Once your oil is melted, add your baking soda and arrowroot powder

3.) Stir the mixture until it's smooth with no lumps or bumps and remove the bowl from the heat. *IMPORTANT* You need to allow the mixture to cool before adding your oils. Putting essential oils in something that it too hot will destroy all the good stuff in the essential oils! So don't be impatient, or if you are impatient, put it in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

4.) Once your oils have cooled either on a counter or in the fridge,it's time to add your favorite fragrances. I added 7 drops of lemon oil, 4 drops of bergamot oil, and 3 drops of ginger oil.It ended up smelling like a lemon ginger cookie and it's freaking amazing! Use your favorite scent combo, or just use one!

5.) Transfer your mixture to a clean container, allow mixture to further cool and solidify, and you're finished! Your very own, homemade deodorant that cost you almost nothing that should last you as long, if not longer, than your traditional stick. To apply, just scoop about a half a teaspoons worth of the mixture and rub into your underarms until the oil gently melts into the skin.

I hope you try this cool and stupid-easy recipe that will free you from the shackles of commercial deodorant. Get a little more natural and play around with your favorite scents! One of my favorite places to get essentials oils is From Nature With Love, they've got a ton and also carry arrowroot powder and cute jars for packaging! Have a good weekend everyone!

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I've Made A Huge Mistake: Face Masks for Sunburned Skin!

Face Masks fro Sunburned Skin by elbonner featuring wall art

Tis' the season to fall asleep on your beach chair, laying in your yard, or on a pool floaty, only to wake up with the ultimate facial disaster. Accidentally incurring radiation poisoning is a huge bummer (especially if you had sunglasses on), but it's not the end of the world. Number one, it reminds you for the rest of the summer to put that sunscreen on, and number two, there are things you can do to ease the burn and the best thing I've found is by slapping a mask on it! These can be used on other parts of your body, but it can get messy. You may need to stand in the bathtub for half an hour while these masks do their thing. Here are some winning combinations that you can get at your grocery store and why they are good for curing the burn!

1. Turmeric, Lemon, and Greek Yogurt Mask: Turmeric has been under some rigorous tasting lately, mostly due to the fact that cancer researchers have found out that this wonder-root has some pretty incredible anti-inflammatory properties which can help kep itssues and organs healthy. With turmeric's benefits being scientifically proven, it makes a great sunburn remedy. Mix it in with some vitamin C-packed lemon juice (vitamin C reverves photo-aging) and some full-fat Greek yogurt (the fats and acids found in full-fat yogurt also calm inflamation) and you have the sunburn remedy of all remedies! This is my personal favorite and really helps with painful sunburns.

2. Acai, Manuka Honey, and Aloe Vera Juice: Acai is readily available at most grocery stores in juice or powdered form and either will work in this mask (the juice makes things a bit runnier). It's got a TON of antioxidants in it that fight off the free radicals that are hellbent on destroying your skin. Manuka honey comes from New Zealand and unlike regular honey, has a more medicinal taste and smell. Don't let it put you off, because it has some unbelievable antimicrobial and antioxidant properties; all essential in getting rid of sunburn! Aloe Vera is an old favorite in the sunburn game, but sometimes I find it lacking all by itself. Why not add it to some other amazing ingredients to give them a moisturizing boost! 

3. Avocado, Oats, and Milk: Your typical cartoon freak-out-your-little-brother mask, avocado masks are great for getting some moisture back into your skin. Avocados are like natures butter and will inject your skin with some of the moisture it lost frying out in the heat. By adding some moisture-grabbing oats, you up the soothing effect. Top it all off with some full-fat to 2% milk, and let the lactic acids soothe away all the fiery hotness.

I hope these help you on your quest to not look like a kickball-turned old, leathery basketball this summer. The sun is no joke and put on your damn sunscreen like your mother told you, already! These masks are in NO WAY something that can keep you from getting skin cancer or magically keep you from aging. They're just to take away the pain of not slathering on the only thing that can keep you protected! If it was a complete accident, be proactive and get your skin back in tip-top shape!

Breakfast of Champions: Banana Chia Overnight Oats

I have a new favorite breakfast. Now, breakfast for me only really needs three qualities: it's fast, it tastes good, and it's good for me. Overnight oats are not a new thing; bloggers have been throwing around the praises of overnight oats all over the internet, but every recipe I tried just lacked something. I think that something was simplicity; there was just too much crap in them. Canned pumpkin, almond butter, coconut oil, three different kinds of seeds. Enough already! This recipe is simple, delicious, and fast! You may even beat your coffee pot to the finish line!

The Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Old Fashion or Rolled Oats

1/2 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk (or whatever milk you use)

1 Tablespoon Raw Chia Seeds

1 Tbsp Shredded Unsweetened Coconut

1 Banana

1 Tsp Honey (or agave if you're vegan)

1/8 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

 Step One: In your bowl, mash your banana well with a fork. Add All the other ingredients to said bowl.

Mix all of your ingredients together, cover bowl with lid or plastic wrap, and stick it in the fridge overnight.

The final step: take it out of the fridge and eat it. It really doesn't get more simple than that! This recipe is loaded with fiber, slow digesting carbs (the good kind), and flavor to keep you from having to choke it down. It's health food you actually want to eat! I pair this with a cup of coffee and a big glass of water, eat it at 6:45 am and I'm good until my snack time at 10. If you're skipping breakfast because you have no time or are just a lazy lump, these overnight oats give you no excuse to  skimp on the most important meal of the day! Eat up, everyone!

PS- A giant, inflatable duck came to my city and I think I'm in love!

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Let's Have A Protein Party!

No, not the gross kind! The kind that helps build muscle, strengthen your hair and nails amongst other things! If you are a human being, you need protein. You also need a hefty serving of healthy during your day, especially if that weekend may have resulted in a three-burrito-deep food coma with a side of a whole medium pizza. This bar is almost all raw, healthy goodness and it so easy to make and have on hand when the after lunch-before dinner murderous hunger strikes!

Hello, bowl reflection!

The Ingredients:

2 Cups Rolled Oats

2 Scoops protein powder (I used vanilla)

1 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

2 Tbsp. Chia Seeds

2 Tbsp.Ground Flaxseed

1 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract

2 Tbsp. Raw Honey* (none of that processed shit!)

1/4 Cup Raw Pumpkin Seeds

1/3 Cup Dried Cranberries

1/3 Cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

1 Cup Peanut Butter (Creamy works best)

OPTIONAL: 1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips

*If you are vegan, use maple syrup in place of honey. Agave can be sweet so stick to maple!

1. Place all of your dry ingredients in your mixer or in a bowl if you are mixer-less.

2. Add your wet ingredients to the dry mixture.

 3. Turn on mixer to medium-low and mix ingredients until well-incorporated or until the mixture begins to stick together.

4. Spray a brownie pan (I used a 6 or 7x 12 pan) with cooking spray. Cut a piece of parchment paper to the size of the bottom of the pan. The spray will help the parchment stick and the parchment will make it easier to get the bars out.  Once everything is mixed together, spoon out the mixture into your pan.

5. Press mixture into the pan firmly to make sure everything stick together. The firmer you press the bars, they better they will stay together. Once the mixture can be packed down no further, place the pan in the freezer for an hour.

6. Once the bars have hardened, cut them into 2x2 inch squares, wrap in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and store in the freezer! As a precaution, I would have added a bit more peanut butter to my batch because these did come out a bit crumbly. As long as I have a napkin around to catch the debris, I'm not worried about it.

Well, there you have it! These protein bars get their protein goodness from the protein powder, the pumpkin seeds, AND the peanut butter and I have been eating them as a pre-workout snack. Great for snacking when you get home when you feel ravenous. There's enough fibre and protein to keep you full until dinner without resorting to eating all the chocolate within a five mile radius. Enjoy!