As many of you know,  I’m participating in the Go Green Get Fit Challenge presented by PlanetShoes.com along with 30 other bloggers. We just kicked off the challenge a week or so ago and I’m amazed by the inspiration and motivation that everyone is sharing.  We are all entering this challenge from different places. Some of us have been exercising all along and have ramped up our goals and others are just beginning.  One of my favorite posts this week was by Mindfully Frugal Mom. She showed us how to practice yoga with 50lbs of dead weight on your back. Been there!

Hopefully you’ll be inspired to join in the fun and motivated to set your own fitness goals for the summer and beyond.

My week of fitness

This week I focused on mixing it up and did a lot of different fitness activities. I’m working towards a triathlon at the end of the summer so this week at the gym I did some weight training, kickboxing and a spinning class. The weather was gorgeous for part of the week so I was able to run and cycle outside. I also took a killer yoga class.

Healthy snacks

Part of  being green and fit is finding healthy snack foods . The supermarkets are filled with aisle after aisle of snack food choices. Snacking on the wrong foods can add unwanted calories and make you even hungrier when mealtime rolls around. Long term, unhealthy snacks can also lead to obesity in children and obesity-related chronic diseases as adults.

My podcast with Peace Love and Snacks

This week I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Stan over at Peace Love and Snacks (don’t you just love that name??).  Our discussion was all about healthy snacks. Click HERE if you’re interested in hearing the podcast.

One of my favorite snacks is popcorn. I found out that Stan has his very own cookbook called Peace Love and Snacks: Take Revenge Against Junk Food – Look and Feel Great Deliciously. The snacks have no processed sugar or flour, are gluten-free and are made from fruits, nuts, oats – only the good stuff.  Stan’s cookbook has a few more simple snacking ideas.  There are so many great granola recipes out there. Stan’s cookbook has several pages dedicated to granola-and I love that they’re all simple to make.

Here’s a teaser from Stan’s cookbook:

Nutmeg Chewy Granola

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. While the oven is preheating, chop up the almonds and pecans; put the chopped nuts in a bowl.
• Mix the honey, coconut oil, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together.
• Spread out the oats in a Pyrex pan. Take the honey mixture and stir it into the oats, until the oats are covered. Once the oven is done preheating, put the pan of oats in the oven.
• While the oats are baking, put the raisins in the food processor and process into a paste.
• After 10 minutes of baking, open the oven and add the chopped pecans and almonds, stirring the contents around until all of the nuts are covered with the honey mixture.
• Bake for another 8 minutes, then stir. Bake for a final 8 minutes and remove the
• pan from the oven.
• Fold the oat and nut mix into the raisin paste; push on the mixture with the back of a spoon and slide across the pan, applying pressure on the mix. Once the raisin paste is completely incorporated into the oat and nut mix, push down and spread the mix across the bottom of the pan, then shape the mixture into a block about 1/2-inch thick.
• Cut into bars.
• Relax and enjoy your homemade awesome granola bars

Have a groovy green weekend! Have you set your fitness goals for the summer?

Photo © blasbike #3127923