Paleo Energy Bars
For those of you who know me know that I am not the best cook/food preparer. It's unfortunate, because I tend to really enjoy myself... when I force myself to do it. With my dramatic reduction in training volume due to the off season and the birth of Charlie, I have been attempting to follow a more strict eating regimen. It's way too early to get a "Dad's Bod". I have toyed with many "diets" over the years, where I adhere for a few months and assess my general feeling (i.e. body composition, energy levels, mood, recovery, clearness of thought, etc.). I have tried vegetarian, vegan, raw (one of the shortest), paleo, high-fat/low carb and many more which I can address in another blog post. In my experience one of the best overall in terms of the criteria listed above, has been the paleo diet. I think this is due to the fact that you aren't necessarily restricting any macromolecules, you are just choosing to obtain them from high quality, natural and healthy sources.
I still adhere to a relatively high fat, low carbohydrate, moderate protein macromolecule ratio because the majority of my training is at a relatively low training intensity, especially in the off season. I am also experimenting with an 85-90% vegetarian diet. What I mean by this is that I eat vegetarian for the majority of my meals, and throw in some meat protein and fat once or twice a week (salmon, chicken, or beef usually). One of the best things about the paleo diet, in my opinion, is that it follows our "hunter gatherer ancestors". Our dietary habits formed over millions of years of evolution, and only recently have they been tested with a dramatic change. This hasn't given our digestive systems the chance to play a game of evolutionary catch-up. I want to clarify, I don't think humans were meant to be vegetarian. I can say this with confidence due to evidence like the presence of incisor teeth, lack of the proper digestive systems and enzymes, lack of essential nutrients in a plant based diet and the bioavailability of nutrients obtained from plant only sources. However, I think vegetarians are definitely on to something when you look at all of the health benefits of eating large amounts of fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, seeds and anything else you can forage for (lower risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, faster recovery from workouts etc.). This is obviously leaving out the vegetarians who only eat pastries and desserts of course, you can still be vegetarian and unhealthy. It's my personal belief that we eat way too much animal protein these days, due to the relative ease of obtaining it. If you brought back meat for every meal back in the day, I'm pretty sure you would have gone on to rule the paleolithic world. Sure, you would capitalize once in awhile with small game or fish. Maybe you would even score big and binge eat protein for a couple of days, but consuming high levels of animal protein on a consistent basis just doesn't seem as likely to me. Who knows, I may change my mind again in a couple of months but I digress.
Escape New York, planned route with a little over 2000 ft climbing
So when I had the opportunity to ride a 70-mile bike ride appropriately named "Escape New York", I decided to experiment with a new paleo Energy bar. Fueling became incredibly important as I knew the tail end of this ride would bite me in the ass. I had very little time to train for this event, my longest ride was about 30 miles in the 3 months leading up to it. I found myself this tasty little recipe online at delishably.com. There is no need to cook with heat (a benefit in its own right), they are quick, healthy, and definitely delicious. I made a few small changes for the demand of the bike ride, but highly recommend them "as is" as well. I made each bar ~120 Cal and consumed one bar for every 30 mins of exercise and felt fantastic. Although, the bike ride still bit me in the ass, as expected.
Ingredients
1/3 cup dark chocolate cacao powder (I used regular cacao powder because that is all I had)
1.5 cups pitted dates (I used between 1-1.25 cups)
1/3 cup found flax seed
1 teaspoon cinnamon (I used a little more because of its benefit in GLUT4 up-regulation and insulin independent sugar uptake - beneficial during exercise)
1/2 cup unsalted almonds (I used salted to help with my electrolyte balance and stimulation of thirst)
1/2 cup unsalted walnuts (I used brazil nuts because I already eat a ton of walnuts and I love the texture of brazil nuts)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries (I used dried tart cherries because of the high antioxidants, and deliciousness)
1-2 tablespoons coconut oil (I used 3.5 tbsp because of the lower amount of dates and consequently carbohydrates; benefits of coconut oil having Medium Chain fatty acids that can be more easily absorbed and used as fuel during aerobic activity)
A delicious energy bar that can substitute as a dessert
Instructions
Put the dates and coconut oil in a food processor and puree until they aresmooth. Careful, this nearly fried my vitamix and is also the benefit of using more coconut oil and less dates to aid in the pureeing.
Add cocoa powder, cinnamon, flax seed, and vanilla. I chose to add and mix these by hand (like kneading dough) because of how thick the pureed dates are.
I crushed the nuts in a ziplock bag with a hammer before mixing these in by hands, but if you are still using a food processor, just pulse a few times.
Add in the dried fruit
Transfer the date mixture to a pan lined with wax paper (or parchment paper). Press the mixture down with a large wooden spoon until they are your desired thickness, cover in saran wrap and chill in refrigerator before cutting into desired size.
* These bars are great for the bike, however I would drop the fat and protein content and increase the carbohydrates for a running or triathlon event due to speed of digestion.
The morning of the ride. I balled up the bars into little bit sized balls and fit them all into my bentobox.
Calorie Breakdown
Entire Pan: 2500 Cals; 115 g Fat, 319 g Carbs, 45 g Protein
Per Bar (21 bars): 120 Cals; 5.5 g Fat, 15 g Carbs, 2 g Protein
* I consumed one bar for every 30 mins of exercise with ample water.