Morning readers.

After Saturday’s surprising discovery that the Mars Bars have a ton of carbohydrate in them, I decided to offer up this alternative low carb sugary treat.

Today we have another recipe for your delight BUT instead of a low calorie, fat free health conscious main course dish, this a tasty almond coconut treat from the Paleo Mom. I received the idea and the link for this recipe idea from an old school friend of mine so thanks for that Russ, let’s just hope I can do them justice 😉

Please do remember that although these treats are on my website (a website which is without doubt biased toward healthy eating) they must not be consumed “like sweeties” because although a “healthy” treat, they are still a treat none the less and therefore a good deal higher in calories and fats than the usual stuff I post on a Tasty Tuesdays. Finally, please be aware, these treats CONTAIN nuts.

Now thats the warnings over, lets get producing something sensational…. 😉

Almond Coconut Bars Ingredients: I have taken the recipe as verbatim from Paleo Mom but changed the sizes from cups into what (I suppose) would be metric.

1. 200gms Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
2. 300gms Whole Raw Almonds
3. 120gms Almond Butter
4. 160mls Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
5. 1 Tablespoon Coconut Flour
6. 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
7. 1 1/2 Tablespoons Pure Clear Dark Honey
8. 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
9. 85gms 80% Dark Chocolate

The first thing I did was to fine chop the whole almonds into a “meal” consistency using a hand blender: I then melted the 160mls of Coconut Oil into a large pan To this I added the Almond Butter Followed by the Honey: And then the Vanilla Extract: I then spent a little time mixing this thoroughly, stirring until in moved smoothly around the pan. Into which I added the ground up almonds: And then the Shredded Coconut: Along with the Tablespoon of Coconut Flour: And half a teaspoon of salt: Mix this together thoroughly: Then line a 9″ x 9″ cake mould with greaseproof paper: Add the contents: And smooth out before putting in the fridge to set for at least an hour: Finally, melt the chocolate either in the microwave or a glass bowl in some boiling water; and once melted spread evenly over the chilled base and return to the fridge to cool. Cut into small pieces just over bitesize (which I find stops me grazing on this kind of treat) and serve with a refreshing cup of tea. Serve to your friends and family and be the talk of the town with these gorgeous tasty and healthy treats. Place remaining cut pieces into a plastic container and store in the fridge.

Please note, these treats are high in calories (390 kcals per bar) and fats (37.44gms per bar) but low in carbohydrate (5gms per bar) and protein (8.6 gems per bar). So please do look at how they will affect your daily intake.

Remember, above all they are a TREAT!!

FOOD DIARY: Sunday 7th June 2015

So now I have shown you how to make these delicious treats, you probably need to know that I have been keeping myself active and living the healthy lifestyle with regular exercise. Well fortunately the answer to this today is yes.

I was back to a better level of mobility yesterday and so managed the 15 minutes on the exercise bike and the 5 minutes on the stepping machine before I got back into the weights with the below session.

1. 3 x 15 Reps 30kg Abductor machine
2. 3 x 15 Reps 30kg Adductor machine
3. 3 x 20 Reps 30kg Abdominal Crunch machine
4. 3 x 20 Reps 30kg Lower Back machine
5. 3 x 15 Reps 30kg Cable Row
6. 3 x 30 Reps 20kg Chest Press
7. 3 x 30 Reps 20kg Pec Deck
8. 3 x 20 Reps 20kg Tricep Pull Down
9. 3 x 20 Reps 7.5kg (each arm) Bicep Dumbell Curl
10. 3 x 20 Standing Oblique Bar Twists

The eagle eyed amongst you will note that I have completely removed the shoulder press (ongoing injury probably best left to repair) and reduced the weight on the Chest Press and Pec Deck but increased the reps by 10 each set. I find this is better for my heart rate forcing me to continue the work for longer on each set, so we will see if this benefits or impacts otherwise.

As ever, there was a nice walk with the dog around the local sports fields:

Which added to the activity giving me a days jawbone reading of:

So a fairly good days activity has been managed although very little has been done at my desk so I think I need to address that otherwise I will never achieve world domination!

‘Till tomorrow,

Stay out of the fridge.