Fit MD

Chelsea’s boyfriend (and my temporary room mate) Tommy has been on a juice kick lately. He has been juicing everything, from normal things like carrots and apples, to failed attempts at banana and persimmon juice. He buys carrots in 5 lb bags from Costco and so I’ve had mountains of carrot pulp tempting me with their shreddedness. Part of why I don’t make more carrot-y recipes is because finely grating them and then squeezing out excess moisture is such a pain! The juice pulp is work free – y perfecto para mi. 

(Sugar free!) Rum Raisin Carrot Cookies

they are delicious, and don’t taste as healthy as they are 😉

Recipe: Makes 6 cookies

1 cup carrot pulp (or grated carrot)

2 tbsp butter

2 eggs

2 tbsp raisins

2 tbsp pecans, chopped

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

dash salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp NuNaturals baking blend stevia (or sugar)

1 tbsp brown sugar (or more stevia to make them sugar free)

1 tbsp ground flax

optional:  1 tsp rum

Directions – Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

BENEFITS:

Carrots * a prime source of vitamin A and antioxidants

Eggs * the yolk is where all the nutrients are! It contains tryptophan, selenium, iodine, B vitamins, and phosphorous, many of which are necessary for optimal metabolism. The egg white has 6 grams of complete protein!

Cinnamon * The coolest thing about cinnamon is its ability to control blood sugar. Meaning, within reason, that if you use a fair amount of cinnamon in a dish that has sugar or another fast digesting carbohydrate, it will prevent the blood glucose spike that you would normally get. Why does blood sugar matter? Spikes in blood sugar are bad for your health because they cause your body to increase insulin production. Insulin, among many other things, tells your body to store fat. Therefore, eating a sugary/high-in-simple-carbohydrate meal = blood sugar spike = insulin spike = store fat.

And here is a simple body weight workout for when the gym is unexpectedly closed and you are all amped up to work out…

Body weight circuit workout

5 minute warm up jog

60 jumping jacks

10 pushups

20 walking lunges

40 doggy side kicks

20 jumping squats

1 minute plank

5 burpees

50 high knees

 repeat circuit 3x (except the warm up jog)

It was about 8pm when I showed up to the gym only to find that it had closed early for Labor Day weekend. Instead, I headed to the university’s old track. It was dark outside and the track wasn’t lit up, but I had enough light from the nearby parking structure to not kill myself doing the circuit. After I finished, I wasn’t tired and my favorite 120 minute electro/dance song came on so0o0o I danced alone – under the stars – on the track – for a solid 14 minutes. I worked up a sweat equivalent to the circuit! So after you finish the circuit, you MUST

dance as hard as you can for 15 minutes

warm down jog home