There is something about summer that immediately plants the ‘healthy seeds’ in all of our minds. Now just because August is here it might feel like the last bits of summer are starting to dwindle away, but let me give you some hope. There is still plenty of time to get your hiking, biking, camping, running, etc. in and then some. August and September happen to be some of the most beautiful and most warm months of the year!
Keeping all of this in mind, let’s talk about one of our town’s most pristine fitness centers, Silver Mountain. With Silver Mountain Sports Club’s amazing gym facilities, personal trainers and now nutritionists, their fitness programs will continue you through the warm active summer months through the fall and kick you into shape for the winter slopes. Their facilities are amazing, and their personal trainer and nutrition programs are pristine. The Prospector location of Silver 
Mountain’s newest nutritionist, Amber Young, is everything to be excited about. She is a certified nutrition consultant whose passion is to help others obtain the nutritional information they need to feel vibrant, young and in control of their own health and happiness. Amber has a Bachelor of Arts in Transpersonal Psychology and has been a member of The National Association of Nutrition Professionals for more than 5 years. Her professional experience includes counseling, personal training, and nutrition consulting.
Amber uses a holistic approach, which addresses a person’s overall well-being, including physical, mental and emotional health. A holistic system discovers the underlying causes of disease, fatigue, weight gain, infertility, hormonal imbalance and mental health rather than just treating the symptoms. Amber believes that everyone has the ability to heal their own bodies and can be an advocate for their own health with the right information and support. Her recipe for energy-packed coconut bars have immense health benefits and are very easy to make at home.
Ingredients
- Coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 banana
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 4 tablespoons almond milk
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Use the coconut oil to grease an 8 by 8 inch pan
- Crack eggs into a medium sized bowl and whisk.
- Mash banana and add to the bowl with the eggs along with the honey and vanilla.
- Add the coconut flour, making sure to combine everything well and ensuring there are no clumps.
- Add the shredded coconut and almond milk and mix to ensure the batter is well combined.
- Spoon the batter into the pan and smooth it out.
- Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top.
- Bake bars in the oven for 20-25 minutes until edges are brown.
Nutritional benefits
These little bars are packed with healthy fats to help boost your energy in a hurry. They are also gluten free and Paleo.
Coconut (including shredded coconut and coconut flour) is high in saturated fat that gives you energy and boosts your metabolism, high in lauric acid, which boosts HDL helping prevent cardio vascular disease, is high in fiber which helps eliminate excess LDL out of the body.
Pecans – rich in monounsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid and an excellent source of antioxidants, rich source of minerals like manganese, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc and selenium, high in Vitamin E which is a powerful lipid soluble antioxidant required for maintaining the integrity of cell membranes, mucus membranes, and skin by protecting it from harmful oxygen free radicals.
