Tips for a Healthy Fall

New season, new opportunities, new goals. Now that summer is over, and what most people refer to as "bikini season" (although there's much more to summer than bikinis...), it's time to really focus on our goals. I'm actually not a big fan of summer. We live in GA and it's typically over 90 degrees and VERY humid every single day. Many people become more active in the summer but we actually tend to do the opposite. We don't hike as much and we just generally try to avoid anything outside. During the fall, winter, and spring you can typically find us on a hiking trail and I even like to get in a run or two when the weather is cooler.

All in all, there's just always excitement about new seasons, they provide fresh starts. Personally, this summer was pretty rough for us so we are definitely looking forward to putting the past behind us and will be revisiting some of our healthy habits along with you.

Tips for a Healthy Fall

1. Write down a 3-month overall goal, along with monthly goals and weekly goals
   • Choose goals that are deeper than physical appearance.
2. Start a workout routine
   • Try one of our Fall themed monthly challenges here.
   • Join our Fall Workout Challenge here.
   • Use this Gobble Til You Wobble Workout Circuit on days you can't make it to the gym.
   • This is also the perfect time for our 30-Day Walking Challenge.
3. Start making small changes to your eating habits
   • Just because you might be faced with a lot of unhealthy food choices over the next few months, doesn't mean you have to give into them.
   • It's definitely okay to eat that piece of pumpkin pie, caramel apple, or a few pieces of candy as long as you don't make a habit of it.
   • You can start small by drinking water instead of sugary beverages, eating a healthy breakfast, etc.
   • Join our 13 to Clean Challenge to learn more about the clean eating lifestyle.
4. Lighten up some of your favorite recipes
   • When buying canned pumpkin, be sure to buy pure pumpkin and not the mix.
   • Switch out the sugar for an alternative sweetener, even try banana!
   • Incorporate things like sweet potatoes and butternut squash as healthy side dishes.
   • Try these Fall Recipe Substitutions
5. Don't give up
   • It's okay if you have a few "off days", just get right back on track.
   • It's better to have a few healthy habits under your belt than to get waiting to "start".

REMINDER: Time is running out to join our Fall Workout Challenge. Get all the details here.

Don't keep putting off a healthy lifestyle. Start today!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

Kenzie's back with another awesome recipe! Remember her Apple Pie Protein Bars? If you haven't tried those yet, you should! We've had so many people contact us about how good they were! But back to these Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars, they are part of our BRAND NEW eCookbook, Baby Eats Clean (and toddlers too!)! We wanted to give you a sneak peak at one of the recipes in the book.

P.S. As a side note, don't forget to take on our Fitness AND Finance Challenges for 2016!

Baby Eats Clean

This e-cookbook is filled with delicious recipes and tons of information. We know feeding a little one can be overwhelming and there is so much to consider...What is the most efficient way to make homemade baby food? What are the benefits of making it yourself? When can you introduce new foods? What foods should a baby never eat? These are just a few of the topics we discuss in our latest e-cookbook for clean eating baby & toddler foods. The book includes recipes for every stage, beginning with infancy and ending with preschoolers. The layout makes it easy to navigate and breaks down your child's eating schedule into simple stages. If you want your kids to eat healthy and thrive but also enjoy food, this cookbook is a must have!

And, just for fun, here's another picture of us after hiking Mount Yonah when she was visiting Georgia.

Clean Eat Recipe: Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pure peanut butter
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
• ½ cup date sugar, coconut sugar, or 1 tsp liquid stevia
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1.5 cups oat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup jelly
• ¼ cup raw unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x9 baking dish, set aside.
2. Stir peanut butter, vanilla, greek yogurt, sugar, and salt together in a medium size mixing bowl.
3. In a separate small bowl, stir flour and baking powder together. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients. It should look like a crumble.
4. Scoop out ½ a cup of the peanut butter crumble and stir the peanuts in for topping later, set aside.
5. Pour the peanut butter dough into the greased baking dish pressing it down flat & evenly. Spread the jelly evenly over the top of the peanut butter bars, then crumble the peanut butter & nut topping over the jelly.
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Let cool before cutting into squares.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Yields: 16 bars

Store in the refrigerator to maintain freshness. 

Be sure to subscribe to Kenzie's email updates and catch up with her on the web, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest!

Build Your Own Workout - Holiday Edition

Ready for a FUN workout? My friend Pam (founder of Moms RUN This Town/She RUNS This Town) and I created this "Build Your Own" workout for you to try.

All you have to do is take the first letter from your first name and the first letter from your last name to get your "gift" (see picture above) and then spell out your gift using the chart below to find out what your workout is!

Follow both of us on Instagram so you can tag us after you complete your workout!

For example, my gift is Large Battle Ropes (how fun!). So my workout will be what is listed below. Whew, I'm tired just looking at it!

• B - 30 Crunches
• A - 20 Squat Jumps
• T - 15 Plie Squats
• T - 15 Plie Squats
• L - 10 Knee to Elbow Planks
• E - 10 Pushups
• R - 45 seconds Jump Rope
• O - 20 Leg Lifts
• P - 30 seconds Arm Circles
• E - 10 Pushups
• S - 30 seconds Front Kicks

• L - 10 Knee to Elbow Planks
• A - 20 Squat Jumps
• R - 45 seconds Jump Rope
• G - 45 seconds Plank Hold
• E - 10 Pushups

What was your gift? Did you "enjoy" the gift (workout)?! ;-)