The love I felt for this morning’s breakfast was so great that I had to share a photo of it to Instagram. It may not seem like much, but boy was it delicious [and filling!]
It included the following:
• A generous portion of my homemade banana bread (find the recipe below!)
• Cold brew iced coffee served in my favorite mug (I had to explain to Noah that it’s possible to also drink cold beverages out of mugs. He was very confused by this.)
• A bowl of Fage Total Greek yogurt, topped with 2 tablespoons of chocolate powdered peanut butter, 1/8 of a cup of pumpkin fig granola and a sprinkling of toasted coconut flakes. This is seriously my favorite thing to eat right now. It’s perfectly sweet, yet filling and satisfying.
>>My macros for breakfast: 19g Fat, 40g Carbs, 26.75g Protein
In case anyone is wondering about this “flexible dieting” or “if it fits your macros” thing I keep talking about, I thought I’d briefly explain it so that we’re all on the same page. Flexible dieting is essentially tracking your daily breakdown of fat, carbs and protein. Depending on your desired weight or athletic goals, a nutritional coach will provide you with your numbers to hit each day. Eat More Be Fit has given me the guidelines for my macros, based on the fact that I’m trying to build and maintain muscle mass. Everyone’s numbers are different, because it’s specific to your activity level, height, age, current weight, etc.
The premise of IIFYM is just that: If it fits your macros, then you can eat it. There are no restrictions. However, it quickly becomes clear that there is some serious strategy involved in keeping your numbers balanced throughout the day. When I first started, I would eat all my carbs and protein early in the day and then be stuck with a ton of fat left to eat at night. I’ve gotten the hang of it now, and I use the My Macros+ app to plan ahead and track my numbers throughout the day. My Fitness Pal is also a good one to use. I won’t go into anymore detail on here, but feel free to reach out if you have any questions about it!
Now for that delicious banana bread recipe:
Pecan Banana Bread
1 ¼ cups of flour (I used unbleached bread flour for mine!)
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cups of coconut palm sugar
½ cup extra virgin coconut oil
2-3 overripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup of chopped pecans (or walnuts, if you prefer)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, salt and baking soda so that it’s evenly blended. Whisk together eggs and vanilla in a separate, small bowl. Grease the inside of your loaf pan (I use coconut oil spray because it’s super easy.)
Cream together the coconut oil and the sugar, then gradually pour the egg mixture into the bowl. Add the pre-mashed bananas to this wet mixture, and don’t be discouraged by how chunky it looks (that’s how it’s supposed to look!)
Take the wet mixture and incorporate it into the dry ingredients (a rubber spatula works well here), and then fold in the nuts. Once it’s all combined, pour it into the loaf pan and stick it into the oven for about 55 minutes. I like to cool it on a rack after, to speed up the cooling process. Obviously by this time, I’m drooling.
If you really want to get crazy, you can toast a piece of this bread and spread some chocolate hazelnut spread on it, or even just butter. So good!
& if you happen to count your macros… This recipe yields about 24 ounces of banana bread. According to my math, a 1 oz slice is: 7.1g Fat, 8.6g Carbs & 1.7g Protein. Enjoy!
