Nut Butter Balls
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Mobility:
Wrist mobility with band
Pigeon on box, 1 minute each
Warm up:
100 single unders
5 Wall squats, holding breath
30 second Handstand hold
10 GHD sit ups
10 Back extensions
30 second Handstand hold
5 Wall squats, holding breath
100 single unders
Skill: Perform 20 Muscle up transitions of your choice or practice handstand walking.
Workout of the day:
Five rounds for time of:
Underwater swim 25 yards
50 Squats
We will be performing 50 meter Bear Crawl in the gym….breath holding optional 🙂
Cool down:
50 Sit ups
Jog 800 meters
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about what types of nuts are allowed on a paleo diet. People seem to get flustered when they find out that peanut butter is a big no-no. Before I list some alternatives to peanuts, let me quickly explain why peanuts are so offensive to your happy gut flora.
Peanuts, surprisingly, aren’t nuts at all… they are legumes. A peanut is an edible seed enclosed in a pod, which is, by definition, a legume. While their physical structure and nutritional content resemble that of other legumes, their salty and “nutty” flavor is used in the kitchen so people commonly mistake them as nuts. That’s where the confusion lies.
Peanuts, like other legumes, contain lectins. Lectins have inflammatory and atherogenic characteristics. they are VERY toxic. They are resistant to any natural breakdown when cooking and/or during digestion. The enzymes in your GI tract and stomach aren’t strong enough to break them down, which leads to all that nasty inflammation and leaky gut! Recent research by Dr. Cordain has suggested that these toxins may also serve as a “Trojan horse” allowing OTHER foreign proteins to hop on board and invade your natural gut defenses. Your happy gut being caught off-guard by a surprise attack of crazy lectin warriors and their clan of fellow evil-doers is not a pretty picture. Ouch!
In addition, lectins can cause damage to your joints, brain and skin. Increased and continued exposure to these toxins keeps your body’s defense mechanisms on high alert and that’s exhausting. That type of constant negative stimulus is very similar to autoimmune disease. Sorry to break all of your hearts. Trust me, this girl loves her peanut butter cups so I can relate to the heartbreak of having to give up peanut butter. But, let’s look on the bright side… there are some awesome alternatives! You can find many different types of nut butters at your local farmer’s market, Whole Foods, and Rainbow Acres. If you can find a nut-butter made out of any of the following nuts, please enjoy: Pistachios, Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds (pepitas), pecans, walnuts, pine nuts, macadamia nuts, chestnuts, cashews, almonds, hazelnut.
Below is a recipe from elanaspantry.com. It’s the paleo version of a peanut butter cup and I plan to whip some up for my little sister’s birthday next week. I’m still trying to decide what type of nut-butter I’ll use. What do you suggest? Let me know what YOU would use in the comments!
Although paleo, this is a TREAT! Please don’t eat these every day, ha. 🙂
Nut Butter Balls
½ cup almond butter (or nut butter of choice. I like Justin’s and Sunbutter brands)
2 tablespoons (or more) golden flaxseed meal
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Celtic sea salt
- Add flaxmeal to vanilla almond butter to make it easier to handle
- Roll almond butter into balls
- Melt chocolate in a small pan over very low heat; you can use a double boiler if you wish and temper the chocolate.
- Drop balls into a pot of melted chocolate and take out with tongs, laying on a piece of parchment paper.
- Allow to harden
- Sprinkle with salt
- Serve
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