Fitness Fashion

Work out clothes and gear are great motivations to work out and stay active! I love getting new work out clothes and then working out in them! Here are my favorite items and brands!

Staring at the bottom with shoes!

You need a good pair or tennis shoes no matter what you are doing! I got mine at www.academy.com and they are Nikes( Academy ). I've had them a few months and I have loved them since day one! If you have a pair of tennis-shoes you love, let me know!
Its important to have a good shoes, so don't be afraid to pay a little extra for them, as long as you are getting what you pay for. Here are a few to look into.

For Training - Training
For Training-  Training
For Running - Running
For Running - Running
Don't just pick a shoe and go, or take my word on it. Do your research, as your friends and find the shoes that is just right for you and your activities. Remember, comfort over style!

Next is sock! I never work out with out socks on because I hate stinking sweaty feet and shoes! Find a pair of socks that are for athletics and make sure they breath well.

Now on to pants/ leggings. In the colder months of the year, if you are going to workout or run outside you are going to want to bundle up a little bit. I don't wear leggings much, but here are a few that I do wear.

This pair from Athleta is great! I love them because there is a little skirt built into I feel a bit more modest. Plus, they are really soft!
Another pair are these from Oldnavy are nice because they are capris and work great for the fall and spring time.
As for pants I usually get them from Target and Old Navy. Most of them aren't even athletic-wear either. You don't have to spend a ton of money on workout clothes, just go for whats comfortable and meet your needs.

Shorts come next. I own several pairs and once again they are mainly from Target and Old Navy. I tend to like longer shorts, but shorter ones are nice for Summer. Here are a few that I have and like:

These from Target
And these, also from Target

Now, we get to Sports Bras. I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a good sports bra. If you have a good one you will enjoy your workout so much better than if you didn't. Here are a few that I like;
This one from Target
This one, also from Target
Another one, this one from Academy

Now we come to a space between bras and shirts, so we combine them! I don't own one of these (Yet!) but I can't wait until I do!
Here is one from Target
Another one from Athleta

Okay, now we come to the tops! I love working out in anything from a tank top to long sleeves! You can really get creative and have fun with this part of the outfit! Here are a few of my favorites!

Athleta , Old Navy , Old Navy , Old Navy

Now, Jackets. I don't tend to wear a lot of jacket when I workout, mainly because when its that cold I workout inside! Let me know if you have a favorite workout jacket though!

Extras:
A few extras I like to have when I work out are as follows (I won't give you links because you can find these tons of places!)
Ear Buds (Why? Music of course!)
Head Band. (The fabric kinds are best to help keep hair out of your face)
Pony Tails (You never know when you might need to tie your hair back! I always have a few with me)
Chap-stick. (No one liked dry, cracked lips!)

So that's about it for my Fitness Fashion. If I have left anything out, please let me know! Also, if you have a favorite workout must have, let me know!

Keep it healthy and Safe!
H.Banana

Summer in a Smoothie!

Yes, the weather is getting colder here, and for the most part I love it , but every now and then I miss the warm sunshine of summer! So, I made a recipe for a delicious and refreshing smoothie to soothe my craving for summer!

Ingredients:
1 cup of frozen fruit ( I like to use a mix of strawberries and peaches or pineapple)
2 tbsp. Lemon or Lime juice
1 packet of Truvia (Optional)
1/4 of a ripe banana
Ice ( I added about 1/2 a cup or so, but go to your own taste with the ice)
1/4 cup coconut water.

The first step is to put your fruit and lemon juice together in a bowl and microwave, yes microwave, your fruit until it begins to juice. You don't want to warm your fruit, just juice is a bit. Mine took about a minute.

Add the banana to the blender along with the juiced fruit and blend until smooth.

On a side note: I love this blender!! <3 ( Its a Ninja, just so you know!)

Now its time to add the Truvia (If using), Ice and Coconut water. The reason I put the Truiva as optional is because the banana make this smoothie plenty sweet on its own. The Truvia is just to add extra sweetness.

Blend this up until smooth and yummy!

Give is a stir if needed and add a straw! Sipping this reminds me of the beach...sunshine.... well, Summer all together!

I love this smoothie, and I hope that you do too! Please let me know of you tried this recipe and what you thought about it!

My family loved this smoothie as well. I made one for my 21 month old brother and he drank it down so fast, I was amazed and after he wanted more! This smoothie is great for a nice refresher during the day, I like to have it after a work out, or even in the morning(Which is when I had it today!)

Keep it Healthy and Safe!

H.Banana

Boo-Nanas

I wrote about these yummy and healthy treats in my Halloween post, so here is a how-to post on them! My little Sister, Bella, had a great time helping me make these and they will be fun for all ages!

What you will need:

Banana (One banana makes two ghost)
Peanut Butter (Creamy is best and make sure its chilled and not runny)
Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
Raisins or Chocolate Chips
Popsicle sticks or cake pop sticks (Optional)

 

Peel and cut banana in half. Add your sticks if you are using them.

 

Coat in peanut butter. We found it easiest to lay the banana down and spoon the peanut  butter of it.

 

This part was a little messy, but it was fun!

Now cover the bananas in the coconut. We laid down some coconut and rolled the bananas in it.

Take what ever you are using for the 'eyes' and dap a little peanut butter on one side. Stick them on you banana.

And there you go, yummy and healthy Halloween Boo-nanas!

My whole family liked these cute ghost and we will totally be making them again!
Let me know if you try these Boo-nanas and how they went!

For the link to the website where I got the idea, go to my Halloween post here - Halloween Candy

Keep it healthy and Safe,
H.Banana

 

 

Apple Chompers!

In my last post I said that Apple Chompers were a great and healthy Halloween Treat! I thought I would do a more step by step with pictures to show you more of how they look!


Ingredients:
Red Apple - One small apple made 7 'chompers' for us.

Peanut Butter or Almond butter (Make sure that its chilled and not runny!)

Marshmallows, Nuts or anything you want to make the 'teeth'
   We used a mixture of marshmallows, sliced almonds and cashews. Of all the things we used, I would have to say that the marshmallows worked best.

Wash and dry your apple and place it on a cutting board.

Slice the apples. Make sure the slices are more or less the same size.

 
   Now, take a spoonful of peanut or almond butter and spread some on one side of a slice.

 Place your teeth towards the skin part of the apple and press gently.

 Take another slice and spread peanut or almond butter on one side and place the 'sticky' side of the apple on top of the 'teeth' on the other slice.

We had to use tooth-picks to old them in place, at least until the peanut or almond butter set.

 

Here is one of the finished products! They are so cute and Halloween-ish too! I love how they are festive yet still on the healthy side!

My little sister, Bella, is very proud of the Apple Chompers. She was a great help in making them.

  Let me know what you think about these Halloween treats, and if you try them yourself, let me know! If you want the link to the website were I found this idea, you can see my last post about Halloween treats.

Keep it healthy and Safe!
H.Banana

 

Halloween Candy

   Halloween is almost here and you might be looking forward to eating all of your favorite Halloween candy. But what about being healthy?  I found a few tips for staying on the healthy side of things during Halloween and still enjoy some of your favorite treats!

How much to eat?
 So you still want to eat your candy-corn, M&M's, Snickers, Almond Joys, or Caramels, but you still want to watch your calories. Here are a few examples of 100 calories of different candies.

29 M&M's = 99 calories
4 Three Musketeers Minis  = 97 calories
1 Butter-Finger = 96 calories
4 Milk Chocolate Hershey Kisses = 89 calories
2 Mini Reese's Peanut Butter cups = 86 calories
4 Tootsie Roll Midgees = 93 Calories
2 Snickers Bar Minis = 85 calories
2 Twix Bar Minis = 85 calories
1 Lindor Milk Chocolate Truffle = 79 calories
2 Milky Way's Minis = 79 calories
1.5 Crunch Bars =  75 calories
1 Kit Kat Bar = 70 calories
This information came from dailyburn.com

Now, what about avoiding those, not-so-good-for-you candies, and stick to some healthier options?
Here are a few I recommend.

1. I've already done a Healthy Almond Joy recipe, you can see that here - Almond Joys
2. Clementine Pumpkins!
     Making these adorable snacks is so easy! Peel a clementine and stick a little piece of celery in the top of the 'pumpkin'. Make as many as you like, they are great for kids!
3. Booo-nanas!
   To make these yummy treats, take a banana and peel, cut in half. Stick a popsicle stick, or cake-pop stick in the flat end of the banana. Cover the banana in peanut butter or almond butter and then roll in chopped pecans, coconut flakes or chopped up chocolate chips! then take a chocolate chips, raisin or anything that will make good 'eyes' for you Boo-Nanas, and use a bit of peanut butter or melted chocolate to stick the 'eyes' on. Enjoy!
3. Apple Chompers!
     Theses treats are so cute! Slice a red apple into slices and spread peanut butter on one half of two slices. Place anything from peanuts, marshmallows, banana cubes, or yogurt-covered raisins to make the 'teeth' on one half then place the other half on top and enjoy!

Well those are just a few of the many healthy treats to make this Halloween! Stay tuned because I might me posting some more healthy Halloween treats soon!

Here are the links to the websites were I found these cool treats!

onelittleproject.com -  Clementine Pumpkins and Boo-Nanas (I add to the Boo- Nanas a bit, but this website gave we the idea!)

www.allthecooks.com - Apple Chompers (I used Peanut butter instead of jam)

I hope you enjoyed these ideas, and be on the look out for more Halloween treats. I will be posting a more step by step post on the Boo- Nanas and Apple Chompers soon, so be on the look out for those too!
Keep it healthy and safe!
H. Banana

Weekend Workouts!

Pinterest is full of great workouts, and I want to try them all! Over the weekend I was able to try three of them, if you would like the link to them see the Fitness page.

The first one I did was on Friday, It was called  Abs On Fire, and boy did my abs burn!

(I hope you can read that, if not you can go to the website linked in my Fitness page!)

This workout was amazing and I could really feel it work! It didn't take long either, which is a plus for those of us with busy lives! I was sore after this and I don't know about you, but I feel so satisfied when I'm sore after a workout!

The next two I did on Saturday and they were both Burn 100 Calories workouts.

 This one wasn't bad, but I'm not a fan of Burpees, even if I do feel them work. I did this one a total of five times to get a calorie burn of 500, which I felt pretty proud of! Other than the Burpees, I thought this workout was great, and I totally worked up a sweat!
The next one I did that day was this one:

This one was amazing too! I also did this one five times to get a calorie burn of 500, so I worked up a pretty good sweat! My legs were a bit sore after all the squats and jumping jacks, which tells me that it worked!

I love short work outs like this because they don't take much time and I can combine them with other workouts to get a full workout!  Also, knowing roughly how many calories you burned is helpful if you are working on losing or just maintaining weight!

Let me know if you tried these workouts, and what you thought! Remember to always stay within your abilities to avoid getting hurt!

Keep it Healthy and Safe!
H. Banana

Ginerbread Cookies!

I love Gingerbread cookies and I have been on the look out for a healthy recipe for a while! I found one on Pinterest and I added and tweaked it to make it my own! for the original recipe go here- food52.com

The ingredients:
2 2/3cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2teaspoon baking powder

1teaspoon cinnamon

 

1 teaspoon ground ginger

 

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

 

1/2 teaspoon ground Nutmeg

 

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

1/2 cup Sorghum or Molasses

 

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

 

1/2 cup Honey

 

1/4 cup almond milk, soy milk, or rice milk (I used Almond)

 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

 

Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix together

Then add wet ingredients and mix together. I used an electric mixer for this step.

Flour the surface where you are going to roll out the dough and place the dough on it. Sprinkle with a little more flour and then roll out.

Cut your desired cookie shape out. I used a biscuit cutter to do mine, but any shape will be lovely! Just remember to keep them all around the same size and thickness!

Yum! They look so good already!
Place them onto a pan. I used a stone pan so I didn't need to butter or grease it, but if you aren't using a stone pan you need to butter or grease it.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for around 8 minutes. If your cookies are smaller or thinner they may not need all 8 minutes to get done.

They smell soooo good!

I also made half-moon shapes!

Let them cool on a cooling-rack. While you do that, you can make some yummy icing for them!
Here is the recipe I used!

Half a block of cream cheese
Tablespoon  Honey
Sprinkling of  ground Nutmeg, Cinnamon and Ginger
A small splash of Almond milk.

Whip this up until its creamy and delicious!

Put the icing in a zip-lock bag and push it to one corner. Snip a tiny end off the same corner and decorate your cookies! I did smiley faces, swirls, dots, letters and more! Let me know how you like to decorate your cookies!

I am not an artist, but I tried my best to make these look cute!

I love to half-moon ones!

My family and I love these cute, delicious and healthy cookies, and I hope you do too! If you try them, let me know how it went and what you thought!

Keep it Healthy and Safe,
H. Banana