We all know it can get pretty boring trying to plan each meal you should take to the studio this week… if you feel like you’ve been eating the same pre-class snack FOREVER, then get out your mixing bowl and turn on the oven because it’s time to make some homemade, healthy granola bars with me that are OH SO DELICIOUS!
While shop-bought granola tends to be notoriously high in sugar and pretty expensive too, this homemade version of your FAVE snack has lots of health benefits and is super easy to make too!
Keep reading for the full recipe, and to learn how snacking on granola 15 minutes prior to your ballet class could help your performance…
How to make my homemade, healthy granola bars…
Ingredients
- ¾ cup of porridge oats
- 1.5 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Dried fruits and nuts of your choice
- White of 1 egg
Recipe
Step 1. Stir the ingredients together in a mixing bowl, adding the egg whites at the end to bind the mixture together
Step 2. Clump the mixture together into a loaf tin or baking parchment, ensuring it is flat and evenly distributed
Step 3. Bake in the air fryer for around 15 minutes at 150 degrees Celsius. If you’re using an oven, you should bake the granola for a little longer. Take the granola out of the oven when the oats are golden and crispy.
Step 4. Leave the granola to harden and cool, then cut it into cubes and enjoy!
So what’s so great about GRANOLA, and why should we eat it as a pre-class snack?
Primarily, these homemade, healthy granola bars contain lots of dried fruit. Fruit contains simple carbs and sugars (technically known in the business as MONOSACCHARIDES), and therefore makes a great pre-class snack as these simple sugars are quickly absorbed by the body.
This means that within 15-45 minutes, our bodies will have processed these carbs/sugars, giving us a nice little energy boost for the upcoming grand allegro!
Secondly, granola bars (or these granola bars anyway) are packed with protein! In case you didn’t know, porridge oats, nuts and egg whites are all excellent sources of protein, and it’s so important for us dancers to consume enough protein daily so that we can develop the muscle we need to meet the physical demands of ballet.
If we don’t eat enough protein, muscle growth through cross-training becomes limited, which is going to prevent us from gaining the strength we need to get those legs up in adage and arabesques!
Some of you may be wondering why I’ve described these granola bars as healthy when they contain coconut oil… If so, I’m here to bust some myths for you today!
Coconut oil gets a bit of a bad rep because it’s a saturated fat, however it’s actually a great source of something called lauric acid…
Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid (MCFA), and what’s so AMAZING about MCFAs is that our body hardly takes any time at all to absorb them! This means that when we consume lauric acid, it’s quickly converted into the energy we need to perform.
If you’re concerned about the fat content in these yummy granola bars, please cast aside your worries RIGHT NOW! Yes, they contain saturated fats, but because of the lauric acid content, these fats will be used by the body as fuel before they can be stored as fats!
Final thoughts on Homemade, healthy granola bars – the perfect pre-class snack!
This weekend, bring out your inner baker and get cooking! My homemade, healthy granola bars are the perfect pre-class snack to provide you with the energy you need to make it through a gruelling 90 minute rehearsal! What’s more, they’re packed with protein to help you out with all your cross-training gains…
Make sure to share this recipe with your ballet friends!
**FRIENDLY DISCLAIMER: All information, guidance or advice provided on this site is for informational and educational purposes only. The use of this information is at your own risk. **
