Lately, I’ve been on a quest to eat as much raw foods and as little processed foods as possible. I have found replacements for most of my foods, but one of the things I haven’t found a substitute for is the protein bar. Most protein bars you buy on the shelf are highly processed food products. Luckily, I found an awesome all natural protein bar recipe on reddit fitness that you can follow to create your own non-nonsense protein bar in your very own home. Here’s are the steps in writing so that you guys can print it out and bring it into the kitchen.

Ingredients

• 70g peanut butter
• 180g whey protein powder
• 90g rolled oats
• 30g ground flaxseed
• 20g maple syrup
• 30g whole almonds
• 150ml-200ml of water

Directions

1. Combine peanut butter, whey protein, rolled oats and flaxseed in one large bowl and mix it together.
   
2. Start adding water and keep mixing everything using your hand. Keep mixing until there is nothing dry left in the bowl and sticky batter is formed.
3. Add maple syrup with almonds and mix it thoroughly.
   
4. Put batter into a 1 gallon ziploc freezer bag (towards the bottom of the bag), flatten the batter, then fold the bag in half.
   
5. Put the ziploc bag into the freezer for 60-90 minutes.
6. Remove from freezer and cut into 7 equal pieces.

1 Bar Nutrition Content

• 25.7g of protein
• 12g of fat
• 7.1g monounsaturated fat
• 2.8g polyunsaturated fat
• 12.5g of carbohydrates
• 3.2g of dietary fiber

Lazy Man’s Tips

Since you have to keep this protein bar in the fridge anyway, it might make sense for you to skip steps 4 through 6 and just keep the mixture in a bowl in the fridge. Whenever you need a protein boost, just walk by the fridge, grab a spoonful of the mixture and you should be good to go. BAM!

SOURCE: Recipe and images from this reddit fitness thread

List of Fat Burning Foods

Have you ever heard of the quote, “An apple a day keep the doctor away.”? The apple does live up to the quote’s hype because it’s packed full of vitamin C and malic acid. Malic acid plays an important role in energy regulation, which means they enable your body to convert fat into energy more easily. In addition to helping your body burn fat, apples also have a lot of fiber and are water based so they keep you full longer. Try snacking on an apple and a stick of string cheese midway between breakfast and lunch to stay full and keep your body’s metabolism running.

Next up is berries. Almost all types of berries are packed with fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins essential for fat burning (and helping you stay young). Try substituting berries for healthy snacks instead of a candy bar or other sugary sweets. Berries are perfect additions to morning oatmeal or cereal, giving you a quick nutritionally balanced breakfast in a bowl.

Another big fat burner food is raw almonds. Raw almonds are a great source of magnesium, a key element that your body needs to regulate energy and fat burning hormones. You can crush raw almonds and sprinkle them on top of a cup of non-fat plain yogurt for an afternoon snack. You can also keep 5-10 raw almonds with you at all times and eat a few whenever you feel fatigue as they are an excellent source of energy. In addition to being a fat burner, raw almonds also contain protein to help build muscle, fiber to help keep you full, and vitamin E to help you stay healthy.

Eggs is an unexpected fat burning food. Eggs contain vitamin B12, a supplement for breaking down fat cells into energy. In addition to its fat burning capabilities, eggs are also full of protein and animo acids so they are sometimes used by fitness extremes to supplement recovery protein shakes. You can cook eggs with just about anything (eggs make everything taste good). If you are concerned about cholesterol, you can try just using more egg whites than yolk.

Yogurt, like any other non-fat dairy item will aid you in burning fat and keep you full longer. The three a day rule is good for getting rid of fat and keeping up on your calcium (for fighting bone loss). It is also great for your digestive system. When purchasing, buy non-fat, and try to avoid yogurt with added sweeteners.

Green leafy vegetables are technically not a food that burns fat, but they contain so little calories and so much fiber that your body ends up burning a energy digesting it. Besides salads there are many wonderful and delicious recipes you can make that include all kinds of leafy greens.

Final Words

A word of caution: always remember to eat in moderation. Although these are natural fat burning foods, they are still food. Consuming a large amount of these foods will pack more calories than your body need, and that can work against your fat-loss goal. Aside from that, eating healthy is easy when you know the direction to take. All of these foods are delicious and can be combined with other foods to liven up your menu (plus a lot of these foods are a part of my daily diet plan). For best results, you should combine fat burning meals with proper fat burning exercises, the working man’s weight loss tips, and supplements like the ECA stack. It’s not a diet but a new way of life.