Ellie Krieger's Energy Bars

From The Foods You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life

1 cups oats
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup raw whole almonds
1/2 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup raw shelled sunflower seeds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup powdered dry milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Greese a 9×9 baking dish.

Place all of the ingredients except for the syrup and eggs in a food processor. Pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped. Add the syrup and both eggs and continue to pulse until they are mixed in. Transfer the mixture into your baking dish and bake for 15 minutes.

Let cool for about 20 minutes.

I sliced these up, wrapped them in twos, and put them in the freezer. I'm thinking an energy bar with some Greek yogurt would make a great mid-morning snack.

It's What's For Dinner

Oh, wait, that makes it sound like Sam Elliott will be here talking about beef.

Instead we're talking about healthy 400-calorie Flat Belly Diet Four Day Jumpstart meals! Can you hear the enthusiasm?

Dinner on Day One called for grilled tilapia filets, green beans, and roasted new potatoes.

Jeffrey is a wonder and he cooked all this for us. He seasoned the fish with lemon juice, cracked black pepper, and dill. He tossed the potatoes with a bit of olive oil and pepper. Using the stovetop smoker we got for Christmas, he smoked the fish and the potatoes. We steamed the green beans and it was all really good. Not like, "Sigh. I'm being healthy and, fine, this is edible." It was really tasty.

Thumbs up, which is more than I can say for that blueberry smoothie.

Day One: Flat Belly Diet

I’ve been under a rock, apparently, as I hadn’t heard of Prevention Magazine’s Flat Belly Diet until last week.

I’ve ordered the book, which has recipes and tips and probably lots of gung-ho rah-rah type affirmations, which I’m thinking I’ll need.

The 32-day diet plan begins with a 4-day jumpstart. From what I understand you have a 1,200-calorie per day plan and you drink lots of Sassy Water during those four days.

Sassy Water is named after Cynthia Sass, one of the developers of the diet. Every time I say Sassy Water I say it with jazz hands: *sassy water*. I can’t help it. Every time I write it with the astericks on either side those are jazz hands.

The 4-day jumpstart includes lots of *sassy water*. Lots. As in, 2 liters a day. Two liters a day is also known as 8 glasses of water a day, which is what doctors recommend we have every day. I’ve always heard that but seeing that much water in one pitcher looks like an awful lot.

2 liters (3 1/2 pints) water
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 medium cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium lemon, thinly sliced
12 mint leaves

Combine all ingredients in a large jug, chill in the refrigerator and let the flavors blend overnight.


Sunday afternoon I mixed up a double batch of the *Sassy Water*. I put the cucumber, lemon slices, mint, and ginger in cheesecloth, tied it up, and placed it in the pitcher. That seems to make more sense than having all those pieces parts floating around.

View into the gallon pitcher with cheesecloth bag of cucumber, lemon slices, mint, and ginger.

The next morning I filled my 2.2 liter pitcher of *sassy water*. I looked at it doubtfully. That’s a lot of water to ingest in one day.

The container on the left is 2.2 liters of *sassy water*. See what I mean?

By ten a.m. I had drunk almost half of the 2.2 liter pitcher and wasn’t feeling very *sassy*. I went easy on the sassy water for the next several hours but still finished drinking it all by dinnertime.

The premise of the diet is you drink a lot of water and eat four four-hundred calorie meals a day. The meals must include MUFAs (monounsaturated fatty acids), which are known to be the “good” fats: oils, nuts and seeds, avocado, olives, and chocolate.

I don’t like olives or avocado, so this should be fun.

Generally I don’t pay attention to diet plans that promise quick results with no effort. The only “diets” that work are those that are lifestyle changes. This? I will not be doing forever. I may do it for 32 days, particularly those 32 days preceding the wedding on May 30th.

At the same time, I may well adopt some of the book’s recommendations into every day life. The power of positive thinking, right?