Homemade Coconut Butter!

Before I begin this post, I just want to say sorry for my lack of posts lately.  Life is just crazy busy right now (guess, that is a good thing though lol).  Anyways, I do believe this posting will make up for my procrastination (especially in the $ department).

Anybody that knows me will tell you, I love my coconuts.  With that said, coconut butter is an essential must have in my kitchen.  In case you didn't know, coconut butter can be used in a number of ways.  It can be used in your favorite baked goods or sauces (as a replacement for butter) or as spread on your toast (my personal favorite).  I'm sure you can find other uses for it as well.  Now, it should be noted that coconut butter is not the same as coconut oil.  Coconut butter is made from the oils and meat of the coconut.  Image all that nutritional goodness.

If you are new to coconuts, let me be the first to tell you that the health benefits of coconuts are massive.  Keeping this with coconut butter, some of the benefits are as listed - It is known to improve your skin and hair, giving them a more nourished appearance.  Helps maintain weight by providing immediate energy with fewer calories than other fats.  For the women readers, I'm always looking out for you ladies lol, it is also known to reduce the craving for sweets.  That's right, the notorious "sweet tooth", reduced!  What's not to like about coconut butter?!?! 

It's not over yet.  Like always, I saved the best for last, it is an antimicrobial (from the oils).  What does that mean, it kills bad bacteria and fungi found inside the body.  Boom! Mind blown away lol.           

Alright, lets get started.  You will be surprised at how easy it is to make coconut butter.  And, how inexpensive it is to make.  All you need is dehydrated (unsweetened) coconut flakes, which can easily found in the bulk section of your grocery store, and a food processor.  Seriously.

1 cup of coconut flakes made me about a hockey puck size of butter.  It also cost me less than a buck.  True Story.


Depending on the size of you food processor, place as much coconut flakes in and process for approximately 8-10 minutes.  Depending on your food processor you may want to do two 4-5 minute sets so it doesn’t burn out your motor.

You will know you are finished when the contents inside are a milky, watery consistency.


Pour the liquid into a glass jar with a tight lid. The mixture will solidify over about 45-60 minutes.  You may want to store in fridge to speed up this step.  With that said, you don’t need to keep this in the fridge, it will keep as is for months in at a solid state at room temperature.  That is all.  Enjoy!  Till next time!  

   

15 Tips to Restart the Exercise Habit (and How to Keep It)

As a trainer, I've heard all the reasons to why someone has failed their program.  Want to guess what is the most common?

Loss of Motivation.

Once you have an exercise habit, it becomes automatic. You just go to the gym, there is no force involved. But after a month, two months or possibly a year off, it can be hard to get started again. Here are some tips to climb back on that treadmill after you’ve fallen off.

1. Don’t Break the Habit – The easiest way to keep things going is simply not to stop. Avoid long breaks in exercising or rebuilding the habit will take some effort. This may be advice a little too late for some people. But if you have an exercise habit going, don’t drop it at the first sign of trouble.
2. Reward Showing Up – Woody Allen once said that, “Half of life is showing up.” I’d argue that 90% of making a habit is just making the effort to get there. You can worry about your weight, amount of laps you run or the amount you can bench press later.
3. Commit for Thirty Days – Make a commitment to go every day (even just for 20 minutes) for one month. This will solidify the exercise habit. By making a commitment you also take pressure off yourself in the first weeks back of deciding whether to go.
4. Make it Fun – If you don’t enjoy yourself at the gym, it is going to be hard to keep it a habit. There are thousands of ways you can move your body and exercise, so don’t give up if you’ve decided lifting weights or doing crunches isn’t for you. Many large fitness centers will offer a range of programs that can suit your tastes.
5. Schedule During Quiet Hours – Don’t put exercise time in a place where it will easily be pushed aside by something more important. Right after work or first thing in the morning are often good places to put it. Lunch-hour workouts might be too easy to skip if work demands start mounting.
6. Get a Buddy – Grab a friend to join you. Having a social aspect to exercising can boost your commitment to the exercise habit.
7. X Your Calendar – One person I know has the habit of drawing a red “X” through any day on the calendar he goes to the gym. The benefit of this is it quickly shows how long it has been since you’ve gone to the gym. Keeping a steady amount of X’s on your calendar is an easy way to motivate yourself.
8. Enjoyment Before Effort - After you finish any work out, ask yourself what parts you enjoyed and what parts you did not. As a rule, the enjoyable aspects of your workout will get done and the rest will be avoided. By focusing on how you can make workouts more enjoyable, you can make sure you want to keep going to the gym.
9. Create a Ritual - Your workout routine should become so ingrained that it becomes a ritual. This means that the time of day, place or cue automatically starts you towards grabbing your bag and heading out. If your workout times are completely random, it will be harder to benefit from the momentum of a ritual.
10. Stress Relief - What do you do when your stressed? Chances are it isn’t running. But exercise can be a great way to relieve stress, releasing endorphin which will improve your mood. The next time you feel stressed or tired, try doing an exercise you enjoy. When stress relief is linked to exercise, it is easy to regain the habit even after a leave of absence.
11. Measure Fitness - Weight isn’t always the best number to track. Increase in muscle can offset decreases in fat so the scale doesn’t change even if your body is. But fitness improvements are a great way to stay motivated. Recording simple numbers such as the number of push-ups, sit-ups or speed you can run can help you see that the exercise is making you stronger and faster.
12. Habits First, Equipment Later – Fancy equipment doesn’t create a habit for exercise. Despite this, some people still believe that buying a thousand dollar machine will make up for their inactivity. It won’t. Start building the exercise habit first, only afterwards should you worry about having a personal gym.
13. Isolate Your Weakness - If falling off the exercise wagon is a common occurrence for you, find out why. Do you not enjoy exercising? Is it a lack of time? Is it feeling self-conscious at the gym? Is it a lack of fitness know-how? As soon as you can isolate your weakness, you can make steps to improve the situation.
14. Start Small - Trying to run fifteen miles your first workout isn’t a good way to build a habit. Work below your capacity for the first few weeks to build the habit. Otherwise you might scare yourself off after a brutal workout.
15. Go for Yourself, Not to Impress – Going to the gym with the only goal of looking great is like starting a business with only the goal to make money. The effort can’t justify the results. But if you go to the gym to push yourself, gain energy and have a good time, then you can keep going even when results are slow.