My Favorite Granola Recipe

Ingredients:

Dry:

6 cups rolled oats

3-4 cups of any raw nuts - my favorites are a mix of slivered/sliced almonds and pecan halves

1.5 cups shredded coconut

2 tsp cinnamon

1.5 teaspoon salt

Wet:

2/3 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

2 egg whites (optional to make granola more clustered)

Etc:

2 cups golden raisins - to add after baking

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 250* F.

2. Combine dry and wet ingredients separately first, and then together.

3. Spread out in a thin layer on greased cookie sheets.

4. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Mix every 20-30 minutes for even color and texture, or leave alone for more clustered texture.

5. After cooled, add raisins.

How to Keep & Analyze Your Own Health Log

If you’ve ever thought about working with a nutritionist or health coach, you may be familiar with the idea of a “health log” or “food log.” As much as we’d love for people to look at us and magically tell us the answers to all our problems, that’s not how it works.

Using a health log can be very helpful if you’re trying to optimize your energy levels throughout the day, increase your athletic performance, figure out the source of your indigestion, or solve any other number of health questions.

The good news is you can try to DIY some of this work yourself! We’ve made a free health log with detailed instructions to guide you towards a thorough understanding of your own health.

Here’s the basic gist of it:

1. Record key health metrics for a 4-7 day period

2. Look through this information for patterns

3. Try one tweak at a time to your habits or routines

4. Reassess and perhaps repeat this process

Tend's Favorite: Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are the absolute best because they are DELICIOUS, and packed with protein from the almond flour base. They are gluten free and have a vegan option. We love to eat them after a long run, for a mid-day snack, or with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Ingredients

4 c almond flour

1/2 tsp fine salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 c melted coconut oil

1/4 c honey or maple syrup

2 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 c chocolate chips

Sea salt flakes for topping (recommend Maldon salt) - this is the best part! Don’t skip this.

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.

2. Mix dry and wet ingredients separately, then combine. The chocolate chips can be hard to mix in, so you will do best using your hands to mix.

3. Form small cookies on a greased pan, sprinkle with Maldon sea salt flakes, pressing the salt flakes into the cookies so they stick.

4. Bake for 10-15 minutes - I usually bake for 12. They won’t change shape or color much.

This recipe is inspired by chef and potter Margot Reisner at Blue Otter Botanicals - go check out her work!

Tend Core Principle: Nourish & Fuel

While we may live in a world where people are more aware of the prevalence of eating disorders in a sport like running, this does not mean we’ve solved this issue. Many runners and athletes continue to struggle with an unhealthy relationship to food, confusion about healthy eating, and the challenge of eating well in a busy life.

You yourself may have felt overwhelmed by the flood of conflicting diet information coming out every day. “Go keto!” “Go paleo!” “Go vegan!” “Go sugar free!” ... there is A LOT to take in out there.

Many people can agree that nutrition advice can never be a “one size fits all” approach, and yet in the face of unsolicited advice and magical cures pushed in our faces, we forget that this is the truth and jump down the rabbit hole of the latest fad diet, eager to prove to ourselves that it works.

I work with every Tend athlete to examine not only their eating habits, but also their mindset around food. We cannot do one without the other. The food we eat affects our mood, energy, strength, immune system, capabilities, and more. I help runners make sure their food is supporting their training and bringing joy to their lives.

If you find yourself afraid of the kitchen, or time starved, I can help you develop habits and skills to get the food you want, how you want it.

Let food be a source of celebration and nourishment in your life and training.

If you want to learn more about forming a new relationship with food and moving away from diet culture and negative body image, check out:

Intuitive Eating

Burnt Toast

Health at Every Size

Maintenance Phase

How to Fuel During Your Half Marathon or Marathon Training

Runners often overlook the incredible opportunities they have to experiment with fueling during their training. The best way to create your fueling and hydration plan for your race is to practice during your training.

In addition to practicing what you will eat DURING your long run, practice what you will eat for dinner the night before a long run and for breakfast the morning of. This way, come race week, you won’t have to get nervous about these things - you will simply follow your typical plan!

Before your Long Run

Experiment with what feels good and how much time you need to digest before your run, so you can replicate that on race day. Your ideal pre-run snack will be high carb, some protein, and low fat/fiber. Some ideas to eat 1 to 2 hours before:

• Half bagel with nut butter

• 1/4 to 1/2 cup oatmeal with chopped dates and nuts

• Granola bar (not protein bar) - such as a Picky Bar or Lara Bar

During Your Long Run

Everyone will have a different need for fuel, but a good rule of thumb is to eat something every 40 - 70 min on your long runs that is mostly carbs, such as:

• CLIF Shot Bloks: Note some flavors have caffeine so if that upsets your stomach avoid those

• Half of a carb-rich bar like a Picky Bar

• 2-3 dates

• Handful of pretzels

• Applesauce squeeze packs

• Pieces of low-fiber muffins

Hydration

Sip water or light electrolyte drink throughout long run - for electrolytes I like nuun or ultima, or making my own with 1 t lemon juice, 1/2 t honey, and pinch of salt. If you use drinks like gatorade I recommend diluting it by 1/2 with water.

After Long Run

It is SUPER important to eat something right after your long run! Runs can sometimes make you feel queasy, so if that is the case for you it’s essential you find something palatable like a smoothie to consume post-run. Within 30-60 minutes, you want to eat something that is mostly carbs with some protein. This will help your body absorb the benefits of that run and recover faster. Some ideas:

• Bagel and nut butter

• Half sandwich

• Sports Bar with more carbs than protein

• Trail mix with dried fruits and nuts

• Banana and nuts or nut butter

• Small rice dish, maybe with a little beans/meat/tofu

• Chocolate milk (dairy or non-dairy milk)

• Smoothie such as: banana, oats, water, nut butter, cinnamon, spinach

How to Eat the Week of your Half Marathon or Marathon Race

In the week leading up to your race, try to keep things as normal as possible - including what you eat.

The advice to “carbo-load” has been largely refined into a suggestion to eat slightly fewer carbs than usual in the week leading up to your race. You don’t need to make a drastic change, just have a few extra carb-rich snacks! You will likely be working out less this week and possibly less hungry, but be sure to keep eating as if you were training, so you have fuel in your system come race day.

Be sure to stay hydrated all week with water and perhaps one electrolyte drink per day from a low-sugar brand like nuun or ultima.

Food ideas 1-2 days before your race:

Breakfast

• Bagel with nut butter and banana

• Bagel/toast/potatoes and eggs

• Breakfast tacos with corn tortillas, eggs and side of potatoes

• Oatmeal with banana or berries and some nuts or dried fruit

Lunch

• Sandwich of any kind

• Rice bowl with protein and small amount of cooked veggies

Dinner

• Pasta with protein and small amount of cooked veggies

• Rice or potatoes with protein and small amount of cooked veggies

Pre-Race Dinner

Eat food you would normally eat, but don’t eat a larger dinner than usual. Avoid raw veggies and multigrain carbs like whole wheat pasta.

You could try:

• White rice or sweet potato, a small portion of cooked vegetables, and chicken

Pre-Race Breakfast

Eat your usual pre-run breakfast 2-3 hours before your start time, as you have practiced during your long run training days!

Ideas include:

• 1/2 bagel with nut butter

• 1/4 to 1/2 cup oatmeal with chopped dates and nuts

• Granola bar (not high protein bar) - such as a Picky Bar or Lara Bar

Snap Pea Salad with Mint & Mozzarella

It’s easy to get bored with the same old salads and veggie sides. Here’s a fun way to enjoy crunchy, fresh sugar snap peas and radishes.

Ingredients

Serves 3-4 as side

1/2 lb sugar snap peas, tough strings removed

1.5 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 tsp whole-grain or regular Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp minced shallot

1/2 lb fresh ciliegine mozzarella cheese (cherry-sized mozzarella balls), halved

1/2 small bunch radishes, thinly sliced

1.5 Tbsp finely chopped fresh mint leaves

Salt & Pepper to taste

Steps

1. Remove tough strings from snap peas and chop to desired size.

2. Blanch the snap peas. Here’s how: Add snap peas to already boiling water, cook for 1-2 minutes. Immediately drain and put snap peas in bowl of ice.

3. Whisk together the oil, lemon juice, mustard, and shallot in a large bowl. Add salt and pepper as needed.

4. Combine snap peas, mozzarella, radishes, and mint. Then add dressing and mix.

5. Best enjoyed fresh, and can be stored covered in fridge up to 3 days.

Recipe adapted from The Kitchn.

Hearty Trader Joes Salad

This is my go-to lunch recipe when I want something that’s quick to prepare ahead of time and is still hearty, filling, and nourishing.

Ingredients

• Kale (wash, de-stem, and chop)

• Cruciferous Crunch Slaw from Trader Joe’s

• 1/2 Avocado

• Dry roasted slivered almonds

• Golden Raisins

• Crumbled Goat Cheese

• Brown Rice or Quinoa

• Chickpeas (rinsed)

• Roasted Sweet Potatoes (or other root veg like beets, carrots, rutabaga)

• Dressing: 1/4 cup olive oil, 1-2 teaspoons each of balsamic vinegar and orange juice, pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Massage dressing into kale - this can be done the night before.

2. Add all toppings and put in the fridge to grab in the morning! Bring a little extra dressing in case you want that at lunch time.