No-Bonk Sundae

There's a fine line between eating too little and eating too much. I have had some pretty tough workouts the last few days, and I have found myself bonking when I get to the last 30 minutes or so of my rides. Getting to my house from downtown Salt Lake City takes about 20-25 minutes of climbing up pretty steep grades (depending on the route). This gets tricky because, while cyclists often use the last dozen minutes of a tough workout to cool-down, I always have to plan ahead for what is often the toughest climb of my day!

I'm currently as light as I've ever been, but I don't attribute this to starving myself. I've actually upped my food consumption to properly fuel my workouts which in turn seems to have made my body more efficient and has allowed me to slim down even more. As much as I like being skinny, I have few energy reserves to keep me from bonking, so it's important for me to stay on top of my caloric intake.

Tonight, I realized that if I didn't eat a couple hundred extra calories, I'd have a hard time staying strong throughout my 4 hour workout in the morning. I thus thought for a bit, and came up with this really healthy, dairy-free No-Bonk Sundae.

• I started with half a banana (This is neither the first nor last time that I will mention how much I love fruits.) and half of a Chocolate-Brownie Clif Bar that I had left over from this morning's workout. 
• I mashed the two together and microwaved the mixture for about 2 minutes. This allowed the banana to soften up and the chocolate in the Clif bar to melt. 
• I then took 3 or 4 spoonfuls of So Delicious dairy-free coconut-milk Cookies N' Cream "Ice Cream" and stirred it into the Clif Bar and banana mixture. 
• I topped the sundae off with a few almonds and dried cranberries, and a dark-chocolate covered cherry. There are dozens of toppings that one could add to this to meet their tastes such as nuts, dried fruits, shredded coconuts, chunks of dark chocolate, or even a squirt of your favorite flavor of GU if you need a few extra calories! The flavors of the Clif Bar and "Ice Cream" can be interchanged as well, I just used what I had on hand.

This created a really delicious sundae. Rather than grabbing junk food that would most likely slow me down on my ride, I mixed healthy and energetic ingredients to create an awesome little dessert. It's important when trying to live a healthy lifestyle to seek out healthy ways to transform your favorite meals into energetic fuel sources. That way, you never feel deprived and you are able to stay on top of your dietary needs.

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