Paleo Hazelnut Banana Date Muffins

A chiropractor once said that to me there is no running injuries, only lifestyle injuries. Our modern lifestyles have us sitting in the most awkward positions for way too long a time, e.g. at the desk in the office, bent over to look down onto the laptop, with the right arm and shoulder being overused through the computer mouse, sitting on mal-fitted chairs with no lower back support. Then we come home and slouch on the sofa. We sit too much. We move too little. We eat too much, and/or the wrong foods. We sleep too little. And our lives are too crammed with things that we think need to be done.

Our postures change through lifestyle. Imbalances are being created for which we may pay our price with stiff shoulders and necks, sore hands and arms, or lower back pain. We pay the price when we exercise and develop alleged sports injuries. The body tries to compensate the weakness/imbalance with overusing other muscles which in return may put extra stress on bones, joints and ligaments.

My lifestyle injury is a weak right hip. A very experienced South African running coach with whom I met at a mutual friends’ house last week told me that. We were talking about the last running season and I mentioned that I didn’t quite enjoy it as much as I used to, partly because I was forced to manage injuries while training. My weak hip causes groin and pubic bone pain after hard or long running sessions.

He made me stand up and stand straight. Or whatever I considered straight. My right foot was pointing slightly outward. Proof no. 1. He made me reach down with my arms down the side of my legs. I couldn’t reach as far on the right side as on the left side. Proof no. 2. When I walked in, I carried my bag over the right shoulder like I always do. Proof no. 3. Then we sat down and started chatting about this and that. After some time, I got into my most comfortable sitting position without even paying attention to it. In fact, I am sitting in exactly the same position now that I am writing this: I pull up my left leg onto the chair and sit on it with my right thigh or butt. That way, I sit mainly on the left butt while the right one is lifted. Proof no. 4. Or rather the main reason for my hip imbalance.

While I have been doing regular core strengthening exercises for about a year now, I didn’t pay much attention to possible imbalances. If I train both hips in exactly the same way, they both get stronger but the imbalance remains, especially if I don’t change my lifestyle, as mentioned above.

In order to get balance back, one needs to pay more attention to the weaker side. The coach said to me that I should reverse numbers: if I can do 30 side plank hip dips with my left hip, and only 15 with the right hip, I should swap these around. Needless to say I will struggle to get the 30 done with the weaker side. In that case, I do them in batches. 15 left, 15 right, short break, 15 right.
In the same way, you can work other muscles too. My left biceps is stronger than my right one.

This is easier said than done. It’s hard to break habits, especially lifestyle habits. If you keep compromising your posture for several hours every day, it will be hard work to correct it in the gym in a couple of hours per week. But it should not discourage you. As long as we pay attention to what we do and how we do it, what we eat and how much of it, how much we sleep and how rested we feel afterwards, we are on the right path.

Food plays a big role when it comes to energy levels, not only for exercise but to get through the day without big dips. These muffins will be perfect to kick start your day for breakfast or to top up energy levels before a workout. Without grains and the sugar coming from dates and bananas only, they are a nutritional powerhouse and even suitable for a paleo diet. Needless to say they are absolutely delicious too. I hope you enjoy.
——————————————————-
PALEO HAZELNUT BANANA DATE MUFFINS
slightly adapted from The Healthy Foodie

(Print Recipe)

3/4 cup hazelnut meal
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
2 tablespoons desiccated shredded coconut

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 very ripe bananas
2 medium eggs
1/4 cup pitted dates, finely chopped

Garnish
2 tablespoons hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon shredded coconut

Yields 6
——————————————————-
Preheat oven to 180C/375F. Grease or line muffin molds.

In a medium bowl, mash bananas to a smooth paste. Whisk in eggs until well combined. Stir in finely chopped dates. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine nut meal, tapioca starch and coconut flour. Add shredded coconut, cinnamon, baking soda and cream of tartar until well combined.
Gently combine wet and dry ingredients. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin mold. Garnish with shredded coconut and chopped hazelnuts.

Bake for 20 minutes or until cake tester come out clean.