Seedy Energy Granola Bars: Hormone Balancing, Gut Boosting & Bone Building

This is my new favorite energy & hormone balancing snack!

They’re very quick to make and I love them in the afternoon for a protein and fiber rich pick-me-up.

If you've been following me for awhile you know I love me some seeds. Why? 

Where do I begin?

First, I love them for your hormones: flaxseeds, sesame seeds, and pumpkin seeds contain compounds known as lignans and phytoestrogens help modulate estrogen in your body by binding to estrogen receptors and exerting either estrogenic or anti-estrogenic effects depending on the body's hormonal needs.

This balance is crucial for regulating menstrual cycles and reducing symptoms of hormonal imbalances like PMS or menopausal symptoms.

But wait, there's more!

• They contain Vitamin E*, Omega 3- and Omega-6 fatty acids, which are essential for hormone production and ovarian follicular function. Also, Vitamin E is really good for the health of your skin.

  *Found in flax seeds, sesame, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds.

• There are meaningful concentrations of zinc in pumpkin and sesame seeds, which helps to improve the formation of the corpus luteum, progesterone levels, and gets the endometrium prepped for implantation. Zinc also promotes proper growth and repair, improves immunity and supports normal digestion

• Seeds are rich in selenium which supports ovulation and fertility, as well as liver detoxification phases. It also helps to increase immunity, and defends against free radical damage and inflammation.

• Flax and sesame are especially rich in lignans, which are converted to enterolactones in the presence of healthy gut flora, so they help keep your estrogen levels healthy.

• Flax seeds are high in alphalinoleic acid (ALA), an Omega-3 fatty acid that the brain needs and is hugely anti-inflammatory. It’s high in both soluble and insoluble fiber, but low in carbohydrates, making it a really wonderful daily edition for the colon.

• Just one ounce of sesame seeds count for 27% of your daily calcium intake. This is especially important in our peri and menopausal years because as estrogen declines so, too, does our bone strength.

So, yeah! Pretty spectacular, right?

If you’d like to whip up a sugar-free blend of these seeds to sprinkle on all kinds of different foods, see this post.

Seedy ENERGY GRANOLA BARS

by Sylvia Fountaine at Feasting At Home

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (raw)

• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (raw)

• 1 heaping cup large flaked coconut (unsweetened)

• 1/4 cup sesame seeds

• 1/4 cup chia seeds

• 1/4 cup flex seeds (or sub hemp seeds)

• generous pinch salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 cup honey (warmed for easier mixing- heat jar in a hot water bath) or brown rice syrup or maple syrup – see notes

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 300F

2. Mix the seeds, coconut flakes, and salt together in a medium bowl. Stir in vanilla and warm honey, until uniformly combined.

3. Place a piece of parchment in an 8 x 8 baking pan ( all the way up the sides too). Spray lightly with oil.

4. Pour seed mix into a lightly greased, parchment-lined pan, and using a wet metal spatula, spread it out, into corners and edges and press down firmly until you have a compacted, smooth surface at a uniform depth.

5. Place on the middle rack in the oven, check at 25 mins, rotate if need be, and continue baking.  For a chewy consistency, take them out at 40-45 minutes, for a crispy crunchy consistency, let it cook the full 50 -55 minutes.  Keep in mind, all ovens are different, so heat may vary. The key is….You want to take them out when they are perfectly golden, before they get too dark. So watch them like a hawk after 35-40 minutes. If you take them out too early (before they are golden) they can too sticky.  Pay attention to the color. For example, I’ve cooked these in two different ovens. In the gas oven, 50-55 minutes delivered perfectly golden bars. In the electric oven, 40 minutes were enough for perfectly golden. 55 minutes would have totally burnt them.

6. Remove from oven, and cool completely. You could place it in the fridge to cool faster. When it’s completely cooled, take the parchment out of the pan, turn it over, and remove the parchment. Flip back over and cut into desired shapes or bars. Store at room temp.

NOTES

To keep them crisp, wrap very lightly in parchment. Sealing them too tightly may cause them to get soft. I usually just leave them on a plate uncovered on the counter. Keeps up to 10 days.

You can easily make this vegan by substituting brown rice syrup, or maple syrup and 1 tablespoon ground flax. They may be slightly more crumbly,  but not too bad!

Do NOT use sugar-free syrup- it will NOT work here. Honey or, brown rice syrup or real maple syrup!

If you don’t have an 8×8 pan, you could make a “crackle” on a sheet pan. Basically place the mixture on a parchment-lined sheet pan, pressing down hard with a spatula, into an 8-10-inch round. It will spread out and become thin in the oven. Check at 35-40 minutes and pull it out when it is deeply golden. Let it cool completely. Break apart into sections.

NUTRITION

• Serving Size: 1/10th of the recipe

• Calories: 222

• Sugar: 14.5 g

• Sodium: 34.4 mg

• Fat: 14.9 g

• Saturated Fat: 5 g

• Carbohydrates: 20.8 g

• Fiber: 4.5 g

• Protein: 5.3 g

• Cholesterol: 0 mg