Accept Your Gorgeous Body Exactly as it Is Right Now + Plant Based Banana Walnut Muffins
By Molly Patrick
Aug 22, 2017,
What if you made the choice, right now, to accept your body exactly as it is in THIS moment? Not how it was 10 years ago. Not how it might be 10 weeks from now. But how it is right now, as you’re reading this.
Your thoughts might tell you this is hard, but those are just thoughts.
When we don’t accept our body exactly as it is in this moment, we look for ways to change it as fast as we possibly can.
We react.
We beat ourselves up. We restrict calories. We get angry. We get on that scale….again. We work out longer. We deprive ourselves of food. We snap at our loved ones. And we keep ourselves stuck in this unforgiving cycle.
But when we accept our body exactly as it is in this moment, we find ways to honor, support, and give thanks to it. We respect it. We love it.
We nourish our body with healthy foods. We speak kindly to ourselves. We move our body and give it gratitude for showing up for us every day. We have patience. We find humor in our human imperfections.
If loving and accepting your body in this moment is something that you want to do, but it’s a stretch for you, try these two simple things:
One:
Instead of thinking about your body as the enemy, think about your body as your most loved pet. Innocent. consistent. Loving. Loyal. Happy. Faithful. A little mischievous at times but totally deserving of love, tenderness, patience, and acceptance. Would you beat up and punish your most loved fur baby? No. So why are you doing it to yourself? You have the capacity to accept and love unconditionally. Is it time to share that unconditional acceptance and love with your body?
Two:
Be aware of your thoughts. The moment a thought comes up that isn’t in alignment with accepting your body, tell that thought to move along and make the choice to insert a loving thought instead. Do this as many times as you have to, even if it’s every five minutes. If you don’t believe the thought “I love my body”, start with “I have a body”. Neutral is always better than hateful. Go neutral until you can go to a loving thought.
You get to choose your thoughts. The mind is powerful and the actions we take stem directly from the thoughts that we choose to think.
Accepting your body doesn’t mean you are abandoning your body goals. It’s actually the opposite. Accepting your body will help you reach those goals with ease and grace.
So what if you made the choice, right now, to accept your body exactly as it is in THIS moment? Not how it was 10 years ago. Not how it might be 10 weeks from now. But how it is right now, as you’re reading this.
This is always available to you, you just have to make the choice.
Check out the plant based banana walnut muffins recipe I have for you this week below.
And, do you struggle with accepting your gorgeous body as it is? Talk to us in the comments below.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup dried dates, pitted and soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes (45 g)
- 1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (235 ml)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 cups uncooked rolled oats (245 g / not instant / see recipe Notes)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups ripe banana, mashed (300 g / about 3 bananas)
- ¼ cup 100% pure maple syrup (65 ml)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped (115 g / toasted or not)
Instructions
- While the dates are soaking, preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C), and line your muffin tin with silicone or parchment liners.
- Add the non-dairy milk and lemon juice to a small mixing bowl. Stir and set aside for now.
- Place the oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in your (very dry) blender and blend into a powder, about 15 seconds. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. No need to wash your blender, you'll be using it again shortly.
- Drain the dates (discard the water) and transfer to your blender, along with the non-dairy milk / lemon mixture, banana, maple syrup, and vanilla. Blend until smooth and no pieces of dates remain.
- Transfer the blended liquid mixture to the large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients and gently mix, just until the wet and dry ingredients are incorporated (don't overmix or your muffins might end up dense). Fold in the chopped walnuts.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin liners. These don’t rise much, so fill them up to the tip top. You'll have plenty of batter to do this.
- Bake for 18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool completely before going to town with these babies.
Notes
- For best results, use a kitchen scale to measure the oats by gram weight. If you don't have one, lightly spoon your oats into the measuring cup so they loosely fill the cup.
- If you avoid gluten, be sure to purchase oats with certified gluten-free processing.
Wishing you a happy week. May it be filled with loving and accepting every pound, every wrinkle, every dimple, every curve, every stretch mark, every fold, every scar and every roll. We are all scrumptiously imperfect. And therein lies the perfection.
Xo
Molly
59 Comments
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So much YES to all of this and these muffins are to die for! ???? I subbed almonds because they’re what I had and processed them so my kiddo wouldn’t know they were there and added some blueberries. Flipping fantastic!
Nice! Good sub. Glad you enjoyed these.
Karen
Team Dirty Girl
Another great recipe. The fiance said, THESE ARE YUMMY.
Thanks!
Soooo yummy ! Made this morning and the family loved them.
Hi Diane, we are so glad you liked them.
Karen
Team Dirty Girl
These are SO good!!!! We have been making them with different nuts and this week my husband made a batch with ripe, plump blueberries. YUM!
Can I substitute the dates with something else?
Hi Cheryl,
You could try subbing a couple of tablespoons of date sugar (which is ground whole dried dates) keeping in mind that the whole soaked dates do provide a small amount of extra moisture to the recipe.
Karen
Team Dirty Girl
Just wondering if these are stored in the fridge or at room temp?
Thanks!
One of these muffins and a piece of fruit is my busy day go to breakfast now. Thank you!
ok – pure deliciousness – i ate quite a few – that was the biggest problem.
Just made these and they are really tasty! I doubled the cinnamon because I like the flavor of it a lot, and it still came out really nicely. Definitely making these again, thank you!
Extra Cinnamon sounds wonderful Quiera! 😉
Meghann
Team Dirty Girl
These are the best! My only issue is that I can’t stop eating them!
Hi Sara,
Eat them all!!! Goodness abounds.
Karen
Team Dirty Girl
Do these freeze well?
Hi Kristen,
Yep, they freeze very well. Just put them in a freezer bag or airtight container, then when you’re ready to eat them, thaw them on the counte or in the microwave or toaster oven.
Meghann
Team Dirty Girl
These muffins were great! Do you think it would be possible to sub pumpkin purée for the bananas to make pumpkin muffins? Or are the bananas used as a binder?
Hi Rachel,
Yes, you should be able to sub pureed pumpkin for the banana with good results.
xo
Meghann
Team Dirty Girl
What can I use instead of maple syrup
Thanks
Hi Martha, You could instead add 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce, or add that much extra super-ripe banana, or even add more soaked dates (maybe 2-4 more depending on size).
Karen
Team Dirty Girl
Hi, do you think I could substitute the bananas? I hate them in muffins these days LOL. Applesauce? Or, is there a reason I would need to use them for “binding?” Or, could I use some flax eggs instead?
Hi Amy,
I checked with Molly and she says subbing with applesauce and flax should be fine but they will be less sweet.
Karen
Team Dirty Girl
These muffins turned out great! Nice recipe. So moist and sweet enough to enjoy. Next time I would probably use a bit of coconut oil on the muffin pan and opt not to use the liners since the muffins stick to them a bit.
Try a silicone muffin pan, works AMAZING. the silicone muffin pan I use I have to wait for the muffins to cool and then they pop right out but they will stick if I try to take them out when it’s warm.
Awesome tip!
xo
Molly
Cant wait to try these. What kind of dates are best for this?
Hi Jo, usually we call for pitted medjool dates, which are larger. However, I buy pitted deglet dates because they are less expensive and I can find them in bulk at Costco and they work just fine. Since they are smaller, I just use more of them. ~Karen
Would it be ok to use unsweetened coconut milk as the non dairy milk?
Hi Kyla, unsweetened coconut milk would work just fine in this recipe. ~Karen
I have all the ingredients to make these muffins today, but don’t have muffin tins. Can I just pour the batter into a baking dish and bake for the same amount of time to make a ‘loaf’ of banana bread instead? Thanks!
Hi there, I’d like to know this too please 🙂
I prefer to slice pieces off a loaf than have muffins.
I would guess to put it at a slightly lower temp for a bit longer, sticking it with a skewer to see if the inside was still uncooked?..
Hi Casey, Molly hasn’t tried it as a loaf but it would likely work at the same temperature adding 10 to 15 minutes extra bake time. Let us know if you try it! ~Karen
What is the nutritional information on these? Especially the carb count since I am a diabetic.
Hi Cherlynn, We don’t provide nutrition information for our recipes, not even in the meal plans. Our focus is on helping people to adopt an eating pattern centered around whole plant foods and we are firm in not wanting to encourage people to worry about calorie and macronutrient tracking, instead focusing our efforts around helping people learn to eat a diverse whole food plant based dietary pattern and providing the tools to do that. Here’s a piece from Molly about why we don’t provide calorie information. That being said, you could definitely enter the ingredients into one of the available free nutrition calculators, such as MyFitnessPal or Cronometer and calculate the nutrient profile of the recipe per serving. ~Karen
I have steel cut oats in my pantry, and not the rolled oats the recipe calls for. Do you have the final measurement of the blended oats – or can you suggest how to alter the recipe? I made them once and they were delish but very dry. Thanks!
Hi Maia, Tamie, one of our Meal Plan wizards, just confirmed for me that 260 g of steel cut oats = 1 2/3 cups. Steel cut oats are a smaller volume than rolled oats. In the future, if you have a kitchen scale that can measure grams, your best bet is to use the gram measurement to weigh whatever type of oats you have because the weight is a specific measurement that should be accurate regardless of the style of the oat. I’m guessing that you used 2 1/2 cups of steel cut oats the first go around – which would weigh more than the 260 g called for – and this is likely why they came out too dry. ~Karen
Im a banana bread fan if there ever was one. Actually, you could call me a banana bread snob. But, I stopped eating it due to trying to cut out sugar. My God, these were deliciously chewy, tender, bits of banana heaven. I made them last night and have eaten six already. THANK YOU so, so much for creating this delicious recipe along with so many others!
I did these but in the end added cocoa powder, so yummy, super fluffy! Will keep this recipe in my favorites, that’s for sure. Thank you, Molly!
Hi Marta, Ooh, that sounds lovely! ~Karen
Love this recipe! It is now a weekly staple with me and my 3 1/2 year old grandson.
I use the steel cut oats and increase the blender time to 1-2 minutes. I added 2 tbsp. organic coconut brown sugar to the liquid mix and 2 tbsp. ground flax seed to the final product. Cooking time runs between 20-25 minutes.
Yay! So you glad you and your grandson like the muffins, Cindy. Thanks for sharing your mods, too! ~Karen
Molly, I just wanted you to know that I needed this blog post today on being grateful for my body TODAY ? THANK YOU!!!
You are most welcome, my dear.
xo
Molly
What did I do wrong??? My batter was very loose and after 20 minutes of baking, they were still mushy 🙁
The taste is great, but I’d love to try again if I knew what to change.
Oh no, Carolyn! It’s so disappointing when a recipe doesn’t work right. There are many posts about these muffins in our private Facebook group (please join us if you do Facebook and are not already a member!).
After a quick search through many posts of success making this recipe, I did find that one person noted: “I was concerned as the batter was very liquid. I made no recipe changes. They also took about 35 minutes to cook and still a bit wet when cooled. They were drier a day later.”
Outside of a longer cook time (perhaps based on altitude), other possibilities are 1) too much of a liquid ingredient – there are four in the recipe. 2) if the water from soaking the dates was accidentally added that would also throw off the liquid:dry ratio 3) too little of the oats 4) the temperature of the oven is not calibrated properly. Let us know if you try them again! ~Karen
So mine are in the oven and I have the same problem as Carolyn, too runny and this is the second round in the oven, I went over the recipe again and don’t have any mistakes or changes. Also, I seem to have double the batch, I have 12 in the oven and enough to make another 12.
We’ll see if they cook in the end, really looking forward to them as I am still trying to convince my 17 yo to try plant-based food. She says she is plant-based but won’t try any of the food I cook instead she lives on pasta, pizza and nachos all vegan and gluten-free because she is celiac. I was really hoping this could be her breakfast.
Hi Sonia –
I just tested these and it looks like there was 1/4 cup too much non-dairy milk in the recipe.
I’ve adjusted the recipe to reflect this.
With this adjustment, there is the perfect amount for 12 muffins – you just have to fill up the muffin cups all the way to the top.
Thank you for letting us know and I’m so sorry for the snag!
xo
Molly
Hi Carolyn,
I just tested these and you’re right! There was 1/4 cup too much non-dairy milk in the recipe.
I’ve adjusted the recipe to reflect this.
Thank you for letting us know and I’m so sorry for the snag!
xo
Molly
Thanks! I’ll give them another try!
Carolyn
Great! I am eating one now and they are so yummy.
Not to mention, my house now smells amazing 🙂
Be sure to fill them to the tip top of the liners.
Use up ALL the batter. It will seem like a lot but it all pans out!
Let me know how they turn out.
xo
Molly
I have been wanting to make strawberry mango muffins for ages and since I couldn’t find a good plant based recipe as such decided to try my hand at tweaking this recipe accordingly. I am obsessed with the lemon poppyseed muffins, but this seemed like a better starting point. I added strawberries and mangos in lieu of the banana and also kept some chunks of the fruit for optimal deliciousness. Alas, the muffins are taking much longer to bake; they are too moist in the middle. And the flavor is disappointingly subtle. Any suggestions for making strawberry mango muffins, subs or otherwise? I would love to see a recipe for strawberry mango muffins in future. Thanks for all you do.
Hi Angel, You rock for trying to improvise your own muffin – don’t give up! Yes, the combination of the strawberries and mango might make for a wetter combo than banana. I have no idea if it would work but freeze-dried strawberry or mango might allow you to add more flavor without necessarily adding more wet. I have used freeze-dried fruits and berries for travel trips, they work great for oatmeal on the go. I’ll pass along your request for a strawberry mango muffin to our team in any case. Thanks for stopping by! ~Karen
I have made these muffins twice and they are heavenly. My 11 yr old whose diet is grain free and not only her but everyone who has tried them has loved them. Thank you so much for sharing ❤️???
I don’t have oats so can I use flour and how would I change temps and times?
Hi Nicole, you could use flour and the temperature and times shouldn’t change. I would weigh it, though, to the 260 g specification so you don’t end up with super-dense muffins. ~Karen
These came out perfect! So moist and flavorful. I could have sworn they had eggs and oil, but they don’t. Only modification I did was to substitute 1/2 cup of oat flour with 1/2 cup almond flour. So that comes to 2 cups oat with 1/2 cup almond flour. And, I used 50/50 chopped walnuts with chocolate chips. 1/2 cup each. Oh and I opted for all dates instead of maple syrup. So that came to 6 big medjool dates. I will keep this recipe. Thanks so much.
I made them and now I made them again and added almond meal and grated carrots and some lemon and almond flavor to make them more cheese cake-y and they turned out really well ! Thank you 🙂
Sounds yummy! We’re so glad you liked them and made them your own!