Coconut banana chia pudding

So lately my news feeds have been filled with people getting fit for summer. I have been dragging my feet in getting back to taking care of myself, I think I just got so comfortable eating like crap while I was pregnant. Before I was pregnant with Lennox I was on a all natural health kick, which was seriously awesome, I had never felt so great in my life. I was making clean, fresh meals, taking vitamins everyday and working out 6 times a week. I had lost 20lbs and had so much energy. So when I started becoming really tired all the time, I had headaches all day and felt nauseous I knew something was up...low and behold I was pregnant. I unfortunately used that as an excuse to stray from the healthy life style I was living, so now I have to start all over again and get back on track. I'm not going to go on one of my binge diets so don't worry I will still have delicious (not so healthy) recipes on here once in a while but I am also going to try and find healthier meals to cook. My goal is to ease my way back into a healthier life style. I don't like any of those crazy fad diets because trust me I have tried them all, and while yea some of them work they make you hate your life because you don't get to enjoy the things you like. It makes you start despising the idea of eating healthy, which in turn makes you give up and revert to your old ways. 

I am in no way trying to be a skinny Minnie because that's not my body type. I have always been on the chunkier side even when I was fairly small. I just want to feel better and healthier over all. And don't get me started on "cheat meals" I really hate those, because while yea it's nice to treat yourself once in a while I feel like people put themselves in diet jail so you start getting ravenous for that cheat meal after eating like a rabbit for a couple of weeks, then once it's time for the cheat meal you can't really refrain your self from eating more than what your "diet" allows, then you feel horrible, want to give up because now your a horrible slob that doesn't have any self control (don't worry I'm not talking about you, this is just from personal experience), you suck at life and now you want to die because you are never going to loose weight (I know I'm a bit dramatic). So if you are eating healthy but want that cookie then eat the dam cookie, but also remember not to go over board and eat the whole box of cookies. 

I also have to be extremely creative when I start eating healthier because even though Louis is a type 1 diabetic he hates being reminded at every meal that he is, and he refuses to eat like a rabbit, so I always have to make some thing healthy and something that also tastes good. That's why I liked the idea of chia seeds, it's something small that you can add to a dish and it will give you that burst of nutrition with out you even really noticing....

I have been reading about chia seeds a lot. On little seed that packs so much punch in the health department is a winner in my book. It has no taste but will amplify the taste of what ever it is added too. It also helps balance blood sugar which is a huge plus because Louis is a type 1 diabetic. 

So this is my new favorite go to health food, and when they say it helps cut food craving they are 100% right. I am notorious for night time binge eating but ate a couple of spoon fulls if the chia pudding I made last night because I was curious of how it would taste and that filled me up like crazy. I had no craving at all to eat some of my Ben & Jerry's ice cream even though it was very tempting. The pudding I made was coconut milk, banana cinnamon and it is extremely easy to make.

You will need: 

1 1/2 cups of coconut milk (either from the can or you can get the one that silk makes, they don't carry it at Walmart but they have it at shoprite)

2-3 tbsp honey or agave nectar (I like the agave because it doesn't mess with a diabetics glucose levels at all)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp chia seeds

Mix that all up in a cup or bowl (I used a mason jar) cover and place into fridge for about 4 hours or even over night. This will allow the chia seeds to absorbed the liquid from the coconut milk and puff up a little to create the pudding. Then when you get ready to eat it, slice 1/2 of a banana into it, sprinkle some more cinnamon over top and enjoy. (Also if you think it is too thick for your liking you can always add 1/2 a cup of coconut milk or even 2% milk into the jar and mix) 

I also made hot chocolate last night and added a little Nutella to the mix and decided to try and add some chia seeds to that to see how it will turn out, I haven't tried it yet but I'll let you know how it was and if it's good I'll post another recipe for it :)