Rest Day and Healthier Banana Bread Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sunday mornings usually involve some sort of baking for me. Sundays are my rest day and my day off, so I have time to do it. I love rolling out of bed and spending the morning baking in my pj's. It's divine.

Sundays = Rest Day. 

While I love my workouts, I also love my rest day. I have definitely been subject to over training and putting too much stress on my body, and I'm sure many of you have experienced the same situation. Over training can lead to injuries, fatigue, depression, decreased performance, and overall feeling of exhaustion; Some of which can be difficult to recover from.

In order for the body to perform at its optimal level it needs to have some time to recover and repair itself. In order for your muscles to become stronger they have to have to be worked, and they also need to rest so the body can repair them. Your energy stores need to be replenished as well. By allowing your body a day to recover, you will be feeling fresh and ready to kill it again the next day. As far as rest days go here are my suggestions...
- Don't take lazy advantage of the "rest day" excuse. Be real. You know when you aren't working hard enough...when you're rest days seem to pop up every other day, or seem to be happening more frequently than your actual workouts, you may need to restructure your workouts.
- Don't let your nutrition go buckwild on your rest days. Sometimes when we don't exercise we go into a spiral of bad habits and our eating isn't so great either. Try to keep your nutrition up to par, so when you get back at it the next day you'll be feeling fab and ready to go.

Rest days are important. Allowing your body some time to repair itself is something you need to be sure to do.  It is an important part of staying healthy.

and now on to the recipe...
Kristy posted this recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cookies the other day on her blog Sweet Treats and More, and it immediately caught my attention. I had to give it a try. I changed up a few things to add my own healthified twist, but she done good. These cookies were a hit!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cookies
(Adapted from Sweet Treats and More)

Ingredients: 
1/2  cup white sugar (You could substitute baking splenda/agave/honey here)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened (I used a 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup applesauce)
2 eggs (I used one whole egg and two egg whites)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup milk chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375.

In the bowl of your mixer cream together the butter and sugars until creamy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Mix in the mashed bananas, oats, and chocolate chips until well incorporated. Drop onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Banana bread in cookie form? What's not to love? 

Do you take a rest day? I definitely do! Every Sunday. How much do you love banana bread? I am a huge fan. Let's be honest, I love everything banana-chocolate chip-ish...