Vegan Cherry Peach Crumble Bars [and a chat about food freedom]

These Cherry Peach Crumble Bars give you the best of both worlds with both cherry AND peach preserves! Simple ingredients, vegan, gluten-free and so delicious. 

Recently I’ve been sharing on Instagram quite a bit about food freedom and letting go of your food rules. The rules you just made up for yourself, because you thought they were serving you in some way. When in reality all they’ve done is cause you stress and anxiety. I asked people in this post on Instagram, to direct message me if they were struggling. Because I honestly and truly wanted to hear from them after I shared that caption. I wanted to offer some kind of help. I was actually in awe of how many people reached out and asked for some advice. Or to just chat and let them know they had been there too. Those conversations made me realize even though we as society have come a long way in the diet culture and body positivity, we still have a long way to go.

Because most of the time, this desire to be healthy truly starts as an honest journey to better oneself. Just a lifestyle change, to better your overall health and wellbeing. But there are certain types of personalities out there that can twist that honest desire to be healthier, into an obsessive monster that takes over.

Any of these sound familiar?

Let’s have friends over for dinner tonight. Cue the silent panic attack. Because you already ate your allotted carbohydrates for the day, and typically having friends over for a meal means “unhealthy” food. 

Where do you want to go to out to eat? Somewhere with a menu you can look up beforehand, so you can ensure there is an option that is healthy enough for you. With a list of ingredients you can keep track of. 

We’re grabbing appetizers and drinks after work, come! What if I eat too many appetizers? Alcohol has too many calories…

Guys… I promise you life is so much more enjoyable when you can let your guard down around food.

When you’re not worrying about the food you’re eating while having a good time with friends.

Or how much fat is in the chips and guac you just ate – spoiler alert: a lot. And they tasted damn good, didn’t they?

Unfortunately UN-learning all of your food rules takes some time. Finding food freedom is a journey. I still catch myself mentally tracking some things and have to gently remind myself to cut. it. out. Because it isn’t worth it. And really, does it matter? When you find food freedom, plus balance and moderation everything will work itself out.

I don’t have the answers. But I think sharing our stories helps. It helps me, and it (hopefully) helps some of you too. I’m hoping that at some point the cycle will stop. But until then, we can lead by example and share our stories and struggles with one another. And eat plenty of chips and guac, sweet potatoes, bagels and oats along the way.

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below <3

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Oh. Did you want to talk about these

Cherry Peach Crumble Bars?

Yes, please.

WHAT YOU NEED

GF rolled oats

GF all-purpose flour or whole grain flour

coconut oil

coconut sugar or brown sugar

baking soda

cinnamon

salt

cherry preserves

peach preserves

Simple, simple!

The crumble mixture comes together in one bowl. You press about 2/3 of that into a square pan, top with your fruit preserves, then top with the remaining oat mixture and bake until golden brown.

My bars took about 30 minutes at 350F.

Once the bars have cooled, gently cut into squares and dive right in.

MMM I can not get over how tasty these are! Cherry and peach just belong together. And then to put them in an easy crumble bar form? SO GOOD.

Shoot. I forgot I wanted to serve and photograph ice cream with these cherry peach crumble bars!  I suppose that time for me has passed but I highly suggest you get your favorite ice cream out for these and enjoy the fruity oat goodness.

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