How about a Date? Benefits of Dates plus a Date Bread Recipe!

Is it a meal or a snack? It's a meal and a snack. The point is, you don't want to take snacks lightly. They're a crucial element in any hardgainers diet. Just as you add to your best poundages with those tiny 1 1/4-pound plates when you get past the beginner stage, so should you add to your consumption of food.

There are several reasons to take things slowly when you up your food intake. One good reason is to monitor your digestive capabilities for certain foods. Virtually no one can tell you if a food is going to agree with you. It's not unlike the trial and error of experimenting with supplements. If you use them all at once, there's no way you can distinguish what helped you make gains during the period you're monitoring. This is especially true with dairy products. While you may have found that milk disagrees with you, cottage cheese or yogurt may sit just fine.

Another reason to take it slowly when increasing your food intake is that even hardgainers put on fat more easily than they can take it off. Your metabolism is probably going to undergo some changes, and you have to modify your diet accordingly.

As hardgainers most of us are trying to slow down our metabolisms a bit by training intensely and then being very relaxed and sedate until it's time to hit the iron again. Adding a so-called snack to the mix is actually adding a meal.

Thinking of every snack as a meal will help increase your respect for the food you eat. Do you really want to throw an entire meal away by having that worthless candy bar? Probably not. Don't think that just because you have a high metabolism you can eat anything. Garbage in, garbage out. It all counts. Make the most of every meal, even if it's just a snack. Here's a snack that's not only wholesome and healthy, but will also quench your sweet tooth:

DATE BREAD EASY RECIPE

1 1/2 cups boiling water

2 cups chopped dates

4 cups whole-wheat flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 eggs

2 tablespoons melted butter 2 cups honey 1 tablespoon vanilla 1 cup chopped pecans Pour the boiling water over the dates and let them sit for 30 minutes.

Mix together the flour and baking soda in one bowl.

Mix together the eggs, butter, honey and vanilla in another bowl.

Combine the flour and egg mixtures well.

Add the dates and water and stir well.

Add the nuts.

Bake at 325 degrees in a buttered 9-by- 13-inch glass pan for about 45 minutes.

Refrigerate the leftovers. Cut pieces as you serve them to prevent the bread from drying out.

This makes 15 servings, each containing: Calories, 304 Protein, 5 grams Carbs, 58 Fat, 7*

*You can cut the fat in half by eliminating the pecans.