Paleo Energy Bites and an Anti-Inflammatory Update!

As promised in the last post, I have a recipe to share today.This recipe is Paleo, Anti-Inflammatory Diet friendly, and freaking delicious! The Anti-Inflammatory Diet has certainly been doing the trick. I have been following this diet very strict for the past 5 weeks. At my last appointment with my Naturopath she announced all of the Rheumatoid Arthritis markers that I was displaying at the beginning of this journey are completely gone. The swelling is down, I am not suffering from joint pain, headaches, nosebleeds, fatigue, upset stomach, cramping, choking, vomiting... I am feeling downright human again! So we have strong reason to believe that my symptoms were all due to an allergy. And the side benefit of this diet? I have lost an average of 3 pounds per week for the entire time I have been following the diet.

Next week will get a little bit tricky since that is when I slowly start to add foods back in and we look for any type of reaction. To be honest, I am almost afraid. I feel so good right now that I don't want to do anything to mess it up! But Mike had a really good point: if I eat something that makes me feel bad, don't eat it anymore. I know, total no-brainer, but I guess I really did need somebody to point that out to me.

Okay, enough chat... let's get on with this recipe thing already. Geez. So I picked this recipe to make because I was discovering that any prolonged activity (like a 20 mile bike ride, 3 hours of tennis, pickleball then tennis after, etc.) was completely depleting my stores of energy. I need to recondition my body to still be able to sustain itself while doing sports without the huge quantities of carbohydrates and sugar I was ingesting before. But in the meantime, to keep from bonking and taking naps on the tennis court, I decided to make some Anti-Inflammatory Diet friendly Energy Bites. These are also Paleo, if you happen to be following that diet.

 This recipe uses oats, almonds, unsweetened coconut, peanut butter, honey, and vanilla extract.

 I pulsed the oats in the food processor to make them smaller and easier to combine.

Pulsed oats.

 

 I put all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. It made a giant goopy mess.

 And then I played with it. The easiest way to make sure that it all gets evenly combined is to use your hands. And then you are a giant goopy mess, too. But you have to admit, it is fun being that sticky and sweet.

Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to make it easier to work with.

Then roll the mixture into 1-inch balls. It made about 55 for me, but I will admit that not all of my energy bites were of uniform size, so you can anticipate this making about 50 bites. Store them in the refrigerator. They will keep for a little over a week.

Paleo Energy Bites

Ingredients:

2 Cups Old Fashioned Oats
1 1/2 Cups Coconut Flakes, Unsweetened
1 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Cup Almonds, chopped
2/3 Cup Honey
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Place the oats in the food processor and pulse until they are broken up.

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and use your hands to work it all together until it is well combined. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Roll into 1-inch balls and store in the refrigerator.

Nutrition Information:

Per Energy Bite:
Calories -88
Carbohydrates - 9 g
Fat - 5 g
Protein - 2 g