I don’t know about you, but sometimes around 2 or 3pm each day, I really start to want to take a nap. I’m serious, I get sleepy and groggy and I start to have trouble focusing. I’ve found that what I eat in the mornings and for lunch has a big impact on this occurrence (i.e. more protein and fat and fewer carbs), but I’ve also come up with some afternoon snacks that really hit the spot and rev me back up enough to stay in the work zone. Lately, I’ve been working from 7:30 in the morning till 5 or 8pm (depending when I have to do webinars), and I usually take a break at 10:30 or noon to do yoga or go for a walk. If I’m super in the zone, I wait till 3 and go plop myself on the beach for happy hour or walk to Venice and back. Of course you know I’m into working out smarter, not harder… and my real goal is just to do something active on most days. I find when I do this, I also have more even levels of energy in general.
All that being said, I still need a clean, high protein, low sugar, caffeine-free snack in the early afternoon.
Superfood Energy Boosting Gummies!
2 cups water
1 tea bag (I use this tea – it’s the main contributor to my non-stimulant energy boost!)
1/2 cup gelatin (Great Lakes – it’s the best quality)
sweetener to taste
Directions: put a splash of cold water in your blender (only if you have a vitamix or similar quality that has a super low speed) with a splash of the gelatin. You can also use a mixing bowl (and then mix it later with a hand mixer on super low, or whisk by hand). Boil the rest of the water, make it into tea. When it’s still very hot, add it to your blender or bowl, dump in your sweeteners and gelatin, and then mix on low until everything is dissolved. There may be some froth on top… Spoon it off and eat it! It’s good for you!
Pour this into a pan and refrigerate until it is firm. Cut it with a knife or cookie cutters and store it in or out of the fridge. I like it cold so I keep it in the fridge.
Note: If you blend this on a speed that’s too high (even low speed on cheaper blenders is too high), this will just turn completely to froth. If you don’t have a vitamix, I’d recommend the hand mixer or whisk-by-hand method.
Info on sweeteners I used in this:
In general, the sweeteners I tend to use are grade B maple syrup and local honey, and I typically combine those with some stevia if I want to cut the sugar content a bit.
You can also add essential oils (just a drop or two) to this to give it a different flavor. I’ve tried lemon and peppermint (but make sure, if you do this, that you’re using a really high quality oil!). If you want to learn more about essential oils or just chat about them in general, join my essential oils facebook page! We’re having a lot of interesting oily conversations over there—there are only two rules: Be Nice and Don’t Solicit Anyone. That’s easy enough, right?!
Here’s the video I made to tell you about how I’ve been using gelatin. The gummies recipe is described in it too!
News/Notes: I walked to Pilar’s house today so we could work on our next course… it’ll be launching on Tuesday! We also did some other strategizing, coffee-drinking, and Maya baby-worshipping!
One of the classes I teach started a new term yesterday… and we had some major (well not in the whole scheme of things) tech issues. I made a new best friend in Tech Support… then I wrote her a glowing review. Do you ever do that? I think I’ll start doing it more often. Usually, I just over-tip people and thank them for their help… but obviously I can’t tip the Tech Support lady, and how good does it feel when someone tells your boss how great you are?! I just got my student evaluation report from last term, and besides one student who commented “n/a” in that section, everyone else seemed pretty darn happy with my enthusiasm and knowledge on our topics (contemporary nutrition). I’ll tell you—it makes me want to do an even better job when I know people appreciate the effort and my passion for the work.
I’m off to work for a few more hours… Hope your week is great too!
Hmmm, ok, I had no idea most Stevias were from China. I hate to say it but that bothers me, I need to do some research! And, I need to try these gummies. I just think they sound like fun to make!! I’ve never made a gummy (the closest thing would be the jell-o shot I used to make, haha)
I am interested in these- is the consistency when finished supposed to be similar to “Jello” or different somehow? And are you saying you can leave them at room temperature? how long for, if so?
Hi Meri! These are denser than jello—more like gummies, but not 100% like a fruit snack you’d buy in the store. You don’t have to refrigerate them, I just usually do because I prefer them cold. But once they’ve “gelled” they can be left out at room temp. I’m guessing in a closed container they’d last a week or so.
Since you’re trying to eliminate your knee pain, I wanted to tell you that my knee pain was completely relieved from taking organic MSM powder…I mean GONE within days! I wasn’t even taking the MSM for that reason but it was sure a great surprise! The directions say to take 1/2 tsp per 100 lbs of body wt. 2 times per day. I just mix into my smoothie or water. I bought mine from The Raw Food World. I have no affiliation with them other than being a customer.
Hello, i called the great lakes gelatin company to ask if they had an “upper” limit of how much of the gelatin you could take and the customer service lady said no. She said she takes 9tbs throughout the day for arthritis and said it really helped her. she said she had been taking if for years. she said if you take too much you might get a lose stool because your body will only absorb so much. What are your thoughts?
Hi, why do you use tea? any substitute for that?
Hi Lisa! I just watched your video above and obviously you posted this video a year ago. I was wondering about the amount of gelatin you ended up taking daily and how the effect was on you? Also your knee pain and if it ended up helping 🙂 thank you!
For several months, I took 8 TBSP a day, and then I cut it down to 4. Since then, I’ve read some things by Ray Peat that suggest around 4 is the upper limit (although I don’t know why). I got a bit lazy about it over the last 10 months because I was pregnant, and I didn’t want to overdo anything. Before that though, my knee pain had disappeared fully and I noticed I was never bloated. Also… I was SO lean. I was probably the leanest I’ve ever been in my life with great muscle tone and I was just walking and doing yoga a couple times a week for exercise. I did do some stairs workouts in there, but not enough to get the results (or arm strength) that I got. Now that I’m two months postpartum, I’m adding in a Tbsp or so a day, and within a couple days I noticed a difference in my body—I was less hungry and after being at the same weight for 6 weeks (no matter what I eat), I dropped two pounds. I plan to go back to 4 Tbsp a day and see what happens. If you google Ray Peat and gelatin you’ll find some in-depth info that I haven’t found anyplace else (it’s kinda long and dense, but worth picking through!).
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