Do you sometimes reach mid-afternoon and feel like you could fall asleep where you sit? Even though you have good sleeping habits and thought you had slept well? That mid-afternoon slump is generally blood-sugar related, and for me, come 3pm and I could fall asleep where I stand or sit.
That’s when it’s so easy to reach for a bar of chocolate, or a bag of crisps, but obviously these provide only temporary blood sugar spikes and don’t solve the problem long term.
There are a few things you can do to help keep your blood sugar levels steady – getting enough rest, drinking plenty of water, and eating regular small meals will help keep those cravings at bay too. All that said though, there are times when having a supply of healthy snacks on hand can make all the difference.
I love bliss balls – a raw food snack – for this purpose. They are quick to make, and keep well, so you only have to make them once a week or two, and will find that you only need one or two at a time to boost your energy and curb the cravings too.
These snacks are from the eBook Bliss Balls For Beginners, and while eating your way to feeling better is very much a temporary solution, it’s a better way than an excess of sugary snacks!
These ‘bliss balls’ don’t really have a way to go ‘wrong’. If you add a little more or a little less of something, it won’t hugely affect the outcome, but be careful of adding too much liquid (like the coconut oil or lemon juice) as it’s harder to form the balls if it’s too wet.
- 1 cup (250ml) Goji berries
- 1 cup (250ml) dates
- 1 cup (250ml) cashews
- 1 cup (250ml) almonds
- ¼ cup (60 ml) lemon juice - more if mix is too dry
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) coconut oil
- A pinch of rock or Himalayan pink salt
- Blitz the Goji berries finely in a food processor, then remove a quarter of the mixture and set aside. Add the dates, cashews, almonds, lemon juice, coconut oil and a pinch of salt, and process together till the mixture is moldable.
- Shape into balls or bars and roll in the remaining Goji berries.
- Keep in an airtight container and they'll last for ages.
In terms of nutritional value, between the berries and the dates there is quite a bit of fruit sugar, so of course, this is still a treat, but at least the release seems to be slower (my totally unscientific experience!) Each ball holds roughly 2g of protein and 4g of (mainly coconut oil) fat too, which seems to work well for giving me the boost I need.
Everyone who’s tried the goji berry bliss balls has agreed that they hit that ‘sweet spot’ and that just one or two balls is sufficient, which in my view makes the calories worth it. And they’re tasty too – so that’s an added bonus!