Afternoon slump hits hard. Stress makes you want sugar, sure, but eating it is a trap. You crash.
Again.
So I made something else. Sugar-free chocolate protein balls. They keep me full, yes, but they do more.
Sami Clarke’s recipe was the base, but I swapped in a secret ingredient. Mindbodygreen’s chocolate beauty & gut collagen+. Why?
Because regular protein powder isn’t enough for my skin. Or maybe I’m just hungry.
This specific collagen uses organic cacao from South America, East Africa and the Dominican Republic. Roasted, ground, kept nutritious. Then sweetened with monk fruit —luo han guo, or Buddha fruit. No sugar. No spike.
It has vitamins C and E, biotin, hyaluronic acid. And collagen peptides. Research suggests these support skin elasticity, dermal density. The science is there if you care. I do, but mostly I care that I’m not hangry by 4 p.m.
Ready? It takes minutes. You get a week’s worth.
- 1.5 cups rolled oats
- ¾ cup peanut butter
- ¼ cup chia seeds
- 1 scoop chocolate collagen powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp extra cacao powder
Dump it in a bowl. Mix it up. Roll spoonfuls into balls. Stick them in the fridge.
Eat two. Feel fine.
Decadent without the doom.
Each ball runs about 105 calories. 4 grams protein, 6 grams fat, 8 grams carbs. Estimates, though. Check with a doctor if you are pregnant or on meds, always safer to ask.
They taste like guilt. Just kidding, they taste like chocolate.
And I still feel weirdly energized. Maybe it’s the collagen. Maybe it’s just having full stomach. Hard to tell sometimes, right?
