Raw Energy Balls with Diatomaceous Earth and Superfoods (Paleo, Vegan, GF)

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Raw Energy Balls with Diatomaceous Earth and Superfoods are Paleo, Vegan, Gluten free and GAPS. Below I discuss each of the ingredients and what makes these ingredients healthy.

From an eating perspective — Hibiscus-dusted energy balls make your mouth buzzy and happy. From a nutritional standpoint, they’re not full of high-fructose fruit, such as dates.

I wanted an energy ball that was low-sugar, no nuts or seeds, easy to digest and genuinely a superfood bite. I think I’ve created just that, and it’s delicious! It’s also rich and satisfying, so it’s perfect for a grab-and-go snack.

Nutrient dense energy ball with DE

I’m pleased with the nutrient-dense ingredients: coconut, hibiscus, bee pollen, spirulina, honey, diatomaceous earth and lime oil (optional).

My favorite way to eat the balls is rolled in the powdered dried hibiscus blossoms. This gives them their added citrusy zip that is quite energizing and happy-making.

Diatomaceous earth is the muse of the cookie bite. I made these with the desire in mind of finding a way to incorporate DE into an (egg-free) treat, for its pathogen killing properties.

Learn more about Diatomaceous Earth

If you’d like to learn more about this supplement, I posted last week about how to use DE 1) in a cleansing regimen, as well as 2) a lovely, fun biscuit recipe that uses it!

(If you don’t want to use DE, but still want this lovely energy ball cookie, I recommend substituting grass-fed collagen [find it here] in its place [obviously not vegan].)

Ingredients in DE Energy Balls

Let’s talk briefly about the other four super foods I chose to use in this recipe and what makes them so special:

• Hibiscus — This flower is a personal favorite of mine. I make hibiscus tea homemade from the loose blossoms, loving its restorative qualities and the high dose of vitamin C. Hibiscus can help with sleep issues and is known for its crazy-high levels of antioxidants. To learn more about hibiscus, see my post here.
  • What’s really cool in this recipe is eating the blossoms, instead of making them into tea, by powdering them in the blender. They are super citrusy and make a lovely dusting for the balls. You really taste the zing as the powder hits your tongue and lips. And the zing feels fun and exciting. What a way to receive energy! Even the power of taste can impart energy to us, when it’s followed by the nutrient-dense food that provided the flavor.
• Bee pollen — Bee pollen may have detoxifying effects. It contains 11 enzymes and coenzymes that may aid in digestion, too. Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions, essential for nutrient utilization and other bodily functions. Overall, bee pollen contains a diverse array of hundreds of biologically active compounds — including proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and powerful antioxidants.
• Optional: Spirulina — High in minerals and protein, this algae is also easy to digest and absorb. It is high in calcium and antioxidants as well as B complex vitamins, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc and phosphorous. A little goes a long way, so I don’t overdo spirulina. But if you feel you need a zap of nutrition, spirulina is certainly loaded. (Caution with spirulina, which is why it’s optional, it’s high in beta carotene, which we can get too much of, and it’s also high in copper, iron and vitamin E — three more nutrients we need to not overdo.) 
  • I now make a version of these Energy Balls without the spirulina, wherein I mix hibiscus powder into the ball ingredients in spirulina’s place. It’s just a bit gentler this way, with less copper, vitamin A and even iron, which can accumulate if we get too much of it.
• Coconut — Coconut butter (learn how to make your own here), or manna, is full, of course, of coconut oil. Coconut oil is full of medium-chain-triglycerides. These are fatty acids that are small molecularly, smaller than say, vegetable oils’. They are, therefore, easy to digest and instead of being stored as fats, MCTs, as they’re called, burn right up and become fuel, or energy, for our bodies. This process speeds up our metabolism. (Carbohydrates go through a similar process, the difference being that they produce an insulin spike.) MCTs go one step further; they even help our bodies to burn fat for energy. They’re a great fat to assist healing and to boost the immune system.
  • Also noteworthy for those of us healing our bodies of pathogen overgrowth, a main point of this recipe, is that coconut oil contains lauric acid, a compound that gets converted into monolaurin. I have purchased monolaurin alone for its pathogen killing properties. It is both powerfully anti-viral and antibacterial. This is the just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all of coconut oil’s benefits. But suffice it to say, whole ground up coconut is a nutrient dense food, yielding energy and potentially healing properties.

Print Recipe

4.88 from 8 votes

Raw ENERGY BALLS with Diatomaceous Earth

Raw Energy Balls with Diatomaceous Earth offer a pathogen killing snack that's very low in "sugar" and is only sweetened lightly with bee safe honey. Paleo, Vegan, Gluten free.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Total Time25 minutes mins

Course: healthy dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: diatomaceous earth, energy balls, no sweetener, paleo, vegan

Servings: 25 balls

Calories: 115kcal

Author: Megan

Cost: $3.50

Equipment

• mixing bowl

Ingredients

• 5 cups dried coconut , shredded, or 1-½ cups coconut butter, softened
• 2 Tablespoons raw honey , look for "bee safe" for Vegan
• 2 Tablespoons hibiscus petals dried, powdered, from 1 cup flowers in the blender
• 1 Tablespoons bee pollen
• 1 Tablespoons diatomaceous earth food grade
• optional: 2 teaspoons spirulina or blue green algae; or sub with powdered hibiscus for less beta carotene, iron and copper (gentler nutritionally); or sub with hemp seeds for extra protein
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 drops lime essential oil , or 3 drops lime culinary oil

Instructions

• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
• Place dried coconut into food processor or high speed blender. Process for 3-15 minutes (depending on how fast your machine liquefies the coconut), to make coconut butter/manna. (See Recipe notes below for greater detail.)
• Stop the motor when the dried coconut is liquefied. Add the remaining ingredients. (They're all so pretty!) Process again briefly, just until ingredients are evenly mixed, about 30 seconds, scraping down the sides and bottom once, in the middle, to help evenly incorporate all the ingredients.
• Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and place them on the prepared cookie sheet. Freeze them for 15 minutes and then roll each ball in the leftover powdered hibiscus, as desired.
• Balls can be refrigerated long-term, in a sealed container, until ready to serve or snack on. They can also be frozen; but they're really hard to bite into when they're that cold - yummy too!

Notes

Here is how to make coconut butter.

Nutrition

Calories: 115kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Sodium: 9mg | Potassium: 96mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 5IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 1mg

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