I'm tired because of....energy drinks?

So lately I've been on a quest to figure out why I never have any energy. I realize that this is not normal, as I am a 26 year old who recently quit smoking, (yay oxygen!) eats primarily organic, and gets sufficient sleep. But still I drag myself through each day, relying on a cup or two of coffee in the morning, and several english breakfasts throughout the afternoon. For a while I was thinking that maybe I've gone a little crazy with the GF carbs, because the products available now are far superior to the saw dust blocks that were around when I first went of gluten. But my dad suggested that it may be caffeine, and recommended that I read "Caffeine Blues" by Stephen Cherniske So I did. And it makes a lot of sense. He has a checklist of symptoms, and shows you how to find out how much caffeine you're actually consuming in that giant mug of coffee. Turns out a good estimate for me is between 500 and 900 mgs of caffeine, depending on the day. I'm not a big fan of following other people's plans, so instead of the reduction plan the author outlines, I'm switching from coffee to black tea in the morning, and from black tea to green tea in the afternoon. I'll be doing that for a few weeks and then switching from black to green in the morning, and green to herbal in the afternoon. And before you know it I'll be caffeine free. This is actually pretty exciting, because this year is the year I vow to get super healthy, and so far I have made some excellent headway (the aforementioned organic food and cigarette ban.) maybe after this project I'll get back into yoga.

Tasty Cakes

I had a rough day today. I had to go get blood taken to confirm that I've had chicken pox, and when I have blood taken I have a tendency to hyperventilate, pass out, vomit, or any combination thereof. We all have a weakness or two, right? Anyway, now I'm ignoring my homework and doing the things I enjoy doing, one of which is baking. I just pulled some delicious oat cakes out of the oven. Wanna see? Here they are:

I know, they're tiny. Almost cookie-like. The dough ended up being a bit crumbly, so I scooped it onto my parchment-clad baking pans with the aid of a cookie dough scoop. I initially found a normal scottish oat cake recipe and adapted in using palm sugar instead of cane, coconut oil instead of butter, and adding my go-to spice combo, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Mmm. So the adaptations make this delicious snack a blood-sugar balancing, blood purifying, bad-flora killing super cookie. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, and they taste uh-MAZE-ing!

Modified Scottish Oatcake

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups oat flour (I just used my food processer)
1/4 cup palm/coconut sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves (guesstimate)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (ditto)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 egg
2 tablespoons water

You know the drill. Combine the dry, add the oil till crumbly, combine the wet together, then add that to the oat mess. I flattened them with the bottom of a glass, then baked at 350 for about 5-8 minutes (i wasn't paying attention, i just waited till they smelled done.)

If I find something else worth baking today, I will definitely let you know :)