Blog Post #3

Genius Hour Blog #3

        Welcome back for the last time, this has been an awesome journey. I cannot believe it has already been a month since we started our Genius Hour projects. As the Quest for Protein comes to a stop, I am proud to say that I am very satisfied with my creation and my Genius Hour project. After creating the nutrition chart, I realized just how healthy and good the protein balls were. It was so hard to believe at first that just a small snack could contain 7grams of protein. Aside from being a protein source, there are so many other benefits to the snack. They are a good source of Omega 3 &6 fats, fiber, Thiamine (vitamin b1), and, magnesium. It has been a week since I made them, and I am still enjoying them every single day. I even had a couple of my roommates and friends from my cohort to try them and everyone gave it a thumbs up. My roommate even agreed that they tasted like the chocolate, Reece Cups. What I love the most about the snack is that I do not have to worry about having protein shakes. It is now easier for me to get an adequate amount of protein after my workouts. The snack is definitely not the only source of protein I should ingest to gain muscle mass, but it definitely beats having to buy protein bars. Store-bought protein bars are so expensive and often are very costly. The fact that all of the ingredients only cost me $15 for 40 protein balls is incredible.

I was able to accomplish the objectives for my Genius Hour project. My objective was to come up with a snack for vegetarians who do not get an adequate amount of protein in their meals to gain muscle mass. The daily suggested serving for a female that is trying to increase their muscle mass is 0.7g-1g per pound of lean mass. I aim for 60grams each day and through the snack I made, I can get 14-16 grams of protein. Something I learned about myself during this project was how much money I spent regularly on protein bars every week. I was spending anywhere from $20-$25 every week for protein supplements. Whereas now, I only need to spend $15 to have a supply that will last me 3-4 weeks. I also learned that I would not read the ingredients on the protein bars and just assume that they were good for me. While doing more in-depth research, I realized that some of the protein bars I was having were not even healthy. They had the protein in them which I needed, but the rest of the ingredients were not nutritious. I love having to make my own snack because this way I know what I am consuming.

My next step for this project is to share my recipe with as many people as possible so everyone can devour this convenient and affordable snack. I hope you all enjoyed reading my blog and do hope you all give this recipe a go. ENJOY!