Recently I was reading the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, about Mexico's Tarahumara Indians in the Copper Canyons who have an amazing ability to run extreme long distances. In the book McDougall describes the pre-run concoction of choice for the Tarahumara, which is made from chia seeds. A quick run through the Googler and you'll see that Chia pets aren't just for your window seal anymore. They're for your belly too.
Always looking for marathon-level fuel, I recently came across the Bearded Brothers Energy Bars, an energy bar made by two Austin brothers.
I wanted to see if the energy bars were legit, which is honestly arbitrary considering I don't know what makes an energy bar legit, other than a Snickers isn't.
The first ingredient are dates, which have been the basis of entire civilizations for thousands of years. Then almonds, which is on every you-absolutely-should-eat-this-everyday list. Followed by vanilla rice protein (made with whole brown rice protein, vanilla, pectin, xanathum gum and stevia), blueberries, chia seeds and sea salt. All organic.
And as energy bars go, they're pretty good. Not Snickers good, but good.
I talked to Caleb, half of the Bearded Brothers, and mentioned Born to Run and he knew exactly what I was talking about. He explained that he does a lot of rock climbing and running and started making his own organic energy bar years ago because he couldn't find the right combination of things he liked the most.
"Very few energy bars have chia," said Caleb. "And it's just a no-brainer. They're full of Omega-3s, protein and so many other things. They're also great for hydration."
Right now they're only available locally at Bolsa Mercado in Oak Cliff, but the brothers hope to spread their wings to other stores soon.
They're also available online $12 for four or $36 for a case.
Flavors include Bodacious Blueberry Vanilla, Colossal Coconut Mango, Fabulous Ginger Peach and Mighty Maca Chocolate.
