Freshmen Fridays: Ch Ch Ch Chia

“What time do you want to get up tomorrow?” my friend asked me at 1 AM on the Friday night before Homecoming. “7? 7:30?”

Um, no? But with a sickening feeling, I suddenly realized I had agreed to run the Homecoming 5K, bright and early on Saturday morning.

7:30 came (snooze), as did 7:45 and 8 before I finally got up to stumble down the hall to tell my friend there was no way I was about to race three miles. But there she was, waiting by the elevator, decked out in neon Under Armour, looking too perky to let down. So I turned around, put on my own neon get-up, and shivered my way to Shoemaker Green.

As I handed over my $20 registration fee, the student behind the table tossed me a plastic freebie bag of PennRec flyers. “We ran out of t-shirts,” she explained unapologetically. And that was the last straw. There I was grumpy, groggy, cold. Was I actually paying for this? I would have shelled out more to sleep in. So, I did what any other disgruntled, disheveled runner would have done. I found the one freebie they had plenty of–Health Warrior Chia Bars, supplied by the company to test out on college students–and I stole 24.

My impulse act of revenge turned out to be the best decision of the morning. The chia seed bars are surprisingly tasty. Health Warrior recently redesigned the bars and packaging and they now come in six scrumptious flavors: coconut, acai berry, apple cinnamon, banana nut, coffee, and chocolate peanut butter. Each bar is a neatly packed rectangle of a chia-seed-based concoction, which also incorporates cashew butter, rolled oats, brown rice syrup, and agave. The flavors are distinct (my favorite remains coconut) and because chia seeds expand with moisture, the snacks are surprisingly filling. Not to mention, the sticky-sweet bars are guilt-free nibblers, coming in at just 100 calories per bar and boasting Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.

So while the 5K wasn’t quite my ideal Saturday morning, I made it through, and it was worth it to discover a new favorite snack. I’m down from 24 bars to 2.

– Byrne Fahey