I'm Ready for My Close-up...

We just realized that we have never posted pictures of our products. Shame on us! But with all of the orders that we have been filling in the last few weeks, our Mighty Bites! are flying off the shelves. We finally found a moment yesterday afternoon to get a batch of our newest flavor "Loco Cocoa Oscuro" to sit still for a photo-op.

We are also introducing our new packaging for our small orders - the "Spaceman Pack" - a travel pack of 3 Bites! for that you can slip into your backpack for a weekend bike ride, or in your gym bag for a hard workout.

Spaceman Packs (3 Bites)

Mighty Bites! will continue finding better ways to package your energy in ways that are simple, nutritious, and delicious!

stay healthy! rawr!

Welcome to the Dark Side

The Dark-side has drawn our Troopers in! The new Loco Cocoa Oscuro flavor is so popular with our Mighty Bites! Troopers that one of our Troopers, who shall remain nameless, (*coughcoughBrandoncough*) finished off an entire jar of samples meant for our Equinox Club House!

Safe to say, we are happy to hear that the new flavor is so popular. We are currently producing "Loco Cocoa Remix" batches - equal parts Original to Oscuro Bites! - for our customers to try and choose which flavor you prefer.

Our question to our customers: Will you embrace the Dark Side? Or are you faithful to the O.B. (Original Bite!)?

stay healthy! rawr!

New flavor Alert! It's Getting Dark in Here...

New flavor Alert! New flavor Alert!

I accidentally stumbled upon a new flavor yesterday when I was pulling together some orders for one of our club houses, Mad Dawg School of Fitness. I delivered the accidental Bites! as the 7pm class was finishing their workout - and they all were the first to taste-test our newest flavor: Loco Cocoa Oscuro. And safe to say, they were a hit!

The Loco Cocoa Oscuro Bites! are a Dark Chocolate version of the original Loco Cocoa Bites! flavor. The ingredients are the same (walnut, coconut, date, fig, cocoa, vanilla, honey) - but the cocoa is DARK. I hadn't realized that the brand of cocoa I usually buy has a Dark Chocolate version, and I inadvertently purchased and used the dark chocolate cocoa. I was very surprised when the batch I prepared yesterday afternoon was significantly darker than any other batch I had made before. The perfectionist that I am, I checked the quality of all of my ingredients and equipment, and of course, the last thing I noticed was the small difference in the cocoa powder label - "DARK." Duh!

I finished preparing the batch of six Baker's Dozens and two Bulk orders, and then set a few samples aside to taste. I was not sure how popular the new Dark flavor would be - I have a pension for Dark Chocolate, but not everyone is a fan. I crossed my fingers and hoped my clients would be satisfied.

Instant hit! If you are a gluten-free gal/guy like me, and miss your mom's brownies - I think I might have a solution for you. And the best thing is, our Mighty Bites! (including our newest Dark flavor) are made from all-natural ingredients that are preservative-free, gluten-free, low-glycemic, soy-free, lactose-free, raw and vegan. We think these Bites! beat any boxed-brownie mix -- we do NOT use corn syrup, vegetable oil, weird powder from a box, or eggs. And our Oscuro Bites! are moist, chocolately, and delicious! We think you will be pleasantly surprised - you might never have a traditional brownie ever again!

Give in to your dark side, order some Loco Cocoa Oscuro Bites! today.

stay healthy! rawr!

No Need to Form a Line

We are proud to announce that we have now added an online order form to streamline our Mighty Bites! orders. Place your orders online, or contact a Mighty Bites! Trooper.

Our Troopers will be delivering Bites all over the Bay Area - be sure to check out our Feeding Time schedule to find out where Bites are being delivered near you. Troopers make regular deliveries to our Club Houses. We are happy to deliver to a mutually-convenient rendezvous or deliver directly to your home/office ($30 minimum order within San Mateo County, $100 minimum order outside of San Mateo County).

stay tuned! stay healthy! rawr!

Filling Orders!

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Filling orders! Filling orders!
We will be filling orders, on our brand-spankin'-new industrial food processor!If you would like to place an order, please contact Jessica. 
We are happy to introduce a new order size: "Bulk" - we will be offering 30 Bites! for $30.00. All proceeds donated to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Orders placed by 4pm, Monday, April 18th will be filled by Tuesday, April 19th. We will be making a delivery to North Peninsula TNT Track Practice (at CSM) on Tuesday evening, April 19th.
Orders placed by 4pm, Tuesday, April 19th will be filled by Thursday, April 21st. We will be making a delivery to Mad Dawg School of Fitness on Thursday, April 19th. 

To arrange a Migthy Bites! pick-up or drop-off, please contact Jessica. 

And We're Back!

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Thanks to the exceedingly generous gesture of my good friend, and former employer, Nico T., Mighty Bites! will be up and running again very soon. 

Nico & Bern, his fabulous wifey, have donated an industrial food processor to Mighty Bites! so that we can get our fundraising campaign back into full-gear. We will be churning out Loco Cocoa Bites! in no time, so please place your orders by contacting your Mighty Bites! Trooper. 

Thank you Nico & Bern for reaching out and offering your help to GeeTEAM's campaign to raise awareness and funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!
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All Systems Down!

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Major systems malfunction - my production equipment (a.k.a. my food processor) is now officially retired. While pulling together a batch of Mighty Bites! Monday evening, my food processor decided to call it quits. And, unfortunately, until I find the time (and quite honestly the dough to invest in a great system), production has come to a screeching halt. If you have a pending order, please contact me directly to rearrange delivery dates and to discuss the "patience incentive."

What's that? You don't know what a patience incentive is? Well, you are in for a treat (literally!)...

When I was a kid, my mother taught me the importance of patience. Standing in lines, waiting on someone to follow-up or follow-through, sitting in traffic, waiting for someone to appreciate your hard work, etc. -- all of those wonderful moments when we can feel our pulse ticking in our temples and our hands ringing in our laps = patience-training moments. In these moments we call on the best of ourselves by giving the benefit of the doubt, tapping into the inner-zen, woo-sahh, woo-saaahhh. In these moments we demonstrate the best of ourselves. By no means is patience-training an exercise in how-to-be-a-doormat, or less affectionately known as ineffective assertion of your own will. On the contrary! Patience-training is an exercise in understanding what it is that you want and how badly you want it.

Are you rapping your fingernails on the table at the restaurant awaiting the waiter to notice your bread basket is empty? Are you leaning over the bar at an uncomfortable distance from the ground awaiting the drink-tender to notice your growing thirst? Are you fidgeting in your seat waiting for your friends to notice your new haircut? We have all been there and will be there again.

This is what my mother taught me: "Jessica B___ Gee," she said in her stern-motherly voice (because your mother always says your entire name when she wants to be sure you are paying attention, I am convinced this is why parents give you a first and middle name). "Be patient. Waiting for what you want is not easy. Waiting for what you want is hard. Waiting is a skill, and you have to practice." This was usually met with pouting, whining and other obvious displays of my impatience. To which my mother would reply, "Jessica B___ Gee. There is not anyone in this universe who does not appreciate patience. You expect patience, you offer patience. You get what you give: you give patience to someone and someone will return it to you. And when they return it, they will probably offer a 'patience incentive,' or a gift for your understanding, consideration, and recognition that everyone is human. Life happens, and when we depend on others, we sometimes have to wait. Wait well and you will be rewarded. Just you see..."

Intrigued with the prospective of reward, I waited patiently - not necessarily happily - but I practiced patience. In taking advantage of patience-training moments, I have received many more benefits than impairments/detriments. So, I continue to pay patience forward. And like my mother, I offer positive reinforcement in the form of "patience incentives" to those who offer me the same considerations.

Long story short, thank you for your patience as I continue to get this fund-raising effort off the ground. There are bound to be various hiccups along the way, as I am forming, packaging and distributing these nutritious little morsels in and from my kitchen. And I look forward to unveiling my new machinery to the pleasure of all Mighty Bites! friends and fans! RAWR!!

stay tuned! stay healthy! rawr!

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For Feedback

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We have introduced "Rawr!" to our website - a place for our customers to offer their snaps and shout-outs to Mighty Bites! and our products. 

Check it out to see what our customers are rawr-ing about! 

stay tuned! stay healthy! rawr!
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What To Do When You Crave Baklava

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"Good" Cookie.

I am a self-professed Cookie Monster. I am a self-professed Sucker-for-Anything-Sweet. It is a truth that took me a long time to admit, but when I was able to step away from the pastry counter and assess the sugary damage, I can now admit, with little shame, that I am a sugar addict.

My perspective on my addiction has changed dramatically in the last few months, as I came to terms with the actual amount of sugary goodness that I consumed in an average day in my "previous life." I did not eat birthday cake on a regular basis, nor did I keep cookie dough in a mini-fridge near the foot of my bed. But I ate fresh fruit regularly (healthy, right?) and I would indulge on the occasional pastry or slice of dessert. I rarely drank drinks loaded with un-godly amounts of ooey-gooey syrups, and I rarely ate condensed sugars in the form of candy bars and bags of sweet-n-sour delights. I never considered myself a sugar addict. I definitely did not over-indulge. I definitely did not NEED it. I just did not see a need for me to reduce the amount of sugar that I was consuming, because it was not a problem.

Everything changed when I responded to a challenge to live my life with full awareness of what I was putting into my body (good fuel? bad fuel? stuff-that-will-get-me-through-the-day-but-I-won't-thrive fuel?) and how I felt as a consequence. Everyone has a food weakness - too little of a good thing, too much of a bad thing. Outside observers remarked that my weakness might be sugar - this was said gently by my significant other from across the table while I was noming on a cream cheese danish and a glass of fresh-squeezed juice, I admit that there were daggers in my eyes. I was advised to take an account for how much glucose, fructose, and other -oses I was consuming and how these ooey-gooey delicacies were affecting my mood, mental acuity, bodily function, body composition, sleep patterns, etc.

Bad Cookie.

So I did it: I cut sugar out completely. That's right - COMPLETELY. The most miserable thirty days of my life. If you have ever tried to cut something out of your life completely, whether or not it is good/bad, right/wrong, person/place/thing - it is not easy. And if you talk to someone who is going through the "pain-period" of abstinence (of any kind), they will advise you AGAINST it.

But, like any good moral-ed story, I found that the pain period, while painful (obviously!), was necessary. I admit to the moments when I would curse at my empty freezer (no ice cream??), the pastry counter, and the dessert menu. I got close to breaking down and stuffing my face with Swedish Fish, Chocolate-covered Pretzels, and baklava. But I didn't. Good gracious, there were moments when I wanted nothing more than to jump the counter at the local coffee shop and ... I will not finish that thought. But I didn't. Instead, I suffered: suffered the cravings, suffered the anger that followed the cravings, and suffered the shame following the anger.

I also "suffered" from better moods & less mood swings; my chronic headaches and migraines stopped; I had greater mental acuity, slept better, looked better and just overall felt good. Really good. Because the good consequences far outweighed the constant sugar cravings, I wanted to keep it up - so I continued my sugar-free crusade and battled my cravings.

After about two months of crusading, I came across the terrible news that I needed to reintegrate sugar into my diet - I am training for an endurance event, and we need to have sugar supplements on our person to consume during the races. Overcome with panic, I reeled at the thought of having to find a way to reintroduce sugar without opening the floodgates to my old friends (double-fudge brownies and the crew of devilish delectables). I did some research, I worked within certain restrictions (unprocessed, natural foods) and I got creative. I broke out my food processor and tried lots of things. Some recipes were disastrous. Some were decent. Some had potential. And then one, one was superb!

I introduced the Loco Cocoa Mighty Bite! to my family and friends, then my teammates, and now to anyone who wants to try. And, so far, I haven't had a taste-tester who did not like them.

So, with some perspective and distance from the baklava that is currently staring at me from behind the pastry counter at a local coffee shop in Davis, CA - I can tell you what I learned as a recovering sugar-monster. When you crave baklava, and NEED bakalva, do the sensible thing: think natural, think unprocessed, think good fuel. And get creative! You never know when you might make something that is better than a cookie.


stay tuned! stay healthy! rawr!
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Movin n' Shakin'

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Welcome to the new Mighty Bites! site - we are happy to have you!


Our little effort is growing - exponentially! Within a week of unveiling the C.U.M.F.O.R.T.S. blanket projects, we raised $1,000 for LLS and commissioned an entire project - PROJECT MATT is 100% commissioned and 45% complete. We are now well into our fund-raising effort for our second project - PROJECT ROB - and, as of this morning, we have raised $468 for LLS in honor of Rob Randolph and have commissioned 46% of Rob's blanket.

At C.U.M.F.O.R.T.S. blanket, we have opened Nominations for Projects, so that you can nominate someone from your Community to receive receive a comfort item. We have also added Projects to our repertoire, so that when you nominate an Honoree you can choose from multiple Projects (to be commissioned for the Honoree) based on her/his needs! We have also created a space for our Events - so check back often for announcements about Instructional Classes, Project Parties, Fundraising Socials, and more! ... it is getting crazy around the C.U.M.F.O.R.T.S. blanket office, but we are excited for the momentum propelling our fundraising efforts forward.

In the same instant, our Mighty Bites! are being devoured (nomnom!) as soon as they are packaged. In the last week, our orders have gone from a few dozen a week to a few dozen a day - and based on the feedback we are receiving from those that have tried (and tried again) our Bites!, we expect orders to continue to fly off the shelves.

So with this, we wish you a "bonjour" from our new home: http://mightybites.blogspot.com.

stay tuned! stay healthy! rawr!

Nourishment: Necessities for existence, maintenance, and vitality.

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Nu·tri·tion [noo-trish-uhn, nyoo-] -- noun
1. the act or process of nourishing or of being nourished.
2. the process by which organisms take in and utilize food material.

Synomyms:
1. Food: nutriment, nourishment, grubbery, goodies, bites, comestibles, provisions, viands, chow, fare, feed, entrée, slop.
2. Sustenance: necessities for existence, comestible, livelihood, maintenance, nourishment, provision, subsistence, wherewithall.
3. Nutriment: nourishment, maintenance, support, aliment, pabulum, provender, viands, victuals, vittles.

Origin: 1551 (nutritive is recorded from c.1400), from L. nutritionem (nom. nutritio) "a nourishing," from nutritre "nourish, suckle." Nutritious is first attested 1665, from L. nutricius "that which nourishes, nurses," from nutrix (gen. nutricis) "a nurse," from nutrire. First record of nutritionist is from 1926.

Nutrition has been an important consideration for me as I continue with my training for the marathon portion of my involvement with Team in Training - on June 18th, I will be completing a full marathon (that is 26.2 miles, people!) in Anchorage, Alaska. I am also recovering from a herniated disc in my cervical spine (a painful neck injury), and proper nutrition can only help me on my way to a speedy recovery. Because of these considerations, my relationship with food has changed significantly.

Food has played many roles in the many scenes of my life: alternating between comforting, nourishing, and toxic (sometimes all three at the same time!). But my treatment of food has always been unbalanced, unfocused, and undirected. I never took the time to analyze the fuel I was injecting into my body - food that was directly proportional to the nutrition that my body would (or would not) be able to extract. It was not until I took 30 days to "clean" up my nutritional input, so that I could properly account and evaluate the effects of nutrition on my daily performance. And those 30 days were HARD - to be perfectly colloquial, they SUCKED. For 30 days, I ate healthy veggies, fruit and meat (because to be healthy, we have to consume healthy foods) and some nuts - trying to align my nutritive choices with optimal digestion and nutrient absorption. I have to admit, the trained physiologist in me really geeked out on this stuff! And while my soft body and my primitive mind thought it "SUCKED," my body-in-training and rational mind found something completely different. I realized the possibility of altering my output by directly altering my input.

I am still learning, a meer "seedling" when it comes to understanding and implementing the science of positive, clean eating - but I do know that I feel different. The fog has been lifted, and just in time! My recovery and training insist upon better fuel for better healing and performance. To push myself the extra mile, to ensure that my body is strong and healthy; I need to take care of the building blocks for those activites: my muscles, joints, bones, blood, and brain. And the building blocks for those building blocks: the nutritients that I absorb from my food and integrate into my own chemistry - like a mama-bird building her nest.

I really contend with the current connotation of the word diet, which usually implies some temporary change in what you can/cannot consume to lose weight. I prefer the primary (the first listed) definition "food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health." So... With this new diet, I have become conscious of what I am and am not putting into by body as fuel for my daily activity. I have also considered adjustments for my healing. And further adjustments for my fueled endurance activities. Most runners rely on quick (and portable) energy in the form of bars, gels and supplements. But these, largely artificial, sources of energy are out of the equation for me. So where do I turn for good quality, naturally composed, and "healthy" quick and portable energy? I make it myself, of course!

I spent some time researching good energy sources, what I might need to consume pre- & post-workout, and delicio-sity. I came up with a chocolaty nugget - a tasty little treat. I originally produce these treats with the intention of nourishing my body as I powered through my workouts, and then through my intense stretching sessions with my physical therapist; I stockpiled these nom-noms in my fridge. My official taste tester suggested I share them with others who were trying clean eating, or were skeptical that clean eating could be tasty. So I shared them. And then, why not share them with my teammates also in training? At this point, it was suggested that I use sell these nuggets - an idea I was not particularly comfortable with, because I would rather cook a meal and share it than be the chef preparing/distributing a meal (perhaps a phobia from my years in food service). Buuuuut... "How about as a fundraiser?"

Today, I am proud to introduce Mighty Bites!, which are mighty simple & mighty delicious all-natural Energy Bites. These Bites! are made from natural ingredients, mostly dried fruit and nuts. They are low-glycemic, gluten-free, soy-free, lactose-free, vegan and raw. Our original flavor, which we have dubbed "Loco Cocoa" is made of (and only of) date, fig, coconut, walnut, cocoa powder, natural vanilla, and honey. We are currently developing our "24-Carrot Golden Delicious" Bites!. Our Bites! are still made in my kitchen, packaged in recyclable glass jars, and distributed by Mighty Bites! friends and fans, fondly known as our Troopers from Mighty Bites! Troop 17. Our Troopers bring these delectable healthy treats directly to you - or will meet you half way! - with samples and pre-packaged orders. If you would like to try the Bites! or just hang out with a Trooper, drop them a line.

We are recruiting! Members of Troop 17 receive a free Baker's dozen of their choice of Mighty Bites! for every $75 raised - that is a $15 value! That means, if you purchase $75-worth of Mighty Bites!, you automatically qualify to be a Trooper. If you are interested in joining Troop 17, please contact Jessica.

Stay healthy, my friends! If you don't have a handle on your health, then you don't have a handle on your life. Take the reins, be your own master, [insert a slew of other inspirational-clichés here] ... If you want to chat me up about my foray into the nutritional wilderness, I would be happy to talk with you - leave me a message on my facebook, twitter, etc.

stay tuned! stay healthy! rawr!

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