For this week’s instalment of Make it Happen Mondays, I wanted to highlight a company that brings goodness to your body through 100% all-natural, organic, whole-food energy bars and seasoned nuts to help “Fuel Your Adventure.”

Cyclists love to munch on energy bars, gels, and bloks…right?  Most definitely.  But with all the choices out there, how do you select one that will give your body what it needs while at the same time avoiding some of the things that it doesn’t need?  Well, one way to do it is by “Keeping it Raw”.  Adventure Naturals products are made from nothing but whole raw foods, the best source of energy your body can get.

Based right here in Austin, TX…..Adventure Naturals is passionate about sharing healthy, nutritious, life-giving foods.  Thanks to my new friend Jimmy over at www.bamboocyclist.com , I was able to learn about this amazing company and talk to one of it’s founders, Caleb, about how to help promote them.  You see, Adventure Naturals is in need of funding to help “kickstart” their company.  They have a Kickstarter page where they give away product in exchange for your donations….you really should check it out and consider helping to get their stuff on more shelves.

The money will go to purchasing equipment such as food dehydrators, heat sealers, packaging, mixing bowls, paying out first months rent for kitchen rental, and our first batch of product. All funding will go directly into our start up costs. Any additional funding raised will be put directly back into the company.

I could go on and on about how excited I am to see what the guys over at Adventure Naturals are doing, but let me instead share a few words from Caleb himself:

One of the biggest hindrances to obtaining your ideal weight can be those mid-day snacks. This can be particularly challenging if you work in an office with easy access to vending machines and baked goods left by clients. Almost two years ago I switch to a high raw food diet and dropped 10 lbs fairly quickly. I’m an avid rock climber, runner and cyclist. I saw an immediate increase in my athletic performance.

The key to my success was multiple healthy snacks throughout the day, a smoothie for breakfast and a healthy salad (with homemade dressing) for lunch. My mid-day snacks consisted of healthy nuts and fruits. Just be careful you don’t consume too many fruits high in natural sugars, such as bananas, because this could lead to adrenal fatigue.

Another one of my favorite snacks are raw energy bars made from dates, nuts, and various seasonings. My love for this healthy snack and a high raw food diet eventually lead to the start of Adventure Naturals.

We are slated to start production in March and will be producing out of a kitchen in South Austin. You will be able to find our product in coffee shops, health food stores and athletic shops across town, as well as online. You can check us out on Kickstarter and help fund our startup costs. Your donation earns you free product! http://kck.st/couzJh You can also check us out online at http://www.adventurenaturals.com.

I have no reason to promote these guys other than the fact that I believe in them and see a great need for more products like theirs on the market.  I hope you’ll see the benefit in what Adventure Naturals has to offer and consider giving these guys a Kickstart….they have 21 days left to reach their goal.

P.S. If you haven’t heard about our “Cycling for Optimal Weight e-book yet….Check It Out.

As a special bonus, Adventure Naturals would like to share with us their recipe for making your own  “ Raw Shot Bloks”.

Raw Shot Blok Recipe

- 8 pitted dates

- 1/8 cup of agave nectar

- 1 TBSP of cacao powder

- 1/2 TBSP of chia seeds

- 1/8 cup of sunflower seeds ground into powder (using coffee grinder)

- juice of 1/2 a lemon

- juice of 1/2 a lime

Directions: Place all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until thoroughly mixed, scrapping the sides of the walls periodically. When finished you should have a fairly thick consistency, if not, add a couple of more dates. Once you have a thick consistency, using a spoon, dish out small dollops of the mixture onto a non-stick dehydrator sheet, you should be able to get about 24 shot blok size drops. Once you have the dollops on the sheet, wet your fingers and shape into squares as best you can.

After you have shaped your bloks, place in the dehydrator at around 110 degrees for 12-20 hours. I pulled mine out at around 12 for my morning run, they probably could have been left in a lot longer. These should keep well for several days, but I recommend using them as soon as possible, so if you are not going to use all of them in a few days I would cut the recipe in half.