How Chia Seeds Inspired 3 College Friends to Start a Superfood Company

Before college friends Dan Gluck, Nick Morris, and Shane Emmett started their superfood company, Health Warrior, they competed as collegiate athletes. But their desk jobs changed the game, shifting their lifestyles from active to more sedentary. “We were working 80-hour weeks. In your 20s, you can still get a marathon in here or there, but for me, turning 30 was the Maginot line when diet became paramount,” Shane said.

Life changed after the trio read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, a book that transports readers deep into Mexico’s Copper Canyons, where the Tarahumara people are known to run more than a hundred miles at a time with little rest or injury. One of their secrets? Chia seeds, which give their bodies a source of protein and energy.

Dan, Nick, and Shane experimented with their own diets by throwing chia into the mix, and after seeing significant results, inspired their families and colleagues to do the same. Finally, someone said “‘Wait, this is the greatest superfood unknown to mankind, we need to spread the word!’” The idea for Health Warrior began to materialize, with chia as the chief ingredient in each bar. They’re held together with a filling mix of cashew butter, rolled oats, and other superfood ingredients. The popular Coconut Chia Bar has only 4 grams of sugar and 110 calories.

“We are what we eat,” Shane says. “When you’re healthy, you’re happy. When you’re happy, you build up the people around you. It all ladders up: better health builds a stronger society.”