It’s the LAST day of Celiac Disease Awareness Month! Man, this month has been CRAZY! We’ve been the butt of jokes (and I wrote about it for Living Without Gluten Free & More here) and we’ve had restaurants try to accommodate us but fail (I wrote about it here). But for 31 days we’ve been advocating and educating for celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity and gluten-free as a medically necessary diet. PS if you haven’t been advocating so far, every day is a chance to advocate and educate!

But let’s focus on the positive. We’ve made such great strives for celiac disease awareness and great medical strives too. Every day we can go into the community, into restaurants, out with friends, and educate others, and help others achieve a diagnosis.

It’s so great that Mamma Chia is our last sponsored day, because Janie and the Mamma Chia team are all about positivity, health, well-being, and of course – the power of the small chia seed. Seriously, I love this brand.

We’ve been obsessed at our house with chia for at least a year now. Ever since Kyra and I found Mamma Chia at Expo West 2013, I’ve been obsessed with it as a vessel for the magical chia seed. Here’s why it’s magical (according to Mamma Chia’s website):

Chia seeds come from the desert plant Salvia hispanica, a member of the mint family that grows in North, Central and South America. Consumed as early as 3,000 B.C., chia seeds were eaten as a grain, mixed with water, ground into flour, mixed into medicines, and pressed for omega-3 oil.

These extraordinary seeds offer a complete nutritional profile of omega-3, balanced dietary fiber, complete protein, antioxidants and minerals. At Mamma Chia, we hydrate our organic chia seeds allowing for even better absorption of the nutrients. Chia really is one of the world’s healthiest whole foods!

So, when I went to Expo West 2014, I was more than just a little excited to visit with Mamma Chia. Even more excited to take photos with life-size squeezes too, apparently.

The number one question I get when I talk about how much I love Mamma Chia is, “what does it taste like?” So – it’s part chug, part chew. When chia seeds hydrate, they become less like seeds and more slippery and chewier versions of themselves. While you could chug Mamma Chia and be fine, I prefer to chew some of the seeds. While I’m not someone who dislikes some mouth textures, I don’t think it’s gooey or weird or strange, although I know that some of my friends will tell you that the mouth feel of the product weirded them out (they haven’t had hydrated seeds before). If you’ve made chia seed pudding, it’s way more liquid and less thick than that. I say – be brave and try it. I think you’ll love it.

These Mamma Chia pouches are about 70-80 calories each and are a great energy-boosting snack that isn’t a bar. They’re great cold, but you can drink them at room temperature too. I always pack these in my checked luggage for expos and conferences because they’re so great to have on hand! They’ve got a variety of flavors in their squeeze packs including two new ones!

• Strawberry Banana 
• Green Magic  
• Apple Cinnamon 
• Blackberry Bliss ***FAVORITE***
• Mango Coconut ***2nd FAVORITE***
• Wild Raspberry

If you’re looking for something more than just a little snack, try their Vitality drinks that provide 4 grams of protein! They also offer different flavors in full-size Vitality Drinks in the following flavors:

• Blackberry Hibiscus ***FAVORITE***
• Cherry Lime
• Coconut Mango ***2nd FAVORITE***
• Cranberry Lemonade 
• Guava Mamma
• Pineapple Coconut 
• Pomegranate Mint ***3rd FAVORITE***
• Raspberry Passion 
• Strawberry Lemonade

Here’s the full line of their squeeze packs – resealable, stick in the fridge, and slurp one down!

Mamma Chia is more than just the beverages, they also offer bags of organic white and black chia seeds if you want to expand your chia love into more than just Mamma Chia drinks! You can put chia into smoothies, cereals, oatmeals, baked goods, or just juice or water. You can make chia pudding, or just increase the fiber and omega 3’s in your current food. My incredibly-active non-GFBF likes to put Mamma Chia chia seed into his water bottle and drink so he can sustain energy during his runs. He also puts chia into his recovery drinks as well! I prefer to put chia seeds into almond or hemp milk and make my own chia pudding for a refreshing and healthy snack!

Also, the founder – Janie Hoffman (pictured above with CATB) – just released Chia Vitality. In this book she details her struggle with autoimmune issues, and how she used positivity and chia to heal and start a new life (and a new business). Janie has to be one of the most amazing business women I have met to date. She’s so smart, giving, thoughtful, and kind. If you meet her, you will become a Mamma Chia fan for life – she’s that awesome. When you meet someone who has a heart full of passion, compassion and kindness, you just know it and you can feel it radiate and fill up a room! She’s one of these people – hell, maybe it’s all the chia seeds, but regardless, you’ll want to pick up a copy of this book and find out how she uses mindfulness to be this type of special soul.

The book includes these topics that I thought were really interesting:

• The benefits of chia seed (omega 3’s, protein, antioxidants, etc.)
• A 30 day plan with ingredient list on how to incorporate chia into your daily life
• How to fall in love with exercise and listening to your body (including yoga complete with figures so you don’t have to guess the right way to do poses)
• Practicing mindfulness and meditation
• Nine ways to enlarge your circle and increase your personal community
• A chapter full of Chia Vitality recipes (breakfast through dessert)

ORDER CHIA VITALITY HERE: http://www.amazon.com/Chia-Vitality-Vibrancy-Meaningful-Purposeful-ebook/dp/B00GL3Q15S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401557900&sr=8-1&keywords=janie+hoffman

Make sure to visit Mamma Chia’s book site to enter your receipt to get 25% off your next Mamma Chia order (details here).

PS – she has a CHIA COOKBOOK coming out in September of 2014, and you can pre-order the book on Amazon now! http://www.amazon.com/The-Chia-Cookbook-Inventive-Delicious-ebook/dp/B00JI58UDC/

Thank you SO much for Mamma Chia for the great complimentary products and book to sample for this giveaway. Mamma Chia will be giving away 1 giveaway package to a grand prize winner. They will receive: one full bag each of Mamma Chia’s NEW black and white chia seeds, one week’s supply of Mamma Chia products – 7 Chia Squeezes (varied flavors) and 7 beverage vouchers, and one copy of Janie’s book – Chia Vitality. The total retail value of this package is $75. Enter to win using the Rafflecopter giveaway below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tagged: celiac disease, Celiac Disease Awareness Month, Chia Seeds, Chia Vitality, giveaway, Janie Hoffman, Mamma Chia