Personal trainer Angela Strickland knows fitness. Chef Lauren Carr understands food. The women recently combined their talents to create an energy-packed health bar.
"I am really excited about these bars, because they are quick and natural," Strickland, a Ketchum-based personal trainer, said.
Called A-Train Energy Bars, the bars offer nutrition benefits disguised with delicious flavor for athletes on the go.
The bars were born from a chance meeting at the former Piccolo's Restaurant in Ketchum. Strickland was a waitress and Carr a chef. Strickland went on to pursue a fitness career, opening Angela's Gym in Ketchum. Carr applied her culinary talents opening Lauren Carr Catering in Ketchum.
With Carr's culinary expertise and Strickland's athletic experience, the team set out to create a quality food to enhance energy, weight loss and sports performance. Carr concocted various recipes and tested commercial bars to create the bar. For over a year the team compared taste, crunch and nutrients.
The team tested an amalgam of Carr's original recipes before settling on two flavors, chocolate peanut butter and cranberry cashew.
Both boast an exceptional taste and crunch, a far cry from the cardboard-like flavor of some mass-produced health bars. The cranberry bars burst with fruit accents, a combination of apricots and berries. The chocolate peanut butter variety maintains the reputation of the respective ingredients.
The team designed the A-Train Energy Bar with astute attention to the nutritional content. The bars contain a beneficial combination of complex carbohydrates, protein and fat to provide sustainable energy. Both bars are made with sweetened brown rice syrup, which breaks down slower than other sweeteners.
"The slower the body burns sugar, the less likely it is to be stored," Strickland said.
The bars also rely on healthy omega-3 fats, from ingredients like cashews, which Strickland views as essential for high energy and weight loss.
"Fat helps you body feel more satisfied," she said. "You are less likely to reach for refined carbohydrates and dessert."
Strickland's clients inspired her to create the health bars. She saw Wood River Valley residents waking up early in the morning, working out, eating an inadequate breakfast and waiting until lunchtime to refuel. She saw a need for a quick, healthy snack for those maintaining active lifestyles and short on time.
"Recovery is really important in this town, because most people in this town do more than one activity a day," she said.
The name of the energy bar comes from Strickland's own performance. As the only female waitress during the Christmas season at the Sun Valley Co.'s Lodge Dining Room, Strickland held her own among her male colleagues by carrying heavy trays from the kitchen to the dining room. She earned the nickname "A-train" from her impressive endurance, a name that proved appropriate for an energy-packed health bar.
A-Train Energy Bars cost $4 per bar or $3 per bar for bulk orders. The energy bars are available on line at angelasgym.com or at Josephine's Café, Zenergy or Angela's Gym all located in Ketchum.
Fitness guru Angela Strickland demonstrates the high energy that comes from the A-Train Energy Bars that she helped create. Photo by Willy Cook
