If you’ve spent any time on social media, particularly around accounts managed by those who are active in endurance sports, it’s likely you’ve seen the hashtag #PoweredByBits. This is used by athletes who are followers/users/believers in Energy Bits. I was recently sent a small tin of them to try out.

Energy bits are small, the size of a typical aspirin or something like that. They are made from 100% Spirulina algae. According to the website, they can help a whole host of things:

• Helps improve physical energy
• Helps improve endurance
• Helps reduce fatigue
• Helps speed athletic recovery
• Helps healing from brain concussions and reduces brain fog
• Helps build muscle
• Helps improve mental focus and clarity
• Helps reduce anemia
• Helps reduce blood pressure
• Helps reduce cholesterol
• Helps balance blood sugar
• Provides natural nitric oxide
• Provides most daily nutritional needs, especially greens
• Provides high quality protein and nutrition on the run or on the road
• Helps fight free radicals with high concentration of antioxidants
• Helps balances all body functions – is 100% alkaline
• Helps improve skin, hair, nails, bones and eye health
• Helps build healthy blood, cell tissue and muscle
• Helps improve mood
• Helps remove hunger
• Raw food, great for vegans or those who hate greens
• Safe nutrition for anyone of any age, from children to seniors

I don’t like the idea of taking 30-40 of them at a time… or more! I mean, that seems like a ton of things to swallow. These aren’t pills… even though they look like pills. They are “bits of food”, so it’s kind of a different mentality and approach to getting in nutrition. I guess swallowing a bunch of them is a more convenient way of getting in all those nutrients, especially for someone who hates eating vegetables.

And in regard to the note that it says you can chew them…. don’t! Just don’t! You know in the movie Elf when Buddy the Elf is offered “passion fruit spray” in the department store? He grabs it, saying “Fruit spray, sure!” and then sprays it in his mouth. The result is this:

That’s about the reaction I had from chewing one of these!

I did swallow 3 of them yesterday morning and then 4 this morning. I seem to have a little more energy, despite not getting much sleep due to a teething/sad baby and a cold. Also, my cold seems to be a little bit better… that could just be it running its course though. Aiding cold recovery isn’t even one of the benefits, that would come from taking their “Recovery Bits” which are made from chlorella algae.

They cost $115 for a bag of 1000 bits, which seems steep for basically a one month supply (assuming you’re on the low-end of the recommend intake of 30 bits.) I’m not 100% sold on 100% algae yet. Have any of you tried these? Perhaps I need pop the larger dose to see how it makes me feel?