Snack Bars: What To Look For In The Ingredients List

Snack Bars:
What To Look For In The Ingredients List

How often do you take the time to read the ingredients, the percentages of each ingredient and not just read but also think about what you are seeing?

I seldom have bars, almost never, and there is one main reason. We, health and fitness professionals, tell you all the time to eat unprocessed foods, right? And then we recommend bars, shakes and powders. Those are processed. I don’t mind them, not at all. My point is don’t say eat unprocessed and recommend processed. Does that make sense?

To turn your food into powder or make a compact bar it needs to go through a lot of processing. And they use the same products you’d buy from your store, they don’t use organic, some do but most don’t. And even if they did they go through so many processes that they lose whatever was in them in the first place.

I don’t really endorse any particular brand. If asked I can give my opinion, but most of the time I will tell you to avoid processed food which also includes the above.

The other day I posted on my Facebook timeline a picture with bars, such as paleo bars, quinoa bars, fruit bars and others.

And I said don’t just grab whatever bar you see on shelves, just because it says it’s good. Take time and read the ingredients and percentages.

One of my followers asked what to look for in bars. And I thought the answer to this question will help everyone. This is what I pay attention to for myself, I don’t buy them but I like to keep up to date with what’s out there:

1. Sugar

Let’s begin with this. Companies started to leave sugar out of bars, particularly in the case of fruit bars because fruit are already sweet of course.

However, we forget that fruit also contains sugar. Yes, indeed the natural sugar is processed by the body in a different way. But what we did is take out the refined sugar and replace it with loads of sugar from fruit, such as dates. You must remember that fruit are also sugar. And dried fruit are very high in sugar.

Some bars are made out of 50% dates. I understand dates are needed for consistency and to keep the bar together. But it’s too much sugar from dates and all the other fruits added.

Thus, look for sugar content, and see whether it comes from natural sources, hopefully yes. The lower the sugar content the better, but if the bar is made with fruit sugar content will be higher of course.

I am not sure for bars but in the case of juices 15g sugar per 100g juice is maximum you should go for, I’d actually say less than 10g / 100g. In the case of bars sugar will be higher in general.

Compare a few products to decide which one to go for.

2. Apple juice from concentrate

If we try to eliminate as much processed food as possible then let’s do it as best as we can. To make concentrated apple juice, apples go through a lot, a lot of processing.

They are smashed, juiced, filtered, the water is evaporated and you are left with a high sugar, no fibre, no nutrient concentrated liquid. This is transported (concentrated juice weighs less so it’s cheaper) and combined with water, at its destination, to make apple juice. And that’s apple juice from concentrate. Concentrated juice from other fruit go through the same process.

On top of that if metal is used for smashing apples oxidize and, in a nutshell, there is not much left in them.

Not all bars have fruit juice from concentrate. If I buy a bar I go for bars without fruit juice from concentrate.

3. Nuts

Nuts are good to balance the blood sugar levels, more correctly is to say glycogen. If there are ingredients that spike blood sugar levels nuts and seeds will keep them balanced.

But, if you are looking to reduce calories intake a bar full of nuts is not your best choice. Why not get an apple and a handful of nuts and eat. You have better control over how much and what you eat then having a bar made by someone else.

4. Protein, carbohydrate and fats

Protein bars have a lot of protein of course. What I look for is the source of protein. Is it natural ingredients such as nuts or is it protein powder which?

Carbohydrate. In the case of protein bars carb content will be lower. If not, for fruit bars, it will be higher. Fruit carbohydrate comes only from sugars. If we didn’t have the fibre in fruit we’d be in trouble, blood sugar levels (glycogen) would sky rocket. That’s what’s missing in commercial juices by the way, that makes them so dangerous.

Fats. Again, the sources of fats are important. Is it butter? Is it nuts? What is it?

Where do your macronutrients (fats, carbohydrate, protein) in the bar you choose come from? This is what you want to ask yourself.

JUDGE FOR YOURSELF

These are things I look for whenever I read the labels or if I decide to try out a new bar and see what up with it.

You now need to read labels, compare products and decide which is the bar for you.

My personal choices

Bars are very easy for transportation and they don’t get mushy and messy like fruit do. They also take up a lot less space. Therefore I have two options I go for, when I need to:

1. Nakd Bars – Berry Delight (no apple juice from concentrate)

2. Frutina Real Fruit Snack – 100% dried fruit puree

By the way, I am not an affiliate of these brands, I do not get anything from telling you about this. However, if you buy anything from my amazon store, then I do, from amazon.

You can find the products and different brand I use on the UWF amazon store, including Nakd bars and Frutina.

Would you like a more personal advice? Contact me, I will offer you a 45 min consultation free of charge. Click here to get in touch

March 10, 2015

9 Simple & Intuitive Approaches To Healthy Eating Habits

When I think about my daily diet I always go back to when my grandmother used to cook for her grandchildren in the countryside.

No doubt that the food nowadays is not as nutritious as what my grandma used to have in her garden but it’s still up to us whether we make good or not so good choices when we decide what we are going to have for dinner.

So think about it, if you were in the countryside what would you have available in your garden and, if you eat meat, what kind of meat would you find around your house?

These are some ideas to get your creativity going.

1. Vegetables. Probably the fastest, easiest and most nutritious thing you can eat right from the garden picked up by yourself. You can cook them but you can also eat them raw. Vegetables have minerals and vitamins as well as some protein, fats and carbohydrates in some cases although in less quantities than meat or other foods.

2. Fruits. Have a sweet tooth? There are no supermarkets in your village. And to cook a dessert you will need a lot of other ingredients. Fruit are again an easy and nutritious way to satisfy your craving for sugar.

3. Water. Sure you might have a place to buy tea and coffee but what if you don’t? And you certainly don’t have the soft drinks you find in the supermarket. And you can’t be too picky either. You’d drink water more often in the countryside. We don’t have water as good as at my grandma’s but it’s still better than most other options.

About 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. Your body is about 70% water. Thus water is life.

Remember to drink water throughout the day rather than gulping 1 litre in 10 min, give your body the change to take in and utilize the water.

4. Eating local, eating seasonal. Seasons happen in cycles and so are your bodies. You can’t rely only on certain sources of food all the time. Firstly because you’ll get bored of it but most importantly because you will not get the diversity of nutrients to nourish your body. Eating seasonal is a great way to explore various food options.

5. Have proteins with every meal. Yep, I remember that one very well. I ate meat but even when we didn’t have meat with our meal we had other types of protein. Although my grandma never knew what protein are she instinctively knew how to combine foods, similar to what we learn in our nutrition books. Amazing really.

6. Don’t deprive yourself from eating certain foods. Instead have them every now and then. Depending on the quality of the food you can think about having it every other week, once a month of even a couple of times a year like I do with homemade chips and pizza.

7. Cook it yourself. Oh yes, not more readymade meals or restaurant adventures. Good old home cooked food, with no sugars, additives, preservatives or unnecessary elements added just to give “the greatest taste”. Certainly sometimes you may need ingredients which have these things in them but you will not end up with a meal made of artificial colours for example.

It is also good to bear in mind here that for a food to taste good it needs fats and sugars. And when it has less of one it usually has more of the other. So watch out what your choices are.

8. Don’t eat until you can’t stand up anymore, even if it’s your favourite dish and you are very hungry. Stuffing yourself puts your digestive system under stress and you really don’t get much out of it. It takes about 7 seconds for the food to reach your stomach so give it time. Nourish yourself properly.

9. Eat mindfully. I left this one last because if there is one thing I want you to leave with is this. Eating mindfully has many benefits such as: better digestion, better extraction of nutrients from the food you eat, eating slower which helps you chew better and in turn helps your digestive system break down the food easier and with less stress, it will not have to overwork. It also contributes to weight loss and weight maintenance.

These are 9 of my many habits for a healthier and more meaningful eating. Keep thinking what and how would you would eat if you were in a village and eating healthy will suddenly become automatic, you will not need to think about it anymore.

I have written a blog on mindful eating, “3 Steps To Mindful Eating And Its Benefits”, to read it click here.

This is something I teach in my program. To sign up click here

December 20, 2014March 6, 2015

13 simple nutritional habits to improve your health right now

13 simple nutritional habits to improve your health right now

These are 13 of my nutrition habits which can heal you improve your health and well-being starting today.

1. Avoid carbs – fruit – after a high carb meal

2. Have protein with every meal

3. Carbs, fats and protein in excessive amounts can lead to fat gain

4. Have protein with fruit, such as yoghurt, nuts and seeds

5. Don’t deprive yourself from eating this or that, your body will crave it sooner or later, rather eat a little bit of everything

6. For a food to taste good it need fats and sugars, if it lacks one it has more of the other. Watch out fat free food lovers.

Grapes — Photo Credit: AHMED… via Compfight cc

7. Don’t neglect vitamins and minerals. Minerals “unlock” the energy from the food you eat while vitamins are required for vital reactions within the body

8. Don’t starve yourself to lose weight, you will just put it back on

9. Don’t eat until you can’t stand up anymore, you get nothing out of it

10. About 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. Your body is about 70% water. Water is life so make sure you drink a good amount of water, 8 glasses a day is enough.

11. Drink water throughout the day, gulping it all in 10 min has not purpose

12. Carbs, protein and fats are macronutrients you need for your body to thrive.

13. Healthy fats DO NOT make you fat.

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