Evolve: A First Ingredient Woah!

Many people flip a food package over and quickly scan the calories, fat grams, carbohydrates grams, and protein grams and typically the food is dropped in to the shopping cart if it displays a "low-fat" label and moderate to low sugar content. However, most people neglect to really study the ingredient list and to notice the astronomically large amount of preservatives, unhealthy fats, low quality protein sources, and refined carbohydrates. Typically, an ingredient list is located under the information section. The first ingredient listed, here, represent what the majority of the food contains. I was astonished to see that the main ingredient in many health food bars is a sugar (corn syrup, brown rice syrup, sugar cane syrup, sugar, etc.) of some sort, which should be avoided as the first ingredient. Also, I discovered that most protein sources for inexpensive protein bars and products use soy, which is a low quality and processed protein source that is used because it is cheap! Lastly, I was also disgusted by the fact that there were ingredients listed that I did not even know humans could eat!

Major RED Flag Culprits!

#1: PowerBar: Triple Threat- Chocolate Peanut Butter Crisp

So I decided to cheap out on bars at the grocery store because I am always searching for good deals. I found this bar and it seemed innocent from the nutritional label- you know moderate fat, carbs were reasonable, especially sugar content, and I liked the high number of grams of protein. However, once I got home and started munching, I read the ingredient label and soon realized this bar is a load of crap!

INNOCENT RIGHT?

Body Breaking Culprits

• #1 ingredient CORN SYRUP!
• #2 SOY CRISPS
• #3 CHOCOLATE COATING= Sugar and fractionated Palm Kernel Oil
• ... later on in the list, more SOY and more SUGAR

THINK AGAIN!

What to have instead!

After a further search down the bar lane, PowerBar caught my eye with their Power Bar: Nut Naturals- Mixed Nut/Fruit bar! This bar is a much better choice compared to the above one!

Improvements

• #1 ingredient DRY ROASTED ALMONDS AND PEANUTS (not the best, but better than above)
• #2 BROWN RICE SYRUP

Nut and fruit bars a a new trend that is popping up in the markets. Some pack quite a punch of Energy in the forms of good fats and sugars from fruits and grains, however, watch out for too much sweetener! I like to stay under 10-15 grams if possible of sugar and aim for ones with almonds, pecans, and other nuts (try to avoid peanuts- a legume, which may cause stomach upset).

For more information about reading food labels check out this website! CLICK HERE

Evolve: An Article of Interest- Live like an ancestor...

I was on a friend's Facebook fan page and I found a link to this article. It really highlights the simplicity, wholeness, and greatness of following a more paleolithic lifestyle. Paleolithic refers to a time when hunting and gathering was the only mode of surviving. Agriculture and processed foods did not exist. A paleolithic diet consists of meats, nuts, fruits and vegetables, and using any processed products of any kind very sparingly, including dairy. Fossil remains indicate that these humans lived very healthy lives without obesity, heart disease, cancers, and other ailments plaguing our society today. Natural selection over thousands of years selected genes that were ideal for processing the foods present in a Paleolithic diet. About 12,000 years ago, agriculture suddenly "infected" our food sources- reducing the nutritional density and altering the foods we had evolved to love and eat. The affects of this drastic diet change on humanity is evident in the rising rates of disease.

Click to go to article:
"Paleolithic diet is so easy, cavemen actually did it"