What do I do with all this?

Isn’t it puzzling how many “healthy-living” folks have chronically elevated blood sugar, gut rot, excess protein intake, accelerated aging, and are constantly battling energy level roller coaster rides, high toxin loads and inflammation? These hard-charging, high-achieving, exercise enthusiasts and gym junkies are constantly fighting a frustrating uphill battle against weight gain, poor energy levels, bloating, gas, constipation and more.

Sound familiar?

Shockingly, one of the most consistent characteristics that shows up over and over again in people who have health and body composition issues despite exercising and eating right is…

…the consumption of packaged energy bars and health bars.

Why this seeming paradox?

Unfortunately, most energy bars are chock full of sugar and starch, which can cause dangerous blood sugar surges and fat formation. And if the sugar gets removed from a bar, it’s often replaced with nasty artificial sweeteners that can kill gut bacteria and cause neurotoxicity.

Or the bar is packed with so much excess protein that you get ammonia build-up, acidity, insulin spiking and gut issues like bloating, gas and constipation. Finally, from peanuts to soy to whey and beyond, the ingredients of many bars can cause food intolerance reactions, resulting in weight gain, skin, gut and immune system problems and a host of other health issues.

Finally, if a bar actually is healthy, it either tastes like cardboard, falls apart in the heat, is like biting into tree bark in the cold, and simply hasn’t been tested “in-the-trenches” by people living hard-charging lives or athletes competing under real conditions that exist outside of some whitewashed food laboratory.

When you begin look into some of the leading protein, “Paleo” and energy and health bars currently lining the shelves of supplement stores and sitting in the warehouses of internet supplement companies, what you’ll find is quite shocking.

The fact is, most of the leading Paleo bars on the market have a sugar content that matches the sugar content of Snickers and Three Musketeers candy bars – with sugar content as high as 28 grams in a single bar – matched with a total energy and protein profile that makes most popular bars a complete insulin and blood-sugar spiking bomb of excess calories. But the problems with the modern energy bar industry go way beyond sugar, excess calories and excess protein.

The Shocking Truth About Energy & Health Bars

Take IMO’s for example. Ever heard of them? You’re about to discover the disturbing truth about this all-too-common energy and health bar ingredient.

Here’s how IMO’s work: health or energy bars that claim to have high amounts of protein but very low levels of net or available carbohydrate, (the carbohydrate left over after dietary fiber and sugar alcohols are subtracted out) have become wildly popular in certain segments of the fitness community. You’ve no doubt seen these so-called “high-protein, low-carb” bars all over the place. But a key ingredient in many of these bars is a carbohydrate called isomalto-oligosaccharide (IMO), which is promoted as a “prebiotic dietary fiber”. Bars made with IMO often include over 15g of IMO, allowing the bar manufacturer to make claims of high dietary fiber.

Of course, innocent consumers see this as a win, because this gives us a nutrition bar that appears to have a low level of net carbohydrate and relatively low calories with the added benefit of a prebiotic dietary fiber to go along with all that protein. But a deeper dive into the research shows that IMO’s might not live up to their sterling reputation as a calorie-free, guilt-free source of dietary fiber.

First, IMO syrup isn’t really “natural”, as the bar label would claim. Although IMO’s do occur naturally in some foods, it is not economically feasible to extract IMO from foods on a large scale. Because of this, commercially-available IMO syrups are enzymatically synthesized from starch. This process converts starch into smaller chains of glucose units that are linked together via chemical bonds. So it is completely incorrect to say that the IMO syrup added to foods is natural.

Next, IMO syrup is not a completely undigestible dietary fiber, as claimed. Studies using a digestive modeling system and human salivary or hog pancreatic alpha-amylase showed a lack of hydrolysis of IMO, suggesting that it may be a dietary fiber that would largely resist hydrolysis in the small intestine and reach the colon intact. In these studies, under resting conditions, consumption of IMO causes mean serum glucose levels to increase from 109 mg/dL pre-ingestion to a peak of 136 mg/dL at 30 minutes post-ingestion. Serum insulin also rises in parallel with glucose, reaching a peak of 32 μU/mL at 30 min post-IMO ingestion, up from 4.8 μU/mL pre-ingestion. So what’s this mean? In a nutshell, the majority of the carbohydrate in the IMO syrup used in these bars is, in fact, digested, absorbed, and metabolized.

And, despite industry claims, IMO is definitely not calorie-free, but instead contains about 2.7 to 3.3 calories per gram. So, it would be dead wrong to assume that the carbohydrates from IMO don’t count as available carbohydrates to the body simply because IMO is often referred to as a dietary fiber. It is also misleading for manufacturers to list the entire carbohydrate content of IMO as dietary fiber, since the studies you can read here clearly show that this is not the case. 

Just in case IMO isn’t showing up on your energy bar ingredient label, there’s a reason for that: it’s also often simply called “inulin”. Sound familiar?

Then there’s the so-called “Natural Flavors” that notoriously appears on the label of nearly every single one of the bars out there.

In reality, the FDA definition of “natural flavors” and “natural flavoring” allows for pretty much any substance to be extracted from plant or animal matter. This means that when you buy something that’s organic, vegetarian, or vegan, and it contains “natural flavoring,” you could be eating a pig, cow, turkey, chicken, or any other animal that has been loaded with growth hormones, fed GMO pesticide-laden corn and grain, and shot up with antibiotics.

Monosodium Glutamate is just one example of a neurotoxin that can be legally hidden from you or be labeled as a “natural flavor” in the ingredients list. But MSG is not a natural flavor and can in fact can cause brain lesions, neuroendocrine disorders, neurodegenerative disease, and triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and quite likely humans) to become obese. Worse yet, there are more than 25 names for MSG, so sometimes you find it named something else, just in case the manufacturer is worried about getting “called out” by a savvy consumer.

Or consider the the natural flavor “castoreum”, which is emitted from the castor sacs within a beaver’s anus. That’s right: millions of people across the globe are eating beaver butt and don’t even know that they’re consuming such a substance because it can legally be listed as a “natural flavor” (it’s especially notorious in strawberry, raspberry and vanilla flavored products).

So why is castoreum used? Instead of smelling horrible, like you would expect from an anally produced secretion of an animal, it has a pleasant scent, which supposedly makes it a perfect candidate for food flavoring and other products. Sure it’s natural, but being natural doesn’t necessarily make it a perfect ingredient for that healthy energy bar you’re munching on, and is, in my opinion, quite a disgusting thought, really. Of course, the list goes on and on. From coal tar to carrageenan and beyond, you can click here to learn about 11 other disgusting natural ingredients in your food.

Then there’s the problem with excess preservatives such as BHA, BHT, sodium nitrate, sulfites, sodium benzoate and beyond, often dumped into these bars to ensure a shelf life of years and years – which saves an energy bar producing company plenty of money, but results in plenty of chemicals getting shoved into your gaping maw every time you bite down on that “organic” packaged munchable.

Next up is excess protein. Not only are high amounts of protein able to spike insulin and blood glucose higher than a candy bar, but most bars are using proteins from cheap sources such as soy and whey protein isolate, both of which can cause allergies, autoimmune reactions, constipation, bloating, and other unpleasant reactions. But hey – at least they’re inexpensive!

Soy protein is a big culprit in this department. Many folks give soy protein props for being a high-quality protein with an amino acid profile similar to meat, but in reality, soy protein isolate is more Twix bar than tofu. Soy protein isolate, for example, is basically processed soy leftovers. The process of “isolating” the soy protein leaves behind traces of neurotoxins such as hexane and aluminum, not to mention the digestive woes caused by high concentrations of trypsin inhibitors that can block the digestion of plant protein. And then, of course, there’s the fact that almost 90% of all soy is genetically modified.

But what if there was a healthy alternative to this huge problem in the energy bar and health bar industry?

What if there was a clean-burning, organic bar that would “hold up” under rigorous conditions of people living hard-charging, high-achieving lives…

…and that wouldn’t necessarily be a high-fat, slightly greasy, low-energy “ketogenic” bar as much as a lowish-carb, high-fat, moderate-protein bar with zero dairy, zero soy, zero whey protein isolate, and instead contain a clean hypoallergenic protein source…

…a bar that is low in lectins and free of gluten, saponins and other notorious gut assailants…

…a bar that has plenty of minerals and electrolytes, adequate fiber (but no IMO’s!) to keep one from getting the notorious “energy bar constipation”, and a bar that supports recovery with sufficient levels of all essential amino acids and antioxidants, without excess protein to create an insulin spike or aging effect…

…a bar that contains just enough carbohydrate for liver and muscle glycogen restoration and appetite satiety, without necessarily spiking blood sugar…

…a bar that doesn’t freeze and turn into a rock-solid brick in frigid temperatures while snowboarding, skiing and hiking and that doesn’t melt into a pile of seedy goo upon exposure to hot bike rides, runs and car glove compartments…

…and just as importantly, a bar that doesn’t taste like cardboard, has a good crunch and mouth feel and keeps me satisfied without a “dissolve in my mouth” type of here-and-gone taste…

That’s exactly what we set out to create when we decided to design the NatureBite bar. And so, a culinary and nutrition science adventure of nearly two years began – a quest to hunt down the best ingredients on the face of the planet to create the ultimate, healthy, clean energy bar.

How To Minimize Preservatives In An Energy Bar

We began with something quite simple: how do you minimize preservatives without requiring for a bar to be (quite inconveniently) refrigerated or frozen? In other words, how can a bar be made shelf stable without turning it into chemical-infused frankenfuel?

It turns out that the only preservatives really necessary to make a bar shelf stable can indeed be a few simple ingredients such as sea salt, chia seeds, a few choice Vitamin E contributors such as Spanish almonds and collagen peptides, and tocopherols (a family of vitamin E compounds naturally found in foods like nuts, fish and leafy green vegetables).

And voila! That’s how you give a bar healthy shelf stability, with minimal preservatives (and that’s also how you leave us scratching our heads about why so many bar companies cut corners with cheap fillers and artificial preservatives so that they save money and so that their bars can sit in a warehouse for years and years).

How To Pack Protein Into A Bar Without Producing Allergies Or Excess Insulin

Next up came protein, amino acids and everything necessary to allow an energy bar to enhance recovery, satiety or muscle-building.

The big question we had to tackle here was this: how can a bar provide adequate amino acids for recovery without spiking insulin and glucose, or creating mTor and longevity issues from excess protein intake? After all, head coach Ben Greenfield has written in the past about how excess protein can not only cause something called “gluconeogenesis” (essentially, creation of sugar out of protein) but can also accelerate aging and create excess ammonia build-up and net body acidity.

Furthermore, and perhaps just as important, is the question of how to pack protein into a bar without introducing allergenic, cheap or GMO ingredients like soy protein isolate or whey protein isolate? Tackling this conundrum was actually far easier than we originally anticipated.

It turns out that a bar can contain roughly the equivalent of an entire cup of bone broth’s worth of joint and gut nourishing collagen by simply adding ample amounts of collagen from grass fed cows (in this case, from either Germany or Brazil). As you probably already know, collagen is a well-researched ingredient that has been actively studied for its benefits for skin, hair and bones. Collagen peptides are highly bioavailable, provide a full spectrum of short chain amino acids for muscle support, and serve as the building block of connective tissues such as bones, cartilage, skin and tendons.

What Are The Best Fats For An Energy Bar?

Next up are fats. We definitely wanted to minimize the amount of carbohydrate and sugar in this bar, resulting in a low-carbohydrate, high-fat bar…

…without the excess protein that most bars have…

…and also without necessarily creating a bar that was fully “ketogenic” (which can create a fat “gut bomb” in many people, especially people who are eating the bar during exercise), but rather contained just enough glycogen sources to allow for support of an active lifestyle and restoration of muscle and liver energy stores, especially when eaten at some point in a post-workout window.

You’re no doubt familiar with all the proven benefits of dark chocolate – from dopamine to blood flow, cognitive performance enhancing benefits (just read “The Magical Thing Eating Chocolate Does To Your Brain“) and much more – and when blended with chia and almond flavor and delivered in the form of chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa powder and cacao nibs in a bar, you get a boatload of chocolate with none of the additives and chemicals you’d find in a Hershey’s or Snickers bar.

Finally, when you add in the extensive amounts of fiber from the Spanish almonds, the cacao nibs and the white chia seeds, it once again removes the need for any added IMO/inulin starch (which is the biggest blood sugar spiking problem with the fiber in most energy bars), lowers the glycemic index of the bar even more, and results in an extremely non-significant blood glucose response after eating this bar (you can easily test your own “postprandial” blood glucose after the NatureBite bar and find that it produces barely even a blip on the blood glucose radar).

The Hidden Recovery Ingredient To Look For In A Bar

In addition to protein, there’s one other important recovery component that you must look for in an energy bar: high sources of natural, full-spectrum antioxidants without high amounts of synthetic antioxidants (the latter have been shown to actually blunt the physiological response to strength training!). The inclusion of antioxidants can help to lower inflammation and shut down the damaging free radicals caused by everything from excess exercise to pollution to toxins to stress to lack of sleep and much more.

The good news is that the total antioxidant capacity created by the unique blend of ingredients in this bar is very high. The organic honey, Spanish almonds, cacao nibs, kaniwa (baby quinoa), white chia seeds and chocolate liquor all contain very high levels of not only antioxidants, but also flavonoids which, like antioxidants, are potent free radical scavengers. You can’t get these benefits from supplements – they are best delivered in their full-spectrum, natural format from whole food sources. This is something David taught me that he learned when working with oxidative stress measurement in the food industry – real food is the best approach to managing free radical activity.

And of course, because a byproduct of intense exercise is free radical production, having an energy bar with both high levels of antioxidants and flavonoids does double-duty to manage oxidative stress.

Not only do the ingredients above serve to make this bar simply jam-packed with free radical scavengers, but there is one other antioxidant-rich ingredient we haven’t yet mentioned: sesame seeds. Sesame seeds add a nutty taste and a delicate, almost invisible, crunch to the texture of a bar. They also offer an excellent source of copper and a very good source of manganese, and are also a source of calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin B1, zinc, molybdenum, selenium, and dietary fiber.

In addition to these important nutrients, sesame seeds contain two unique substances: sesamin and sesamolin. Both of these substances belong to a group of special beneficial fibers called lignans, and have been shown to have a cholesterol-lowering effect in humans, and to prevent high blood pressure and increase vitamin E supplies. Sesamin has also been found to protect the liver from oxidative damage.

How To Maximize The Flavor Of An Energy Bar

One fact that we’re extremely proud of is that every single person I have handed a “beta-sample” of this bar to has been absolutely astounded by the flavor, and even more surprised when we’ve revealed that there is none of the high-fructose corn syrup, none of the agave syrup (a notoriously highly refined sweetener falsely advertised as natural), none of the arsenic-laced brown rice syrup, none of the acesulfame potassium, none of the sucralose and none of the gas and bloating-inducing sugar alcohols like erythritol, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, lactitol, isomalt, maltitol, and none of the hydrogenated starch hydrolysates that you normally find in just about every energy bar that exists.

How do you actually make a bar taste so good without adding any of these flavorful but unnatural and nasty taste enhancers?

Allow us to introduce you to a new term:”organoleptics”. Organoleptic properties are the aspects of food, water or other substances that you experience via any of your senses, and this can include taste, sight, smell, and touch. The organoleptics of this bar are incredibly unique. The fact is, the combination of organic honey with the slightly bitter unprocessed cacao nibs provides a perfect chocolate flavor, while the chocolate liquor and coconut flakes provide a rich slightly sweeter effect, but all in a very subtle, non-overwhelming way. Then the white chia seeds, kaniwa and Spanish almonds provide a natural, nutty crisp.

This means the bar is incredibly flavorful and extremely well put together from a taste, sight, smell and touch standpoint – with zero artificial flavors, no artificial sweeteners and even zero natural flavors (including beaver-butt extract!).

How To Test An Energy Bar

When we finally finished designing this bar, our formulators readily admitted that our testing process was one of the most rigorous and slightly annoying field tests that they’d ever had to deal with. After all, we wanted a bar that wouldn’t freeze into a tooth-chipping brick when competing in frigid conditions or snowboarding, skiing or hiking in the cold, and also a bar that wouldn’t melt into a giant, greasy pile of nasty hot nuts and seeds when exposed to sun, car heat, saunas or other sweltering conditions.

We tested this bar differently from any other customer a bar manufacturer has ever worked with. It took two years to develop it, which is unheard of! One test was that we did was to stick the bar somewhere in workout gear (the pouch of cycling shorts) and take the bar out for a three hour bike ride in 90+ degree heat to test the bar’s durability to melting. There is no IMO in this bar, or corn starch holding it together, so we thought it might fail. But it passed the test! We also stuck it in a sauna for five hours, and took it into 38 degrees below zero in a frigid race in Vermont – every torture we put the bar through kept us refining and tweaking the ingredients until we were sure it would hold up to the most adventurous lifestyle possible.

But in the end, it was all worth it. Why?

Because despite the long, rigorous, frustrating process of testing every ingredient blend, variation and formula on the face of the planet, we were able to develop a bar that you can not only munch on in the office without spiking your blood sugar levels or getting brain fog from allergens or getting gut rot from fermenting carbohydrates or getting nasty chemical reactions from a host of artificial ingredients, but also a bar that you take anywhere in the world into the most rigorous of conditions for a dose of mouth-watering flavor when you’re suffering in the throes of competition or preparing to toe the starting line of a race.

In other words, whether you’re a weekend warrior, an exercise enthusiast, a pro athlete, or you’re just looking for a healthy, guilt-free snack, this thing isn’t going to crumble on impact, fall apart, freeze, melt, or create any other frustrating scenario that results in you unwrapping a giant, annoying mess that at one point in it’s sorry life was some semblance of a “healthy” energy bar.