Monday, July 15, 2013

Protein Bars.....

 

Let’s face it, with how busy we all are, eating healthy is often the least convenient option. In fact, it can be downright overwhelming, and having to worry about finding access to healthy, high-protein food–especially while out and about–just adds one more challenge to your already overloaded plate.

No wonder why the fast food drive-through line is often wrapped around the building at lunchtime…

When it comes to filling your belly on the go, convenience is king!

Unfortunately, the price of the typical convenient meal  is an ever-expanding waistline, increased medical bills, shorter life-spans, and a declined state of energy and health across the board. Not exactly the result you’re looking to achieve, I’m sure!

To solve this problem, other nutrition companies have tried to alleviate the “convenient nutrition” dilemma through the creation of high-protein snack and meal replacement bars, bringing to light several other BIGGER problems.

First, m
ost protein bars are nothing more than glorified candy bars.

While positioned as “healthy,” these fat loss–and health-derailing nightmares are full of simple sugars, damaged and denatured fats, dirt-cheap and unhealthy protein, and a slew of artificial colors, sweeteners, and preservatives.

Just take a look at the labels on these supposed “health bars” and you’ll likely see scary ingredients like fractionated palm kernel oil, high oleic safflower oil, corn syrup, corn starch, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, brown sugar, fructose, maltodextrin and dextrose (carbohydrates whose glycemic index is even higher than sugar!), canola oil, partially hydrogenated oils (also known as trans fats), sucralose and aspartame (which are chemical, artificial sweeteners), and the list goes on and on.

In reality, these “obesity additives” are some of the worst things you can put in your body if your goal is to achieve a flat belly and improve your health. Not only can they wreak havoc on your blood sugar, hormones, and cardiovascular risk factors, but they can outright STOP fat loss dead in its tracks, leaving you wondering why, despite all your efforts to eat healthy, your body fat stores just won’t seem to budge.

And by the way, don't fall victim to the "net carb" scam where manufacturers don't count sugar alcohols like maltitol and glycerol as part of the carb count to make their bars appear low-carb or carb-friendly. What these unethical companies don’t tell you, however, is that the glycemic index of maltitol is right up there with table sugar and the caloric value of glycerol (also known as glycerine) is even higher than sugar!

Knowing this, you may be wondering why a so-called “nutrition” company would ever resort to putting these types of ingredients in their bars, and the answer is simple: These cheap ingredients drive up their profits at the expense of your health, your waistline, and your results!

This brings us to another very important point to consider when choosing a protein bar: protein quality.

You see, the #1 protein source used in protein bars is soy protein, one of the cheapest protein sources in the world.

Do you think that’s a coincidence? Us either. Unfortunately, soy protein contains phytoestrogens that act like estrogen in the body and have been linked to numerous health problems, including decreased thyroid output in women1,2,3 and decreased testosterone levels in men.

This is really bad news, because less thyroid hormone means less calorie burning and more fat storage for you.

Beyond that, gelatin and collagen (made from ground-up cow hooves) have worked their way in to the protein blends of some of the most popular protein bars—some as the primary protein source! While technically a protein, gelatin lacks the full spectrum of essential amino acids and is an even lower quality source of protein than soy. And who wants to eat ground-up cow hooves anyway? Yuck!Boy, it’s starting to look like that fast food drive through line may actually be a BETTER option for your health and waistline than reaching for one of these health-derailing, waist-expanding protein bars.


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