The Organic Food Bar packs a nutritional punch in portable form

Monday, September 26, 2005 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: organic food bar, nutrition bar, health food

https://www.naturalnews.com/011901_organic_food_bar_nutrition.html

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You might be saying, "Oh great, not another health food bar. I see all sorts of health food bars at the grocery store or health food store." Sure, there are a lot of them, and most of them, frankly, are garbage. Most of them are loaded with refined sugars, artificial ingredients, additives and fillers. A lot of so-called "nutrition bars" used to be good for you in their original formulation, but they've been dumbed down for the sugar-hungry American population, and are now little more than candy bars. An example of this is the Power Bar, which used to be based on highly nutritious ingredients, but now the more recent formulations contain refined sugars. But with the Organic Food Bar, we're talking about a solid, healthy product that doesn't have any of the negative ingredients that are typically in other food bars. It has no refined sugars, no trans-fatty acids and no filler ingredients. In fact, it's filled with so much goodness that I'm surprised it can sell at the competitive price it does. I know what these ingredients cost from being in the industry, and these are not cheap -- for example, they use agave nectar as a sweetener. It's one of the best sweeteners out there; it has an extremely low glycemic index. Remarkably low for any kind of sweetener. But it's also very expensive, perhaps 10 to 20 times more than the cost of using high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener you'll find in many other food bars. So there are expensive ingredients in this bar, yet it's still affordable. I find that remarkable, and it's one of the reasons I strongly recommend the bar.

Now, the bar I recommend the most is called the "Active Greens Bar." They have different flavors of the Organic Food Bar available, but I like the Active Greens because it combines healthy microalgae, spirulina, wheat grass juice and other wholefood concentrates into a format that's quite tasty. In fact, this is probably the best-tasting way to get these supergreens into your diet. If you've been struggling with getting supergreens into your body because of the taste, this is a great way to get it done. These bars taste absolutely delicious. Now, of course, if you're absolutely new to the idea of consuming superfoods, you might think this has a bit of a strange taste at first, but believe me, if you eat a little bit at a time, you'll get used to the taste very quickly, and you'll come to enjoy it. It'll be one of the most fulfilling tastes you'll ever eat, because as you experience that taste, you will know that you are simultaneously enhancing the health of your body, preventing and even reversing various chronic diseases by getting this outstanding nutrition into your system.

By the way, I have to mention this with every product review: I receive no money whatsoever from the Organic Food Bar Company, and they are not aware I'm writing this review. All of this is my own opinion, and it has not been approved by the manufacturer in any way whatsoever. I don't profit a dime from your purchase of this product. I simply cover it here because I think this is a very healthy product that people need to know about.

Let's get back to the health aspects of this product, and take a look at the ingredients in this bar and what they can do for you in terms of preventing chronic disease and boosting your health.

The first two ingredients are organic almond butter and organic date paste. Let's get the date paste out of the way first. The date paste is obviously the provider of the sweetener and texture of the food bar - but notice that they're using whole dates here, and dates offer some great nutrition that's much better for you than just eating refined sugars. The almond butter, simultaneously, provides the fat texture and healthy oils for your body. In fact, almonds are a great way to get heart-healthy oils into your system. There are oils in almonds that can prevent and even help reverse cardiovascular disease. They can reduce your risk of heart attacks and strokes. They even help enhance nervous system function. These oils will also help you regulate blood sugar levels, and there are phytochemicals in almonds that help fight cancer and regulate the growth of cancer tumors. In fact, almonds are one of the healing foods that I name in my upcoming book, Grocery Healing. They are a fantastic way to create a healing effect in your body.

So far, we have almond butter and date paste, which provide the delicious taste of the food bar -- the fat and the sweetness. But both the fat and the sweetness are provided in a healthy form. If you look at most other junk foods or candy bars, you would get fat and sweetness in the form of hydrogenated oils and refined sugars, and of course that's a recipe for heart disease and diabetes right there. You don't want to get fat and sweetness from unhealthy ingredients. You want to get them from wholesome, natural ingredients, like you'll find in this Organic Food Bar.

The next ingredient is agave cactus nectar. This is, as I've mentioned, a low-glycemic-index sweetener. It's probably my second-favorite sweetener of choice right after stevia, an herbal sweetener. This company couldn't put stevia in a food bar, because the FDA continues to outlaw the use of stevia in foods. There's a whole article on that subject and how the FDA is actually protecting the market for artificial chemical sweeteners by enforcing current regulations that don't allow food manufacturers to use stevia. Companies can use stevia in nutritional supplement products, because they aren't foods, but that's a different story. So here in the Organic Food Bar, they are using agave nectar, which is an outstanding choice, perhaps the best choice they could have turned to in this food bar.

The next ingredient is organic brown rice protein. Wow! I couldn't have chosen a better ingredient if I were formulating a line of food bars myself. This is my number one recommended source of dietary protein. Brown rice protein doesn't have the stagnating negative effects of whey protein, because whey protein is a dairy product. Brown rice protein also doesn't have the controversy currently surrounding soy protein, even though I personally think soy protein is an outstanding protein source, and I eat it every single day. For people who want to stay away from soy protein because of some things they're reading in the press, rice protein is a highly recommended source.

Note that with the addition of the rice protein, you're now covering three macronutrient groups in this food bar. With the almonds you have the fats and the healthy oils. With the dates and the agave nectar, you have the complex carbohydrates. And with the brown rice protein, you have a good serving of protein. In fact, the bar contains a whopping 14 grams of protein. Now that's about half as much as perhaps a high-protein food bar, but it's still a lot more protein than you would find in most other sports bars or energy bars. And, again, this is a high-quality protein, not some dairy-derived protein source. This is an outstanding ingredient, and it just goes to show you that whoever was formulating this bar really knew what they were doing in terms of nutrition. It's too bad they couldn't tell the whole story on the label of their product, but again, I'll get back to current regulations. Hopefully I can continue to explain this as you read this article. Let's move on.

Next we have organic raisins. This, once again, is an ingredient used to add sweetness and texture to the bar. Raisins have the attribute of helping food masses stick together, so I'm certain there is a texture quality to raisins that got this ingredient into the bar.

The next two ingredients are organic flax sprouts and organic Quinoa sprouts. These are really quite wonderful ingredients in their own right. In fact, I've written an entire report on Quinoa alone. Hopefully you're already familiar with the benefits of flax seeds, which have healthy omega-3 oils that boost cardiovascular health and enhance brain function. You probably also know that flax contains lignans, which boost immune system function, and that contain good, healthy fiber that reduces your risk of colorectal cancer and enhances digestive health. There are also many other phytonutrients in flaxseed, but we won't go into that. Suffice it to say, this is an excellent ingredient. And you'll notice they used sprouted flax seeds instead of just tossing in dry flax seeds. When they've sprouted they have a much higher nutritional content. When a seed germinates, it creates a storehouse of vitamins and enzymes that it will need in order to grow and thrive as a live, healthy plant. So eating sprouted grains or seeds is always much better for you than just grinding up the dry seeds and eating those.

Next we have the sprouted organic Quinoa, and again, we have the substantial benefit of these seeds being sprouted. But we also have all the remarkable qualities of Quinoa itself. Quinoa is something that I call a "supergrain." It is one of the few grains that offers a complete protein all by itself. It covers all eight essential amino acids plus many others that are nonessential. The Incas used Quinoa for centuries as one of their main food sources. It was typically grown at high altitude in South America, and it was planted and harvested with religious ceremonies that honored the sacred gifts from nature provided in the Quinoa plant. Quinoa is remarkable in its high amount of fiber and protein. In fact, it has more protein than any other natural product in the grain world. It also has a considerable amount of fiber, and again that makes for healthy digestive function. The protein and fiber content of Quinoa make it a fantastic all-around supergrain to use in your diet or to put into a food bar like this one. So, once again, thumbs up to the formulators of this product for choosing Quinoa. It's not something you typically find in food bars.

The next two ingredients in the bar are wheat grass juice powder and barley grass juice powder. These are cereal grain juices. They are high in chlorophyll, which is a cleansing phytonutrient that actually purifies the blood, enhances liver function and helps detoxify the body, especially of heavy metals like mercury or arsenic. Chlorophyll is a wonderful nutrient to get into your body, and of course you can only get it from consuming plants. But there is more to these cereal grass juices -- they also have phytonutrients that have been well demonstrated to treat chronic diseases such as cancer. In fact, wheat grass juice is one of the best supplements you can put into your body if you are currently fighting or trying to prevent cancer. And here in this formula you get both wheat grass juice and barley grass juice. So it's an outstanding combination of superfoods.

The next ingredient is organic sesame seed. This is a healthy oil and healthy fiber ingredient. Sesame seeds also have an anti-cancer effect that's very well documented. They additionally support kidney function and are high in fiber. So, once again, it's an excellent source for nutrition in a food bar.

Are you beginning to see just how powerful the ingredients are in this food bar? And there are more yet to come, but I think you can see from what we've covered so far that this food bar is formulated in such a way that makes it really good medicine. It contains ingredients that, in my opinion, are more potent and far more healing than any prescription drug on the market. Prescription drugs don't engage in any healing whatsoever -- they merely mask symptoms -- while this food bar contains ingredients that jumpstart a healing effect in your body. These ingredients can prevent a great number of chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, nervous system disorders such as Alzheimer's and dementia, and they can help reduce or reverse heart disease and atherosclerosis. This bar is a very impressive healing food, and if it could be patented and sold as a healing drug, I'm sure it would be one of the most powerful healing drugs on the market. Of course, that's not the intent of the maker of this product.

Let's move on to the next ingredient, which is organic spirulina. Now, if you've read any of my work, you probably know I'm a huge supporter of spirulina, and I've studied its healing effects at great length. This is quite simply one of the most potent healing superfoods you can put into your body. Spirulina contains very powerful anti-cancer phytonutrients and phytochemicals. It is also a complete source of highly digestible protein. I've often said that spirulina's protein is 12 times more digestible than beef, ounce per ounce -- and it's absolutely true. If you are having trouble digesting protein, as many people are who are over 60 years of age, then spirulina is a fantastic source for making sure you get high quality protein assimilated into your body. Spirulina also contains some healthy oils such as GLA, an oil that is essential for the healthy functioning of your nervous system. Simultaneously, it contains vitamin B-12 and a full complement of other B-vitamins. These are the vitamins that most Americans are deficient in. Vegetarians especially tend to miss out on getting enough vitamin B-12 because that particular vitamin is not commonly available from the plant kingdom. So by eating spirulina, you can avoid any nutritional deficiencies in the B-vitamin area.

Spirulina also provides some outstanding macrominerals, such as calcium and magnesium, and at the same time provides important trace minerals. This is because spirulina is harvested from ocean waters, so the microalgae is absorbing and assimilating the minerals naturally found in the ocean into its own structure. When you consume spirulina, you are absorbing those minerals into your own body, so it's a great way to get mineral supplements without taking them as isolated dosages.

And, of course, there's the effect of the active phycocyanin nutrient in spirulina that has been experimentally shown in Japan to shrink and eliminate breast cancer tumors in mice. I think if they could patent spirulina or the phycocyanin chemical, turn it into a drug and microscopically inject it into tumors, they would have a cure for breast cancer right there. It's that potent. I could go on and on about the benefits of spirulina; in fact I encourage you to read my free e-book on this subject. Available at www.chlorellafactor.com, it discusses both chlorella and spirulina and talks about their healing potential. In any case, when you eat this Organic Food Bar, you are getting some spirulina into your diet. Of course, it's not the number one ingredient in this food, but it is there and it's there along with many other supportive superfoods such as the wheat grass juice and the barley grass juice, and that transforms this into an amazing healing food bar. In fact, if you're fighting any chronic diseases right now and you have trouble taking nutritional supplements, or you're looking for something that tastes delicious, I would recommend eating one of these organic food bars every single day. Just make it part of your lunch.

The next two ingredients are organic blueberry powder and organic raspberry powder. And I'm excited to see these ingredients in this food bar, because again it shows the wisdom of the team that formulated this bar in recognizing the nutritional value of wholefood concentrates. The blueberry and raspberry powders are potent healing foods. I've talked about blueberries as being even more effective than statin drugs in lowering high levels of LDL cholesterol. And that has been supported by recent evidence in peer review journals. Blueberries are good medicine. They are a healing food, and in addition to lowering cholesterol, they are high in antioxidants. That means they protect your cardiovascular system, they protect your nervous system, they boost immune system function, and many of those antioxidants are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, so they are able to protect nerves from damage in your eyes. Additionally, they can actually help to prevent macular degeneration. There's a whole Universe of phytonutrients found in blueberries that have healing effects. If you're not eating fresh blueberries on a regular basis, as I hope you would consider doing, then the Organic Food Bar is one good way to get them into your diet.

I'm a great proponent of getting nutrition through wholefood concentrates, not through isolated vitamins. If you were to actually list all of the vitamins and minerals found in blueberry powder, it would be a very long list. But by eating the powder itself, you get all those nutrients into your body with each and every swallow of this organic food bar. And we don't have to list all of them out to know that they're in there. In fact, there's not room on the package to list everything that's inside it. You have to be wise enough as a consumer to know that wholefood concentrates are loaded with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, phytonutrients and other elements that have a healing effect on your body.

With the raspberry concentrates in this product, you have another complementary fruit concentrate that has a variety of healing phytonutrients. So you've got blueberries and raspberries together here -- it's a little bit like eating a few berries from the orchard. If you can get one of these food bars into your body every day, you're going to be giving yourself the benefits without having to walk outside and pick fruits off a bush. Now obviously it would be more beneficial if you could get all of these ingredients in their fresh, unprocessed form. It would be better to eat a lot of fresh, whole blueberries or raspberries or wheat grass juice and so on. But that's not practical for most of us. Even if you have the time, you probably don't have the jaw strength to chew your way through enough wheat grass and barley grass and berries to get the kind of nutrition that you get when they're in their wholefood concentrated forms. So getting it in this food bar is definitely the way to go.

The next ingredient we have is organic broccoli sprouts. This is an exciting ingredient and it is perhaps best known for its anti-cancer effects. Broccoli contains a complement of chemicals that have a well-documented anti-tumor effect in the human body. If you want to shrink breast tumors or prostate cancer tumors or generally boost immune system function, eating broccoli sprouts is simply one of the best ways. I've often said that if broccoli sprouts could be patented and sold as a prescription drug, they would charge you at least $100 per serving just to get those chemicals into your body. It's that good! This is a healing food, along with all the other ingredients in this product. And by consuming organic broccoli sprouts on a regular basis, you will dramatically boost your resistance to cancer and other immune system disorders. In fact, you will boost your immune system function and be more resilient to infectious disease such as influenza or the common cold.

And the last ingredient we have here is organic beet juice powder. This is yet another great ingredient because of the cleansing effect it has on the liver, the blood and various internal organs. Beet juice is also a superfood, and when you have it in a concentrated form like this, you're delivering a healing package to your body. Some food manufacturers use beet juice as coloring, and that's great, because you still get the nutritional benefits as well. But in this case, it's probably not used as a color. The food bar doesn't really need the beet juice color, since it's got plenty of color from the green foods and the date paste. So here it's just used as a nutritional additive to the product, and it's a wonderful additive. Beet juice is one of those things that we often forget to put into our bodies. It's easy to eat all of the other food groups and then forget the healing potential of the roots, such as beets and onions, carrots, rutabaga, sweet potatoes and other such root vegetables. So it's good to see it in this food bar.

So, if you look at all of these ingredients together, you realize that this is quite simply one of the most healing convenience foods you could ever get your hands on. It is far and above healthier than just about any health bar on the market. In fact, I've never seen another bar with this recipe of healing ingredients. It is simply outstanding, and it shows the nutritional wisdom of those who have formulated this bar. Eating each bar gives you 4,000 mg of superfoods. That's like taking 4 large capsules of superfoods. It also gives you 10g of healthy fats and 12g of total fats, with only 2g of saturated fat. It's an outstanding combination. You get a good healthy dose of protein, and a total of 300 calories per bar. Remember that this is not a protein-only bar -- it does have complex carbohydrates in it. If you are not engaging in physical exercise, you can overdo your carbohydrate intake if you keep eating these bars nonstop. There are 34g of carbohydrate and 6g of fiber in each bar. So you do want to make sure you're engaging in physical exercise, and that you're regulating your blood sugar by getting other sources of fiber and other vegetables into your diet. Ninety percent of the ingredients in this food bar are raw, and that is a very important feature of the health aspect of this bar. It means that the food ingredients are far more intact than if they had been processed with heat or overly refined.

And finally, I want to note that this bar is highly alkaline. Most of our diets are highly acidic, which is why we suffer suppressed immune system function and are so prone to osteoporosis and bone wasting diseases. High acidity is bad for the human body. People need to get a lot more alkaline ingredients into their diets, and supergreens are a great way to do that. This Active Greens food bar is an excellent way to get more alkaline foods into your diet.

So where can you get this bar? You can ask for it at most health food stores -- you might find it right on the shelf. It's in a bright yellow package with some green printing on the front. You can't miss it; just ask for the Organic Food Bar with the bright yellow packaging. If you can't find it at your local health food store, and they won't order it for you, I'm sure you can buy it online. You may be able to get it at the manufacturer's website, organicfoodbar.com, or certainly you could get it from other online vitamin shops such as vitaminshop.com or vitacost.com. Try some of the different flavors, as well. There's a chocolate version of this bar that gives you the healing benefits of chocolate. We know that chocolate contains a lot of immune-boosting phytochemicals, anti-cancer phytochemicals, and that it has a strong protective effect on the human body. Be sure to check out this line of products and integrate them into your diet. They will cost you a little bit less than $3 a bar, and to me it's one of the best investments you can make for your health.

Again, I'm absolutely amazed that this company can offer these food bars at such a price. To me, it would still be a bargain at twice that price. I would easily pay 5 or 6 dollars to get these healthy foods into my own bar. Compared to other $2 food bars that are just junk, filled with added sugars and cheap ingredients, you're getting healing foods, anti-cancer benefits, heart-protective benefits and wholefood concentrates for just one extra dollar. It's really one of the best values out there in the world of nutrition and health food, and I can't recommend it enough. I just hope that this company stays in business and stays profitable, because the world needs this kind of food. Please do your best to support this company, and make yourself healthy at the same time, by checking out these food bars.