Cooking & Recipes

When even fast food isn't fast enough, Americans increasingly grab and gobble "nutrition bars" also known as "energy bars" or "food bars." Invented in the mid-1980s for use by endurance athletes, the bars quickly became snack foods for time-stressed Americans of all types, including those whose principal daily workout consists of unwrapping the bar.

It's no wonder the treats caught on so quickly. The bars offer an irresistible package: convenience; the promise of good nutrition; and, often, sweetness that rivals that of many candy bars. But are they too good to be true?

In many cases, they are.

First, it appears that, at least sometimes, the labeling information cannot be trusted. A 2001 test by ConsumerLab.com - an independent laboratory that evaluates health and wellness products - concluded that "most bars are mislabeled, with many containing undeclared carbohydrates." Also, ConsumerLab.com noted that "differences in the nutritional design among products was striking." In other words, some bars could serve as a "good, occasional source of nutrition for people on the go," but others were far less healthful, containing questionable ingredients such as partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil or high fructose corn syrup.

But what about vitamins? In many cases, the promise of good nutrition is addressed via a dose of inexpensive synthetic vitamins added to the bar's ingredients. However, if you eat a healthy diet and take a quality supplement, you will simply excrete the excess vitamin load.

So how does one find a good bar? Just read the list of ingredients.

On American food labels, these are listed in order of weight, so if sweeteners are among the first ingredients, the bar is dubious choice. For example, one popular brand's second-ranking ingredient, after whole-grain oats, is high maltose corn syrup, a close chemical cousin of high fructose corn syrup. The same bar also contains sugar, high fructose corn syrup and fructose. Though the label contends the bar is "100% natural," it is a sugar bomb, guaranteed to provide a quick rush of energy followed by an equally quick crash. And none of the ingredients is organic.

There are, fortunately, better choices. In fact, some bars on the market contain no added sugars whatsoever, deriving their sweetness from whole, dried fruit. Dr. Weil collaborated with Nature's Path, a leading manufacturer of organic food products, to create five "Weil by Nature's Path Pure Fruit & Nut Bars" with uncompromised ingredients - the "Banana Manna" bar, for example, contains only organic dates, organic dried bananas and organic almonds. Other selections from the line feature organic natural cocoa, organic pistachios and organic goji berries. Weil by Nature's Path Pure Fruit & Nut Bars are available at natural foods stores and online from Amazon.

Dr. Weil donates all of his after-tax profits from royalties from the sale of Weil by Nature's Path Pure Fruit & Nut Bars directly to the Weil Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting integrative medicine through training, education, and research.

But even if you don't choose the bars Dr. Weil helped to create, seek brands featuring unprocessed, organic ingredients with no added sugar. Such bars can't replace fresh, nutritious meals based on Dr. Weil's anti-inflammatory diet, but they can serve to keep blood sugar and energy steady during a busy day. And remember, food bars were invented to help endurance athletes - consider using the best ones to propel your own athletic endeavors!