A colleague of mine, Mike Geary, sent me this...I have experienced it first hand many times, but I figured I'd let you see it for yourself.

If you have ever grabbed a protein bar hoping for a quick, healthy snack...you gotta see this:

There are so many types of "health bars" on the market today, how do you know if you're actually buying something healthy or junk food in disguise?

Again, just as I've talked about grocery store food choices, you really need to know how to read labels if you're going to stand a chance at finding a truly healthy food bar. To be quite honest, most of the bars out there are pure junk... candy bars disguised through labeling as a health food bar.

Just recently, I was going on a mountain bike ride and needed a quick bar to make sure I had enough energy for the ride.

Well, I didn't have any bars on me, so my friend gave me an extra Slimfast bar he had. Keep in mind that this Slimfast bar is marketed as a "health food", that is supposedly appropriate for someone trying to lose wt.

What a freakin joke these bars are!

In my opinion, these Slimfast bars are WORSE for you than a candy bar! The 1st ingredient in these bars is corn syrup!

Then the 2nd ingredient is sugar (yay more sugar!), followed by hydrogenated oils (trans fats), and then the list went on with nothing but junk such as artificial flavors, colors, more hydrogenated oils, nasty artificial sweeteners, and rounded out with some highly processed soy protein isolate just to give your body some more junk.

Back to these "worse for you than candy bars" Slimfast bars... not only are they a disaster nutritionally, but the bar tasted horrible... it tasted like chemicals and was way too overly sweet (not a surprise with all of the corn syrup, sugar, sugar alcohols, AND artificial sweeteners).

This is a prime example of "over-engineering" of food. So how do you determine a healthy bar?

I look for simplicity in a good bar.

Many of the healthiest and tastiest bars I've found have only a couple basic ingredients such as nuts, seeds, and fruit. I also look for organic ingredients and raw ingredients if possible. A couple of my favorite truly healthy bars:

1. Organic Food Bars - This is actually the brand name. Depending on which flavor, these are usually a base of organic almond butter (or cashew butter) with a certain type of fruit, organic seeds, organic biosprouts (quinoa, etc), and some organic rice protein. Some flavors include an organic dark chocolate as well. They also have a line of bars that use exclusively raw ingredients.

Not only are these bars extremely nutritious, but I think they are delicious as well and have a lot of flavors to choose from such as blueberry, cranberry, chocolate chip, high protein, and more. You won't find these bars at your local grocery store, but I have found them at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and several health food markets.

2. Larabars - These are even simpler in ingredients than organic food bars. Usually larabars are just 2 or 3 ingredients, and mostly raw... a blend of crushed nuts along with a type of fruit is the usual combination, but they have a lot of different flavors so it can vary. These are also delicious and you will NEVER see a list of chemicals a mile long in their ingredient list...usually just nuts and fruit, and that's it!

Simple IS better.

I don't know who this Lara is, but she made a great product. Again, I've found these at various health food markets.

3. Prograde Cravers - These are made by Prograde Nutrition. I know the founders of this company personally, so I have a high level of trust in their products. These are definitely some of the tastiest bars I've ever had (especially the peanut butter flavor!)... and they are also made with all organic ingredients using nut butters, rice protein, organic dark chocolate, etc.

You actually can't get these in any stores, but you can get these online at the following site: https://curtis.getprograde.com

When you actually find truly healthy bars like these examples above, they make great quick snacks while you're traveling or while you're at work. I carry some on me almost at all times, just to make sure I have healthy options to eat whenever I need a snack, so that I'm not tempted by fast food joints or junk food vending machines.

That's it for today. Please fwd this email on to your friends, family, and coworkers if you think it would help them make healthier choices.