When walking around the health food section of a grocery store these days, you may find that there are many different types of bars. And with so many options and fancy marketing, it is good to arm yourself with a little bit of knowledge about what type of bars you should be eating.
Since we are not scientists or a medical professional of any sort, we asked some of our nutrition experts for a little help on this topic.
Alisa, who doubles as a Registered Dietitian in her every day life, holds a Masters in Allied Health with an emphasis in Nutrition from Georgia State University. We also asked Justin, who is some sort of fancy scientist and just really smart when it comes to nutrition.
Alisa and Justin give us these helpful hints when it comes to which snack bars to choose:
- A bar is a good “in a pinch” snack, but should NEVER replace a meal.
- The bars should be all natural, organic and if possible should not have any high fructose corn syrup.
- When choosing a bar look for:
200 calories or less
8-10 grams of protein
30 grams of carbs or less
2-3 grams of fiber
3 grams of saturated fat or less
- The less saturated fat, the better. The saturated fat is usually due to the milk chocolate or any yogurt coating added to the bars. Saturated fat is the bad animal fats that we do not need a lot of, and most people eat too much. Dark chocolate is the best.
With these guidelines in mind, Alisa and Justin recommend the following:
-Prograde Bars - Packed with healthy fats your body needs and zero trans fats
No preservatives, Less than 200 calories so it’s THE perfect snack - Satisfies your chocolate craving with 100% Organic Dark Chocolate - Perfect (and safe) for kids and young athletes.
Three great flavors: Peanut Butter, Almond Butter and Spirulina
-Zone Perfect Fruitified bars (because they don’t have a chocolate/yogurt coating) – 190 calories, 14 grams of protein, 24 grams of carb (3 grams of fiber), 2.5 grams saturated fat
-Luna Toasted Nuts ‘n Cranberry bar (also no coating) – 180 calories, 10 grams of protein, 26 grams of carb (3 grams of fiber), 0.5 grams saturated fat
-Kashi Go Lean Crunchy! Bars – the Chocolate Almond flavor (some coating) – 170 calories, 27 grams of carb (5 grams of fiber), 8 grams of protein, 2.5 grams saturated fat
So remember, if you are “in a pinch” and need to eat a bar for one of your snacks, make sure you are following Alisa and Justin's suggestions to choose the best possible bar. This is especially important if weight loss is one of your goals, as some of the bars pack a lot of calories into very little space- there is a reason some of them taste like candy bars! Pay attention to the labels and find one you like that is also healthful.
Anytime you have any nutrition questions, feel free to post them to the blog where one of our nutrition experts can answer them for you. You can also check out the nutrition blog on a daily basis for recipes and tips.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Shop Smart
You signed up for boot camp and have made the commitment to give it your all every day. But is that enough? Some of you might think that is a crazy question. Of course that is enough, right? Well, maybe not. Getting in shape and being healthy takes more then just exercise. Yes, you have made the first step in the right direction. You have signed up for a hardcore program that is going to kick your butt! Now it’s time to learn how to change your eating so that you get the most out of boot camp.
If you don’t have healthy and nutritious foods at home, it is going to be easier to slip up and “cheat.” That is why this article “Healthy Eating Begins at the Supermarket” makes sense. Think about it. If you are at the store and you are buying Twinkies and Oreos, then obviously when you get home, you are not going to have healthy foods to eat. But if you make the right choices while you are shopping, eating healthy will become a natural occurrence. If you surround yourself with the “right” foods, you won’t even have to think about what to eat.
So here are a few tips from this article that we thought were particularly important. One of the most important tips for healthy eating is to shop the perimeter of the store. The perimeter of the store is where you find all of the fresh foods. Your fruits, veggies, meats and seafood are all around the outside of the store. Are there exceptions to this rule? Yes, canned tomatoes are great to use while cooking, as are frozen veggies, but in general you can avoid the majority of the aisles in a grocery store.
Another great tip is to shop with a list. Plan out your meals and snacks for a few days and write down what you need. Shopping with a list will make you focus on the foods you really need and not the foods that you want. Making a list also cuts down the time you spend at the grocery store and can help save money since you won’t be buying all the unnecessary foods.
We hear a lot from our campers (especially the single ones) that they don’t like to cook at home because the food goes to waste. If you buy your fruits and vegetables a few days before they are ripe, there is less chance of them going bad. Then once you cook the foods, split the meal out into individual Tupperware containers. You can freeze these containers and have meals for the future when you don’t have time to cook.
When you are looking through the produce section, focus on the fruits and vegetables that are in season. Foods that are in season will often cost less and will always taste better. So do yourself a favor and stick to in season fruits and veggies.
There are a lot of other tips in this article. So check it out here. For our veteran campers, we know you have heard a lot of these tips before in one way or another. What changes did you make to your shopping habits that have helped you the most?
If you don’t have healthy and nutritious foods at home, it is going to be easier to slip up and “cheat.” That is why this article “Healthy Eating Begins at the Supermarket” makes sense. Think about it. If you are at the store and you are buying Twinkies and Oreos, then obviously when you get home, you are not going to have healthy foods to eat. But if you make the right choices while you are shopping, eating healthy will become a natural occurrence. If you surround yourself with the “right” foods, you won’t even have to think about what to eat.
So here are a few tips from this article that we thought were particularly important. One of the most important tips for healthy eating is to shop the perimeter of the store. The perimeter of the store is where you find all of the fresh foods. Your fruits, veggies, meats and seafood are all around the outside of the store. Are there exceptions to this rule? Yes, canned tomatoes are great to use while cooking, as are frozen veggies, but in general you can avoid the majority of the aisles in a grocery store.
Another great tip is to shop with a list. Plan out your meals and snacks for a few days and write down what you need. Shopping with a list will make you focus on the foods you really need and not the foods that you want. Making a list also cuts down the time you spend at the grocery store and can help save money since you won’t be buying all the unnecessary foods.
We hear a lot from our campers (especially the single ones) that they don’t like to cook at home because the food goes to waste. If you buy your fruits and vegetables a few days before they are ripe, there is less chance of them going bad. Then once you cook the foods, split the meal out into individual Tupperware containers. You can freeze these containers and have meals for the future when you don’t have time to cook.
When you are looking through the produce section, focus on the fruits and vegetables that are in season. Foods that are in season will often cost less and will always taste better. So do yourself a favor and stick to in season fruits and veggies.
There are a lot of other tips in this article. So check it out here. For our veteran campers, we know you have heard a lot of these tips before in one way or another. What changes did you make to your shopping habits that have helped you the most?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Miss Us Yet?
The Rialto Wellness Staff knows how much you must be missing camp this week. So we put together a couple of workouts you can do at home...you can thank us later...
1) I'm So Excited!!
30 - 20 - 10
Vertical Jumps
Xtreme Jacks
Vertical Leg Scissors
Do 30 of each, then 20 of each, then 10. Not enough? Build it back up! Do 10 of each, then 20, then 30.
2) Jump Rope
Grab a rope and see how many skips you can get in a minutes. Take 3/4 of that number and skip that many times each minute for 20 minutes.
So if you can skip 100 times in 1 minute. Then for each minute for 20 minutes, you need to try and skip 75 times. Try to complete each minute as fast as possible and use the remaining seconds as rest.
3) Grind it Out
Push ups on the wall
Wall Jumps
20+1
19+2
18+3
all the way down until 1+20
So start with 20 push ups on the wall and 1 wall jump. Then 19 push ups and 2 wall jumps.
4) Lunge Walk 400 meters (1 loop around a track)
1) I'm So Excited!!
30 - 20 - 10
Vertical Jumps
Xtreme Jacks
Vertical Leg Scissors
Do 30 of each, then 20 of each, then 10. Not enough? Build it back up! Do 10 of each, then 20, then 30.
2) Jump Rope
Grab a rope and see how many skips you can get in a minutes. Take 3/4 of that number and skip that many times each minute for 20 minutes.
So if you can skip 100 times in 1 minute. Then for each minute for 20 minutes, you need to try and skip 75 times. Try to complete each minute as fast as possible and use the remaining seconds as rest.
3) Grind it Out
Push ups on the wall
Wall Jumps
20+1
19+2
18+3
all the way down until 1+20
So start with 20 push ups on the wall and 1 wall jump. Then 19 push ups and 2 wall jumps.
4) Lunge Walk 400 meters (1 loop around a track)
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