What do Luna Bars and elephants in captivity have in common? Keep reading.
Last weekend at the Yoga Show, as a participant in the Seane Corn Detox Flow Workshop, I received a gift bag and inside were two food items: a box of Triscuits (which I left with the gift bag girls) and the item that inspired the Guess The Ingredient List #3. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that so many people could figure out what this Guess The Ingredient List product was as so many people eat them. I have gotten a bit rusty on this sort of thing over the last few years as the foods I buy that come in packages have become few and far between.
What I do know is that whether the food came from the yoga show or a health food store or not, was 70% Organic or not, you still wouldn’t find me eating anything with an ingredient list that starts off with soy isolates and is followed by this lengthy lengthy impossible to pronounce list:
soy rice crisp made from soy protein isolate, rice flour, organic organic roasted soybeans, oats, organic soy flour, and organic milled flaxseed), brown rice syrup, coating- organic evaporated cane juice, fractionated palm kernel oil, cocoa, inulin, soy lecithin, natural vanilla, vegetable glycerin, marshmallow flavoured nuggets made from organic evaporated cane juice, cocoa butter, oat fibre, oat flour, fructose, natural flavours, gum arabic, and soy lecithin, rice flour, natural flavours, sea salt, green tea extract, vitamins and minerals (calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate, magnesium oxide, ascorbic acid, alpha-tocopherol acetate, ferrous fumarate, molybdenum glycinate, biotin, beta carotene, riboflavin, calcium pantothenate, zinc oxide, selenium, thiamin, niacin , chromium, phytonadione, manganese, pyridoxine, cupric oxide, folic acid, cyanocobalamin, potassium iodide). Note: contains soy, may contain traces of peanuts, nuts, and dairy
There is a huge difference between eating a healthy diet and eating a health food store diet. Just because it is in a health food store, doesn’t make it healthy. Eating a health food store diet, which at the time I thought was healthful, didn’t help me much when I was suffering from symptoms of Crohn’s disease. I was eating brown rice syrup based chocolate puddings, gluten-free waffles with organic syrup and ‘food’ bars. So many ‘food’ bars. Granted the pudding at a health food store will be free of trans fats and hydrogenated oils and the food bars are better than an Oh Henry candy bar… but not much.
These ‘food’ bars are sold in health food stores. Is it really that much more difficult to fill a couple bags with some mixed nuts and dried fruit? Not really, but the health advantage (and cost savings) is huge.
I have likely given it away by now but the the answer to the Guess The Ingredient List was a Luna Smores Bar and Sara was the first to get it. Congratulations! Sara wins a deliciously healthful bag of My Favourite Granola in her choice of Toasted or Raw- made with 100% real food.
Debi, who was the winner of the Guess The Ingredient List #2 contest also gets an honourable mention for the most thorough and well researched response to my rhetorical question of which aisle of the supermarket I might find phytonadione. Her response:
“I’ve found out that phytonadione is a lab-synthesized form of vitamin K. This form is used in Luna bars, and also fed to elephants in captivity, apparently. (http://elephantcare.org/Drugs/phytona.htm) Weird. But onto your question — while it would be hard to find phytonadione in a grocery store, I would head straight to the fruits and veggies section if I wanted super-bioavailable vitamin K!! Leafy greens such as spinach and kale are great sources, as are avocados and kiwifruits. Parsley is also an excellent source (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=100).
I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather go with the leafy greens. Perhaps in the form of kale, or maybe in a green smoothie.
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Elephan Photo courtesy of http://www.kentonline.co.uk
No wonder so many of us guessed Cliff bars–they’re made by the same company! Congrats to the winner.
That’s terrible, I’ve been eating luna bars for years, even my 4 year old eats them! I guess that’s going to change!
Luna bars exposed! Yeah, I stopped buying them when I really looked at what was in them. Amazing.
Aw, thanks for the honourable mention!!
As for the granola — I am loving it more and more every day. (It’s a wonder that I still have some; it’s taken a lot of willpower not to finish it all in one sitting!!) From the delicious cinnamon-y aroma upon opening the bag, to the crunchy, I-can’t-believe-it’s-raw texture, your granola is absolute perfection! These contests are great for the few who win them, but I hope this stuff becomes available in stores far and wide soon! You’ve created a product that should win awards! I mean it!!
Okay, I guess I missed this whole thing somehow. Wait! You make and sell granola too?! I didn’t know this either. I ordered one of your tee shirts but would have also liked to try some of the granola. You need to get it out on the market like Bare Naked did – I’m wondering if that’s a healthy choice or not now, lol.
Thanx once again for your comments regarding “healthfood”..it is soooo misleading!
I try as much as possible not to go for any processed food items and try to stick as close to nature as I possibly can!