Like most people from my generation, I once pondered the day when the future of food would include full meals in pill form just like the Jettsons enjoyed. With maturity and education, however, those dreams are long gone. As a matter of fact, these days if a food product comes in a package it’s almost guaranteed that it’s lost much of it’s nutritional integrity somewhere along the way.
If anyone asked my thoughts on foods they should eat, I will 100 times out of a 100 direct them to real foods. Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, nut butters, etc. You know, it’s the stuff you could walk out and find in the forest and eat. In a perfect world, we’d eat nothing but the fresh stuff, but there may be some friendly foods that come in packages, too.
Keep some sunshine in your life.
Though few and far between, here’s a list of some real food products (or mild offenders):
- LaraBar – With just a handful of ingredients, these addictive gems are made largely of fruit and nuts. Period. Though these are “clean label” foods, be careful because a daily diet of LaraBars can become a low performance crutch. Keep these as friendly backup in your bag.
- Amy & Brian Coconut Water– Coconut water is a full fledged trend these days and there are countless brands out there. Beware: Not all are “clean,” however. Coconut water is naturally sweet. That’s why it gets the nod as a natural sports drink in leu of Gatorade, for example. I personally like Amy & Brian. They’ve even got one “with pulp” so you can drink and chew your coconut water.
- Artisana Coconut Butter– This stuff is the world’s best kept secret. Most snacks are macronutrient carbohydrate, which isn’t always helpful in the insulin abused world we live in. Artisana has coconut butter both in the jar size, as well as the convenient pouch size, for a fat based fuel source. Eat it straight up, put it in your coffee, brush your teeth with it for all I care..
- PaleoKit– Steve Liberati is a model American. Period. He’s taken over the world of functional fitness by way of clean eater friendly snacks (PaleoKits) with Steve’s Club. His trade, however, is that of a coach. PaleoKits just fund his non-profit effort to you hard ass, effective, functional training to change the lives of America’s at-risk youth. His nationwide effort started in crime-rich Camden, NJ and has blown up beyond his (our) wildest dreams.
- CocoMoe Joe Bar– This organic gem is a local production with great taste. With a strong bias (which we love) toward coconut, Joe bars come in 6 flavors. Go ahead and fight over and over and over for which tastes best.
These are by no means the only clean label friendly snacks out there, but I figured I’d start the conversation. If you’ve found a hidden gem of your own feel free to share it with the group. Taking on the vast seas of modern nutrition is much less daunting with a support group like ours, share your experiences!
Logan Gelbrich
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Wednesday’s Workout:
Med Ball Work
5 rounds:
AMRAP 3
3 Burpees
6 Hang Power Snatches
9 Jumping Lunges
-Rest 1 min-
