{"id":1656,"date":"2013-01-08T22:50:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T22:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/?p=1656"},"modified":"2013-01-08T22:50:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-08T22:50:00","slug":"the-mystery-of-energy-bars-and-drinks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/the-mystery-of-energy-bars-and-drinks\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mystery of Energy Bars and Drinks"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Why is &#8220;athletic food&#8221; held in such unquestioned esteem?<\/li>\n<li>Why is it assumed that people who engage in athletic activity will and must eat energy bars and drinks?<\/li>\n<li>Why is sports &#8220;nutrition&#8221; mostly about performance enhancing combinations of supplements, drinks, goos and bars?<\/li>\n<li>The one word answer:\u00a0 Marketing.<\/li>\n<li>More specifically:\u00a0 Highly masterful marketing that employs the authority of &#8220;science.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/everydaygoodeating.org\/nkcalendar-register.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"Bar Vs. Kale Picture\" src=\"http:\/\/i722.photobucket.com\/albums\/ww230\/mcolletterogers\/EnergyBarvsKale.png\" width=\"420\" height=\"131\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Bar Debate<\/h3>\n<p>We were featured in a <a title=\"Mary Collette Rogers quoted in Daily Camera\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailycamera.com\/health-fitness\/ci_22289183\/boulder-athletes-resolutions-include-throwing-out-sports-drinks\" target=\"_blank\">Daily Camera article<\/a> last week that raised interesting questions like those above.\u00a0 I got to talk with one of the athletes interviewed for the article, who had some good insights:\u00a0 &#8220;Makers of athletic food products have brought science to bear in promoting their products.\u00a0 Since athletic training is focused on science-based research, it&#8217;s only natural that athletes will respond favorably to scientific-type research on the superiority of manufactured energy products.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, look at any sports site, flip through sports magazines or talk to fitness folks and you&#8217;ll discover a wellspring of enthusiastic banter about energy foods and drinks&#8211;and it is all &#8220;based on science.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>What Science Really Says<\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s curious how marketers can claim the mantel of scientific sanctity for products that often list &#8220;corn syrup&#8221; as the first ingredient.\u00a0 What&#8217;s more, if we&#8217;re talking real &#8220;scientific research,&#8221; there are at least a few studies confirming the powerful benefits of food&#8211;numbering maybe in the thousands!\u00a0 Why don&#8217;t these studies carry much weight in fitness circles and gyms?\u00a0 Maybe because there&#8217;s a lot more money poured into advertising energy bars than what&#8217;s spent to promote broccoli florets and butter beans!<\/p>\n<h3>A Real Balance<\/h3>\n<p>Balance is such a key concept in every walk of life.\u00a0 How do we profit ourselves with incredible fitness if the body is robbed of nature-given nutrients needed for true health?\u00a0 That\u2019s why I liked the title of Sarah Kuta&#8217;s Camera article: &#8220;Keeping it Real.&#8221;\u00a0 Good motto for a new year.<\/p>\n<h3>The Real Problem:\u00a0 Time, priorities and inspiration<\/h3>\n<p>Why can&#8217;t athletes just eat vegetables, fruit, meat, beans, etc. i.e., food?\u00a0 As athlete Corey Steimel pointed out, &#8220;I struggle finding creative recipes that are not only healthy, but you can make in a timely manner.&#8221;\u00a0 He and his friends get tired of eating the same things over and over.<\/p>\n<h3>The Real Solution<\/h3>\n<p><a title=\"New Kitchen Cooking School Class Schedule\" href=\"http:\/\/everydaygoodeating.org\/nkcalendar-register.html\" target=\"_blank\">Join one of our classes <\/a>and learn to cook healthful, tasty meals.\u00a0 It&#8217;s easy.\u00a0 You&#8217;ll be amazed at how skillful you become, even after just two or three classes.\u00a0 Sports nutritionist Curt Thompson put it this way: &#8220;When people say I don&#8217;t have time to eat well, what that tells me is you&#8217;ve got your priorities wrong.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a new year, and a perfect time to work on the good eating part of your fitness equation.\u00a0 We have three sessions to choose from.\u00a0 Come join us, learn a few key skills&#8211;and have some fun!<\/p>\n<h3>What athletes are saying about our classes:<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Great hands on class!\u00a0 Very informative.\u00a0 Yummy healthy meals without the complications.\u00a0 Thank you so much.&#8221;\u00a0 <em>&#8211;Corey Steimel:\u00a0 Triathlete<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Great class!\u00a0 Excellent hands on experience as well as visual experience.\u00a0 Answered all questions perfectly and helped us learn in a way we understood.\u00a0 Amazing class!\u00a0 &#8212; <em>Meghann Castillo:\u00a0\u00a0 Triathlete<\/em><\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 246px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/everydaygoodeating.org\/nkcalendar-register.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Athlete's Class Photo\" src=\"http:\/\/i722.photobucket.com\/albums\/ww230\/mcolletterogers\/TriathleteClassReduced.jpg\" width=\"256\" height=\"173\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Happy athletes after a class learning to make kale salad, eggplant with tomatoes, and Japanese tofu.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s curious how marketers can claim the mantel of scientific sanctity for products that often list &#8220;corn syrup&#8221; as the first ingredient.  What&#8217;s more, if we&#8217;re talking real &#8220;scientific research,&#8221; there are at least a few studies confirming the powerful benefits of food&#8211;numbering maybe in the thousands!  Why don&#8217;t these studies carry much weight in fitness circles and gyms? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[186,213,469,546,547],"class_list":["post-1656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-what-is-healthy-eating","category-uncategorized","tag-energy-bar","tag-food-marketing","tag-real-foods","tag-sports-drinks","tag-sports-nutrition","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}