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Out of Balance
By Wolf Paulus <wolf@wolfpaulus.com>

Posted Friday, April 13th, 2007

Balance Bars Most programmers, coders, hackers, Software Engineers, call them like you see them, don't eat healthy. There is just no time to leave the keyboard for having a healthy meal and instead we prefer a quick snack or a beer, depending of the location and time of the day maybe.
Despite the popularity of the well-marketed low-carbohydrate diets, a.k.a. Atkins Diet, the Carpentaria, CA based Balance Bar Food Company (bought by Kraft Foods in 2000 for approximately $268 million) stuck to their concept of making nutrition/energy bars that have balanced proportions of 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 30% dietary fat, and are fortified with vitamins and minerals.

The Balance Bar's 40/30/30 principle, aimed at achieving stable blood sugar levels, is based on a nutritional philosophy popularized by biochemist and nutrition scientist Dr. Barry Sears and has been proven to provide sustained energy and hunger management. A box containing 15 bars costs about US$ 16 and can be bought by retailers nationwide or directly at http://www.balance.com/.

Being a proud member of the above-mentioned group of unhealthy eaters, I have too few meals during the day, don't spend much time thinking about calories and fat, and don't like fruits. I drink plenty of fluids - in the form of coffee and beer that is. However, for the last seven or eight years, I have made the Balance Bar part of my daily diet and while there are plenty of flavors to choose form, I enjoy the Balance Bar Gold triple-chocolat-chaos the most.

Since the Balance Bar is really tasty and has been a consistent and healthy part of my everyday selection of food, I immediately noticed the new designed box and wrapper. Comparing the nutrition facts revealed that not only the packaging had changed but also content and not for better, if you ask me.

Balance Bar Taste Test Now, I certainly couldn't care less about their new wrapper and box design and even if the new bar (more Sugar, Cholesterol, and Sodium but less Protien) is not nearly as good for you as the previous generation, I still may have continued buying it - but the new bar also tastes awful.

It's much more chewy, unpleasantly sticking to your teeth and tastes more like caramel than chocolate. It's also a lot sweeter, almost feels like eating a spoon of pure sugar. But don't take my word for it, buy one of those new bars and experience the flavor yourself. Or even better, do a comparison taste test, just like Tom and I just did.

Nutrition Facts The old Balance Bar Gold
triple-choco.-chaos
The NEW Balance Bar Gold
triple-choco.-chaos
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Total Fat7g = 11%7g = 11%
-- Saturated4g = 20%4g = 20%
-- Trans0g0g
Cholesterol0mg<5mg = 1%
Sodium
less is better
90mg = 4% 130mg = 5%
Potassium120mg = 3%135 mg = 4%
Total Carbohydrate22g = 7%24g = 8%
Diatary Fiber<1g = 3%<1g = 4%
Sugar12g16g
Protein15g = 28%13g = 24%
  Balance Bar Old Balance Bar New
Serving Size1 Bar (50g)1 Bar (50g)
Calories210210
-- from Fat6060
Vitamin A50%50%
Vitamin C100%100%
Calcium10%10%
Iron25%25%
Vitamin E100%100%
Vitamin K25%25%
Thiamin25%25%
Riboflavin25%25%
Niacin25%25%
Vitamin B625%25%
Folid Acid25%25%
Vitamin B1225%25%
Biotin25%25%
Pantothenic Acid25%25%
Phosphorus15%15%
Iodine25%25%
Magnesium10%10%
Zinc25%25%
Selenium25%25%
Copper25%25%
Manganese25%25%
Chromium25%25%
Molybdenum25%25%


Balance Bars



Disclosure: This blog is written and edited by me, it contains my words and my opinions only, and does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
I am not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. This blog does not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, I will and do accept and keep free products, services, and other forms of compensation from companies and organizations. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network and identified as such.
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Published on: Friday, April 13th, 2007  •  Category: [life]

Article URL : http://wolfpaulus.com/journal/life/balance.html