Patter Matters — energy bar

Protein has become the organizing principle of the American snack food aisle. Walk through any grocery store and you will find bars, shakes, pouches, and bites marketed around a single number: grams of protein per serving. The higher the number, the better the product, or so the logic goes. Twenty grams. Thirty grams. Some brands push forty. The number is real. What produced it often isn't. How Protein Bars Get Their Protein Numbers There are two ways to put protein into a bar. The first is whole food. Almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts — these contain protein as part...

There is a fact about most energy bars that rarely appears in their marketing: they are designed to sit on a shelf — or in a gym bag, a glove compartment, an airplane seatback pocket — for up to a year without spoiling. Think about that for a moment. Real food does not do that. A banana lasts a few days. Almonds, stored properly, last a few months. Medjool dates, refrigerated, last about a year — but at room temperature, considerably less. Dried fruit, depending on how it was processed, lasts weeks to months. An energy bar made entirely of...

The conversation around seed oils has shifted significantly in recent years. What was once a fringe concern has moved into mainstream food culture, driven by a growing body of research and a consumer base increasingly willing to read past the front of the package. The question is no longer whether seed oils deserve scrutiny. It is what to do about them practically — especially when it comes to packaged snacks, where seed oils are nearly ubiquitous. What Are Seed Oils? Seed oils are oils extracted from seeds through industrial processes. The list includes canola oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower...

"Natural flavors" appears on more American food labels than almost any other ingredient. It is the second most common ingredient listed on packaged foods in the United States, trailing only salt. It is in your granola bar, your protein shake, your yogurt, and almost certainly in the energy bar sitting in your bag right now. Most people assume "natural" means something good. It does not. What "Natural Flavors" Actually Means The FDA defines natural flavors as substances derived from plant or animal sources that are used to add flavor to food. The definition sounds reasonable until you look at what...