The Golden Bars of Life

By: Rick Schaff

-- an excerpt from my book, MISLED

www.HEALTHandINSPIRATION.com

I have walked into a grocery store dozens of times only to see the same sad scenario played over and over; an overweight woman with a shopping cart full of miscellaneous protein bars. It breaks my heart. Here is a woman who is obviously struggling with a weight problem, and she is looking for help. Unfortunately she has found help from a wolf in sheep’s clothing and she has been cleverly deceived into believing that these bars will help her lose weight and become healthy. She believes their misleading advertisements. She believes the thin, perfect models displayed in these deceptive advertisements owe their beautiful physiques to these enchanted bars. She believes the doctors, experts, and staged callers who were paid to confirm that these bars are indeed “healthy.” She also believes that if she eats enough of these bars her fat will magically melt away, and her body will sculpt itself into perfection. Blow up that experiment; IT’S A LIE!

First, let me just say that I have eaten many protein bars in my life; most of us in the fitness industry have. Today’s bars look and taste exactly like candy bars, which reminds me of the old adage; Ya know, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck (and in this case tastes like a duck), well then you can bet it’s probably a duck. That said, many of the popular protein bars today are nothing more than candy bars with added protein powder and a few vitamins for show; hardly nutritious by any professional standard. There was a time when I thought these bars were good for me; I thought eating them was an efficient way to get more protein and vitamins in my system. In fact, I started substituting bars instead of real food because they were convenient and tasted good. Unfortunately, they made me feel anything but good. The truth is that most bars are full of sugar, artificial flavors, artificial colors, high fructose corn syrup, chemicals, bleaching agents, oils that our body simply cannot digest well, and additives that cause allergic reactions and make us fat. On top of that, they are nutrient deficient. If you do not believe me, buy a case of bars and experiment on yourself by using them as the main staple of your diet. If you’re like me, you will begin feeling like a walking pile of Poo-Poo in no time. Needless to say, I do not buy bars anymore. In fact, I don’t even accept bars that are offered to me for free. The only time I will ever eat a bar is in a situation where fresh food is not available, like when I am hiking or traveling. In these instances, I choose from some of the new, organically produced fiber-based bars made by people who keep their claims honest.

Behind the Scenes

Let me share with you a funny story, which illustrates how many athletes relate to these “healthy” bars. On many occasions, I was hired to photograph different athletes eating bars or drinking shakes for national advertising campaigns. In all these instances, I have rarely witnessed any athletes who actually ingested the products they endorsed, unless they were forced to. Instead, most of the athletes usually pretend to drink the product, or in the case of a bar, request that a trash can be placed just out of frame in order to enact what I like to refer to as the popular “bite-chew-and-spit" procedure. Here’s how it works: the athlete flexes, smiles, takes a bite of the bar, the camera flashes, and phooey, the athlete spits the bar into the trash without ingesting it. Why? Because they know this junk isn’t good for them, even if the finished advertisement depicts a much different story. As a result, the average person who sees this ad believes that this athlete owes their lean muscular physique to this incredible, edible bar. What a scam!