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I often make my own protein bars so that I know exactly what goes into them. It’s also less expensive this way! You can tailor it to nearly any protein/fat/carbohydrate combination you want, depending on your goals and how your body responds.

Mix up the following and cook for 10-20 minutes at 350 degrees. The pre-cooked bars should be thick and tough to mix. If it’s too wet, the final bars will be quiche-like, and if it’s too dry or you overcook, it can get hard or dry. Tailor al gusto!

The foundation:

• 3/4 cup nuts, blended
• 3/4 cups oatmeal, dry, blended
• 2-4 eggs or egg substitute
• vanilla protein powder

Now, for kicks, here are some ways to spice it up. Pick and choose, though I don’t recommend using all of these in the same batch:

• raisins, dried cranberries, or goji berries
• 3 tbs of peanut butter
• lots more peanut butter
• spirolina, just for some fun color
• chocolate chips
• meal replacement shake powder, for more calories

If you use this recipe for protein bars or meal replacement bars, let me know how it worked out.

I just read through a few articles about Monsanto and their practice of suing farmers for “using” their GM crops. Perhaps some more research is in order, to be fair, but my sense of this is that it is not in everyone’s best interest.

Monsanto ”Seed Police” Scrutinize Farmers 
Another North Dakota farmer, Tom Wiley, explains the situation this way: “Farmers are being sued for having GMOs on their property that they did not buy, do not want, will not use and cannot sell.”

Farmer Loses to Monsanto Over GE Seed Patent
The case began last August when Monsanto took Schmeiser to court, claiming he illegally planted its canola. Unlike scores of similarly accused North American farmers who have reached out-of-court settlements with Monsanto, Schmeiser fought back. He claims Monsanto investigators trespassed on his land - and that company seed could easily have blown on to his soil from passing canola-laden trucks. The modified canola acted as an unwanted weed, he said, contaminating the rest of his crop.

Monsanto Charged With Using US Patent Laws to Control Staple Crop Seeds 

Trailer for The Future of Food

Monsanto

I watched King Corn last night at the Coolidge Corner Theater. This is a must see for individuals, but also very important for fitness professionals. After all, if we are in the business of helping people exercise their way of fitness, and they think they’re eating the right foods for their goals - what happens if we realize that any achievements and changes are thwarted because of the “good” food we eat.

The alarm is being sounded on corn. The King Corn website has some fantastic and scary statistics about it in their faq and farm bill section.

One thing that is clear is that not all corn is equal. The corn that is massively produced today is not the corn that was once eaten. Looking at a history of corn is different than looking at what the corn industry says about corn. Can you see the bias? It’s interesting to look at this list and at the same time question the assumptions that lead to this type of thinking.

Here are a few interesting links about the issues:

• How the feds make bad-for-you food cheaper than healthful fare
• Wikipedia’s History of Corn
• Corn, It’s What’s Bad for you (by a grass-fed-beef farmer, so it is biased, but valuable for it’s insight)
• Michael Pollen, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma

There’s a lot more to research here, but this is a start.