Mercola: the corruption begins

[Guest guest]

As some of you may know, I've been searching for some kind of healthy,

low-carb, portable snack food that I can eat in a pinch when away from

home. I've tried making pemmican several times, but it's always turned out

inedible, and I tried Grassland Beef's version, and that was even

worse. So I finally figured that the CocoChia bars Mercola's been pimping

for awhile were worth a shot. I didn't expect them to be ideal, being

fairly fibrous and containing chia seeds, which I expect are probably about

as good -- or rather bad -- as flax, except that chia doesn't seem to

contain phytoestrogens, but I guessed I could do worse for an occasional

emergency food even though I wasn't able to find an actual ingredient list

or nutritional breakdown anywhere on the web. Since Mercola has been

fairly on-target when it comes to nutrition and since the other foods he

sells are pretty good, I figured I was safe in ordering them even though I

didn't know everything up front.

I was fool.

I haven't even gotten the bloody things yet, but his latest newsletter

links to a revised and much more revealing (and also internally

contradictory) information page about these CocoChia bars.

This is one of the headlines on the page:

>Superb Ingredients Make CocoChia Bars My #1 Snack Choice

This is the blurb in his newsletter:

><http://www.mercola.com/forms/cocochia_bar.htm>An Energy Bar So Nutritious

>It Gets My Top Recommendation -- and So Delicious Even Kids Love It! -

>Unlike most of today's so-called energy bars that offer little real

>nutrition and are high in sugar, this brand new CocoChia Bar offers only

>what your body needs. This bar is high in fiber, gluten free, and organic,

>and contains a truly healthy balance of protein, carbs, fiber and

>essential fats. Its powerful metabolism boosters will help you maintain

>optimal weight and the best news of all? It is absolutely delicious!

And then this is what the rest of the page actually reveals:

>CocoChia is made up of a delicious blend of the finest organic coconut,

>non-alcoholic chocolate liquor, almond butter, and chia seeds lightly

>sweetened by TheraSweet - Living Fuel's all natural, therapeutic sweetener.

>

>Therasweet contains four ingredients: Xylitol, Tagatose, Glycine and

>Probiotics (500 million organisms per 1 tsp serving of microencapsulated

>l-rhamnosus, l-acidophilus, & bifido bacterium longum). Intended to

>replace dangerous sweeteners like sucrose and fructose, Therasweet has

>little to none of the negative factors associated with these conventional

>sweeteners.

>Xylitol and Tagatose are sweeteners with prebiotic properties that support

>the natural growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut. Those who use the

>product in relatively large amounts may experience some initial

>gastrointestinal discomfort. But the body adapts as the gut is normalized

>and within a few days of use, the discomfort disappears.

In other words, the bars contain sugar alcohols and unusual carb molecules

which cause dysbiosis, but Mercola insists that after a few days you'll

adapt. To which I say, BULL****!

>CocoChia Bars also contain organic agave syrup, a natural sweetener

>extracted from the pineapple-shaped core of the trunk of the wild food

>Agave plant.

You'll notice that in one paragraph he says that Therasweet is intended to

replace dangerous sweeteners like sucrose and fructose, and in another, he

says that CocoChia bars are also sweetened with fructose syrup.

>Also found in CocoChia Bars, Organic Gum Acacia is an organic, kosher

>ingredient that comes from Acacia trees in Africa. Gum Acacia is a natural

>thickener used extensively in organic, natural foods for thousands of years.

Another bit of BS, another bad ingredient.

And what does the nutritional breakdown reveal?

Total fat: 15g

Saturated fat: 8g

Total carbs: 20g

Dietary fiber: 7g

Sugars: 5g

Sugar alcohols: 5g

Protein: 7g

This is " balanced " ? Maybe for so-called " carb types " , if they really

exist, though fructose syrup and sugar alcohols are almost certainly bad

for everyone to at least some degree.

Just for the sake of comparison, here's the breakdown for one of those

dreadful Atkins bars:

Total fat: 11g

Saturated fat: 8g

Total carbs: 21g

Dietary fiber: 9g

Sugars: 0g

Sugar alcohols: 12g

Protein: 19g

Hmm, not so radically different...

-

[Guest guest]

>

>

>As some of you may know, I've been searching for some kind of healthy,

>low-carb, portable snack food that I can eat in a pinch when away from

>home. I've tried making pemmican several times, but it's always turned out

>inedible, and I tried Grassland Beef's version, and that was even

>worse.

How about pepperoni? Or coconut " candies " ... you can use

very little or no sweetener, just coconut oil, coconut, and

cocoa.

Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

> As some of you may know, I've been searching for some kind of healthy,

> low-carb, portable snack food that I can eat in a pinch when away from

> home. I've tried making pemmican several times, but it's always turned

> out

> inedible, and I tried Grassland Beef's version, and that was even

> worse.

> -

Avocado and either salami or pepperoni are my usual portables on workdays.

Did make an awesome tasting apple cinnamon, nut flour bread last week.

Needed less moistening ingredients as it fell apart. Bet the recipe could be

tweaked for energy bars.

Wanita

[Guest guest]

Wanita-

>Avocado and either salami or pepperoni are my usual portables on workdays.

Avocado doesn't work for me, unfortunately, and I'd need to make my own

salami or pepperoni, I'm afraid, and I can't, at least not yet. No facilities.

-

[Guest guest]

At 01:42 PM 4/13/05 -0400, you wrote:

>Avocado doesn't work for me, unfortunately, and I'd need to make my own

>salami or pepperoni, I'm afraid, and I can't, at least not yet. No

facilities.

>

>-

Please to forgive if I've missed something somewhere, but ... why haven't

you mentioned jerky?

MFJ

Ideas are funny that way ... you go and let one loose, and suddenly it's

crashing about the place, bashing up against other peoples' heads.

Somebody oughtta control that. Pesky things, ideas.

[Guest guest]

-

>Please to forgive if I've missed something somewhere, but ... why haven't

>you mentioned jerky?

No fat to speak of, hence no real satiation. Or is there some class of

jerky recipes I'm not aware of?

-

[Guest guest]

At 05:03 PM 4/13/05 -0400, you wrote:

>-

>

>>Please to forgive if I've missed something somewhere, but ... why haven't

>>you mentioned jerky?

>

>No fat to speak of, hence no real satiation. Or is there some class of

>jerky recipes I'm not aware of?

>

>-

I've been making it with more fat (either not trimming or using more

marbled cuts), just storing it in the freezer a la Heidi until I need it.

No rancidity that way.

MFJ

Ideas are funny that way ... you go and let one loose, and suddenly it's

crashing about the place, bashing up against other peoples' heads.

Somebody oughtta control that. Pesky things, ideas.

[Guest guest]

> No fat to speak of, hence no real satiation. Or is there some class of

> jerky recipes I'm not aware of?

>

>

>

> -

>

,

You did mention pemmican previously, right? It can be quite tasty (and

filling!) if you marinate the meat before making and powdering the jerky.

Also with the addition of dried fruits....

-Terry

[Guest guest]

>I've been making it with more fat (either not trimming or using more

>marbled cuts), just storing it in the freezer a la Heidi until I need it.

>No rancidity that way.

It doesn't go rancid when you kefirize or kimchize it either. The fat tastes

like pepperoni fat that way ... yummy and spicy ... ! Lardo fat is

similar ... if you " lardo " some fatty meat you get a nice snack ...

Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

At 05:05 PM 4/13/05 -0400, you wrote:

>I've been making it with more fat (either not trimming or using more

>marbled cuts), just storing it in the freezer a la Heidi until I need it.

> No rancidity that way.

Actually, heck, I dried a failed gravlox experiment too. (actually, it

wasn't a failure, there was just way too much because the person that was

going to take some of it never showed up). Rinsed it off, sliced it and

dried it - was good.

Well, it would have been good if I hadn't been so sick of it by then.

It's now sitting in a bag in the freezer waiting for me to send it to

someone else. Unless I get a taste for it again before that. Heh.

MFJ

Ideas are funny that way ... you go and let one loose, and suddenly it's

crashing about the place, bashing up against other peoples' heads.

Somebody oughtta control that. Pesky things, ideas.

[Guest guest]

> At 01:42 PM 4/13/05 -0400, you wrote:

>>Avocado doesn't work for me, unfortunately, and I'd need to make my own

>>salami or pepperoni, I'm afraid, and I can't, at least not yet. No

> facilities.

>>

>>-

Avocado alone doesn't work for me. I get the Applegate Farms, nitrite,

hormone, antibiotic free salami at Trader Joe's and their uncured pepperoni

at Whole Foods. Both have a good amount of fat. Yesterday Whole Foods had

Applegate sopressata which is fattier than salami. Applegate is Canadian.

said Applegate products aren't available in Canada.

Did come across a gluten free snack bar, Boomi Bar

http://www.boomibar.com/Index.asp on a celiac site. All have honey, not bad

fat content. Could probably get a decent stick together of ingredients with

nut butter in the right quantity.

Wanita