Power bar or junk food?

You see them all over the place these days... nutrition bars that claim to be healthy and good for weight loss or muscle building, but when you read the label, you see an endless list of chemicals, sugars, processed trans fats, and other harmful overly processed ingredients.
There are so many types of "health bars" and "protein bars" on the market today, how do you know if you are actually getting something healthy or just junk food in disguise?
Again, just as I've talked about grocery store food choices, you really need to know how to read labels if you're going to stand a chance at finding a truly healthy food bar.
To be quite honest, most of the bars out there are pure junk... candy bars disguised through labeling as a health food bar.
Just a couple weeks ago, I was going on a bike ride with a friend and needed a quick bar to make sure I had enough energy for the bike ride.
Well, I didn't have any bars on me, so my friend gave me an extra slim fast bar he had.
Keep in mind that these slim fast bars are marketed as health foods for losing weight.
These things are just a flat out joke...there's nothing even remotely nutritional about them. In my opinion, these slim fast bars are WORSE for you than candy bars!
The first ingredient in this bar that my friend gave me was corn syrup! Then the second ingredient was sugar (hooray more sugar!), followed by hydrogenated oils (source of deadly trans fats). After that, the list went on with nothing but junk such as artificial flavors, colors, evil artificial sweeteners, more hydrogenated refined oils, and rounded out with some highly processed soy protein isolate (which despite popular belief, processed soy is NOT healthy for you... I'll talk in detail about that in a future article) just to give your body some more junk.
So not only are these "weight loss" bars a disaster nutritionally for you, but the bar tasted absolutely horrible! It tasted like chemicals and was way too overly sweetened (not a surprise with all of the sugar, corn syrup, sugar alcohols, AND artificial sweeteners). This is a prime example of "over-engineering" of food.
So how do you determine a healthy protein bar or energy bar?
I look for simplicity in a good bar. Many of the healthiest and tastiest bars I've found have only a couple basic ingredients such as nuts, seeds, and fruit. I also look for organic ingredients and raw ingredients if possible.
A couple of my favorite truly healthy bars:
1. Organic Food Bars - This is actually the brand name.
Depending on which flavor, these are usually a base of organic almond butter (or cashew butter) with a certain type of fruit, organic seeds, organic biosprouts (quinoa, etc), and some organic rice protein. Some flavors include an organic dark chocolate as well. They also have a line of bars that use exclusively raw ingredients.
Not only are these bars extremely nutritious, but I think they are delicious as well and have a lot of flavors to choose from such as chocolate chip, blueberry, cranberry, high protein, and more.
You won't find these bars at your local grocery store, but I have found them at several health food stores.
2. Larabars - These are even simpler in ingredients than organic food bars. Usually larabars are just 2 or 3 ingredients, and mostly raw... a blend of crushed nuts along with a type of fruit is the usual combination, but they have a lot of different flavors so it can vary.
These are also delicious and you will NEVER see a list of chemicals a mile long in their ingredient list... usually just nuts and fruit, and that's it! Simple IS better. This is a very high quality bar. Again, you probably won't find these at your local grocery store, but I've found these at various health food markets.
When you actually find truly healthy bars like these examples above, they make great quick snacks while you are traveling or while you are at work.
I carry some on me almost atall times, just to make sure I have healthy options to eat whenever I need a quick snack, so that I am not tempted by fast food joints or junk food vending machines. Good luck and be sure to read those labels to make sure you're getting a health food bar and not a candy bar in disguise. See below for 5 unique tips to help you lose your stubborn belly fat.

Go to the following site to get a free report about belly fat and why even the best abdominal exercise will never help you lose stomach fat.
Mike Geary is the author of the fitness e-book "Truth about abs" the nutrition guide "Fat burning kitchen"

Cardio Exercise

Everyone has wondered at some point in time which
cardio exercise is better. To put it in simple
terms, both low and high intensity exercises will
help you to burn off body fat. The question here
is which is the most effective to burn off more
body fat.

When scientists first discovered that during
intensive exercises, your body burns glycogen, which
is a form of stored carbohydrates that are stored
in your liver and muscles for energy. During low
intensity exercises, your body will burn a lot of
fat.

If your wondering whether or not it works, the
answer is no because there are so many obese people
still around. Even though they are working out
with low intensity routines, it still makes you
wonder how it can be.

The scientists were right when they said the human
body burns more body fat during low intensity
exercises like walking or swimming. During a
high intensity exercise such as running, the body
will burn a lot more calories. Even if some of
the calories burnt are from glycogen, there are
still many fat calories burned as well.

To put the icing on the cake, when your store of
glycogen gets low, the carbohydrates from your
food you eat will later get converted into
glycogen to fill up the store and won't be
converted to body fat when they are left unused
for energy.

High intensity cardio exercise will juice up your
metabolism even after you have completed your
workout. What this means, is that your body will
continue to burn body fat hours after you have
left the gym. This effect is nearly non existent
in low intensity cardio or aerobic workout.

Accumulatively, your body will burn up more and
more calories during and after you have finished a
high intensity cardio exercise that it will with
low intensity.

You can inject high intensity exercises into your
cardio workout by introducing some interval
training. You can walk for 5 minutes or so, then
break into some jogging for another 5 minutes or
so. Then, walk briskly again until you have
caught your breath and then sprint for a minute
before you walk again. From this point, simply
alternate your running and walking for the
next 15 minutes until you are finished.

One of the best things about cardio is the more
you do it, the more energy you'll have. Cardio
will help you to burn calories, although its more
useful for keeping your energy levels high.

If you've never tried cardio before, you should
give it a shot. If you like to exercise, you'll
find cardio the best way to boost your energy and
keep in top shape. If you are just starting out,
you'll want to go slow and keep your cardio
exercise in track - as it is very easy to over
exert yourself.

Chosing The Right System

These days, more and more people are turning away

from memberships to gyms and instead choosing to

invest money in a home gym. You can put a home

gym in a spare corner of your home, or even in the

basement if you wish. Along with helping you save

money by combining several different types of

equipment into one machine, these types of equipment

can easily fit in small spaces and type up a lot

less weight than their individual counterparts.

When you are considering to buy an all in one piece

of exercise equipment, you should first think

about your goals. You should consider what you

hope to achieve from exercising and just how well

this piece of equipment will benefit you.

There are several types of all in one equipment for

exercise on the market and almost all of them are

advertised well on television, in magazines, and

on the internet. The most popular types on the

market are those types that are geared towards

individuals who are interested in lifting weights.

Right now, the two most popular types of all in

one exercise systems are the Bowflex and Total Gym

brands. The Bowflex system uses resistant bows

that bend instead of the traditional weights that

simply lift. Bowflex is designed to fit a wide

variety of budgets and needs, it's widely

adaptable and extremely popular as well.

To make things even better, you can store the

basic Bowflex system in small and tight places,

even under a bed if you choose. The larger and

more expensive Blowflex system competes with

the types of professional equipment that you can

find in gyms, which allow you a quality workout

on quality equipment.

The Total Gym system is great as well, as it

is advertised by martial arts legend Chuck Norris

and supermodel Christie Brinkley. It is less

expensive than the Bowflex and uses gravity

and resistance instead of traditional weights.

By using this system, you have the ability to

adapt the machine to a wide variety of exercises

that will work many different areas of your body.

When you make that decision about buying an all

in one exercise system, you must also decide

on price, features, brand, and just who will use

the machine. If your family plans to use it as

well, then you'll need to get a system that

everyone will agree on. You obviously wouldn't

want a machine that is too complicated for

others in your home.

Even though Bowflex and Total Gym are the 2 most

popular types of all in one equipment, there are

several others out there as will, from brands

such as Weider and many others. Before you

make your choice, you should look at several

to see which one offers you more for your money