[pct-l] energy bars - Power Gainers 100, seed bar

["Joanne Lennox" <goforth@cio.net>]

After Brick mentioned the power gainers 100 - I went out and bought a
can(vanilla): I like it , certainly bettter than Rx: Fuel which I have been
using for the last five years, and which seems almost water repellant and
very difficult to get into a drinkable solution.	

But then, dare I say it, I LIKE BEAR VALLEY. OTOH, I have developed a
rather low regard for Clif bars, and Metr-X bars I see as positively
medicinal at present.(I have 50 bars sitting in my freezer). I have
realized that my outlook on energy bars is directly related to how many of
them I have consummed out there on the trail.  I have made the mistake of
relying on only two energy bars: Clif bars and Metr-X bars.  When somebody
mentioned that he traded his menus with another thruhiker's menu to get
variety, and then said be sure you have variety,variety, variety, the
whistles started blowing, and the lights started to flash.  I figure that
it is almost better to have a few things in there that I might not prefer
than to have only a few of what I really like. 

So a couple weeks ago, I went to the local food co-op and bought about l5
energy bars, all different.  It was as much as I could buy.  There are
still a bunch that I have seen on a nutrition list, and have beeen unable
to get. Runner's World has a web site,
http;//www.runnersworld.com/nuitrition/home.html. , which has a section on
Energy Bars on the bottom, and the protein, CHO, and fat content is listed.
 I guess I need to go to Seattle where I can buy some other bars to sample.
 I have a Performance Nuitrition Catalog (1-800-991-7325), but the bars and
drinks come in quantity, and I know there are certain bars that I can't
even eat easily at home. I don't like peanuts too much, and bars that have
a strong cinnamon or clove flavoring are unwanted.  I noticed that there
was a Boulder Bar (1-800-HIT-HOME) with a chocolate flavor that did not
cloy, and it is not in my catalog or on the ROW list.  The present problem
is that I am only training 3 times a week, and I don't want to eat these
bars if I am not exercising.  I also think that as a category of food,
energy bars have a very limited palate appeal and are a necessary evil for
convenience, fuel savings, and getting a variety of nutrients that are not
necessarily easy to get elsewhere in portable form.

If anybody can clue me into what they really like or dislike in the way of
energy bars and why, I would really appreciate it.  I realize it is a very
individual thing, but sometimes it helps if there is some agreement pro and
con.  I can tell you there is a Spirulina bar with a strong cinnamon-clove
flavoring that hit the circular file after a couple of bites - I'll take my
Spirulina straight, thank you!

I have made a "seed bar" which my husband and I managed to eat (an entire
batch) sitting down in front of the TV(various evenings).  IN the first
batch, I forgot to add the ground flax seeds, it was really yummy, but
lacking some of the fatty acids that I wanted.  The second batch with the
flax seeds is not near as tasty, but still pretty good.   I used probably
equal quantities of ground flax seed (used a coffee grinder), sunflower
seeds, seaseme seeds, chopped pecans, coconut, malt sugar, and brown rice
syrup.  the brown rice syrup is the only thing with moisture, so it takes
quite a bit of mixing to get  it evenly sticky.   I thinnly greased a cooky
sheet and pressed the mess on to the sheet, and then scored it into bars by
pressing lines with a spatula.  I dried the bars in a warm oven until
brittle. Be sure that you turn the bars about half way thru drying or you
will never get them off the cookie sheet.  I can get all the ingredients
except the rice syrup in bulk  at my local food co-op so I can make as much
or as little as I want and the ingredients are fresh. I store the bars in a
large glass jar in the freezer; I do not know the shelf life out of the
freezer, but anything with a lot of fat can go rancid fairly fast. In the
second batch I also added about twice as much oatmeal as any one of the
other ingredients ( I wanted some more CHO), but I think that it has made
the bar too "dry".  As you can imagine, this seed bar is high in fat.
Nevertheless, I see it as more nuitritous than pigging out on cashews, and
there is a need at times for more fat and some variety.   I have a times
been disappointed at the way GORP tends to become stale, and would on
occaision rather eat my variety in separate chuncks in separate bags. 

Peace 
Goforth
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