Another GAPS Approved Snack Bar

Today, I’m introducing you to another packaged snack, that meets the criteria of whole food and it is also GAPS approved. Before I do that, I’d like to explain what GAPS is and the criteria we use to select foods, while following the GAPS Protocol.

GAPS Nutritional Protocol was developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride and is the nutritional protocol I follow and I work with, with most of my clients.

GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome and Gut and Physiology Syndrome. It is a nutritional protocol that aims to heal the gut, so it heals the body.

It consists of 3 elements:

Food, Supplements and Detox.

I would say 80-90% is food, a very specific nutritional protocol and the remaining is made up of supplements and detox procedures that help speed up the healing process.

The GAPS Nutritional Protocol has 3 components.

• One, is elimination, or removal of “food-like” substances, elimination of whole  foods that are difficult to digest (specific carbohydrates)  that encourage the growth of pathogenic microorganisms.
• Second, is the inclusion of foods that are nourishing and provide the healing elements to the gut lining, the enterocyte, the unit cell that is responsible for the final digestion and assimilation of nutrients from the gut into the bloodstream.
• And last but not least, it re-populates the gut with beneficial organisms by incorporating fermented foods and therapeutic strength probiotics.

So, now that you have a better understanding of what the GAPS protocol is, it’s important that you understand why the GAPS protocol excludes specific carbohydrates (mostly starches). This will help you understand why the bar I’ll be talking about today is a GAPS approved bar/snack.

What Carbohydrates are excluded?

Let me clarify what carbohydrates are excluded on the GAS Protocol and why. The GAPS elimination diet, is based on the Specific Carbohydrates Diet (SCD).

• Those are complex carbohydrates that mostly fit into the category of starches; 2 or more sugars bound together, (disaccharides or polysaccharides).
• Simply put, those are starches found in grains, in most legumes, as well as in starchy vegetables like potatoes, or sweet potatoes for example.
• They are complex sugars difficult for the body to break down when the gut lining is compromised, (has unhealthy enterocytes, with a wick brush-border and lacks the brush-border enzymes).

Why exclude those carbohydrates?

• When consumed, those carbohydrates are not properly digested. They end up in the large intestine and feed or encourage the growth of the bad microorganisms.
• This promotes an imbalance of the gut micro-flora with the overgrowth of pathogenic microorganisms, and this is at the root cause of most disease processes in the body. From multiple nutritional deficiencies as a result of poor nutrient absorption, to food sensitivities and autoimmunity. Long time ago Hypocrites said: “All diseases begin in the gut”. Science today is proving this statement to be true.

So when I recommend a new food or snack to my clients, I make sure it is GAPS approved, as my main goal is to help them heal the gut so they heal their body. And I help them do it with whole foods, which sometimes include packaged foods.

Now is time to introduce “the bar”, a snack which basically fits the criteria of whole food although it comes in a package and it’s also GAPS approved. Those types of foods are not found too often, so when I come across one I’m excited to share it.

This bar is not only grain free, starch free and sugar-free (as in added sugar), but it is even agave nectar free. All the ingredients are whole foods and are allowed on the GAPS protocol.

What’s the bar?

The RXBAR!  

I heard about this bar for the first time from one of my clients. Finally I made it to the local health store and picked up 2 of these bars. One for my son, the apple cinnamon flavor, and one for me which has coffee. It was quite yummy, I think it’s actually borderline addictive (that’s if you loooove coffee like I do).

So, why does this fit the criteria of a whole food and is GAPS approved? Let’s read the ingredients.

Buyers Tip:

When you buy anything that is in a package or is in a box, I encourage you not to trust what is on the front of the package because that information is there just to sell the product. To make you buy it fast and a lot of it.

What should make you buy it (or leave it on the shelf) is the ingredients list and the nutritional facts.

So, in terms of the ingredients this bar contains:

dates, egg whites, almonds, cashews, apples, cinnamon and natural apple flavor.

This happens to have just clean, whole food not processed ingredients. So in this case it actually matches what it says on the front of the package. This bar is made in the U.S. and is distributed by a company in Chicago. Their website is www.rxbar.com so you can check to see if you find it in your local grocery store. If not, you can purchase it online, maybe even on Amazon.

Aside from the ingredients, you also want to look at the nutritional facts, just to see what is the breakdown of the macronutrients. So it claims to have:

• 12g of protein. On the front of the package lists 3 egg whites, however, I am surprised it doesn’t 18 g protein, because 1 egg has on average 6g of protein and most of the protein in eggs is found in the egg white not in the yolk so, it should have at least 18g of protein, plus a minute amount from the almonds and cashews. So, I am surprised that they only list 12g. Maybe it doesn’t quite have 3 eggs. I don’t know. That is just the observations I have made based on my knowledge of the protein content of eggs.
• 24 g of carbohydrates. Remember, there is not any starch in here. It just has carbohydrates from the dates and apples (glucose and fructose) as well as, a small amount from the nuts. Out of the 24g of carbs that are in here 4g are fiber. So the remainder of the 20g are the net carbs that are actually impacting the blood sugar. However, because this one comes with the egg white (protein) and the fat (8g from the nuts) it is a low glycemic impact food/snack. It is not going to cause a rapid rise in blood sugar which would be followed by a rapid rise in insulin.
• 8 grams of fat-from the nuts (mono and poly unsaturated fats)-with 1 gram being listed as saturated fat.

It is overall an “A-OK”, tums up snack for anyone that follows a whole foods,  low glycemic impact diet, a GAPS, Paleo, gluten free, grain free, sugar free and even agave nectar free diet.

This is fabulous! I’m really excited about this one. Give it a try and let me know how you like it.

My feedback on the bar:

• It is kind of chewy and tends to stick a little bit on the gums and teeth, but not too bad. And it’s quite yummy. Even my son loved it! It’s not too sweet either because all it has is the sweetness from the dates, but sweet enough for anyone following a low carb, sugar-free diet for 3 or more weeks.

My favorite whole foods bars, GAPS approved, so far have been Lara Bar and Kit’s Organic, but they are much sweeter than this and do not have as much protein.

You can have this bar before a workout, I would say an hour and half before. Or better yet, after, because it has a good amount of protein, needed for muscle recovery.

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