You scale the USDA’s food pyramid day in and day out, honoring and upholding its revamped, garishly colored nutritional guidelines. You’ve found that going heavy on the whole grains, veggies and fruit (and light on the animal flesh, oils and sugar) is not only the double-thumbs-up way to maintain good health — it also happens to taste pretty good. You have become a lean, mean burning machine – much in the way that nature intended. Some have even commented that all of that clean-livin’ has resulted in an apparent zippadee-doo-dah pep to your step. And yet, like clockwork, those pesky and oftentimes embarrassingly audible hunger pangs announce their presence – traditionally in front of an audience, at precisely 3:47 P.M. So… you nonchalantly reach for an energy bar, gingerly release it from its Mylar straight jacket and after snorkeling it up in four seconds flat, you dutifully scrub the inside of the wrapper and hang it to dry.
What? Did you just roll your eyes? You’re an Agri-Guide reader…a steward of the environment, right? You’re keeping those wrappers out of the landfill and sending them to Terra Cycle (http://www.terracycle.net/cbb/cbb.htm) so they can be upcycled, oui? Ohhhhhhh…well, there’s no need to hang your head in shame. Sincere greenies near and far may not be aware of the recyclability of mylar…which is why the viral nature of blogging is so crucial for widespread, long-lasting eco-changes. Now that you know, go spread the word. Imagine, though, if you could do something even more aggressive to nip energy bar wrapper waste in the bud…something that merely involves utilizing the most basic resources that every household already has on hand. Is your curiosity piqued?
Great – then I need you to pull out a plate, a knife, and two slices of wheat bread. Add to that simple formula the following magical ingredients — 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and 1 tablespoon of jelly – and, tah-dahhhhh! You’ve got yourself Mother Nature’s power bar! Although this combo does offer 382 calories of energy (approximately 132 additional calories compared to the standard manufactured bar), it is real, nutritionally-dense food teeming with carbohydrates, fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals and it will stay with you for hours to come. If you are concerned about your caloric intake, then just wrap up half of your sandwich and earmark it for tomorrow’s tummy grumblings. It’s worth adopting the habit from an environmental and economical perspective, but the extra-added bonus is that your body will reap great benefits, as well. Several studies have proven that regularly consuming peanuts and/or peanut butter helps people to maintain their weight more effectively and guard against such high-profile diseases as diabetes and heart disease.
Traditional energy bars, on the other hand, are not exactly what Momma Nature envisioned, with their syrupy-sweet-amalgam of cereal crisps, soy protein powder, lab-created vitamins-n-minerals, and high-fructose-goo-binders. Power Bar created the candy bar expectations that we have grown to know and love, but one has to wonder if they somehow contributed to the diabetes epidemic that has swept our nation. Noshing on a scant 150 – 200 calorie bar seems sensible enough (and to many habitually hungry snackers, even ‘necessary’), but that energy source generally spikes blood sugar levels rather than offering an even, sustaining level of fuel. Another lesser-known fact — the high-temperature required to process soy protein results in the unwelcome production of such toxins as MSG, nitrates and lysinalanine, which in turn necessitates further chemical processing that renders many of the soy proteins ultimately unavailable to the body.
There are certainly an extensive crop of ‘next generation’ energy bars out there that put their predecessors to shame, offering such real food ingredients as oats, flaxseed, defatted peanut flour, assorted fruits and nuts along with natural sweetening agents like brown rice syrup and fruit juice concentrate. These healthier choices are among the estimated 450+ total brands on the market today – an industry that is predicted by market research firm Mintel to reach sales of $982 million by 2011. In our fast-paced, instant gratification society, pre-made-pre-wrapped-pre-portioned-munchable-morsels have become the ubiquitous go-to-food for every generation and every walk in life, and it’s hard to imagine that people are going to want to wean themselves of such ideal convenience foods simply because the harshest ‘consequence’ of their habit is the disposal of a flimsy little wrapper here and there.
Interesting, then, to consider this figure — 200,000. That is the number of energy bar wrappers that consumers sent back to Terra Cycle in the first half of 2008 – two tons of material that would have padded the nooks and crannies of our landfills. It must have taken an awful lot of people to stick to their guns and accumulate enough wrappers to warrant sending them in…and yet they DID. All of us have viable choices. If you are motivated enough to double the success rate of Terra Cycle’s ambitious recycling program (one of many that they are pioneering), then by all means, eat your energy bars guilt-free, save up your wrappers and spread the word to your friends, family and colleagues. Or, you can always just dive into your peanut butter jar whenever you feel weak at the knees and have nothing more than a solitary spoon to wash…
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Are you a PB&J gourmet? Would you kindly share your stellar peanut butter applications with me in the comments section below?
Do you know of any other energy bar wrapper recycling programs out there….or cool, home-spun ways to get crafty with ‘em? Share your ideas, stat!!!
Want a homemade energy bar recipe? Oh good — I’ve got an interesting one for you right here:
(http://greenliving.suite101.com/article.cfm/make_your_own_energy_bars)
If you can do better (whether you have a tried and true recipe of your own or just want to enlighten us regarding deelish sounding recipe links), pleaaaaaaase don’t leave me hanging………….
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