Post-workout recovery: Finding a better bar

Here are some things we all {should} know:

• How we recover from a workout can be just as important as the workout itself;
• A carbohydrate:protein ratio of 4:1, consumed within 30 minutes of exercise, helps the body replace tapped out glycogen stores;
• Protein shakes and specially formulated recovery drinks are what people want us to think we need after a workout.

One more thing. Not all of us have time for that kind of follow up.

At least I don't, when you consider that I have negative 15 minutes to get to work from the gym.

So while I'd like to go home, take a hot shower without flip flops and relish a green monster {cue eye roll}, I'll be honest: I don't have time for that shit - at least not until I get my hands on a DeLorean and a sweet puffer vest. So, I do my best and throw in a bar, any bar, that I find in my pantry and manically eat it on my way to work, washing it down with free coffee from the Y.

The problem with this scenario, though, is that not all bars are created equal. Far from it. Some bars are loaded with sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Others have lots of chemicals and a list of ingredients that are harder to pronounce than "refrigerator" with a mouth full of peanut butter. The good ones are pricey, though, and sometimes a calorie BOMB.

Currently in my house {not including Mark's cereal bars and Miles' granola bars} are Clif Mojo Sweet and Salty, found on clearance at Kroger; Fiber One meal bars, sent to me for free through Bzz Agent; and Kind bars - lots of them as I won two giveaways.

Let's talk about how they stack up:

Clif Mojo 

Nutrition: The bar has 200 calories, 18 grams of carbohydrates and 8 grams of protein, making the carb:protein ratio nearly 5:2 and a bit protein-heavy for recovery. The sugar content is manageable at 8 grams, coming from brown rice syrup and, I'm guessing, oat syrup solids. Those are organic, by the way.

Ingredients: The list is good, not great, as there's a lot of recognizable things - almonds, cashews, pecans - but some creepy things such as vegetable glycerin and gum arabic.

Taste: Good but not craveworthy.

Fiber One Meal Bars

Nutrition: 170 calories, 22 grams of carbohydrates and 10 grams of protein. Again, this is not a good ratio for recovery - almost 2:1. The sugars ate at 9 grams as is the dietary fiber.

Ingredients: The list is what you would expect out of a mass produced snack found in a traditional aisle at the grocery store. Among them: Sugar, fructose, soy protein isolate, yogurt powder, dipotassium phosphate and  propylene giycol.

Taste: Nasty. So, so nasty. I used to eat Fiber One bars by the truck full during my Weight Watchers days, as the high fiber content kept the points value low. Either my tastes have changed or the ingredients used to make this bar a "meal" have taken away the flavor. It is chalky, hard to chew and has an unpalatable after taste.

Kind bars {Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt}

Nutrition: 200 calories, 16 grams carbohydrates and 6 grams of protein. It needs a few more carbs to be better for recovery but it's not too bad. It also has 5 grams of sugar - lowest of the bunch - and 7 grams of fiber.

Ingredients. Kind gets real - mixed nuts, chicory root fiber, honey, cocoa powder and sea salt. There is some crisp rice, soy lecithin and palm kernel oil, which might be not as good but it's far from being offensive.

Taste. Between the two giveaways, I've tried a good number of flavors and styles of kind - from the Healthy Grains line to the lower in sugar bars. There has not been a single one that I've tried that I didn't like, and the Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt is downright addicting.

Other bars that make it in my rotation: Clif, especially the seasonal flavors; Lara ALT - not the uber; Bonk Breakers; Picky Bars; and Luna Protein bars. I am not sure I have a favorite. Wait. I do. It's the one that is on sale.

If you are curious what to look for in a bar, think whole grains, dried fruit and nuts and seeds. A bar with fewer than 300 calories is best, especially if you are looking at it as a snack, and be sure that the sugar content isn't crazy as some can have as much as a candy bar.

Do you have a favorite protein/energy bar? Or, do you get sassy and make your own?

Things I've been eating + giveaway

I was feeling so proud of myself. I had reviewed two days of entries on MyFitnessPal, and I had noticed that it had been two days since I had eaten meat.

And I hadn't died. Shocking, I know.

Also shocking - I can be wrong but we'll get to that in a little bit but first, like any good eater, let's talk about breakfast.

I was fortunate enough to receive a gracious and generous box of goodies from a blend, and it included rye bread from Liz's favorite bakery. I'm a German girl, through and through, and I have been finding any chance I can to eat it. Breakfasts have been a (whole) egg with cheese on rye toast and served with some kind of produce. Tuesday it was an orange; this morning, grilled zucchini.

I'm making another go at a more substantial morning snack and, thanks to Bzz Agent, I'm trying out Kroger's yogurts - Greek, Greek Lite and CARBmaster. I prefer the Greek to Greek Lite but this particular morning I had the Lite pineapple mango with a bit of sliced banana and trail mix I found at Fresh Market. It was a great balance of protein plus carbs to hold me over to my lunch date.

One thing: My lunch date got held up and I had to scrounge up a snack from a drawer. I'd like to say I picked the nuts but it was a handful of marshmallows and some raisins. However, I did not eat the lint roller. Win.

Our big idea for the day was to find some Cajun- or Creole-inspired food to ring in Mardi Gras. We went to one of my favorite neighborhood places, and I got my even more favoritest salad - red beans and rice over lettuce with tomatoes and cheese - and gumbo. See, this is where I was wrong about the meat. Gumbo had chicken.

And putting the fat in Fat Tuesday was a packi from a neighborhood bakery. Apple, if you are interested. I ate half to only feel sort of fat.

I was feeling rather full and sick to be honest from the paczki that I didn't snack my way through the afternoon, saving room for dinner - blackened salmon po boys and Alexia Foods Multigrain Onion Rings.

The onion rings were courtesy of Alexia, and I was excited to try a more nutrient-dense version of a favorite indulgence. They were crunchy, hearty and tasty.

I had a post-dinner workout planned, and I grabbed a handful of candy. To power me through, of course.

The workout pretty much sucked - I blame the lingering illness. But the good news ... well, totally unrelated. Alexia Foods is offering one Healthy Strides reader a gourmet cooking prize-pack giveaway. The winner will receive an Alexia apron, Alexia kitchen timer and a coupon for a FREE Alexia Product 

You can also sign up to be part of the Alexia Ambassador Program for exclusive recipes, coupons, free gift cards and kitchen gear. Simply visit http://rewards.alexiafoods.com to begin earning points towards these prizes and more!

To enter, simply leave a comment telling me which Alexia Foods product you would select with the coupon.

 The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and will end on Wednesday, Feb. 20. The winner will be selected at random and announced on the blog Thursday, Feb. 21. The winner will have 72 hours to claim her prize (by emailing hlthystrides at gmail dot com) or a new winner will be selected.

Getting in the game

I had never intended to host a Super Bowl party but there we were Sunday afternoon - Mark was cleaning the house and I was cooking up a storm.

 

There were Johnsonville Pork and Chicken Brats (free through a Bzz Agent campaign); sauteed peppers and onions; twice-baked potatoes, two kinds - traditional and a Hawaiian sweet potato version inspired by a Clean Eating recipe; random chicken egg rolls that I had in the freezer; Kim & Scott Cheese Pretzels; and the spice cake.

Wait. Maybe I should have listed spice cake first. After all, it was the reason for the party, which I guess I should clarify as a mere get-together with my in-laws.

My mother-in-law had a birthday last week and when Mark asked her what she wanted, as a gift, she said a spice cake with caramel icing ... made by me.

I wasn't feeling the work of a layer cake thing so I decided to make the Coffee Spice Cake from "All Cakes Considered." It was easy enough, I had all of the ingredients on hand and the "icing" was a dusting of powdered sugar. I opted for no dusting. We'll call it a calorie savings effort rather than a "I want to play more Words With Friends" effort.

I did feel a bit guilty about not giving my mother-in-law the one thing she wanted so I did give her something she needed - a care package. She has a high-ranking position at a university that keeps her busy and one of the first things to get neglected is her eating. She has often told me that her lunch is a bag of popcorn or yogurt. As I was making my lunches for the week, I opted to take it up a notch and make enough to share with her. I made Greek Lentil Soup, Chickpea Soup and a Spinach Vegetable Soup - giving her four servings of each; baked banana steel cut oats; and Chocolate Zucchini Muffins from the Happy Herbivore Cookbook.

I felt a bit lame handing her a bag of food in generic plastic containers but she loved it, especially as it's not something she wouldn't do for herself. Or maybe she was just smiling because Miles was eating ice cream with a spoon and a fork. As both are required. Obviously.

As for the game, my in-laws stayed for 15 minutes of it before going home and Mark and I made it to the half-time show. Pretty good for non-football fans.

How was your Game Day?

Three Things Thursday: Get it free

It all started the moment I stepped on the Bowling Green State University campus at the ripe old age of 18.

Table after table lined the walk to the book store, offering T-shirts and phone cards (God, remember those!) if you stopped to chat and, maybe, fill out a credit card application. That year, I ended up with 26 T-shirts, 215 phone cards and a $1,000 in debt. Not my smartest move but whatev.

Those applications, though, ignited my love for all things free. It's much harder to come by those things now but through the powers of social media, I've found a few sites that satisfy my need for free by doing the same thing I did at BG: filling shit out.


1. Crowdtap. According to its website, "Crowdtap is the Influencer Marketing platform, enabling leading brands to easily identify, activate and manage their influential consumers for real-time insights and powerful online and offline peer-to-peer marketing." Activity includes answering quick hits, sharing web content as part of challenges and sample and share opportunities. You might remember seeing Old Navy pop up on occasion, and it's because of my activity with Crowdtap. I've received coupons to sample and share ON items such as shirts, dresses, beach wear, shoes and bottoms. I've got an exciting opportunity coming up that features one of our favorite things: workout wear.

2. BzzAgent. BzzAgent dubs itself as "the leading social marketing company. What's that mean to you? We put products in the hands of hundreds of thousands of real consumers and help them share their opinions about them with friends and family via reviews, Facebook posts, photos and videos, blog posts and more. We wouldn't call ourselves heroes, but it's okay if you want to." I'm fairly new to BzzAgent but since I started, I've had the chance to try out a new product in Meijer's photo department - the mounted photo - and COVERGIRL blastflipstick.

The blastflipstick is "two lipsticks in one, so you can combine creams and shimmers to create your own one-of-a-kind look." I'm not normally a makeup person, much less a lipstick person, but I love having some new things to play with. And, I'm not sure about you, but a little of mascara and a swipe of lipstick, and I feel instantly put together. I'm a fan of the Vixen shade that I was sent, followed by Stunner.

Because I'm both, obviously. I also look like Sofia Vergara.

P.S. I have some coupons for the lipstick so if you want to try it out, shoot me an email (hlthystrides at gmail dot com) and I'll mail them out. No lip marks on the envelope. I promise.

3. House Party and Vocalpoint. I've been a Vocalpoint member for awhile though I've done very little on the site beyond a few surveys. This week, in a random mail delivery, I received something through my membership: a blog kit from Charmin. Inside was a box of Charmin Freshmates (think baby wipes from grown-ups) and the most awesome towel ever. It's not a particularly soft piece of terry cloth but it is labeled on each end - one for face, the other for the tush.

I have House Party to thank for my Keurig Vue but beyond that, I haven't had much luck with the site. You have to act quickly and be super involved to continue to get parties. And lots of friends who lots of time to hang out when you need them to hang out.

But I'm not complaining. I'm wearing my vixen flipstick and drinking a cup of Donut Shop coffee while Miles chants "Grover." Grover might be the monster but I fear I've created one.

What about you: Do you participate in any of these social media marketing tools? Do you have tips?