Hi everyone, Do you have a Zone Bar substitute you use when you're working out? Half and apple and 1ounce of cheese doesn't fit my needs. Want something I can carry on bicycle trips for days. Need to eliminate all sugars from my food. As I get older I get more sensitive to sugar. I can and have lived on 3 shots of expresso and a cup of half and half. :roll: with a good zone bar. In other words I need to really clean up my act....no sugar in any form. Kicks me into struggles with food. Sooo...I want to prepare my own "Zone Bar". By that I mean I want to make a balanced 100 or 200 calorie snack I can carry on my bicycle. I ride cross country and other long distance rides and have always packed boxes of Balance Bars. Now I want balanced snacks with NO sugar in any form. Thanks! zonefab www.crosscountrycyclist.zoomshare.com

[color=darkred:75d5366e2f]Hi, No suggestions for you, but wanted to say that's quite an impressive trip you made! :D 8) [/color:75d5366e2f]

Thanks. Lost 30 pounds but gained them back in 9 months. That's why I want to adhere srtictly to the Zone. Just can't eat any form of sugar anymore. I'm 66 and love to bicycle so I need to take better care of myself. :roll: zonefab

[quote:4413ae6c02="zonefab"]Thanks. Lost 30 pounds but gained them back in 9 months. That's why I want to adhere srtictly to the Zone. Just can't eat any form of sugar anymore. I'm 66 and love to bicycle so I need to take better care of myself. :roll: zonefab[/quote:4413ae6c02] [color=darkred:4413ae6c02]I've been in the Zone or over 10 yrs, and it's been very good to me. I'm wondering, exactly what do you mean by sugar? I'm assuming you mean actual added sugar (white, brown, turbinado, etc), fructose, corn syrup, molasses, etc. All carbs essentially contain sugars, and I'm sure you realize you'll be eating carbs in the Zone.[/color:4413ae6c02]

Yes, I'm very aware carbs break down into sugar. The brain needs sugar and fat to function. I'm refering to the obvious sugars like the sugars listed on the label of the Zone bar. Syrups, beet sugar, barley syrup, turbinado, molassases, --rides, --dextrins, --tose, --cose, --trose, --itol,,,,, :shock: I don't drink any juice. So.... How to make a snack which doesn't contain any of those sugars. The protein could come from Whey protein. The carb could be rolled oats. How to make it stick together. (Almonds would be the fat.) The truth is I don't care about exceptional taste. I just want to have something available in all conditions. :wink: zonefab

[quote:f3e55d8f99="zonefab"]Yes, I'm very aware carbs break down into sugar. The brain needs sugar and fat to function. I'm refering to the obvious sugars like the sugars listed on the label of the Zone bar. Syrups, beet sugar, barley syrup, turbinado, molassases, --rides, --dextrins, --tose, --cose, --trose, --itol,,,,, :shock: I don't drink any juice. So.... How to make a snack which doesn't contain any of those sugars. The protein could come from Whey protein. The carb could be rolled oats. How to make it stick together. (Almonds would be the fat.) The truth is I don't care about exceptional taste. I just want to have something available in all conditions. :wink: zonefab[/quote:f3e55d8f99] Check out the Greens+ natural flavor energy bar. If they work for you, the basic ingredients look like they would be easy to make on your own. It is a 40-30-30 bar from all organic parts. They are the only bar I eat now (1 snack per day). They have no dairy products. Protein is from non-GMO soy isolate. Fat from almond butter. Carbs mostly from dates. You don't need all the herbs, greens, vitamins, etc. they add --good stuff, just too much extra. They are cold processed. If I were going to make my own, I would likely use organic brown rice protein powder (cold enzyme process) for the protein. The dates work for me and are nice and sticky for carbs. Almond butter works well also for the fats and sticky texture. Could add a fiber source to mix in if needed. Blend well. Perhaps a dab of honey would help with texture and preservation. Adding water would not be good, because of the mold possibility. I am not sure how well they would keep. The basic parts are all stable and preserved at room temp, so the combo should be good also. Could also roll the final product in the rice protein powder to coat it and make it dry and non-sticky to handle. You would have to experiment with the recipe to get the texture just stiff enough to be a bar. Or you could use another trick: I actually make a sandwich using a GG Bran Crispbread cracker (all fiber) to eat my bar snack. That would make the texture part not so critical. Other bars I have tried always felt like a lump in my stomach that was irritating and did not digest right away, while these feel fine going down and after also. However, the Greens+ bars are twice as expensive than the Hershey's SmartZone bars --that is why I thought about making my own. It isn't a recipe exactly, but it is a direction to explore.

[color=darkred:41e79e3006]Although I haven't yet thought of a good alternative, based on the info Zonefab's already posted I don't think dates and grains, with the possible exception of some form of steel cut oats, would work for her. [/color:41e79e3006]

I really was heartened by Dennis' suggestions. It's a start. Tell me about the Greens you mentioned. Never heard of them. Was just reading the sugars in a balance bar - it's horrible! Starts with second ingredient....Sugar, corn syrup, glycern, high maltose, high frutose corn syrup, maltitol syrup. :shock: I just started roasting vegetables. Like them better that way. To count blocks do I weigh/measure before or after roasting them? Thanks! zonefab www.crosscountrycyclist.zoomshare.com

[quote:e120b8edeb="Slknorr"][color=darkred:e120b8edeb]Although I haven't yet thought of a good alternative, based on the info Zonefab's already posted I don't think dates and grains, with the possible exception of some form of steel cut oats, would work for her. [/color:e120b8edeb][/quote:e120b8edeb] I was concerned about the carbs from dates when I first tested them out, but I was pleasantly surprised that they worked better than any other kind of bar I have tried before. Steel cut oats don't work any better for me. The GG Bran Crispbread, is undigestible rye fiber, no carb reation there. The brown rice protein powder (which I have mentioned before in other posts) is just the protein, not the carbs from the rice. I use it to fortify various recipes. The best way to tell is for Zonefab to get a few of these bars and test them out before trying to make a substitute. EDITED ADDITION: Also, when one is only eating a snack or many small meals, the GI of the carb is not that critical, because the GL of the whole snack is low and will not cause an insulin spike (I proved this with my own experiments). If one is bicycling or other exercise, it is even less critical, because the body will use the sugar up instead of calling for insulin to store it as fat for future use. I found once that I could work all night long doing very heavy exercise, as long as I stopped once per hour for a one block snack. However, doing heavy exercise without eating will make me ravenously hungry later --which could cause me to eat too much and go right out of the Zone.

[quote:b4104d8513="zonefab"]I really was heartened by Dennis' suggestions. It's a start. Tell me about the Greens you mentioned. Never heard of them. Was just reading the sugars in a balance bar - it's horrible! Starts with second ingredient....Sugar, corn syrup, glycern, high maltose, high frutose corn syrup, maltitol syrup. :shock: I just started roasting vegetables. Like them better that way. To count blocks do I weigh/measure before or after roasting them? Thanks! zonefab www.crosscountrycyclist.zoomshare.com[/quote:b4104d8513] I bought some at the local health food store. I saved a lot more by buying them by the dozen on line. Google "greens plus energy bar price" to find places to get them. Don't order the Chocolate flavored one, it is not a 40-30-30 bar and is way carb heavy. Only get the natural flavored one. You can find the ingredients list on some of those sites.

[quote:dc865195f7="zonefab"]I just started roasting vegetables. Like them better that way. To count blocks do I weigh/measure before or after roasting them?[/quote:dc865195f7] Measure them before roasting, because they will lose water weight/volume during roasting by an undetermined amount. The GI of the veggies will also go up with cooking --just in case you notice a difference in how quickly you get hungry again.

[quote:ae38414275]The GG Bran Crispbread, is undigestible rye fiber, no carb reation there. The brown rice protein powder (which I have mentioned before in other posts) is just the protein, not the carbs from the rice. I use it to fortify various recipes. If one is bicycling or other exercise, it is even less critical, because the body will use the sugar up instead of calling for insulin to store it as fat for future use. I found once that I could work all night long doing very heavy exercise, as long as I stopped once per hour for a one block snack. [/quote:ae38414275] True, Dennis, I learned from Sears' book that eating a balanced 100 calorie snack turned me into a dynamite cyclist. I could go forever with out slowing down or worse, getting mentally negative, when I ate "bars." Got away with it for years but now I've become hooked on the sugar in these bars. I'm so happy with the suggested recipe for the non-sugared snack I can use on a long bicycle ride. Yesterday rode with about a thousand other cyclists and tried to get balanced food at the rest stops. There was chili which is balanced. Another reststop I ate gobs of peanut butter. Finish 38 miles in good form but craved "bars" that night. ((by the way....breakfast was four blocks protein, boiled egg whites and a huge yellow apple.)) Thought I would find your ingredients in the health food section of grocery store but no. Will keep looking. Thanks zonefab www.crosscountrycyclist.zoomshare.com