"Which Protein Bar Should I Buy?"

First, welcome to my brand-new newsletter, designed to help you master your nutrition in just 5 minutes per week!

There are 5 sections:

1. The Big Picture 🖼️

2. Explain It To Me Like I’m 5 👦

3. From 1️⃣ To 🔟

4. Skill ➡️ Practice ➡️ Action

5. Parting Zen 🧘‍♂️

Let’s begin.

The Big Picture 🖼️

"Which protein bar should I buy?" is one of my most frequently asked questions.

The answer hinges on my #1 Food Rule …

Read The Ingredients.

If you don’t yet read the ingredients, start. The ingredients are not the symbols, buzzwords, or health claims on the front of the package.

The ingredients tell the real story about what you’re putting into your body.

They are listed in descending order of prevalence, which means that the first ingredient listed exists in largest proportion.

Unfortunately in the USA food manufacturers are not required to share foods’ ingredient percentages.

I’ve been in the food business for 25+ years. I know how confusing reading labels is.

It takes practice. Stick with me, and I’ll teach you to become an expert.

Explain It To Me Like I’m 5 👦

Today’s topic, as simply as possible:

“Protein bars can be great snacks, but they should not replace whole foods.

Read the ingredients first, then see which ones keep your tummy happy 😀.”

From 1️⃣ To 🔟

There is no such thing as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ food. It’s more helpful to rank foods on a spectrum, then make informed decisions.

Here’s how I rank these 3 protein bar examples:

Want to know how I’d grade your favorite bar? Hit reply and tell me which one.

Skill ➡️ Practice ➡️ Action

There are 9 fundamental ‘Level One Nutrition Skills’. Each week I will break one down into a ‘Core Practice’, and a few ‘Possible Actions’.

Skill: Choose Higher Quality Foods More Often.

Little by little, the more consistently you eat higher quality foods, the more you will ‘crowd out’ the desire for lower quality foods, while improving your health.

Core Practice: Establish a criteria for ‘better’.

There is individuality here; my scores won’t apply directly to you. Perhaps you don’t digest oats well, for example. Thus, you need to pay attention to what works for you. (Future newsletters will certainly cover how to do this.)

Possible Actions:

• Begin to read ingredient labels & raise awareness.

• Upgrade what you’re buying +1-2 points along the continuum of 1-10.

• Remove highly processed snacks with low scores from your pantry.

These are what you actually practice. Typically it’s best to pick one that you are highly confident in executing for a period of 1-2 weeks at a time, before progressing to the next one.

These are just some examples; the list of specific possible actions you could take is practically infinite. After deciding on one, in order to maintain progress, it is important to honestly measure, assess, and adjust regularly.

Parting Zen 🧘‍♂️

A simple word, phrase, or thought to take with you:

You don’t have to change anything until your ready. If reading this email is all you can do today, that’s more than good enough.

Next week we’ll be tackling how to shop. See you then!

Coach Matt