Organic nutrition bars are a natural extension of the nutrition market. For many years, a number of companies have specialized in making on the go food with fairly low calorie content, added vitamins and extras like dietary fiber and protein, that can serve as a good snack or a meal substitute. This health consciousness wouldn’t be quite the same without many companies also looking at consumer preference for organic ingredients. A number of companies now produce bars that are certified or labeled organic, which loosely means the ingredients and production process is free of use of things like chemicals or pesticides that are typically termed non-organic.
It bears mention that “organic” is a loosely defined term, and there are different agencies that may govern the use of it. The stringency with which the term is defined depends on the certifying agency, and this means there are some organic nutrition bars that may use practices or ingredients of which other agencies don’t approve. While almost all bars that get the label of organic will have stricter standards than those bars that don’t carry an organic label, there still may be some chemicals or pesticides that are considered “safer” present in some of these bars. People can research the individual agencies to determine guidelines and practices when making choices.
Fortunately, there are plenty of choices when it comes to organic nutrition bars. People may have considerable selection, particularly at stores that cater to those interested in both nutrition and organic practices. Health food stores or natural foods stores are often the best places to look, but shops like Trader Joes might offer a lot of variety too.
It’s been pointed out that not all organic nutrition bars or those made with conventional ingredients are particularly healthy. Some do have high fat levels, or large amounts of sugar or sugar substitutes like honey, that make them not much more nutritionally valuable than a candy bar. In contrast, there are companies that create very basic bars with good ingredients like grains, flax seed, nut butters, and fruit and that manage to create recipes that still have considerable taste appeal. Reading labels for an organic sign and also for ingredients lets shoppers know just how nutritional an organic nutrition bar really is.
One especially important point for some people is that a number of organic nutrition bars may be missing certain ingredients. Some are gluten free, which is fantastic for those with celiac disease or gluten intolerances, others are made from completely vegan ingredients and can add an extra snack element to vegan diets, and a number of bars embrace the raw food movement and contain no cooked ingredients. Anyone with food allergies does need to be careful though, because a primary ingredient in many bars is peanuts or peanut butter, or alternately a company uses the same equipment to make all their bars, which may be problematic for people with severe allergies of certain sorts.