Stew of the Week

Sponsored by: Clif and Luna Bars.

... Ugh, I wish. I could use the cash. But no, I am, under no monetary support, giving this week's Stew of the Week to Clif and Luna Bars.

Why? So many reasons. The main one being that they have collectively sustained me for the past month. I feel like I've been eating about a bar a day in conjunction with a meal, in replacement of a meal, or in between meals, and it has been a delicious, extraordinary journey. Here are some of the perks:

1) Why did I start? I had too much money left on my college Dining Dollars card, and I wanted to buy stuff that would last after I graduated. Bam. I believe I bought between 40 - 50 of these guys, and it was a delicious, nutritious investment.
2) Taste: I've tried a bunch of different types of snack bars because I get heartburn if I don't eat between meals (pills!) and these are definitely the tastiest and most filling. The Chocolate Brownie Clif Bar legitimately tastes like a hearty chocolate brownie, and the Chocolate Raspberry Luna bar tastes like chocolate + raspberry. It doesn't get much better than that.
3) What's in it? Unlike a lot of "health" bars, these guys don't contain high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, or other weird sounding crap. While the list of ingredients in them is long, here are some highlights: organic cocoa, organic palm seed oil, organic sunflower oil, organic brown rice syrup, organic unsweetened chocolate, etc etc. They use complex carbohydrates for sustained energy and they use 70% organic ingredients. That's pretty awesome for your body and the world.
4) Why is it good for me? Lots of reasons! One is that it's packed with fiber, so unlike a lot of snack bars, it actually fills you up (maybe not all the way, but the way you want a snack to). It's low in fat (5g) and saturated fat (1-2.5g depending what you get), low sodium, no cholesterol (vegan!), high in protein (9-11g), and chock full of vitamins. The only downside is that the Luna bars come packed with about 14g of sugar and the Clif bars can get up to 22g of sugar - yikes! So definitely make sure you're actually going to be using that energy it gives you or that sugar will just turn into fat - lame!
5) Flavors? My favorites are S'mores and Chocolate Raspberry for Luna Bars, and then Chocolate Brownie and Mint Chocolate for Clif Bars. Avoid the lemon Luna Bars (bleck) and the Carrot Cake Clif Bars (equally bleck). The Chocolate Chip Clif Bars can be pretty good pending your mood, but my staples are definitely the ones I first mentioned.

So there you have it. If you do enjoy them, I suggest keeping a couple in your purse, backpack, or other carrying-around device so you'll never have to go hungry. They've definitely saved me on numerous occasions.

Happy Stewing!