PR* Bar: Great Taste, Nutrition, and Performance!

Several months ago I received some new nutrition bars to sample called PR* Bar. I’ve been sent a lot of bars to sample and most do what they propose they do, but the trick is making one that actually tastes good.  There have been a few that fall into that “tastes good too” category, but not many. PR* Bar is one of the few that has made the RunnerDude cut for both tasting good and delivering what it promises.

Companies are all about slogans and flashy phrases and PR*Bar has one that says “Think of PR*Bar as Fuel for your Dream.” Sounds a bit lofty and I first, I thought, “Hmm…that’s a big statement.” Basically PR*Bar is pulling in the idea of a PR “Personal Record” being something that’s specific to you, your goals, your progress and your results. 

I kind of like the idea that a company wants to help me with my personal fitness goals, not promise that I’m going to look like the fake fitness model hired to say “look what this product did for me” and then in fine print you read the model never even use the product.

So, I decided to give it a try. I also noticed that PR*Bar is the official performance nutrition bar of the U.S. Olympic Team. Must be pretty good if our top athletes are using it.

PR*Bar promises that it’s “fastburn formula” eliminates hunger, increases mental focus, and optimizes performance by controlling blood sugars and using body fat for fuel.  PR nutrition was the first company to offer 15g or protein in a 200 calorie bar. It’s also gluten-free, all natural, and kosher. It’s also free of sugar alcohols and it’s trans fat free.

All that healthy and free of “this and that” usually spells “Tastes Nasty” but PR*Bar actually tastes great. It’s a far cry of the cardboard chew available when I first started running over 25 years ago. The bars come in 9 flavors—Apple Pie, Chocolate Mint, Double Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut, Iced Brownie, Yogurt Berry, Granola Oatmeal Raisin, Granola Peanut Butter Berry, and Granola Peanut Butter. My favorite is the Chocolate Mint. I’m not much of a fruit-flavored bar kind of guy, but the Apple Pie and Granola Oatmeal Raisin is pretty dang awesome too.

The PR*Bar Fastburn Nutrition Program is personalized for you based on your lean body mass, individual requirements, and training.  Anyone interested in losing body fat, enhancing athletic performance, building lean muscle, a great tasting bar, or improving his or her nutrition will benefit from the use of the PR*Bars and the Fastburn Nutrition Program.

Here’s the science behind the bar:

The PR*Bars are designed to enhance your body’s natural ability to burn body fat while maintaining or increasing lean body mass. A diet high in carbs (like many athletes have) can store as much as 40% as fat. Diets low in protein can leave you weak and without the nutrients you need to help rebuild lean body mass. Low-fat, low-protein diets can cause you to feel tired and crave sweets.

A diet high in carbs and low in protein and fats increases your blood sugar levels. This causes your body to release insulin. If you have elevated insulin levels it can prevent you from burning stored body fat. You’ll just be burning the sugar from carbs for your energy. If you can stabilize your blood sugar and control the insulin levels, then your body will release glucagon which helps your body’s ability to use stored sugars as well as access body fats that can be burned for energy.

The company also provides a Fastburn Nutrition Program that if used in conjunction with the PR*Bar, the company says will help you achieve impressive results. You select the plan based on your height and activity level. The best part is it’s FREE! I can’t speak on to the nutrition program, but I did use the bars and really like them. 

To use the bars, simply have one with some water a couple of hours before your run or workout. I also discovered that they make a great mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack. It provides the energy needed to pick you up and get through the day without mindless snacking. If you have time, unwrap a bar and microwave it for about 25 seconds. Makes it taste even more awesome.

So, if you’re looking for a nutrition bar that tastes good and really does provide a great source of energy and will help improve your performance, give PR*Bar a try. It has the RunnerDude seal of approval and oh yeah, the U.S. Olympic Team likes them too. 

Note: While PR* Bar did provide samples of their product for me to test, I did not receive any payment for this review and was not encouraged to write a positive review. The post is a reflection of my personal use with the product.

Egg on My Face

The other day, I was at the grocery store with my 9-year-old daughter. We were in the dairy section trying to find a dozen "crack-free" eggs. (No, not looking for eggs from chickens in rehab, just looking for eggs without cracks in them.) After looking through the 5th box, my daughter said, "Dad, what are these?" She was pointing to a carton of brown eggs. I just told her what my dad always told me, "Oh those are farm eggs." Then she asked, "Why are they brown? Are they any different than the white ones?" Without much thought, I responded, "No, honey, they're the same, one's just brown and one's white." Luckily that must have sufficed, because she then moved on to asking about Greek yogurt. I was glad, because, in that brief conversation, I realized that I really didn't know much about brown eggs or if there really was any difference from the more common white variety.

Well, you know me, when I got home, I started digging. Come to find out, there was some truth to what my Dad had told me. Basically white eggs come from white chickens and brown eggs come from brown-ish chickens. Most of the companies that mass produce eggs use white chickens (the White Leghorn). Most small or local farms use brown-ish hens (Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire and Plymouth Rock chickens) which lay brown or brown-speckled eggs.

Then I discovered another interesting fact. Some chickens have a coloring that may make it hard to determine (just by looking at them) what color egg they'll lay. So how do you tell? You look at their earlobes! Yep, their earlobes. According to MrBreakfast.com, "the pigments in the outer layer of the eggshell will always approximate the color of the earlobe of the chicken that laid the egg." So, you're probably thinking, "Where is a chicken's earlobe?" So did I. Well, basically they're not lobes in the same sense as a human earlobe. A chicken's earlobe is the area on each side of the chicken's face. If that area is white, then most likely that chicken will lay white eggs. Who'd a thunk?!!

Let me guess. The next question rolling around in your head is probably, "Is one color more nutritious than another?" Good question. According to the Egg Nutrition Center in Washington, D.C., there is no difference. The nutrition chart they provide doesn't distinguish between white and brown. There does seem to be some controversy over this, however. Some groups propose that brown eggs are more nutritious. In the March, 2010 issue of Prevention, the article " 50 Healthiest Everyday Foods" states that "pasture-raised eggs may have 35% less sat fat, 60% more vitamin A, and 200% more omega-3s." This factoid shows a brown egg labeled as "Pasture-raised." I guess that's because more small farms who may be into producing "pasture-raised eggs" use hens that produce brown eggs. If there is a difference in nutrition, I'm thinking it probably has more to do with how the chickens are raised and what they're fed not the color of the egg (just my editorial).

Regardless of whether you eat brown or white, eggs are a great source of high quality complete protein. Great for runners since protein helps with muscle repair. For many years there's been concern over eggs, cholesterol, and heart disease. The Egg Nutrition Center in Washington, D.C. states that "30 years of research has never linked egg consumption to heart disease." They go further saying, "A 2007 study of 9,500 people reported in Medical Science Monitor showed that eating one or more eggs a day did not increase the risk of heart disease or stroke among healthy adults, and that eating eggs may be associated with a decrease in blood pressure. Also in 2007, researchers showed that egg consumption contributed less than 1 percent of the risk for heart disease when other risk factors were taken into account. The researchers concluded that broad recommendations to limit egg consumption may be misguided, particularly when eggs' nutritional contributions are considered."

And get this..."Not only have decades of research shown no association between egg intake and heart disease risk, but eggs are an excellent source of choline, which plays an important role in breaking down homocysteine, an amino acid in the blood that may be associated with an increased risk of heart disease."

So, now you know all there is to know about white eggs, brown eggs, and their nutrition. And, as a bonus you learned that chickens have earlobes. I don't know about you, but my day is complete!