Why I Stopped Selling Nutrition Bars

Hey everyone, it's Dr. Angela here!

I used to sell these (a box of bars) but I don't anymore. I used to sell these (a package of shakes) but I don't anymore, and I used to sell these (another box of bars) but I don't anymore! These are these are protein bars and shakes that I used to sell in my clinic.

If you don't know me, I'm an obesity medicine specialist and I practice in Olympia, Washington. And I'm also the founder and creator of Journey Beyond Weight Loss - an online program designed to help people lose weight and keep it off.

My patients loved the taste and convenience of these little treats and they are a little miffed now that I stopped selling this stuff. But I have good reasons - and I want to explain that to you today.

This past fall I was in Boston at an obesity medicine conference and I learned about a really interesting study. And here's what they did. It was called a 'metabolic ward study.' They took 10 men and 10 women and they put them in a hospital ward at the National Institutes of Health and they couldn't leave for 28 days. For these four weeks of time, these people were sort of stuck on this ward and they monitored every morsel of food that they ate. Everything was weighed, measured, and recorded. They offered them meals three times a day - and twice as many calories as they knew their bodies needed over the course of the day. They could eat as much or as little as they wanted.

They divided them into two groups for the first two weeks, one group got all of their food as processed food, and the other group got all of their food as 'real' (unprocessed) food. And then for the second two weeks they flipped it so that the people that have been getting processed food now got the whole food. The people who were getting whole food now got processed food. The study matched the two food types food for macro nutrients. What I mean by that is the same amount of calories came from proteins, from fats, and from carbohydrates, whether it was processed or whole food, just the same amount of calories - the same macro nutrients were offered to each group. What I also found interesting is that the extra calories didn’t come from protein, but came from carbs and fat.

Four weeks later, after they've measuring all the food - what did they find? The results are fascinating. What they discovered is that those people, when they were eating processed food, ate on average of 500 calories a day more, and they gained an average of one pound a week. When they were eating whole foods, they ate 500 calories a day LESS and they lost weight. Interesting!!.

So the obvious point here is what should you be eating if you want to lose weight? WHOLE FOODS!

So the question is: 'What's going on here?' What is it about the industrialization of food? There's a lot of research on this. As it turns out they have discovered that a majority Americans get about 58% of their calories every day from ultra processed foods. And by that I mean soft drinks, cereals, from processed instant noodles, baked goods, confectioneries and deserts, processed and packaged snacks, from reconstituted meats - like chicken nuggets, and that kind of stuff. Just a whole rash of food that has been actually 'industrialized' and made in a factory! 58% of the calories!

As a matter of fact, 90% of added sugar comes from these processed foods! Thats crazy!! The research shows that there is something about processed food that causes us to not feel a sense of satiety. And by that I mean a sense of satisfaction. So when people are eating processed food, they tend to eat more frequently. They tend to eat more calories and they tend to gain weight! And you know what else it does? It tricks your bran into not knowing when you’re full, which means more snacking, and more weight gain.

A diet that's high in processed food is associated with more high blood pressure, more cholesterol issues, higher blood sugar, pre-diabetes, diabetes, and of course obesity.

I have a colleague whose name is Dr Robert Lustig. He is a researcher in the field of obesity medicine. He was speaking to a whole group of those of us who are obesity medicine specialists - he said, right out loud, "We need to call a spade a spade and we need to call type two diabetes what it really is - processed food disease!." He got a standing ovation! Those of us in the field definitely recognize that processed food is the issue!

This study just showed us how big of an issue it really is if you can eat an extra 500 calories a day because you're eating processed food! Eating processed food is also associated with a shorter lifespans, early deaths from cardiovascular disease, and from cancer.

So let’s go back to my unhappy patients who were miffed that I decided to stop selling these ultra-processed pseudo-healthy shakes and bars. Well, think about it. These foods are not whole foods, they’re not even close. Ultra-processed foods are industrial formulations They’re basically food science. They’re developed in a lab. All kinds of ingredients that aren’t really food. Think about that for a minute.

So, what about this stuff? (A box of bars shown on video) Guess what? This is what I call 'pseudo healthy' processed food! This actually has a lot of these factory made ingredients in it. For example, this one, it's a protein blend. What does that mean? It's got hydrolyzed gelatin and glycerin in it. And some of these other things - they've got sweeteners in them and sweeteners will also trigger a dopamine response in the brain.

I noticed that a lot of my patients didn’t want to cook whole foods, so they were relying on these shakes and bars to get their carbs down and control calories. I've have patients who'd come in and they're used to eating processed food. They're used to eating quick stuff. And so instead of eating the unhealthy ultra-processed stuff, they would just turn to eating a lot of bars and shakes instead. Or they would be eating processed meats and cheese products, that kind of thing. And they would lose weight, but invariably they wouldn't be able to keep it off.

I think the reason is that their brains just never were fully healing. They were still never getting these tiny signals correctly. They were still getting triggered by the sugar and getting that dopamine triggering in their brain. They were substituting one processed food for another processed food. It’s the convenience factor. But their brains never really got off the sugar and never really developed the capacity to feel full. The sweeteners in these shakes and bars were still triggering dopamine release in the brain, keeping them addicted to sugar.

So I decided that this isn't good and I'm not going to eat it anymore. and I don't want my patients eating it anymore. And I'm hoping to convince you that this 'pseudo healthy' stuff, (and I'm not just saying this brand), I'm talking about all of these brands that are out there. You know they are the quick, on-the-go protein bars and shakes and that sort of thing. There's something about the processing that really messes up the food and we really just need to be eating real food.

So in essence, they were on autopilot. And without realizing it, they were continuing to choose convenience over health … and over lasting weight loss. So no, I’m not selling this stuff any more! I don’t want my patients eating it. I don’t want YOU eating it! We need to get back to basics.

Now, I don't want to leave you hanging! What are you going to do?

Here's what I recommend. Go to the grocery store, go to the produce section, stay on the outside, the periphery of the store where the fresh unprocessed food is. Go to the produce section and buy a lot of vegetables and buy some fruits and then go to the meat counter and get yourself some chicken and some pork and then some seafood and some grass fed beef and go to the dairy section and get some full fat cottage cheese and full fat Greek yogurt that doesn't have a bunch of additives in it. Get yourself some eggs, get yourself some olive oil, get yourself some avocados, get yourself some nuts and seeds. Isn’t it amazing how most of the whole foods are on the outside walls of the grocery store? Now when you’re home looking for a quick snack, or you’re wanting to make a meal, all that’s available are things that will be HELPFUL in your weight loss journey. You've got all of this delicious whole real food that you can make! You can feed yourself that instead of feeding yourself factory 'pseudo' crap, okay? You're going to find that you're going to be eating way fewer calories and you're going to lose weight and your brain is going to heal!

It’s not as convenient, that’s for sure… but think about how much better you feel, how much more energy you have, how much better you think when you’re feeding your body real food… so totally worth it. If you can just substitute one protein bar snack each day for an ounce of nuts, you’ll be well on your way!

Here's another thing that I want you to do. Why don't you to try this for a week, maybe two weeks. Try it for a week or two, then come back and leave me a comment and let me know if you noticed any change in the way your brain is functioning about food. I know you'll lose weight. Some of that's going to be water weight, but let me know if you notice any change in the way your brain is functioning around food. Okay?

That's all for today. I will see you next time. Have a great day and take care! Bye. Bye.

To your health!

Dr. Angela