When You're Hungry

How many of you have noticed that a bar like this with peanuts and sugar and chocolate and so forth is somewhat less of an appetite stimulant than candy bars that include fewer ingredients?  I've always assumed that was due to the peanuts - they seemed to have some quality of slowing the digestion of the rest of the bar's components.  

However, that's mostly a moot point if you eat well and keep good snack foods handy.  For me of late, if I find myself in the mood for a bite between meals or before my breakfast, my favorite is a spoon full of coconut oil with a few nuts or sunflower seeds.  This combo with 3-4 macadamia nuts is absolutely heavenly, and very satisfying.  By snacking sugar free, you can maintain excellent glycemic control (actually, the 1.5 million years of refinement of the genome does that for you).  

The fats in coconut oil - saturated medium chain triglycerides - have many interesting qualities including being easy to digest (unlike most fats), having antimicrobial properties, and others (books have been written about this food, this is likely the best one).  I'm not going for miracles though, I just like the taste and the satisfaction and the way it enhances the flavor of other foods.

The ad is correct - when you are experiencing reactive hypoglycemia, you are "not you."  This used to happen to a very important person in my life (and long before that, to me also).  Nothing good came from the black cloud of unanticipated sugar crash.  Now that person is thriving on a paleo style diet free of most sugars and wheat - and it's better for all.

My recommendation - don't get to the point of needing the emergency Snickers bar. Eat meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, little fruit or starch, no sugar/wheat.