Eat Your Tea

Convenience is a huge factor behind our food choices.

Whether you're pressed for time or away from a kitchen for a few days, snacking on-the-go is part of many people's daily routine.

It certainly doesn't help that most convenience foods comes in the shape of chips, cookies, candy, sugary sodas, and protein bars that are often loaded with sugar and saturated fat.

Alas, I am happy to add Tzu (The Tea Bar) to my Hall of Fame - which currently includes Lara Bars, Clif Nectar Bars, and Pure Bars.

I knew Tzu was worth looking into when I stumbled across it at my local deli and read the ingredient list: sprouted whole grain brown rice, whole grains (oats, buckwheat), whole grain rye, sesame seeds, green tea leaf, green tea powder, konnyaku fructose, flax seeds, sapporo brewer's yeast, and bamboo salt.

Do you see all the pluses? No artificial ingredients, no syrups, no sugary soy and rice crisps, no hydrogenated oils, and fructose is not one of the first five ingredients.

I do wish the flax seeds were included in their ground state (since, in their entirety, they are completely undigested by our bodies), but I consider that to be a very promising ingredient list.

The nutrition profile is very nifty, too. Each bar contains a mere 110 calories, 1 gram of fat, 35 milligrams of sodium, and 2 grams of sugar.

It also offers 4 grams of fiber, 60% of our vitamin C needs, 15% a day's worth of calcium, 20% of the daily magnesium recommendation, and 20% of the recommended daily intake of selenium.

The best thing about it is -- this is all done with real food (not by injecting synthetic vitamins and minerals into the bar, as so many other products do)!

As you all know, I do not recommend a product on my blog until I taste it. Tzu passed that exam with flying colors. If you like the taste of green tea, you will absolutely love this bar.

So what about the inclusion of green tea?

At 3 grams per bar, that's equal to 2 cups' worth. Most studies showing health benefits (mainly on cardiovascular health) from green tea involved participants drinking 4 to 6 cups a day.

While Tzu bars contain a fair amount (which, if anything, helps rather than hurts), their virtues go well beyond that, as they are low-fat, low-calorie, tasty, and a good source fiber, vitamins and minerals.