People often ask: “why the hell would you put insects in your protein bar? What is wrong with whey or any other protein source?” I answer that insect are so full of protein, you don’t need to extract it from them artificially. And, more importantly, insects are not just about protein. The problem I see is that the food industry is giving us exactly what we want, but not what we need. According to a research, the human body needs 25g of protein after exercise. So let’s make a protein bar with exactly 25g of protein!
We know exactly how much vitamin C, Zinc or Iron the human body needs per day. So let’s make a capsule that contains that exact amount. Even better, let’s make it 300% of our daily need, so that we will be better than the competition! Et cetera.
Even though we really do need all of these substances, one thing should be clear: pure nutrients are no substitute for food — edible plants and animals. Many laboratory tests have been done on this matter. In one experiment a group of mice was fed with their natural diet, consisting of grains, seeds, beans and fruit. Another group was fed a purified nutrient diet, which has all the nutrients mice are supposed to need. What this experiment showed is that the second group was far less healthy and some of the mice even became overweight.
The same thing is happening to humans, with modern diets consisting of more and more food supplements. We eat pills full of protein, vitamins, minerals, or essential fats and NOTHING ELSE. Crucial biological compounds found in plants and animals are missing. Purified nutrient based diets are not healthy. In fact, they are malnourishing. We cannot replace nutrients that are missing from our diet by simply eating them in an artificially concentrated form!
The connections between elements are very complex. One inhibits or promotes the absorption of another, some don’t work well together, and some have different effects if eaten in concentrated form. More fundamentally, food is full of nutrients that we don’t even know we need.
When people want to lose weight they start to eat less and, at the same time, start to eat meal replacement bars and weight loss shakes composed of purified nutrients that are supposed to contain everything we need. That very kind of diet makes even rodents fat! Even meat, pure muscle, doesn’t provide all the micronutrients we need. Hunter-gatherers used to eat whole animals, including internal organs, bone marrow and blood. Nothing went to waste. We are doing the same thing with insects: 100% edible, they provide the whole spectrum of nutrients, which are already naturally combined in just the right proportions.
That is why we want to make a protein bar that consist only of real food ingredients. No extraction is needed to provide your body with all the nutrients it needs. A protein bar composed of all natural sources from edible plants and animals.
We believe well-being starts with good nutrition. Eat real food.
