The story of Clif Bar Incorporated is one of the great business success stories of our time.  Gary, the founder/owner of Clif Bar, is an avid outdoorsman who 15 years ago - after a long day of biking and ingesting awful tasting Power Bars - decided that he could build a better tasting mousetrap. 

So that next day, he and his Mom set out to create an energy bar that had an appropriate caloric profile for active folks, but without tasting like a bar of paste. Relying heavily on the basics of traditional Greek cookie recipes that his Mom had always used, Gary and Mom took six months before they finally hit on the right mix of ingredients and texture.  And according to Gary , that recipe has remained basically the same to this day.

Without a major outlet for distribution Gary and company hit the road and pressed the flesh at trade shows and races to get the Clif Bar into the hands of the people.  The rest, as they say, is history.

What started as a business based in a heatless garage that served as Gary’s home base has turned into a huge and successful business – and a business that Gary could have sold for $120 million, but didn’t - that has spawned other, top-notch energy products such as Luna Bars and Clif Shots Energy Gel.

Visit the Clif Bar website at http://www.clifbar.com/default.cfm to learn all that there is to know about the man and his company.

I’m not going to waste your time here giving you my impression of every bar and every flavor that Clif/Luna Bar offers.  But I am here to tell you that if you are interested in a high-quality, good-tasting energy bars and supplements the Clif brand is well worth a try.

I’ll also stick in my two cents and tell you that any of the other bars out there that actually do taste good are really candy bars in energy bar clothing, and aren’t really good for you.

First of all Clif Bars are all natural and, for those of you who are interested are 70% organic as certified by QAI.  This is important to me because there are no artificial sweeteners involved here.  What always strikes me as odd is that people are willing to ingest artificial sweeteners and flavors in what is supposed to be healthy food.  No doubt this has happens because carbohydrates and sugars have been so demonized in recent years to the point that calorie-free chemicals have become preferable to healthy, natural sweeteners.  But that’s a different story for a different time.

So if any readers want to take me to task for not being afraid of the “dangers” of carbohydrates and sugar, save your energy.  You do not know what you are talking about and I don’t want to argue with you.  However, those of you who feel compelled to do so, feel free to send post your comments as they are a great source of amusement!

The Clif Bar weighs in at about 250 calories – different flavors vary slightly here – where as the Luna Bar - http://www.lunabar.com - is a little lighter, and offers about 170 calories depending on the flavor.  I have tasted the vast majority of the flavors and have yet to find a bad one.

As to the consistency and texture, the Clif Bar has the look and feel of a large, rectangular oatmeal cookie.  The backbone of the Clif is soy rice crisps and rolled oats so you can definitely see the “cookie roots” from which it comes. The Luna Bar is a little tighter and has a more distinct bar shape, but basically goes down the same way.

And more importantly both the Clif and Luna bars actually look like food!  They look like something that you will WANT to eat.  For any of you who have tried some of the other bars out there you know how disgusting some of them can be.  All of that low carb/high protein/low-sugar garbage that looks more like food that has already been eaten and has the consistency of caulk should be avoided at all costs.  Some of the coating agents employed by other bar makers can be slimy feeling…just say “Yummy!”

And for all of you high performance types out there Clif Shots - http://www.clifbar.com/eat/eat.cfm?location=shot - allow you to take in easily digestible calories while you are in the midst of your activity.  I use if for my high school sports teams to compliment the use of bars, energy drinks and fruit and have received rave reviews from the kids.  The gooey consistency of the Clif Shots may take some people a little getting used to, but for energy on the go Clif Shots can’t be beat.

So there you have it.  I don’t gush all that much about anything.  I don’t sell anything and my position is that most fitness related products are a waste of time and money.  However, Clif Bars and the Clif Bar family of products get my seal of approval.

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