Activated Barley instead of high calorie food?

[Ecaz]

I know everyone is looking for high calorie per oz foods, such as Olive Oil and Peanut Butter, hence all the junk food on the trail, but has anyone considered this:

http://www.sunwarrior.com/store/acti...container.html

Activated barley is supposed to offer 400% more energy than any other food calorie known to man, and since it's around 100 calories/oz, I thought it might balance out as a very healthy alternative to massive amounts of high calorie junk food.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Feral Bill]

THE ABOVE STATEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN EVALUATED BY THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION. THIS INGREDIENT IS NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT, CURE, OR PREVENT ANY DISEASE.

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100 Calories/ounce is the same as for any other carbohydrate or for protein. The rest is marketing nonsense.

[max patch]

1. Olive oil and peanut butter are not junk food.

2. Since a "calorie" is by definition a measurement of "energy" the 400% claim is bogus. Barley is a good food to eat, the "activated" sounds like marketing BS.

[Ecaz]

100 Calories/ounce is the same as for any other carbohydrate or for protein. The rest is marketing nonsense.

Despite what the USDA may tell you, not all calories are created equal.

They counter your argument in their argument ;-)

I don't have an opinion either way, but if we're missing something I think it's worth discussing further...

Are calories all created equal?

[Feral Bill]

Despite what the USDA may tell you, not all calories are created equal.

They counter your argument in their argument ;-)

I don't have an opinion either way, but if we're missing something I think it's worth discussing further...

Are calories all created equal?

Yes, as a matter of physics, they are. When someone promises you magic, their trick is making your money disappear. This stuff looks like overpriced Grape Nuts.

[Ecaz]

So, I understand that a calorie is a measurement of energy, so I agree that by definition, a calorie is a calorie, so I will refine my argument if I can find further evidence that this food will provide more energy than other foods commonly eaten on the trail. Thanks for the feedback!

[Rocket Jones]

A calorie is a measurement.

Saying calories aren't equal is like saying one inch can be different than another inch.

[BobTheBuilder]

I shared a shelter on a section hike last spring with a guy from New York who was eating something like this - vegan, raw grain of some sort that he boiled and then promptly threw up after eating. I kept my mac and cheese down just fine, so I assert that my calories were superior, in that they weren't decorating a pile of dead leaves.

[Hops53]

Why use barley for this when it could be used for making beer?
This is grain, which any fool can eat, but for which the Lord intended a more divine means of consumption. Let us give praise to our maker and glory to his bounty by learning about... BEER. - Friar Tuck

[JAK]

I agree. If this activated barley really works, it should be used for beer, or better yet, Scotch.
How about some 320 Proof Scotch ? Now that would be something.

[ShadeeLane]

Hops53, that was my first thought. "Activated" barley sounds like brewing malt! Never thought of having a little snack before I throw it in the kettle.

Ecaz, if this is the case than this wonder food is basically another form of sugar/starch (maltose). Yeast will probably find it tastier than you. I love how the word "malt" is nowhere to be found on the page.

[ShadeeLane]

2 lbs for $50!!! You can get 10 lbs of 10L Caramel malt here for $15.

[Dogwood]

Ecaz had his mind in the right place. I think I know where he was going. Instead of slamming Ecaz with under handed statements about using this activated or sprouted long chain slow burning complex carbohydrate containing barley food(like maltodextrin which seems to be finding its way into a great many energy/post athletic performance recovery foods/drinks these days or whole unprocessed grains composed of slow burning non insulin spiking complex carbs) you all might want to know some researchers are now questioning the commonly held opinion that a calorie is a calorie! Some independent research is saying something differently especially when it comes to body fat reducing diets derived from mainly one significant calorie source like a low complex carb, high complex carb, high fat, low fat, low animal fat, high protein, etc diet. For all those quick to be naysayers you might want to do some research on this topic before coming to harsh judgements.

Personally I wouldn't pay this retail price for sprouted barley but I get where the marketing and research may have merit. I would simply buy fresh sprouted DRIED beans(they are sometimes available in bulk from heath food stores like Whole Foods) or freshly sprout beans/seeds etc while on trail to enhance my trail nutrition, which I already sometimes do.

[Slo-go'en]

A calorie is a calorie in the lab, but how effectively it is used by the body could be a whole nother issue. Whether or not this "activated" barley is any better than plain old barley might be difficult to prove. But since it costs so much, it must be better, eh?

[leaftye]

It sounds like a lot of marketing BS. If it look like a duck and swims like a duck, it's probably a duck.

So let's look at the big claim, that it has 400% more energy per calorie, blah blah.

On its face, that shows they don't understand physics, refuse to accept it or except their customers to be too ignorant to understand it. The latter is most responsive to shady snake oil marketing.

As others in this thread have said, maybe they meant their product is processed more effectively by the body. More effectively than what? Why is it processed more effectively? What studies back this up? Snake oil scam artists won't answer these questions.

[Wise Old Owl]

+1 on Oh crap Leaftye...it's just barley .. lighten up... Serious.

[Odd Man Out]

Ecaz had his mind in the right place...but I get where the marketing and research may have merit. ...

I agree that Ecaz is well intentioned. But I am afraid that I have to conclude that your claim that this product has "400% more energy than any other food calorie known to man" suggest that you are an innocent victim of the charlatans who make millions of dollars by conning people looking for "health food". The fact that there is a lot of legitimate research done on nutrition and diet does not change the fact that the marketing of this product has no scientific merit whatsoever. Here is a tidbit from their marketing:

...this superfood produces some astounding numbers on the Bovis Scale. If you are not familiar with the Bovis Scale, it was developed by a French physicist and quantifies or measures how positively or negatively charged a substance is. For living organisms, the key reference point on the scale is found at 6,500 Bovis Energy Units. From 0 to 6,500, the charge is in the negative range, or life-detracting, while above the 6,500 point the energy gradually becomes more positive, or life-enhancing. The desired minimal energy level for humans is found between 8,000 to 10,000 Bovis Energy Units, or slightly positive. The Earth itself creates energy in the 7,000 to 18,000 range. This energy is also referred to as "Biophotons", which are light particles invisible to our eyes. This positive radiation is necessary to the maintenance of life on Earth. A simple way of describing Bovis Energy Units would be to call them "Bio-Photon-Activating" Energy Units...

This is pseudoscience at its silliest. Even when they refer to legitimate nutritional research...

...In addition, barley has high concentrations of tocotrienols, antioxidant compounds that work to suppress the activity of the first rate-limiting enzyme (HMG-CoA Reductase) in the liver, thus reducing cholesterol synthesis...

...their wording suggests they either don't know what they are talking about, or just have bad copy editors. They also fail to include any citations. http://www.jbc.org/content/268/15/11230.full.pdf+html

This is just malted barley. It is very good for you and quite tasty. It is the foundation of western civilization. It is much cheaper if you buy it bulk at the beer making store (although eating all those husks may give you fiber overload). Fermenting it gives you more vitamins (from the yeast). That makes it more potable but less portable. Or you could just buy a box of Grape Nuts. It will not give you more energy per gram than fats and oils.

[Slo-go'en]

Bovis Scale - What? I'm afraid to even google that term and see what comes up! Biophotons - okay now you really lost me...

[Alligator]

I shared a shelter on a section hike last spring with a guy from New York who was eating something like this - vegan, raw grain of some sort that he boiled and then promptly threw up after eating. I kept my mac and cheese down just fine, so I assert that my calories were superior, in that they weren't decorating a pile of dead leaves.

Yep boiled grape nuts will do that to you.

[Dogwood]

LOL. I find it more than a little ironic that posters will find ways to dismiss something such as the possible benefits of foods high on the Bovis Scale when they don't even make an attempt at understanding the science and principles behind these ratings. Talk about not being open to new ways of thinking regarding nutrition and efficient usable energy in consumables that some might say are revolutionary. Talk about being about close minded.

LOL. Of course, there's marketing going on with this product. Of course, the health food industry has its share of misguided and outrageously false claims. After all, a profit motive exists in the health food industry as well as the modern mass produced Industrial Agriculture and fast food sectors. I CERTAINLY DO NOT agree or support ALL of the marketing claims of this product but there's also some independent research that has been conducted backing up some of the marketing claims of this product and regarding specific nutritional science related to some of the info in the advertising.

I tend to approach info from a skeptic's stand point. I for one am not so gullible or uninitiated in regard to marketing and advertising claims when it comes to nutrition. Health and nutrition are STRONG interests of mine. My one brother has a PHd in Nutrition and my other brother was a professional athlete just missing the cut for the U.S. Olympic team a few yrs ago. Both of them have worked closely with some of the leading American and International nutritional authorities while in training. My brother who's the Nutritionist has a young daughter who is ranked # 3 in her age category in the U.S. as a competitive triathlete. Proper nutrition is one of the keys in my brother's and my niece's athletic success! AND, some of their athletic success has meant having to rethink and reeducate some commonly held nutritional ideas.

Perhaps, most of what I'm saying is falling on deaf ears or this isn't the place to share these ideas but none the less I'm still going to go forward. This product doesn't specifically go into great detail concerning these thoughts that I'm about to examine but they can dovetail nicely with the product. I too had a hard time accepting the fact that different foods, as well as objects, have different vibrational energies or vibrational frequencies and these energies affect us in different ways - some more positively, some more negatively. In the case of food, living or typically the least processed least refined most close to natural or organic foods have higher energies or vibrational frequencies associated with them than highly processed highly refined unnatural foods. For example, a freshly picked organic fruit or vegetable has more energy or higher vibrational frequency than say a like sized/wt slice of basically dead chocolate layer cake or Twinkie which has an indefinite shelf life. Interestingly enough, many things, and not only food, we as humans are more drawn to quite possibly because they have higher energies or vibrational frequencies. We have just been conditioned to move away from opting for these higher energy foods or objects because some have other agendas not in line with our natural instincts that draw us to these higher energies or simply don't understand this or CHOOSE TO NOT EVEN TRY TO UNDERSTAND THIS! Since I'm a Landscape Architect and Horticulturalist I often wondered why humans were so drawn to rose flowers. To my surprise I found that roses have some of the highest vibrational frequencies or energies of all flowers! HMM? Different parts of the human body have different energies too. More vital areas tend to have higher energies. I was also astonished that most diseases of the human body start occurring at particular energy or vibrational frequency levels! Even some western trained MDs already know, understand, and apply therapies along these lines. Am I getting the juices flowing thinking about possible consequences if we all started thinking about things like this, committing to research along these lines, applying what we've learned(or perhaps forgotten!), and return to our natural tendencies? I had originally dismissed notions like this as pseudo science or New Agey to garner serious scientific merit. I've had to re-examine some of my long held nutritional beliefs in light of some of this research. And, some of this research has been around for quite awhile. it's just not commonly discussed or only marginally investigated here in the U.S.

A lot was stated in the marketing of this product and really only a small part of it was concerning the Bovis Scale but I will post from Wikapedia a snippet of what it says about this:

"The unit of the Bovis scale is the ångström (1 Å = 0,1 nm or 10⁻¹⁰m). The measurement consists of the operator placing a detecting device on or near the Bovis scale diagram and noting the Bovis number. A number of 6,500 (fresh, raw, vegetable foods) is considered "sufficient" (to keep the energetic balance), lower figures negatively affect human life and body functioning, higher numbers (as detected in fresh, ripe fruit and freshly pressed juices, seeds and sprouts, which score 8,000-10,000 on the Bovis scale) have positive effects aiding physiological functions. Numbers above 10,000 are in the "ethereal range", considered Places of power."