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SmartZone Bars are Zone-Favorable Candy Bars

SmartZone bars come from the Hershey's Chocolate company.

They combine Zone guidelines as formulated and described by Dr. Barry Sears with Hershey's famous chocolate taste.

A true Zone candy bar -- can it get any better than that?

One Hersey's SmartZone bar is 50 grams -- that's the same as Balance bars Original line. They each contain 210 calories, which is again is comparable. Kosher status is OUD.

They come in these flavors: Crunchy Chocolate Caramel, Crunchy Chocolate Brownie, and Crunchy Chocolate Peanut Butter. I have not tried any of them, so apparently they aren't carried by my Wal-Mart -- though Wal-Mart is listed as one of the retail outlets. Maybe mine puts them in a different place. I'll have to look for them the next time I go shopping.

According to Hersey, the Glycemic Index of the SmartZone is just 16, which is quite low. They also state that their bars were developed with Dr. Barry Sears and contain controlled release nutrition. That is apparently the same thing which Dr. Sears uses in his own Dr. Sears Zone Nutrition bars. To me, that is quite an edge over Balance bars, which don't contain it.

However, I am confused about one thing. The site says the bars contain 2 blocks of protein yet 2.5 blocks of carbohydrates. That implies we must eat half a block of protein from another source to balance the half a block of carbohydrates. That's not the 40/30/30 technology of the Zone. Having to eat a few bites of meat or half a piece of string cheese along with the balance is not convenient, and convenience is the whole point of these bars.

Yet, Dr. Sears helped developed these bars. Perhaps he figured that being half a Zone block off-balance was an acceptable compromise to use Hershey's chocolate flavoring, not to mention their high brand name recognition and marketing and distribution muscle.

It's comparable to how all lines of Balance Bar except the Original line are not Zone favorable. No bar now produced by ZonePerfect is Zone "perfect."

If you're dedicated enough to the Zone diet and have enough money, you can get the very best directly from Dr. Sears. If you're not that dedicated or can't afford his bars (they run around $3 each when you include the cost of shipping), it's better to eat these Hershey SmartZone meal bars than a regular candy bar.

Plus, Hershey's is not shy to point out that these bars are also compatible with the South Beach Diet, Weight Watchers (one bar is 4 points) and Slim Fast.

I'm not familiar with South Beach, though it's my understanding that it also seeks to limit carbohydrate intake to control insulin levels in your body. I place Weight Watchers and Slim Fast in the conventional mainstream category, but of course that means a lot of people are enrolled into them.

Maybe they'll learn about the Zone by eating SmartZone bars, and figure out that's the best way to lose weight and become healthy and stay healthy in the long run.

If so, converting them is good for them and the Zone.