by Coltrane
The diet that Alton Brown used to lose 50 pounds in 9 months:
Daily:
Fruits, Whole Grains, Leafy Greens, Nuts, Carrots, and Green Tea. Eat breakfast every day.
3 times per Week:
Oily Fish, Yogurt, Broccoli, Sweet Potato, Avocado.
1 time per Week:
Red Meat, Pasta, Dessert, Alchohol (one drink).
Never:
Fast Food, Soda, Processed Meats, Canned Soups, “Diet Anything”.
Alton Brown expressed a low opinion of store-bought granola bars during the episode “Live and Let Diet”. Below is nutrition information for his granola bars, compared to Nature Valley’s Peanut Butter granola bars.
| Item | AB’s | Nature Valley |
| Cal | 189 | 190 |
| Total Fat | 6.2g | 7g |
| Sodium | 9.4mg | 180mg |
| Total Carbs | 29.8g | 28g |
| Fiber | 3.84g | 2g |
| Sugar | 13.8g | 11g |
| Protein | 4.35g | 5g |
You decide if it’s worth making your own.
Nutrition Information and Recipe Source. Note that the serving size in the left column was 1/3 the number of calories of the right column. (63 calories vs 190 calories.) The math has been adjusted so that it is a direct comparison.

Were the original serving sizes the same? If so, then Alton Brown was right – the store bought ones are crap, although this comparison would be skewed since AB’s bars don’t contain any peanut butter and the Nature Valley ones do. That would explain the differences in just about all of the stats if it were the case.
LikeLike
On the AB bars, serving size is not specified other than “Recipe Serves 16 people”. Total recipe size is 6 cups. That’s 3/8 cup per person.
The Nature Valley serving size is “2 bars” which is the contents one small package. If I were to break the Nature Valley bars into pieces I’d guess it would be pretty close to 3/8 cup.
That’s why I “normalized” to calories and went from there. I was more interested in the distribution of fats/ protein/ carbs/ sodium/ etc, relative to the caloric intake.
LikeLike