OncoBitez Ingredients:
Coconut Oil, Dates, Honey, Ginger, Coconut Flour, Pineapple Powder (ground dehydrated pineapples), Palm Oil, Almonds, Mango Powder (ground dehydrated mangoes), Coconut, Flax Seed, Aluminum Free Baking Powder, Our Proprietary Spice Blend (cinnamon, turmeric, chamomile, vanilla powder*, cloves, allspice, coriander, black pepper, nutmeg, cardamom), Coconut Sugar and Oat Straw tea.
Whole food ingredients vs. chemically processed food-derived ingredients.
We take pride in our OncoBitez Ingredients, as everything on our label is recognized as a natural, whole food: Each one of our ingredients comes from its source in its truest form. Besides the occasional explanation of one of our exotic spices, each component of OncoBitez is recognizable and represents real food.
Manufacturers of highly processed liquid supplements are listing ingredients that can mislead consumers by indicating the food from which the chemically manufactured substance is derived to make it seem like there is a similarity. For instance, in the case of one of the market leaders, the first ingredient after water is “Corn Maltodextrin.” Unknowing consumers will likely glance over the words they don’t understand (maltodextrin) and focus on what they are familiar with to find a sense of nutritional benefit in the ingredients. The reality is that the nutritional content of an ingredient such as “maltodextrin” is nothing like the “corn” from which it is derived. This risky assumption makes reading the label of a highly chemically processed food product seem like you’re getting real food when the reality is that the original source (in this case, the corn) no longer exists in the product. What is left is a highly processed, high-calorie form of sweetener that no longer carries the fibers, phytonutrients, and supportive fiber that the original whole food did.
Although this ingredient boosts the caloric content of the product, and it can indeed provide calories for weight gain, its calories are void of whole food nutrition that could be more beneficial in the healing process. This highly processed ingredient is found throughout the list of ingredients in liquid meal supplements and is represented by words like isolate and concentrate.
No Red-flagged Inflammatory Food Ingredients.
As our food systems continually change, including the development of genetically modified foods and excessive use of agricultural chemicals, we are seeing more and more people having issues with food sensitivities. As these sensitivities are being studied extensively in the holistic health community, certain foods are flagged as highly inflammatory. These are Gluten (a protein contained in wheat, rye, barley), dairy, soy, corn, processed sugars, and processed vegetable oils like canola. The first seven ingredients of many of the oral supplements (less water) are ALL derived from these red-flagged ingredients that many nutritionists suggest their clients avoid. Water, Corn Maltodextrin, Sugar, Blend of Vegetable Oils (Canola, Corn), Milk Protein Concentrate, Soy Protein Isolate.
OncoBitez uses only unprocessed coconut oils as fats, actual nature sweeteners like honey and dates, and contains zero of the noted inflammatory, red-flagged foods in their ingredients. We are gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free.
Appealing Flavor Represented by Food, not Manufactured Flavors.
When patients suffer from a lack of appetite and energy loss, the desire to eat becomes diminished by nausea, mouth sores, and aversions to specific flavors. Currently, the instinctive need for flavors with integrity is invaluable. Patients’ taste buds can be reeling in the effects of chemotherapy pulsing through their bodies, creating aversions to things like salts and minerals. As the body deals with high levels of treatment protocols that change the taste buds and make consuming nutrition even more of a challenge, the body must be supported by providing flavor backed by food. With OncoBitez, you won’t find things like “natural” or “artificial” flavorings or citric acid, all laboratory-derived tastes.
At Marivation, we talk to our patients about their daily sufferings, and we understand the importance of flavor when it comes to appetite. We understand the importance of excluding salts other offensive flavors. Our flavors are not only sourced from authentic foods from nature like dates and honey, but they are also enhanced by flavors with benefits like antiemetic ginger, warming cinnamon, inflammation-supportive turmeric, and anxiety-relieving chamomile and oat straw tea powders. Our ingredients are full of purpose, starting with pleasing the taste buds!
Nutritious Sweeteners vs. Empty Calories
OncoBitez uses natural fruits and honey as its sweetening goodness. OncoBitez are bursting with sweetness and supportive calories that come primarily from dates. Dates not only provide sweetness, but they are also full of fiber, magnesium, and B vitamins. Honey, coconut sugar, and dehydrated pineapple and mango round out the balanced sweetness of our products.
Unlike the processed calorie-mounting sweeteners like maltodextrin and sugar, our ingredients sweeten from nature and are intact with their inherent phytonutrients, antioxidants, and fiber.
To Protein or Not to Protein?
Protein has become the hot topic of desired ingredients in the nutrition communities. Protein is an essential building block for health and muscle development. Acknowledging the importance of protein, especially when a patient is beyond the critical need for accessible energy and nausea relief.
When a patient is struggling to eat anything at all and the appetite has been diminished to the point of not eating anything, the quick energy available in soft textured fruit and fat-based product can offer a much more appealing option than a high protein bar product whose ingredients can have a dry, cloying, unappealing texture.
OncoBitez was created with this specific soft texture and a quick energy goal. The hope is that by consuming OncoBitez, the patient can enjoy a delicious nutrient-dense boost and result in an increased appetite that will encourage them to eat more wholesome nutritious meals.
* Marivation recognizes that maltodextrin is an ingredient used as a non-caking agent in our Vanilla powder. The amounts are minuscule and are included as a functional addition to the spice blend and not included as a nutritive ingredient.
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Sherry Hess, VP of Product Development at Marivation. (this blog represents the opinions of the Author)
* This work was originally published in the MarivationUSA.com website on January, 2020.
