AntiBar: This is How it all Starts
What is Food, Why are we Here?
After exiting my first company, I was left with a gap. Not only did I have insurmountable space in my schedule, I had a void the size of co-workers, creativity, and purpose.
My first company was in wood product manufacturing. I built it out of necessity, and while we had a social cause, the core of the business - its products - I was not over the moon about. That made the exit easy and unemotional.
So after a year of audio school, I started to get the itch again. But I had no idea what to create. I tried to fill my entrepreneurial gap with music production, but quickly found that the music scene was not for me.
I needed something that mattered. I was and am in a period of life of being anti-excess. Ultimately I had a hundred product ideas, but the world will be just fine without any of them, and I didn’t care enough to get out of bed for them.
I forget when it happened, but it became clear to me that there are a few salient human needs and traits. We need to sleep, eat, drink water, and have shelter. That’s about it. As a person who’s not lit up about mattresses or water bottles, food was a clear choice. That was a pure “facepalm” moment for me, because behind closed doors I had been struggling with a digestive disorder that made eating food an extremely difficult process.
Relationships with Food
I’ve been in about every weight class available. From 145 pounds as a teen, 275 and tired, 225 and strong, 195 competing in CrossFit, to 175 and completely wrecked. Food has always been a comfort for me, and I learned early on that food is how we celebrate, and later on how we fuel our bodies.
I’m proud of having multiple nutrition certifications including NASM CPT and Precision Nutrition PN1, but ultimately I’ve found that our relationship with food is equally important to our education around it.
In 2019 I found myself running a business full time and training CrossFit at a competitive level for 2.5 hours daily. This in addition to multiple moves, air-bnbs, and losing much of my savings to my ex in a nasty divorce caused a downturn in my health. When I say downturn, I mean that from late 2019 to the writing of this article (2022) I can think of one… ONE day that I didn’t experience some type of GI dysfunction or pain.
In 2020 I saw my first of three naturopaths and was diagnosed with SIBO. Thinking I knew everything about perfect nutrition, my first awakening was a night in 2020 where I was at my wit’s end, and ate an entire pizza. I was already uncomfortable, what could a pizza do? But I was shocked to find almost no discomfort. Dairy and gluten are the devils, right? In my case, my bacterial overgrowth thrived in a fiber filled diet.
This was my first big ego check. I had to completely redefine what it meant to be healthy.
Through multiple SIBO and SIFO protocols, I’ve tried everything. Vegan, carnivore, gluten free, sugar free, fiber free, low FODMAP, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and probably some I’m forgetting.
Ultimately, eating these “ultra healthy” foods while stressed led to intolerances in my body. No more oatmeal. No more raw bell peppers.
Easy Digestion and the Stress Effect
This should be another article, but the effect of stress on humans in the 21st century is immense.
Digestion, choosing food and nutrition shouldn’t be another stressor on top of your day to day stress. And with over a decade of experience and passion in the nutrition field, I feel the frustration (anger?) around the misinformation that food companies, including the FDA are using to sell more low-quality products.
That’s why I started AntiBar.
I hope my team and I can help work toward a world where each individual has a plethora of food options, even if they have SIBO, diabetes, Chron’s, UC, or any other condition that the big brands don’t care about.
AntiBar empowers humans by shedding light on food misinformation, inviting food exploration, and creating foods that help us individually function optimally.
Our bars aren’t for everyone. Our bars are for those that struggle to find foods without extra bs, or are so hard to digest that you may as well not waste their money.
Empowerment, Transparency, Integrity
One of our goals at AntiBar is to be the most transparent bar on the market. From our ingredients, to process, suppliers, and team, we’re going to show it all.
We plan to serve anyone who has been let down by the food industry. I hope you follow along, because we’re going to create amazing food and empower a lot of people.
Why “AntiBar”?
We’re bigger than a bar company. Plain and simple. We believe in the empowerment and education of our customers, and believe that other companies have sadly failed us in these areas. The truth is that not every product is for every person, and we’re not going to hide behind shady marketing in order to make people make ill-advised food choices.
We believe in education first, sales second.
There is a certain angst that comes with the name AntiBar, and we like that. We’re happy people, don’t get me wrong, but our mission is fueled by disappointment in other brands. Meal replacements with chocolate chips in them? Sprinkles? Cookie dough flavors? Our bars taste like food. If you want candy, have a candy bar. This is how meal replacement bars should have always been.
Not to get ahead of ourselves, but we also believe in supporting second chance employment, including post incarceration programs. As a startup we haven’t built out our team yet, but it was a happy accident that we could help those who are no longer “behind bars”.
AntiBrand Foods and Beyond
It doesn’t stop at bars. We’re hoping to add other foods (jerky?) in the near future. Keep an eye on the entire Anti Brand. We’ll be here for you.
If you’re interested in working with us, please reach out. If you just want to follow along as we release our products, give us a follow on Insta or TikTok, that’s where we’re most active.
With love