“Nutrition” Bars…my thoughts…

by | Sep 6, 2017 | Coaching Tools, Food

I know this is a touchy subject. In my nutrition program we do discuss the topic of “protein” bars. We talk about the good the bad and the ugly. Below are just MY personal thoughts and opinions on the subject of “protein” bars.

Bars should be should be for emergencies ONLY! Bars are not meal replacements, they should not be on your weekly grocery list, they should not be a daily thing. Bars are for the Oh Sh*t moments. Not because you are too lazy to make a snack or something to eat.

I get it snacks are hard. Preparation is hard. But it is so worth making time for. This is your excuse to go out and get you a cute little container (Pyrex 2 Cup is perfect for this…found on Amazon or at most local grocery stores) and make some snacks for you to have during the week. When making these snacks, make sure to include a protein, fat and carbohydrate. Think “mini-meals”. Here are some of my favorite combos:

Turkey Deli

Almonds

Apple Slices

Boiled Egg

Cashews

Grapes

Slider Meat

Avocado

Carrot Sticks

Chicken Cubes

Bacon

Pineapple

The table below is example of a few popular bars. No it isn’t all of them but its a few of the top hitters. You can see I compared a lot of things. I looked at the price of the bar (which will vary depending on where you shop. I think Trader Joes has the best prices). I look at the size of the bar in grams; how big/heavy is the bar? How “full” are you going to feel after this bar. Trust me, I have never heard anyone eat a Larabar and say “man, I’m stuffed, I don’t think I’ll be able to eat dinner”, have you? I looked at its label. I first looked at the number of ingredients and struggled to pronounce a lot of the things in there. I then looked at the sugar content. some of these do have SOME natural sugar (dates, honey, etc) which is better, but sugar is still sugar (I’ll save that for a later post). I then looked at the macros (fats, pros and carbs). And last I checked to see if it was a gluten free or not, most bars that caught my eye are.
Bar Name Price Weight Of Bar (g) Number of Ingredients Sugars (g) Fats (g) Cho (g) Pro (g) GF
Quest Bar $2.49 60 18 <1g 9 20 21 Yes
Lara Bar $1.25 45 6 18 10 24 4 Yes
Epic Bar $2.69 43 15 8 12 10 11 Yes
Kind Bars $1.25 40 7 12 12 21 3 Yes
Cliff Bars $1.00 68 20 22 5 45 10 No
Omea Bar $1.99 50 18 5 7 21 14 Yes
The GFB $1.67 58 12 18 9.5 27 12 Yes
Perfect Food Bar $3.00 64 14 18 18 25 13 Yes

As you can see bars can be kinda complicated. However nutrition, doesn’t have to be. Is it real food? If the answer is yes, eat it. If the answer is no, pick a better option. Do I have a protein, fat and carbohydrate on my plate? If the answer is yes, eat a way. If the answer is no, add to your plate the missing one. Keeping it simple will go a lot further than half way doing a macro count program….promise!