You walk down the aisle filled with protein bars, energy bars, 'meal replacement' bars, and you are faced with a sea of choices.
The bars are all packaged so perfectly, with healthy names and slogans that sound so pure: "Bare," "Nutrition for Sustained Energy," "vegan," "Whole Nutrition," "Eat Good. Look Great."
But are the virtuous claims all true? Is that really the best bar to keep you moving down the road to a more Badass you?
The answer, much like life, turns out to be more gray than black and white. The best bar for you depends on your workout, what you eat the rest of the time, and how important it is to you that the bars be more real, all-natural food than highly processed, lab-engineered ingredients.
It also depends whether you care about sugars, carbs, and whether you consider the bar to be a snack or a meal replacement. And when are you eating it? Before a leisurely walk or midway through a 30-mile bike race? For a walk, you don't need a lot of carbs. For a long run or cycle, you need more carbs. And if you're trying to build muscle, you're going to want a high-protein bar.
The more natural and cheaper option, of course, is to make your own. But that's not always practical. So to help you all sort through the endless choices, I picked out several that I have tried and am going to break down the pros and cons. I have a couple of favorites, as you'll see. And these all clock in around 200 calories, so if you are using them as a "meal," add a smoothie or fruit or something to supplement it. And if you're taking these for a long race, you might consider packing more than one.
The Bar Wars
Larabar: Dubbed "The original fruit & nut food bars," this slogan is absolutely fitting.
Pros:
- The ingredients are few, and they are all fruit and nut and the occasional spice like cinnamon or salt. The Peanut Butter Cookie bar is just dates, peanuts and salt. The Apple Pie bar is dates, almonds, unsweetened apples, walnuts raisins and cinnamon. Doesn't get much more real than that!
- The sugars are all natural, the sodium negligible. The fats are unsaturated, the "good fats" brought to you by the nuts.
- Packed with lots of naturally occuring vitamins and minerals, thanks to the fruit and nuts.
Cons:
- The taste is not for everyone. If you don't like dates or raisins, you won't like these.
- The protein isn't as high as in the "protein bars" that have added soy and whey protein.
Balance BARE Sweet & Salty Chocolate Almond: "Bare" doesn't exactly fit the lengthy ingredients list
Pros:
- These are tasty, a good way to curb a chocolate candy bar craving if you get a variety like the Sweet & Salty Chocolate Almond.
- Less than 25 to 30 carbs per bar, and that isn't primarily sugary carbs.
- Lots of vitamins and minerals, including 100% of your daily vitamin E, 50% of your daily vitamin A, and 25% of the recommended B vitamins and folic acid.
- Only about 10 grams of fat.
- Protein is a decent 13 grams in this bar.
- 5 grams of whole grains
Cons:
- Of the fat, 3.5 grams are saturated fat.
- Ingredients include straight-up corn syrup and lots of processed, "what-the-heck-is-that?" ingredients that sound suspiciously like sugar: oligofructose, maltitol, high maltose corn syrup, carrageenan, and "mixed tocopherols."
Luna Caramel Nut Brownie: Dubbed "The Whole Nutrition Bar for Women"
Pros:
- Super tasty, and available in flavors like Peppermint Stick and Lemon Zest.
- The bars are mostly organic ingredients, and recognizable: toasted oats, roasted soybeans, brown rice syrup, cane juice, cocoa, walnuts.
- Good source of fiber (3 grams in the Caramel Nut), and provides 100 percent of the recommended daily folic acid.
- Just 25 to 30 grams of carbs per bar, including the fiber and 12 grams of sugar (other varieties vary slightly, but are within that range).
- Low in fat.
Cons
- Some of the fat is saturated.
- Protein is less than 10 grams per bar, so that might not be enough for what you want.
KIND Fruit + Nut: The name says it all.
Pros
- Gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, high in fiber and low in cholesterol, sodium.
- Ingredients are pure: nuts, honey, puffed rice, dried fruit, etc.
- Relatively low in carbs and sugars, with just 12 grams of carbs and 8 grams of sugar in the Nut Delight flavor.
- 5 percent of the company's profits go to the PeaceWorks Foundation, so if you like such causes, have a bite!
- The flavors are simple, but wholesome and naturally sweet. You can feel quite virtuous after eating these!
Cons
- Higher in fat than some of the other bars (though it's the "good fats" found in nuts and seeds).
- KIND offers a Sesame and Nut with Chocolate bar, but the chocolate isn't the overwhelming flavor. So if you're trying to beat a chocolate craving post-workout, this line of bars won't do it.
- Less than 10 grams of protein in most bars.
CLIF Bar (Banana Nut Bread flavor)
Pros:
- Nice sweet flavor and a chewy texture that almost reminds you of real banana bread or a brownie.
- Low in fat, and 4 grams of fiber plus 100% of the daily recommended vitamins C and E.
- Lots of organic ingredients, many of them recognizable real food: roasted soybeans, diced bananas, cane juice, unsweetened chocolate.
Cons:
- These bars tend to be more in the 250 calories and over range, and the carb count is higher than other bars (the banana nut has 42 grams.)
- The sugar is high, at 22 grams, and I noticed the first ingredient listed is "organic brown rice syrup," which is basically a honey-like sweetener. So organic, schmanic -- it's still made more out of a syrup sweetener than anything else. You might as well just eat a slice of banana bread.
Pure Protein High Protein Bar: For when those Snickers cravings hit
Pros
- Great chocolate flavors: Chocolate Deluxe, Chocolate Peanut Butter, and S'mores, to name a few.
- Low in fat, low in sugar, and less than 20 carbs per bar.
- Has 25% of daily recommended calcium and vitamins A,C, and E.
- High in protein: 19 to 20 grams per bar
Cons
- All sorts of manufactured and processed ingredients, from "fractionated palm kernel oil" to "hydrolized collagen (is that something you inject into your forehead for wrinkles!?).
- Contains sugar alcohols, which might cause an uneasy stomach.
So there you have it, a breakdown of the bars. I would love to hear your thoughts on these. And if you a favorite go-to bar not listed here, let us know!
And my faves? For all-natural, "real food" goodness I go for the KIND bars. For those moments when I want a Snickers bar or when I want my protein snack to have chocolate in it: PURE Protein bars!
Coming up: Conquer ancient pyramids -- via treadmill...Awww yeah! Hello glutes!
