Food Talk And Fabulous Finds - Protein bars

I would like to add a protein bar to my diet and am not sure which to try there are so many at the store. What should I be looking for? Does anyone have a fav?

My nutrionist has told me that they aren't super necessary unless you are weight training like crazy because most people eat enough protein in a day. I do occasionally get them as snacks, though, because they have a lot of nutrients as opposed to ordinary chocolate. There are Organic Clusters ones that are good, they are the ones in little brown hippie packages. Mmm, double chocolate cherry.

My roommate, a vegetarian, eats one every day. Her nutritionist recommends them over regular store brands and imports them from the U.S. When she comes home, I will ask her what they are, though I reckon they are expensive.

I was eating them after some hikes and workouts and even sometimes when I had to skip a meal. I counted them as part of my WW points, but they still made me gain weight suddenly. I lost it after I quit eating them. I got the Power Bar Protein Plus kind. It had about 30 grams of protein and 300 calories per bar.

In my opinion, most protein bars - unless you make them yourself - are inferior to real food. The quality of the protein is generally poor, they're often loaded with sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup, and there are usually a lot of ingredients that you really wouldn't want to eat if you looked at them closely. They're good for emergencies and traveling, but I wouldn't recommend them as part of your daily diet.

When I'm traveling, I usually take along a few Pure Protein bars, made by Worldwide Sport. In some airports, one of them can sure beat the alternatives (I remember in one airport - Phoenix maybe? - our concourse only had Pizza Hut and Cinnabon :fr: :faint: ).

If you're looking to increase the amount of protein you're eating, how about adding some real food? Good sources of protein are fish, shellfish, eggs and egg whites, cottage cheese, tofu, chicken and turkey breast, lean beef etc. These taste better than protein bars and are a lot better for you too. :)

I have only ever tried a small amount of one and that was just the other day.

The new guy I am seeing and I had been out for a run together and apparently he likes to eat them after working out and insisted that I try it - it was alright...a bit like chewing cocoa flavoured leather though lol. I don't know that I would like it as a regular part of my diet. I guess it's fine for him though, he's like 6'6 and 200 pounds :P

My calorie intake is small enough that I'd like all of it to come from delicious tasty real food - but then maybe I am a food snob lol.

Liv

Kashi bar or slim fast cookie bar. Period.

Depends on what kind of eating plan you're on. They have some low carb ones, and some are higher in fat than others, some have sugar, some do not, etc.

The ones I buy are called Power bar harvest, 220 cals and 4 g fat. MOST of the ones that are large, and tasty looking, have about 8 g of fat and can be up to 350 cals or more.

Just figure out what you are looking for - fat/carb wise and try a couple of different ones. As someone else said there are organic ones, and although harder to find, some that don't have sugar.

I love the Pria bars, every one of them. I use them for the nutrients. I don't think that they are really protein bars, but with cals at 110, it is better than a 300 cal. bar.