Protein bars
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The_Dude
Posts: 171 Member
So we are running low on our stache of protein bars we got on sale. We have been using the "Pure Protein" brand bars and thought we had a pretty good bar as it was lower in carbs, low fat and I thought low sugar. Last night after researching protein bars I learned all about alcohol sugar which sadly these bars have (5-9g in the flavors we have used). What a joke.
So I started looking for low sugar, low carb, low fat bars. About the best I could find nutrition label wise was Quest protein bars in certain flavors (they also have flavors with sugar alcohol).
Anyone else have recommendations besides making your own?
FYI - the sugar alcohol doesn't get counted as carbs in the nutrition label and is a separate sugar count to fool you into thinking you are eating something healthier than it is. It still spikes blood sugar/insulin levels just like normal sugar and according some is WORSE than normal sugar.
So I started looking for low sugar, low carb, low fat bars. About the best I could find nutrition label wise was Quest protein bars in certain flavors (they also have flavors with sugar alcohol).
Anyone else have recommendations besides making your own?
FYI - the sugar alcohol doesn't get counted as carbs in the nutrition label and is a separate sugar count to fool you into thinking you are eating something healthier than it is. It still spikes blood sugar/insulin levels just like normal sugar and according some is WORSE than normal sugar.
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Replies
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This is a good question that I would like to see responses to. I haven't fooled with protein bars specifically because of the sugar content. I think 30 grams is outrageous when you still have to eat throughout the day. Thanks for posting this!
Erica0 -
I use the Pure Protein ones... they are the best that I can presently do.. I've been thinking of experimenting making my own.. but all I find is recipes calling for some type of carbs (oats etc) and it's hard to limit them as it is!0
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I used Cliff Bars for a year before I realized that they really are not that good for you
240 calories
40g of Carbs
11g of Protein
Now for my afternoon snack, I eat 1 Great Value Chewy Granola Bar from Walmart
90 or 100 Calories depending on the flavor
2-3g of fat
18-19g of carbs
7g of sugar
1-2g of Protein
I buy the 18 pack with 3 flavors (S'mores, PB w/ Chocolae Chip, and Chocolate Chunk) for $3-$4 a box.
I get more then enough protein in my diet, so I don't miss what the Cliff Bar gave me.0 -
I found this recipe on MFP under Homemade No Bake Protein Bars. They were very easy to make and pretty good. Here is what I copied.
This recipe is from a youtube channel, so all credit goes to him.
Just made them turned out great, but it is rather high cal.
2 cups of oatmeal
4-5 tbsp of peanut butter (the less, less cals)
1/2 cup of any milk
4 scoops of whey protein
1. Mix dry ingredients first (oatmeal and whey protein)
2. Put Milk and peanut butter in microwave safe plate and let it melt a little for 30-35 maybe 60 secs.
3. Mix all ingredients together.
4. Spray pam or grease a small rectangular container and put batter in. Even out with hands.
5. Put in refrigerator (and maybe freezer) for 2 hours.
6. Take out and cut in 8 slices (possible serving size)
I used 4 tbsp peanut butter...8 servings come out to this approx. nutritional info:
I don't have fat set in my macros so no fat reading lol
Cals - 237
Carbs - 18g
Sat fat - 2g
Fiber - 3g
Iron - 8g0 -
Ok I wanted to report back on my protein bar search.
First let me say that I am a chocoholic. I love chocolate!!! However, despite chocolate flavored protein bars being the most popular version based on availability at the stores I can't stand the taste AT ALL of any bar I've tried!
Pretty much all the bars I tried had 20g of protein and 2g of sugar. They had a range of 18-19g of fiber and 21-24g of total carbs. They consider themselves "low carb" because if you back out the fiber based carbs they all tend to have only 4g of "active" carbs.
Summary of the Quest bars I've tried and my subjective taste evaluation. All of these are the Quest bars with no sugar alcohol.
1. Apple pie - This is my favorite bar. Tastes pretty good and has only 5g of fat and 0 sat fat making it the lowest fat content of the bars I tried. Best tasting and lowest fat? Win!
2. Vanilla almond crunch - 2nd best tasting bar but 9g/0.5g of fat/saturated fat
3. Mixed berry bliss - 3rd best tasting bar. 8g/0.5g of fat/saturated fat
4. Peanut butter supreme - tastes ok but 10g/1.5g of fat /saturated fat.
5. Peanut butter jelly - I LOVE peanut butter jelly sandwiches. This doesn't taste anything like PB&J to me. Though it isn't horrible. With the same 10g/1.5g of fat as peanut butter supreme I'll be skipping this.
6. Chocolate Brownie - disgusting!!!
So I'll probably order up some bulk packs of apple pie and mix in the occasional vanilla almond crunch and mixed berry bliss.
2.0 -
I just went through this same process after eating Clif Builder bars for the first three weeks of the program. I went online and I found a great choice called The Simply Bar
http://www.thesimplybar.com/index.php/?route=product/allproduct
They are vegan, gluten free, and only have a few ingredients.
16 grams protein, 150 calories, 3 grams sugar, and 4 g fiber.
They aren't as hearty as some bars out there but I like them for the amount of protein you get in 160 calories. Plus, I like that I can pronounce all of the ingredients!
If you are looking for something hearty, these may not be the answer (plus I had to order them online as I think they may be Canadian?) but they are a great choice for a quick snack on the go0 -
Thanks for the tip on the simply bar. I may check it out in phase 2 or 3.0
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I picked up an apple pie and a mixed berry bliss. Liked them both. Saved the Strawberry cheesecake for later today.0
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I was inspired by Met's recipe above and decided to try and make my own protein bars. There are a ton of threads on making your own on this site and others and almost all of the no bake recipes are the same basic recipe.
The basic recipe that they almost all have in common is:
Oats
Nut butter
protein powder
sweetener (commonly honey, agave, or artificial).
There are lots of variations like I said but what I actually made is:
2 cups of oats
4 tbsp of almond butter
4 scoops of 100% whey protein powder (chocolate flavored)
3 tbsp milled flaxseed
5 fluid oz of fat free milk
30g of semisweet chocolate chips (this was my "sweetener")
I followed these directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients first (oatmeal, whey protein, flaxseed)
2. Put Milk, almond butter and chocolate chips in microwave for 60 seconds to melt chocolate and almond butter.
3. Mix all ingredients together (this is the hardest part. I ended up abandoning a stirring device and kneaded everything together with my hands so it was messy, use a BIG bowl).
4. Spray pam or grease a small rectangular container and put batter in. Even out with hands.
5. Put in freezer for 30 mins and then refrigerator 2 hours (I'm leaving them stored in the fridge).
Plugged into MFP it comes out like this: Calories Carbs Fat Protein Sugar
Stremicks Heritage Foods - Organic Fat Free Milk, Vitamins A & D Added, 0.63 cup ---- 56 8 0 6 8
Coach's Steelcut Oats - Oatmeal, 2 cup dry ---- 960 162 18 36 0
Kirkland - Costco - Chocolate Chips, 60 pieces (15g) ---- 140 20 8 0 14
Bob's Red Mill - Whole Ground Flaxseed Meal, 3 tbsp ---- 90 6 7 5 0
Costco CytoSport - 100% Whey Chocolate protein powder, 145.2 g (1 scoop) ---- 560 12 10 108 12
Maranatha - All Natural Roasted Almond Butter - Creamy, 4 tbsp (32g) ---- 360 12 32 14 4
Total ---- 2166 220 75 169 38
Per serving ---- 181 18 6 14 3
I ended up making 12 servings out of this. I feel these are 10x healthier than anything you can buy in the store and can be made even healthier if you skip the chocolate chips. The bit of fat they do have is very good for you since its from almond butter and flaxseed. Flaxseed is darn near a wonder food from what I read about it yesterday.
Here are some pics of how it turned out.
So how do they taste? It has a very mild chocolate and oatmeal flavor and is very dense. I liked it though clearly without any artificial sweeteners and only 3g of sugar a bar they are not nearly as sweet as commercial bars. As I'm a chocoholic I will probably double the serving size of the chocolate chips to see how it tastes on the next round. If I double the serving off chocolate chips it changes the serving size stats to 192 calories, 20g carbs, 7g of fat, 14g of protein, 4g of sugar0 -
Ok I wanted to report back on my protein bar search.
First let me say that I am a chocoholic. I love chocolate!!! However, despite chocolate flavored protein bars being the most popular version based on availability at the stores I can't stand the taste AT ALL of any bar I've tried!
Pretty much all the bars I tried had 20g of protein and 2g of sugar. They had a range of 18-19g of fiber and 21-24g of total carbs. They consider themselves "low carb" because if you back out the fiber based carbs they all tend to have only 4g of "active" carbs.
Summary of the Quest bars I've tried and my subjective taste evaluation. All of these are the Quest bars with no sugar alcohol.
1. Apple pie - This is my favorite bar. Tastes pretty good and has only 5g of fat and 0 sat fat making it the lowest fat content of the bars I tried. Best tasting and lowest fat? Win!
2. Vanilla almond crunch - 2nd best tasting bar but 9g/0.5g of fat/saturated fat
3. Mixed berry bliss - 3rd best tasting bar. 8g/0.5g of fat/saturated fat
4. Peanut butter supreme - tastes ok but 10g/1.5g of fat /saturated fat.
5. Peanut butter jelly - I LOVE peanut butter jelly sandwiches. This doesn't taste anything like PB&J to me. Though it isn't horrible. With the same 10g/1.5g of fat as peanut butter supreme I'll be skipping this.
6. Chocolate Brownie - disgusting!!!
So I'll probably order up some bulk packs of apple pie and mix in the occasional vanilla almond crunch and mixed berry bliss.
2.
Did you try sticking these in the microwave for 20 seconds or so to make them soft? The chocolate brownie tastes WORLDS better this way. All of them taste phenomenal when heated up. They taste like warm cookie dough!0
