Are Clif and Luna bars ACTUALLY healthy?

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Replies

  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
    edited October 2014
    You have to understand what they're designed for. Like another poster said, they're for quick energy when you're burning a ton of calories, and I don't mean an hour of spin class. I mean hiking, backpacking, cycling for several hours. In those situations you need all those calories or you'll bonk. I keep two or three in my daypack even if I don't think I'll need them.

    I would never eat them because I thought they tasted good. In fact I think they dry my mouth out too fast and make me drink water faster than I want to in situations where water is limited.




  • jayeme
    jayeme Posts: 6 Member
    I'm not sure how healthy they are, but it's better than candy, portable, tasty, and provides necessary energy/nutrients so I think they can definitely be part of a healthy lifestyle. On the subject, I've been trying out new, similar bars and found a really, really delicious one. They're called "Garuka Bars" and they are a small company, sweetened with raw honey, and the bars are SO tasty. I hope this is allowed to post, I am in no way affiliated with this company but you can order a sample bar for $1 here: http://www.garukabars.com/free-sample/.
  • libbydoodle11
    libbydoodle11 Posts: 1,351 Member
    I don't consider them healthy. There is not anything wrong with including them in your diet. I also don't consider kettle chips, cookies or ice cream healthy and I include those foods in my diet.
  • erikarobles
    erikarobles Posts: 205 Member
    I just finished a round of Whole30 and it opened my eyes on all processed foods. Yes lara bars are high in sugar but they are the best choice as far as additives and chemicals.
  • myfitnesspale3
    myfitnesspale3 Posts: 276 Member
    Clif and Luna bars seemed like an easy step to take to improve diet, and they're good if they replace potato chips or candy bars. So I had a bunch for a while.

    But as I started low-carb-high-fat and started reading food nutrition labels carefully, I see that most "protein bars" have more grams of carbs that interfere with daily carb limits.

    As a guideline I try keep daily grams of protein higher than carbs. So protein powders completely replaced Clif bars in my diet.

    Hard to beat bars for convenience.
  • DrewMontoya
    DrewMontoya Posts: 77 Member
    edited October 2014
    corinic91 wrote: »
    camrunner wrote: »
    They fit my definition of "healthy." But I guess that varies from person to person. For me, what's important is that they satisfy my hunger for long enough that the number of calories they have isn't very significant. I mean, I try to average something like 100 calories an hour I spend awake as a baseline, so if I eat a 250 calorie Clif bar and I'm satisfied for 2-3 hours, that's a win in my book.
    ^interesting way to look at it, I've never thought about calories that way. I like it!

    Me neither. It's absolutely brilliant!

    I feel the same way. They help me hit some macros, taste like a candy bar, and they keep me satisfied for hours. By virtue of helping me stay within my kcal goals, they are as healthy as it gets. For me, of course.

    I prefer ZonePerfect bars, however, since they're just "nutrition bars" with 24g of carbs. As has been pointed out, Clif bars are best suited for active people doing active things, so they have a lot of carbs. (40g) They spike my blood glucose something fierce.

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