This may be the wrong forum but does anyone use a good protein bar that they can recommend for use as a healthy snack? Preferably one that tastes good, has a resonable amount of protein, doesn't have a lot of sugar, carbs or fat.
There are some ordinary ones out there and it can get expensive trying to find a good one. I use protein shakes, yoghurt or cottage cheese for my high protein snacks but would like to use some bars for variety.
Most of the Pure Protein bars are pretty good (from Worldwide Sport Nutrition). The Next protein bard (Detour, Joyride, One Way) are really good too, but they arer higher carb and there has been some disputes about the actual protein and sugar content which has been found to be respectively lower and higher than the label claims. But it may have been rectified by now. Some of the low carb bars are ok, but it's really dependent on taste. Bars in general are not what I would consider 'healthy' however. Usually high sodium, artificial sweeteners, preservatives and such. I'm a huge fan of Greens Plus bars, but they are stupid expensive. I only use them in emergency situations like vacation when I cant exactly carry my own food around with me. Or camping/hiking.
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Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins
Generally speaking, you want to use protein bars when you're in a bind. The majority of them contain ingrediants that are not beneficial to your diet and as Naxis pointed out, there have been issues with what the labels say and what the numbers really are.
Thanks for the replies. I am aware about high fat/sodium/carb content in a lot of the bars but guess I am looking at 'convenience' food. I am eating 6 times a day, prepare my lunch and cook dinner every day and don't like having to go to great troubles preparing my two snacks for work as well.
I am also limited by my tastes, I don't eat peanut butter and only eat cottage cheese mixed with other stuff like yoghurt - because I don't like cheese. I love raw almonds but they also come with a high fat content - I know it is healthier fat but it is still fat and calorie dense. I generally have a protein shake and fruit or yoghurt either on its own, with almonds or protein powder or cottage cheese. I guess I could try small single serve tins of tuna in water and have a packet of low salt crackers in my drawer.
If anyone has any further suggestions, please feel free to post.
I know what you're saying about the convenience, I have to kids under 2 and I like these when I can't get a chance to prep something or I use them for a bite here and there when I really get a bad craving for something sweet. My husband thinks I'm crazy because he thinks they all taste like chalk, but my taste buds are so warped from lack of sweet foods that the bars actually taste like a candy bar to me, I know very sad. Anyway, I like the EAS advantage edge bars. I believe they are fairly low carb and only have about 2 grams of sugar and 6-7 fat grams. I also eat the atkins advantage bar, which you wouldn't like because it has quite a bit of fat, but I don't really worry about that because my diet could use some fat.
Or camping/hiking.
