Nothing is more convenient than a snack bar. But with thousands of different kinds advertised as healthy and showing all sorts of crazy claims – most people end up choosing the wrong ones.
How Fattening Is Your Bar?
The big majority of granola, protein or trail mix bars at the supermarket are nothing more than an amalgam of processed, dead ingredients with added sugar – regardless of how “healthy” they claim to be. Let’s look at the 40+ ingredients of this very common Quaker® Chewy® low fat granola bar:
Ingredients: granola (whole grain rolled oats, brown sugar, crisp rice [rice flour, sugar, salt, malted barleyextract], whole grain rolled wheat, soybean oil, dried coconut, whole wheat flour, sodium bicarbonate, soy lecithin, caramel color, non-fat dry milk), semisweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), corn syrup, brown rice crisp (whole grain brown rice, sugar, malted barley flour, salt), invert sugar, sugar, corn syrup solids, glycerin, soybean oil. Contains 2% or less of sorbitol, calcium carbonate, salt, water, soy lecithin, molasses, natural and artificial flavor, BHT (preservative), citric acid.
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How Unhealthy Is Your Fancy Protein Bar?
Expensive bars sold to athletes and people seeking high performance are no different than cheap granola bars. In fact, they often contain most of the same cheap ingredients but use different claims to appeal to their audience.
Ingredients: chocolatey coating (sugar, fractionated palm kernel oil, cocoa, whey, non-fat milk, soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavor), Trisource™ protein blend (whey protein isolate, calcium caseinate, soy protein isolate), glucose syrup, caramel (corn syrup, sugar, cream, water, fructose, palm oil, soy lecithin, salt, sodium phosphate, natural flavor, carrageenan), high oleic canola oil, maltodextrin, evaporated cane juice syrup, peanut flour, natural flavor, glycerin, peanut butter, soy crisps (soy protein isolate, tapioca starch, salt), soy lecithin, salt, almond butter.
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BUSTED!
Cheap snack bars manufacturers are being busted for bad practices, such as:
- Kashi “all-natural” snack bars (owned by the food giant Kellogg) containing 100% GMO soy
- Nature Valley snack bars (owned by the food giant General Mills) falsely claiming that they contain 100% natural ingredients
- Quaker snack bars being sued for various health claims
Consumers have the real power – remember that.
Raw Food Bars – My Only Recommendation
Raw ingredients generally contain more vitamins, minerals and gut-friendly enzymes, and fewer toxins than heavy processed granola or protein bars ingredients. Remember that raw food goes bad quickly. This is actually a big advantage, because raw food products have no choice but to be fresh and nutritious. More importantly, raw bars manufacturers care about the nutrition content of their products, unlike cheap processed granola and protein bars manufacturers.
Warning: Like any quality supplement, these bars are NOT cheap. If you can’t afford them, stick with real food protein snacks like nuts, seeds, eggs or beef jerky.
Here are the 2 manufacturers I trust the most to deliver the best products possible :
Dale’s Raw Foods – Raw food protein bars that contain up to 22 g protein per bar and only healthy ingredients.YouBar – Customize your raw food bars to meet your specific needs and taste buds. You even get to choose the name on the packaging (which is awesome). Use the code “TFLA” at checkoutto save 5%.
Healthy Ingredients To Look For
Make sure your raw food bar is made with the following ingredients:
Bases
- Nut butters
- Dark chocolate
- Dates
Sweeteners
- Dried fruits
- Coconut nectar
- Stevia
- Raw honey
Protein
- Pea, rice or hemp protein
- Quality cold-processed whey protein
- Egg white protein
Extras
- Nuts and seeds
- Cocoa powder or nibs
- Powdered greens
- Spices and sea salt
Fats
- Coconut oil
- Nut butters
