Protein Bars ? Do you ?

[TrailriderJulia 39]

I am searching for a portable high Protein snack , I have tried the ZONE PERFECT bars and they are delicious! BUT... is 14 grams protein, 210 calories, 7 grams fat, 24 carbs, 3 Fiber a good snack or not ??

I carry one in my purse for that between meals protein snack.

Any thoughts or suggestions ? Thank you all so much !

Edited February 23, 2015 by trailriderjulia@gmail.com

[JamieLogical 8,684]

I swear by Quest Bars (chocolate chip cookie dough is my favorite). They have about 21 grams of Protein and 190 calories. They claim to have 17 grams of Fiber, but you should be aware that the type of "fiber" used is what I call "fake fiber" or "stealth fiber". It's not the good kind of fiber that cleans you out and keeps your regular that people think of when they hear "fiber". That's true of almost all the "high fiber" products available on the market these days though, so I don't hold it against them.

[ProjectMe 909]

Have you tried Quest bars? Their awesome and come in a large variety of favors. My favs are s'mores, Cookies & cream, & choc. Chip. There was a thread not to long ago that gave information for how to get free ones from the company as a trial. But you can buy them at Vitamin Shoppe, GNC, Academy, and maybe your local grocery store.

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

Julia - what kind of trail rider are you? I ride horses pretty much exclusively a trail rider these days!

I think Quest are the most palatable for the nutrition profile. Premier Protein bars don't taste very good but are high Protein. I think Protein Bars are fine, but I give my standard warning to not let them become too much of a "habit". Over time, I realized I was sort of abusing them, using them almost like a candy bar substitute - I like the Quest ones that much. Quest bars are cheaper if you can find a special and buy them by the box, but I learned that I can't have something that tasty in the house, in large quantities and not expect me to eat 1-2 per day which is just more than I need. When my weight loss stalled around 7-8 months out my NUT immediately zeroed in on my behavior with those bars and she was right. Now, I do sometimes use a quest bar as a meal substitute, but I buy 1-2 to have on hand, not one or two boxes.

[Bufflehead 6,358]

Too many carbs, I carry Ostrim Jerky sticks instead.

[bikrchk 1,313]

I do! For a Meal Replacement or if I'm looking for the highest Protein bang for my buck that day, I choose a Quest bar. Most days, I munch a PowerCrunch in the afternoon as it's a sweet treat that tastes like a wafer cookie and still packs about 14g of protein.

[Bonawanabfree 280]

Power Crunch bars. They are so good and very low in carbs

[JamieLogical 8,684]

Power Crunch bars. They are so good and very low in carbs

I looked them up and the Protein to fat ratio is a little high for me. My general rule is that something has to have more Protein than fat and while the ones I looked at technically do, they have 1 more protein gram than fat grams, so it's pretty close.

If you are more concerned about carbs though and don't track "net carbs", then they are probably a better option than Quest Bars.

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

We all have our thing... I have rules of thumb that have no basis in anything except they have worked for me.

I look for "Protein bargains". If a Protein source has at least 10 grams of protein per 100 calories and miminal carbs (say under 5-10 TOTAL carbs) I consider it a protein bargain. I did this when I realized that I had spent a lifetime counting points and calories but it didn't really work for me. I stopped worrying about total calories as much as am I eating food that "mostly" supports the protien first lifestyle. It made me less scared of say Premier Protein which when I was obese I would have considered WAY TOO HIGH CALORIE for me to consume. They are 160 calories/30g protein and I think 5 carbs. Totally maximum protein bargain even though the calories seem like alot. I admit, I don't worry about fats. I have veryvery low cholesterol and frankly, I can't handle focusing on another factor. I have a meat and veggie heavy diet so I probably do have too much fat, but at least it is not in the form of deep fried or doritos...

When my weight loss stalled and I needed to really make big changes to get to goal, I was doing stuff like having deli meat with a bit of cream cheese wrapped in lettuce for Snacks. I am not saying anyone else should do this, I am saying what I did to get to goal.

Anyway, my little rule of thumb frankly rules out most Protein Bars. I don't understand net carbs, but I suspect the processed food industry of dreaming it up so I focus on total carbs for my simple purposes. That does NOT mean I never eat foods outside of my "protein bargain" rules it just means it is a guideline I use in evaluating choices.

(sorry to keep putting in the weasel words, but I have been called a carb nazi more than once so I feel the need to make a disclaimer that I don't really care what others chose, I am just sharing what I had to do to lose the last 40 pounds or so and get to goal which was a big deal as I have been obese pretty much my whole life and had a lot to lose when I was sleeved)

[JamieLogical 8,684]

@@CowgirlJane I came up with my "more Protein than fat" rule back when I was losing weight the old-fashioned way. I used a site called SparkPeople to track all of my food and it set target ranges for all the macro-nutrients and Vitamins. The upper end of my fat range was something like 65 grams a day and the low end of my Protein range was 65 grams a day. So, I figured that if I just made sure everything I ate had more protein than fat, I'd be good on my ranges.

I've kept that rule up post-op because now my target range for protein is 85-100 grams and I know that getting that many grams of fat could be very bad for me, especially as a total percentage of my daily calorie intake (since fat has more than twice as many calories per gram as protein). 100 grams of fat a day would be 900 calories just by itself!