Protein Bars: Healthy Snack or Candy Bar in Disguise?
One of the most common questions I get asked is "What protein bars do you recommend?"
I love this question because it means you're paying attention and not just buying whatever is advertised as healthy.
Sadly, most "protein bars" or energy bars are just candy bars in disguise. They may have a little more nutrition than most candy bars, but some don't even have that going for them.
Nutrition labels can be confusing if you don't know what to look for, and there is a lot of greenwashing, or what I call "health washing" going on in an attempt to trick consumers into thinking they're making healthier choices.
A prime example of this is a Clif bar. Before I knew better, I used to down these bad boys when hiking or traveling, not realizing what a poor choice they were for me.
If you've worked with me or listened to my podcast, you know the importance of blood sugar regulation and insulin sensitivity, so let's look at this in the context of blood sugar. A high glycemic food is one that causes a big spike in blood sugar/glucose, and along with that comes an increase in insulin production to shuttle that glucose into your cells where it can be turned into usable energy called ATP (adenosine triphosphate).
This is a very simplified explanation, but basically if your blood sugar is spiking up too high and/or too often it can cause your cells to be insulin resistant. Insulin resistance causes a whole cascade effect of problems such as weight loss resistance, fatigue, brain fog, and eventually can lead to Type II diabetes and even Alzheimer's Disease.
When I read a protein bar label, I look for high protein and fiber content because those help to buffer the blood sugar spike that any carbohydrates/sugars will cause. My rule of thumb is to take the total number of carbohydrate grams and subtract the grams of fiber and protein. If that total score comes out to more than 10 per serving, it's a no-go for me. Here's that simple formula:
Total Grams Carbs - grams fiber - grams protein = Total score (you want this to be 10 or less, and the lower the number, the better)
I use this formula whenever I'm buying a packaged food, but in the case of the Clif Bar, here's how it looks:
Total Carbohydrate: 43 g
Total Sugars: 18 g, including 14 g Added Sugars
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Protein: 10 g
Here's how it pans out using my formula: 43-5-10 = 28. That's over twice the max total you'd want. And for a little extra perspective, 4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon, so this bar contains more than 4 teaspoons of sugar! Yikes.
So which ones do I recommend? Below are my three favorites. Any bar I recommend (or eat myself) has to be delicious, nutrient dense, low glycemic/low sugar, gluten-free, dairy-free, and contain all or mostly organic ingredients.
Papa Steve’s No Junk Raw Protein Bars - These score from a -4 to a 2 depending on the flavor
Aloha Organic Protein Bars - These are a 1 or 2 depending on the flavor.
Tusol Organic Protein + Superfood Bars - These score from 1-2 depending on flavor.
Orgain Protein Bars - These score from 6-8 and are a great option for a smaller, less substantial snack than the above bars.
Paleovalley Superfood Bars - these range in score from -2 to 1 and are a good option for people who don’t tolerate pea or other plant proteins.
Do you have any favorite protein bars that meet the criteria above? If so, please share in the comments and let me know if you try any of my above favorites.
