Day 29- Food Bars

My friend requested that I write a blog on food bars. She is about to graduate from her master's program, working at least 3 jobs, applying for jobs for once she has graduated, trying to create a social life for herself in an unfamiliar city, and trying to stay healthy. Needless to say she has a lot on her plate (but no time to eat it)! With that said some times it can be hard to not skip meals, or eat healthy when time isn't always on your side. For that reason she is looking for a healthy food bar that she can grab on the go, and have it fuel her body and keep her energized until her next meal.

The problem is that there are so many bars out there, so how can you tell which ones are not just junk? Well, to be honest the majority of the bars out there are pretty much just junk! Filled with way to much sugar, processed ingredients, and unhealthy fats. So I decided to take a trip to Whole Foods so that I could research some of the bars that they were advertising.

First of all if you remember I'm gluten free right now, and so is a decent population of health minded individuals, so when you eliminate all the bars that contain gluten or oats only a few remain. Another problem is the overwhelming amount of bars that contain soy, which I also try to avoid. So once I eliminated all the bars that contain gluten, oats, corn, and soy I was left with about 5 brands of bars. The downfall with the bars that made the cut? The protein content in them is not very much; so as a meal replacement it might be lacking in that department.

The bars that made the cut?
Larabar:

One of my favorite flavors in this bar is the cashew cookie and the ingredients consist of: cashews and dates. The bar is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, non-GMO, Vegan, and kosher. The bar contains 230 calories per bar, but only 6 grams of protein.


Raw Revolution:

My favorite flavor in this bar is the chocolate & coconut and the ingredients consist of: cashew, agave nectar, date, coconut, cocoa powder, processed with alkali, almond, sprouted flax seed. The ingredients are 82.2% organic, raw, kosher, vegan, free of preservatives, refined sweetners, gluten, soy, wheat, peanuts, and all animal products. The bars are also made in a gluten, peanut, and animal product free facility. A bar contains 280 calories and 8 grams of protein.

Nutrition Facts Serv. Size: 62 g, Servings: 1, Amount Per Serving: Calories 280, Fat Cal. 170, Total Fat 19g (29%DV), Sat. Fat 6g (31%DV), Trans Fat 0g, Cholest. 0mg (0%DV), Sodium 10mg (0%DV), Total carb. 28g (9%DV), Fiber 5g (20%DV), Sugars 15g, Protein 8g, Vitamin A (0%DV), Vitamin C (8%DV), Calcium (6%DV), Iron (20%DV). Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Pure Organic:

This is a new bar that I found on my journey at Whole Foods, which I have not tried yet, but I bought the wild blueberry flavor. The ingredients that are in the wild blueberry pure organic bar are: organic dates, organic cashews, organic walnuts, organic rice protein concentrate, organic wild blueberries (organic wild blueberries, organic apple juice concentrate, organic sunflower oil), organic agave nectar, organic almonds, organic lemon juice concentrate, and organic blueberry flavor. The bummer about this bar? It is produced in a facility that processes soy, milk, egg, wheat, peanuts, and tree nuts. This bar contains 190 calories and 6 grams of protein.

Perfect Food Bar:

The Perfect Food Bar can be found in the refrigerated section at health food stores. All the bars are made gluten-free, soy-free, non GMO, are high in Omega-3 fatty acids, contains no refined sugar, and are made with over 20 nutrient dense organic whole foods. The ingredients found in the Peanut Butter bar are:

Ingredients: organic peanut butter, organic honey, nonfat milk powder, organic rice protein, dried whole egg powder, organic flax seed oil, organic sunflower seed oil, organic olive oil, organic pumpkin seed oil, dried whole food powders (organic flax seed, organic rose-hip, organic orange, organic lemon, organic papaya, organic tomato, organic apple, cherry, red bell pepper, organic alfalfa, organic celery, organic kelp, organic dulse, organic carrot, organic spinach).

This bar contains 306 calories, and 18 grams of protein; not bad!

Designs for Health:

There is another company that I love as well, which unfortunately you can not purchase in a store; only online. The company is called Designs for Health (I have no ties or affiliation with this company) and they make several great nutritional bars. All their bars are gluten, soy, and corn free and they contain no hydrogenated fats or oils and no simple sugars. They have a bar called the PaleoBar-DF, which is designed as a dairy free anabolic energy bar; made with rice protein, almond butter, and coconut oil. This bar also has the ingredient, L-carnitine; which is included to increase fat burning and energy storage in the body.

Product Contains: Total Fat 7g, Saturated Fat 3 g, Trans Fat 0 g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Sodium 105 mg, Total Carb. 29 g, Fiber 5 g, Sugars 2 g, Sugar Alcohol 14 g, Protein 7 g, Vitamin A 0%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 2%, Iron 6%. INGREDIENTS: Maltitol Syrup, Rice Protein Concentrate, Erythritol, Almond Butter, Unsweetened Chocolate, Glycerine, Digestion Resistant Fiber (Fibersol 2), Crisped Rice (Rice Flour, Rice Bran, Rosemary Extract), Gum Arabic, Coconut Oil, Cocoa Powder (processed with alkali), Natural Peanut Butter, Creatine Magnapower® Magnesium Creatine Chelate, Natural Flavor, RiceX Stabilized Rice Bran, Peanuts, L-Carnitine, Sea Salt.

They also have bars to stabilize sugar cravings, that support the immune system, that include omega-3 fatty acids, phosphatidyl choline and L-Glutamine, that are high in antioxidants, and more.

There are probably a few more bars out there that aren't bad either; such as the ProBar, which includes organic, whole food ingredients, but also includes oats; which if you are like me you have to avoid. These bars do offer 9 grams of protein per bar. Or the Kind Bar, which is gluten and dairy free, but has soy in the list of ingredients. These bars contain about 7 grams of protein per bar.

The best recommendation is to eat whole foods, but life gets busy and instead of reaching for a bag of potato chips or snickers bar; these are a way better alternative.

Hope this will take a little stress off you back, Corie!

Pura Vida!
Alica Ryan, NTP