Let me start off with an unpopular opinion. Bars are NOT food that we should eating every day. There is no substitute for real food. Protein bars are a convenience food when you are on the run and have no time. Many of these items have heavily marketed health claims, but many are false and have unwanted ingredients. Since Wegman’s is a popular grocery store in my area, I did a round up of bars that past my good label review and taste tested them over the last few weeks. While NONE of them are perfect, these are the best ingredients and taste profiles to try. Let me know what you think!
Screenshot for easy reference:
- Perfect Bar (Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter)
- Organic, 330 calories
- Pros: 13 mg protein, great ingredients, tastes awesome (they are actually pretty sweet)
- Cons: Most flavors have nuts, 18gm of sugar, needs to be stored in refrigerator
- GoMacro (Sunflower butter + chocolate)
- Organic, Vegan, Gluten Free, 270 Calories
- Pros: Tastes great, 10gm protein
- Cons: 11 gm sugar, first ingredient is brown rice sugar and it has natural flavors
- Dang Bar (Almond Cookie Flavor)
- Plant based, Gluten Free, contains nuts and coconut and Non-GMO, 210 calories
- Pros: 9 gm Protein is pea/almond, only 3 gms of sugar
- Cons: Contains natural flavors – Here is the thing about natural flavors, it is one step up from artificial flavors. ***NF are derived from plant sources but they are processed and some are worse than others. I look for foods without them but sometimes they are hard to avoid so I try to look at the big picture.
- 88 Acres (Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Seed Bar)
- Simple ingredients, Non GMO, Gluten Free, Vegan and Dairy Free, 200 calories
- Pros: Tastes good, 6 gm of protein
- Cons: Extra crunchy, 10 gm of sugar
- Keto Krisp (Almond butter chocolate chips)
- Pros: 10 gm of protein (nut and whey), 2 gm sugar, 9gm of fiber, MCT oil, 250 calories
- Cons: Has dairy (which is not really a con but if you avoid it), Natural Flavors, Protein Isolate
- Garden of Life (Peanut butter chocolate)
- Organic, Vegan, Non GMO, Gluten, Soy and Dairy Free, 210 calories
- Pros: Tastes good, 14 gm of protein, has ashwagandha for chill factor
- Cons: Claims it is a weight loss bar which I think is a crap marketing tactic
- Health Warrior (Dark chocolate peanut)
- Organic, Gluten Free, 190 calories
- Pros: Awesome ingredients and tastes good!
- Cons: 8gm of protein (again not the biggest protein boost)
- RX Bar (Chocolate Sea Salt)
- Organic, Gluten Free, no added sugar, 210 calories
- Pros: 12 gm protein, 13 gm sugar (from dates)
- Cons: Contains natural flavors
- Larabar (Coconut Chocolate Chip)
- Just 5 ingredients, Non GMO, Gluten Free, Vegan and Dairy Free, 200 calories
- Pro: What can I say she is the gold standard bar!
- Con: I don’t consider this a protein bar – most have 2-3 grams of protein. It’s not a bad thing but it’s not a protein bar 😊 20 gm of sugar – calm down, these are from natural dates. However, I wouldn’t eat this and be sedentary, use them before you plan to exert yourself or need energy.
I hope you enjoy this bar round up, but remember nothing beats real food if you have the time! 😊
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