Protein bars

Ready

Ready

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I eat a protein bar for lunch most days, and I generally don't each much more than that until dinner time. They keep me full enough, and I like to eat a nice breakfast and dinner, so I try not to overload on calories for lunch. It seems to be working well for me.

My mainstay is the Quest Protein Mint Chocolate Chunk bar. I've tried all of the Quest bars, and they are all OK, but not great. The only one I enjoy eating every day is the mint one.

I've tried the Mission bars but I think they taste terrible. Cliff bars are too high in sugar. My preference is a bar that is high in both protein and fiber, with no added sugar. Stevia sweetener is OK.

Has anyone found any other bars that taste good and also are high in protein and fiber and sugar free?
 
I've never found a protein or granola bar that I really like. Instead, I make up my own version of trail mix with various nuts and dried fruit.
 
A handful of almonds or walnuts would do you much better.
 
The problem with me if I have a jar of nuts around, I won't just eat a handful. No self control. Whereas I can get by on one protein bar and an apple for a mid-day snack. I need to get back on this plan.
 
I love nuts and I eat a tablespoon of walnuts every morning when I make my whole grain pancakes. I add walnuts and a half banana, and I use a mix that is high in protein and fiber (Kodiak cakes). They taste great and fill me up.

For lunch, if I were to eat 200 calories worth of nuts, they would not be very filling. They are mostly fat, with just a little bit of protein and fiber. I'm not against eating fat, but to keep my blood sugar stable and keep me from getting hungry, I need to add protein and fiber to the fat. That's why the protein bars work well for me, and at only 200 calories they give me lots of bang for the buck in terms of staying full until dinner time.
 
Ready said:
I eat a protein bar for lunch most days, and I generally don't each much more than that until dinner time. They keep me full enough, and I like to eat a nice breakfast and dinner, so I try not to overload on calories for lunch. It seems to be working well for me.

My mainstay is the Quest Protein Mint Chocolate Chunk bar. I've tried all of the Quest bars, and they are all OK, but not great. The only one I enjoy eating every day is the mint one.

I've tried the Mission bars but I think they taste terrible. Cliff bars are too high in sugar. My preference is a bar that is high in both protein and fiber, with no added sugar. Stevia sweetener is OK.

Has anyone found any other bars that taste good and also are high in protein and fiber and sugar free?
Click to expand...
Absolutely brilliant - best we've ever had that don't need to be in the fridge. High enough protein, non-GMO, very little sugar and taste really great IMO:

https://www.nugonutrition.com/
 
Ready said:
I love nuts and I eat a tablespoon of walnuts every morning when I make my whole grain pancakes. I add walnuts and a half banana, and I use a mix that is high in protein and fiber (Kodiak cakes). They taste great and fill me up.

For lunch, if I were to eat 200 calories worth of nuts, they would not be very filling. They are mostly fat, with just a little bit of protein and fiber. I'm not against eating fat, but to keep my blood sugar stable and keep me from getting hungry, I need to add protein and fiber to the fat. That's why the protein bars work well for me, and at only 200 calories they give me lots of bang for the buck in terms of staying full until dinner time.
Click to expand...
Google the nutritional content of walnuts, you might be amazed. Those "fats" are loaded with omega 3's. Also fats in foods do not equal fats on you. Unused sugars do.
 
Think Thin makes some decent bars too, and are comparable to a Quest in nutrition values. My favorite is the Quest chocolate chunk - almost tastes like a brownie. DH loves Quest chocolate chip cookie dough.
 
I like to have protein bars with me as a snack or meal supplement when taking trips. I also find that a lot of them are full of sugar, which I do not want. My preferred bar is Pure Protein, which has 20g protein and is low sugar, though not a lot of fiber.
 
simple girl said:
I like these bars from Costco. Low in net carbs. High in protein and fiber, low in sugar. Use stevia and erythritol for sweetening.

Caveat - very chewy!!! Not nearly as tasty as your average protein bar. So, you may not like them. However they are perfect for what I want.

Lose weight & improve your health with a real food diet | Fooducate
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I was about to suggest those- I love them! I even like the chewy aspect- it means they take awhile to eat. Too much of our processed food is made so that it can be eaten with little chewing and swallowed quickly, so you don't feel full and want to eat more. They're also not just a lot of candy with some protein thrown in, which many "protein bars" seem to be.
 
athena53 said:
I was about to suggest those- I love them! I even like the chewy aspect- it means they take awhile to eat. Too much of our processed food is made so that it can be eaten with little chewing and swallowed quickly, so you don't feel full and want to eat more. They're also not just a lot of candy with some protein thrown in, which many "protein bars" seem to be.
Click to expand...

Agreed!!!
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I have tried the Costco bars, and they are very similar in nutrition to the Quest bars and half the price. I still like the taste of the Quest bars a bit better though.

The nugo bars look good. I will have to try those. And the think thin's as well.

I just tried the Quest breakfast bars last night for the first time. They have 110 calories, so about half the calories of a regular Quest bar. They taste good as a dessert, but are much sweeter than the regular Quest bars, so I think I'll save them for an after dinner treat.
 
I, too , had protein bars for a meal while working. I still keep them around the house for a quick meal if I don't want to fix something. Try to have GF if possible. I bought these from costco:
Perfect Bar (refrigerated section)--13 G protein, total carb 24 g, Non GMO, gluten free
Nature Valley Protein --peanut butter and dark chocolate 10 G protein, total carb 14 g, gluten free, No artificial sweetener.
May have more carbs than you want, though.
 
I think out of all the protein bars, Quest has some of the best flavors that I've tried. I've tried everything from EAS, Optimum Nutrition, Clif, AST Sports Science, the list goes on an on.

I think second for me may be the Vega protein bars. It's a vegan brand, but the bars taste good if you don't mind the substitution of plant proteins.
 
We once (DW actually) bought a box of carrot Larabar.
They were absolutely terrible tasting in our opinion, yes we ate them because of that silly "don't waste food" concept.
It taught me to buy 1 bar of a new type if I want to try it.
 
Dawg52 said:
The problem with me if I have a jar of nuts around, I won't just eat a handful. No self control. Whereas I can get by on one protein bar and an apple for a mid-day snack. I need to get back on this plan.
Click to expand...

If it works for you, why change?

I eat lots of nuts. They make a great substitute for processed snack foods. I ate a lot of nuts when I lost 25 pounds. Nuts are like egg yolks and whole milk yogurt. The 'experts' put the fear of fat/cholesterol in us and since nuts contain a good dose of fat (ie. CALORIES!!) , we were supposed to limit them. But, these were the same experts who labeled certain 'sugar bomb' cereals as well as many very processed Frankenfoods as healthy for the heart. Along with margarine loaded with trans-fats!

If you are happy with a protein bar and fruit and it works for you, great. However, if you find nuts make a nice change once in a while, I don't see the harm. I love nuts, but even I get tired of eating them.
 
Interesting discussion. I don't like any nutrition bars I've ever tried. To me, they are too sweet and cost too much, and I can literally taste the preservatives. A bag of almonds and dried apricots is my preferred snack when out running around. I hate stopping for lunch!

I've never had much use for "experts telling me to eat this and not that." The only time I avoided nuts was during my teens, when I had terrible acne. I observed that eating nuts, peanut butter, and chocolate all seemed to make my acne worse (can't say this would apply to anybody else's face, only mine), so I laid off them for a few years, and it did seem to help. Once I hit my 20's I (gratefully) went back to eating all those good things.
 
Protein bars always smell like vitamin pills to me and I find that smell unpleasant. Instead, I make baked oatmeal with eggs and milk once a week (lots of on-line recipes), cut it in slices, refrigerate it, and have a chunk for breakfast every morning. It's tasty, customizable, and I get a nice big chunk for the same number of calories as a tiny little protein bar.

I don't like overly sweet food or most sweeteners, so I can make it the way that I like, usually just sweetening it with some applesauce. I usually flavor it with spices, grated carrots, and crushed pineapple; pumpkin puree, spices, and walnuts; or fresh/frozen fruit. I tried adding whey powder for a while, but that didn't seem to be any more filling.
 
Don't like bars. Prefer real (minimally processed) food. It's easier to eat well when you are retired.
 
I think the Quest bars are great. I like the chocolate chip cookie dough one best. What I have found that makes the Quest bars really good is to heat them in the microwave for about 12 seconds.

You can also cut them up and bake them as "cookies." I don't often take the time to do that, but they taste good when I do.
 
Now I want to try them! I never even knew they existed, but I might buy some now just to see what they are like. I was very impressed with the nutritional information, especially that they contain no sugar. Might be a bit more fiber than I can handle but we'll see.
 
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