Are all protein bars the same?
Not sure about you all, but I am slightly obsessed with Instagram, and like I mentioned in the about me page I am a total wanna-be. So when you look through my feed there is everything from cat lover pages to healthy living to vegan chefs to yoga geniuses to crafty people to barstool humor! And you know what I absolutely love it! I can see everything I love right there at my fingertips! But this really has nothing to do with protein bars....So let me get to the point. I was on about my 3d hour of Instagram searching "working" (that's what i tell Scott when he asks what i did today) and I came across one of my new FAVORITES....yogoskenz (I don't know how to tag her, or if I can even do that here because I am a technological dinosaur, but just trust me and go visit her site). She promotes a protein bar called 1stphorm Level-1 Bar. So of course, I assume that if I buy these bars and eat them I will look just like her, well she is tall, brunette, permed hair and jacked so I am not sure if the looking just like her part is going to turn out, but at least the bars may be good? Well, I go on the website and research what the nutritional values are in the bar. So I would go for the peanut butter lover...260 calories (so a good breakfast after workout for me) 13g total fat, Sodium 370mg, Sugar 4g, PROTEIN 20g (wowza) but like with everything else I want them now... so I put the 1stphorm on the back-burner and headed to the grocery store. Now mind you, I went and worked out first and kicked my ass with a really hard treadmill run and then walked over to the grocery to research the protein bars there. So what I found was that there are LOTS of bars to choose from, some pictures look very yummy and others look nasty, it is very hard to breathe in a mask when you just get done working out ( I hate masks ) and I found one that might nutritionally be just as good maybe even a little better but may not taste as good as hers. So I bought a box (will probably end up in pantry with the other "healthy" bars I hope my children will pick up instead of the oatmeal cream pies) ANYHOO here is the nutritional stats for this one: Pure Protein bar, chocolate peanut butter, gluten free, 200 calories (60 less) 7g of fat (almost 1/2!!) 200mg sodium (do the math) 17g carbohydrates ( I forgot to put the other brand's amount of carbs in 19g) sugar 2g (1/2) PROTEIN 20g! So there must be a catch? A 1stphorm bar is 63g, a Pure Protein bar is 50g...ok so the PP is a little smaller, but it kept me full! Now for the true test, I will buy her 79.99 for 30 bars that comes out to $2.66 per bar (Pure Protein is $8.94 for 6 bars, $1.99 a piece, so $59.70 for 30....OKKKK that's a big difference and I can purchase them at Publix!! So, since I am not such a good reader (my kids are all in the top reading classes, thanks Scott) I am going to put all of this information in chart form side by side so we can compare!
Don't these look yummy? I didn't make them and they are not either of the bars I just talked about, but the picture was pretty, and this is part of my wanna-be chef coming out!
Bars Calories Total Fat Sodium Total Carbohydrates Total Sugars Protein
Pure Protein. 200 7g 200mg 17g 2g 20g
(1 bar 1.76oz)
1stphorm. 260 13g 370mg 19g 4g 20g
Level 1 bar
(1 bar 2.22oz)
So I guess the moral of the story is choose your protein bars wisely.....read the labels, compare and contrast, search for ones that will work for you. Whole, clean breakfasts cooked at home are the best choice, but not always the easiest option for busy people, so replacing a meal with a bar of this nature might be a good option for some.
What is your favorite protein bar? Anyone have any recipes for a homemade protein bar?