Protein Bars--Good and Not So Good Choices at the Grocery Store

If you are using protein bars as one of your snack foods during the day, you must be mindful to read the nutritional label on the bars you buy at the grocery store.  Many bars have more carbs and sugar than protein, so the bulk of the calories are going to burn off quickly and you will be hungry again in no time.

Your goal is to find a bar that has 140 to 180 calories and 10 or more grams of protein.  Some of the grocery brands that meet these targets are: South Beach Living Breakfast Bars, Special K Protein MEAL Bars, Slim Fast Diet High Protein Meal Bars or HALF of a Snickers Marathon Protein Sports Bar.

Protein bars that I would look to avoid at the store, because they don't have enough protein relative to their caloric content are: Special K Protein SNACK Bars, Odwalla Super Protein Bars, Quaker Chewy Granola with Protein Bars.

Just remember, that reading the labels for nutritional content is very important.  Just because a product says that it is a protein bar, doesn't mean you will get the best protein bang for the caloric buck!