Indian health and fitness industry is now at its peak. More and more people are becoming gurus through social media. They are promoting themselves by selling workout plans and diet plans. They also promote supplements and diet-related products on of them is protein bars.
To the general public protein bars are healthy meal replacement product as we go by the name protein in them. Its been marketed by their makers as a meal replacement food and it’s easy to eat if you do not have much time to have a proper meal sitting down you can grab a protein bar on the go fulfill your hunger.
But it’s not true for all. As some of the bars have more calories then you have in a meal. They have are more similarities to candy bars to protein shakes or other energy supplements. If your bars have more fats and sugar in them, there is a possibility that you will feel hungry again as fats and sugar digest quickly and have empty calories in them which will not fulfill your nutritional requirement.
Pros & Cons:
Some dieticians are in favor to include protein bars once in a while as according to them if you are a person who is on the go always moving all around and don’t always get time to prepare a meal every time and you burn many calories during the day you need a healthy bar or snack to keep you energize throughout the day.
Even if you are following a diet plan dieticians in favor of protein bars include them in your diet as you cannot always eat whole food every time. Your mind plays games if you have a sweet tooth you will fall for the temptation and eat something that was not in your diet plan so that’s why people in fav our of bars include it in your diet. The things are that you should check the nutritional information given on the bars. If your bars have more sugar in it more than protein content you should avoid them.
Dieticians who are against protein bars do not want to include protein bars in your diet as these bars do not have much nutritional value on them as most of they are loaded with calories from fats and sugar these bars cannot be termed healthy along with that they have preservatives in them to keep them for long durations.
People fall for the ingredients in them some bars say they have zero sugar in them but instead of that, they are loaded with others are full of hard-to-pronounce, lab-made ingredients like partially hydrogenated oils (read: trans fat), high-fructose corn syrup, food coloring, artificial sugars, sugar alcohols, and other additives that have been linked with less-than-stellar health.
Conclusion:
You can eat a protein bar once twice in a week. Eat it as a snack, do not eat them as a meal replacement. Check on the ingredients know what are you eating and what’s on the bar. Bars with high on sugar and a high amount of calories should be totally avoided.
You should eat bars which are high on protein at least 10 grams, fiber content, and carbs as these ingredients keep you full for long period. Bars should use whole ingredients like rolled oats and nut butter-and zero partially hydrogenated oils or high-fructose corn syrup.
How to check which protein bar to eat
1. Your Protein Bar should Actually have Protein:-
If you are eating protein bar to fulfill your daily requirement of protein which you cannot fulfill through whole food and supplements. You need to identify those protein bars which actually have more 10gramns of protein in them ideally it should be around 20 grams protein in a bar.
That means the bar’s first macronutrient ingredient will likely be a protein. Whey isolate, casein, pea, or egg protein are all high-quality choices.
2. Should be Low in Sugar:-
the first thing we see on a protein bar is how much calories are in them and the protein content. We oversee other ingredients such as sugar. If your bar has more than 5-gram sugar in them it should be avoided.
Companies use different name some times for sugar to fool general public dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, or turbinado, well, that means “sugar.
Some bars may look healthy as they have nuts and whole foods in them have healthy fats in them but they are topped with sugar coating which makes them high on calories and reduces their nutrition value.
Companies use sugar alcohol as a replacement for refined sugar they may not have the same amount calories in refined sugar but are as or more unhealthy than the sugar they go by the name of xylitol, sorbitol, isomalt and many more.
3. Protein Bars should be Low in Calories:-
A good protein bar should be low in calories. It should get in calories from the main protein, then carbs and fiber. Fewer than calories from sugar more the better.
Protein bars should be taken as a snack rather than a full meal if you eat these bars as a meal you won’t be full for a long time.
If your bar has more than 400 calories in that, it means you are eating one-third of your daily calories from a bar that won’t keep you full for a long period. It has the same amount of calories as you find in mac aloo Tikki.