When You Want to Lose Weight Be Careful with Protein Bars

Protein bars may not be the best snack to eat when you are trying to lose weight. Unfortunately, there are so many so-called healthy protein bars on the market that it is difficult to tell the difference between what is healthy and what is nothing more than junk food in a healthy wrapper.

If you are going to find truly healthy bars, you will need to learn how to read the nutrition labels, in fact anyone who shops at a grocery store should have this talent. When you begin checking labels you will find a long list of chemicals, processed Trans fats, sugars and other harmful ingredients that are overly processed.

To be honest, most of the bars out there are pure junk... candy bars with a little bit of protein disguised as a health food bar. I was bike riding with a friend a couple weeks ago, and needed a quick bar to make sure I had enough energy for the bike ride. Well, I needed a little something to eat so my friend gave me an extra slim fast bar he had.

Realizing I needed something to eat my friend passed me a slim fast bar he had extra. On the back of the slim fast bar label are all the nutrition facts and a statement saying they are a healthy weight loss alternative.

The first ingredient in the bar given me was corn syrup! The second ingredient was sugar, followed by hydrogenated oils (which is a source of deadly trans fats). The list went on with a lot of other additives such as artificial flavors, colors, evil artificial sweeteners, more hydrogenated refined oils, and rounded out with some unhealthy processed soy protein isolate (which despite popular belief, processed soy is NOT healthy for you) just to load up your body with some more junk.

These may be touted as a way to lose weight but nutritionally these bars are a train wreck. To make matters worse they taste bad! A slim fast bar tastes like chemicals. If you want a prime example of over-engineered food, this is it! That is all well and good but it leaves a problem, how do you find the healthy alternatives?

If you are trying to lose weight, it's best to look for simplicity in a good bar. Usually the healthiest and tastiest bars have only a couple ingredients such as nuts, seeds, and fruit. Look for organic ingredients and raw ingredients if possible. You'll find that many times these bars taste better.

Here are a couple of my personal favorites:

1.Organic Food Bars- (this is a brand name). You will be pleasantly surprised at the number of flavors they offer. Depending on the flavor, you choose the bar will contain a combination of almond butter base (sometimes cashew butter) with a variety of organic seeds, organic rice protein, fruit and organic bio sprouts such as quinoa. Choose correctly and you will even find a bit of organic dark chocolate in the mix. They even have a line of exclusively raw material bars.

There are two things I like about this brand of bars; they are tasty as well as diverse. I have plenty of flavors to choose from including cranberry, high protein, chocolate chip and blueberry. Generally, grocery retailer will not carry these bars; you must go to a health food store.

2.Larabars- These contain two or three simple raw ingredients such as fruit and a crushed nuts, even though there are only a couple of ingredients these bars come in several different flavors. hen you are looking for an organic food bar, this is a great choice.

The best thing about these bars is their ingredient list, not a chemical one shows up. As a rule, you will only find tasty fruit and nuts on the label. Larabars are a high quality health bar. You will not find these in your grocery store but once again, you can certainly find them at specific health food stores.

Whether you need a quick snack while on the road or at work, these healthy bars are great.

It's good to always have a few with you when you need a quick snack, so you won't be tempted by fast food restaurants or junk food vending machines. Always read labels to make sure you're getting a health food bar and not a candy bar in disguise. These can help you lose weight by controlling your cravings between meals.

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