FitSugar

A Reader Recipe: Chocolate Hemp Recovery Bars

Fit Community — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:25:51 PDT

Need the perfect postworkout snack? Try these chocolate hemp bars that FitSugar reader be-healthful posted in the Healthy Recipe Group.

Keep reading to learn how to make these bars for yourself!

New Flavor Alert: Kind Bars Adds Six Flavors

FitSugar — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:30:07 PDT

Just in time to get your healthy snack on when heading back to school, Kind has added six new flavor to its lineup of bars. I was lucky enough to receive some preview samples of the new flavors. I appreciate how healthy these bars are, but the flavors were a little hit-and-miss for me.

Although I'm usually a peanut butter freak, the two bars featuring this ingredient did not wow me, but some of the simple fruit flavors did. Here's a thumbnail review of each new flavor:

The Peanut Butter Chocolate is definitely high in protein but was so chocolately I couldn't really taste the peanut butter.
Although I enjoyed the flavor of strawberry essence in the Peanut Butter Strawberry bar, I would rather make myself a sandwich with the same ingredients.
I loved the high-in-fiber Blueberry Pecan Bar; it was sweet and tart with a perfectly chewy texture.
The Pomegranate Blueberry Pistachio was also a palate-pleaser and provides 50 percent daily value of vitamins A, C, and E.
The Apple Cinnamon Pecan reminded me of apple pie and wasn't too sweet.
The Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew definitely satisfied my chocolate craving.

To see how the bars compare nutritionally, keep on reading.

5 Healthy DIY Energy Bars

FitSugar — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:47:35 PDT

Whether you're on the go running errands or need a pick-me-up preworkout, an energy bar is a perfect handy and healthy treat. If you've tired of the usual store-bought suspects, why not try making your own? I've rounded up five yummy energy bar - and ball - recipes that will have you up and running in no time!

Do you have a mouth-watering energy bar recipe? Why not share it in our Snack Attack community group? We may post it on FitSugar!

Food Review: Tram Bar - Real Food, Real Energy

FitSugar — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:00:57 PDT

Made to be snacked on when riding a tram car to the top of the mountain, you don't need to be a skier to enjoy these all natural energy bars. A friend turned me onto a Tram Bar ($3 to 4), and it was love at first bite. Made with organic goodies including oats, honey, peanut butter, dried bananas, chocolate, dried apricots, raisins, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds, no two bites of the bar are the same. It's super delicious, and even though it's only about three inches long, a Tram Bar is also super filling. One makes a great pre- or post-workout snack, but I've also eaten them when I crave a sweet treat after dinner.

To see a closeup of this bar (you can really see the wholesome ingredients), and see the surprising nutritional info

These soft and chewy bars are probably the best tasting energy bar I've ever bitten into, but I almost dropped it on the floor when I saw the calorie amount - 340 calories for an energy bar? Definitely great if you're working yourself silly doing an all day hike, bike ride, or dance-a-thon, but not exactly a bar to be used for a basic snack. Actually, the nutritional info on the package says that it's one serving, but the info on the Tram Bar's website says one bar equals two servings. Half a bar is definitely enough for a pick-me-up snack, so when I eat a Tram Bar, I usually split one with a friend.

Serving Size	Half a bar
Calories	170
Total Fat	7 g
Saturated Fat	2 g
Cholesterol	0 mg
Sodium	70 mg
Carbs	24 g
Fiber	2 g
Sugars	13 g
Protein	4 g
Iron	6%

Ingredients: Organic oats, Organic honey, Organic peanut butter (Organically grown dry roasted peanuts, salt), milk chocolate (sugar, milk, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, soya lecithin, real vanilla), rice nuggets (rice flour, rice bran, raisin juice concentrate, honey salt), Organic dried bananas, Organic dried apricots, Organic raisins, Organic sunflower seeds, Organic sesame seeds, sea salt.

If you can't find these bars at your local health food store or gear shop, buy them online.

You Asked: Energy Bar For a Meal?

FitSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:00:48 PST

Dear Fit,
I just got off the phone with a friend and I need some advice. She says for breakfast, she eats one Balance Bar. I know some bars are fortified with vitamins, but this doesn't seem like enough to me - calorie- or nutrition-wise. What do you think? Is it OK to eat an energy bar for a meal?
-Concerned Friend

This is an excellent question because I think many people grab a bar for a quick meal because it's quick, easy, and fairly inexpensive. Is it enough, though? To find out what I think

Replacing a meal with an energy bar is not a good idea. For one, most bars contain only about 200 calories. That calorie amount is suitable for a snack, not a meal. Another reason is that those bars were designed to give someone energy before or after a workout, so they tend to be high in carbs and low in fiber. That translates to quick energy at first, but your friend probably feels tired and hungry soon after. The low fiber issue may also affect regularity. The bottom line is that energy bars are not designed to replace a well-balanced meal, since they won't offer the same kind of nutrition. Even the ones that are fortified with vitamins and minerals only offer about 25 percent of your RDI, which isn't very much.

I think it's best to ask your friend why she's only eating an energy bar for breakfast. Is she short on time? Is she trying to lose weight? Does she think it's healthy? Once you find out her reasoning, you can suggest healthy breakfast ideas that suit her needs. There are plenty of tasty options that are high in protein and fiber to offer sustained energy, are easy to make, and won't break the calorie bank.

Snickers Energy Bars?

FitSugar — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:30:06 PDT

Clif, Balance, and Luna are a few of my favorite brands when choosing energy bars, but the popular packed-with-peanuts candy bar company wants to get in on the action too with their Snickers Marathon bars. I know what you're thinking. Snickers? Making energy bars? Yep. They were designed to give good tasting energy to active, healthy people, and they come in three varieties - Energy, Nutrition, and Protein.

I find it ironic that the ingredients couldn't be found anywhere on the entire website. Wouldn't health-minded people want to know what they're eating? Seems a little sneaky. Then when I did some research, I discovered these bars contain corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup - just what I expected from a food that has Snickers on the label. The website did include the nutritional labels, so to see how these bars measure up,

	Calories	Sat. Fat (g)	Chol. (mg)	Sodium (mg)	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Sugars (g)	Protein (g)
Energy: Multigrain Crunch	220	2.5	5	210	31	3	17	10
Energy: Chewy Chocolate Peanut	210	3	5	200	26	5	15	13
Energy: Chewy Peanut Butter	210	3	5	240	25	4	15	14
Nutrition: Dark Chocolate Crunch	150	2.5	5	140	22	7	9	11
Nutrition: Honey & Toasted Almond	150	2	5	125	22	7	10	10
Protein: Caramel Nut Rush	290	5	5	190	40	10	22	20
Protein: Chocolate Nut Burst	280	3	5	340	37	11	18	21

I was wondering, have any of you tried these Snickers Energy bars?

Sports Energy Products Explained: Drinks, Powders, and Tablets

FitSugar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:47:52 PDT

In order to sustain your energy for long workouts, you need to refuel with some kind of sporty energy product. Sport nutrition products are manufactured in so many forms these days - sport drinks, powders, energy bars, goos, and chews - so how do you know which one is right for you? Hopefully I can ease your confusion starting with sport drinks, powders, and tablets.

Popular brands of sport drinks include Gatorade, Accelerade, and Powerade. These pre-made, often neon-colored drinks contain carbs that you need for quick energy, and sodium and water that you need for hydration. A proper sport drink contains about 15 grams of carbs and 110 mg of sodium per eight-ounce serving. You can also buy powders you mix with water to make sport drinks. You only really need these drinks if you are working out for an hour or longer or are sweating profusely during your workout. I wouldn't sip these while running on the treadmill for 30 minutes. The sugar isn't necessary for short workouts, and as long as you hydrate with water before and after exercising, you're good to go.

What about Smartwater? To find out

There are also beverages that contain electrolytes and no sugars, such as Smartwater or Function Water. Or if you want a little flavor but not a ton of sugar, NUUN tablets can be dissolved in your water. Electrolyte-enhanced water will help prevent dehydration but help your energy levels by providing glucose (aka sugar, which is turned into fuel for your muscles).

So here's the bottom line. If your workout is under an hour, drink plain water before and after. If you're working out and sweating a lot, sip electrolyte-enhanced water every 10 to 15 minutes while working out. If you're working out for an extended period of time, and are also sweating out fluids, sip a sports drink every 10 to 15 minutes.

How Often Do You Eat Energy Bars?

FitSugar — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:30:00 PDT

I like to have a few energy bars on hand, tucked away in my desk drawer or the glove box in my car, in case hunger hits unexpectedly. They tend to be about 200 calories, so they make a perfect snack and are much better for you than candy bars, but I don't eat them regularly.

If I am running after work and have no late afternoon snack, I will crack open an energy bar. I'd say I eat two a month. I have a friend who munches them almost daily to power her before-breakfast workouts. What about you?

Food Review: thinkGreen Peanut Butter Chocolate Bar

FitSugar — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:50:40 PDT

When it comes to meeting my daily nutritional requirements, I like to eat my vitamins and minerals in whole foods. Occasionally, I fall short on this. I also often need a quick, easily digestible pre-workout snack. I thought I would attempt to satisfy these two needs with the thinkGreen bar, since the label reads "over one tablespoon of power greens."

The ingredient list contains some very green things: spirulina (green algae), spinach and broccoli powder, green tea powder, as well as powders from other veggies and fruits like beets, carrots, and apples.

To see how all these powders mix with chocolate and peanut butter and nutritional details for the bar,

Here is the list of ingredients: Date paste, coating (evaporated cane juice, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, whole milk powder, soy lecithin, pure natural vanilla), brown rice syrup, peanut butter chips (evaporated cane juice, palm kernel oil, whey powder, partially defatted peanut flour, peanut butter, whole milk solids, soya lecithin, salt), raisins, thinkgreen Superfood (apple pectin, lecithin, organic alfalfa grass juice powder, organic spirulina, chlorella (cracked cell), brown rice germ, spinach leaf powder, broccoli powder, carrot powder, acerola berry juice powder, beet juice powder, green tea extract, grape seed and skin extract, parsley leaf powder, pea powder), raisin paste, peanuts, soy protein isolate, ground peanuts, cocoa soy crisps (soy protein isolate, calcium carbonate, cocoa powder), peanut flour, cocoa powder, honey, chocolate liquor, natural flavors. Contains soy, peanuts and milk.

Serving Size	One bar (50 g)
Calories	200
Total Fat	8 g
Saturated Fat	3 g
Cholesterol	0 mg
Sodium	65 mg
Carbs	28 g
Fiber	2 g
Sugar	21 g
Protein	6 g
Potassium	170 mg
Calcium	10% RDI

The list of ingredients is super long, but similar to the simple Larabar, the base of the thinkGreen Bar is dates. The bar certainly tasted of chocolate and peanut butter, but it was very dry. I definitely needed water to get it down. The dryness factor would keep me from taking this bar on a long bike ride. I ate the bar in the late afternoon while carpooling children about town, and then ran an hour later. The thinkGreen bar kept me energized for a 50-minute pre-dinner run. In the end though, I think I will continue to work on eating my greens, actual spinach and broccoli rather than powdered versions of them. This bar will not become my mainstay energy bar, but I certainly won't avoid it either.

Have you tried this?

Food Review: Dr. Melina Protein Bars

FitSugar — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:00:00 PDT

When it comes to pre-workout snacks, I like to mix things up, so when I spotted a new-to-me brand, Dr. Melina Protein Bars, at my corner store the other day, I snapped one up.

I was excited to learn that the brand was created by a female doctor who resides in Sugar's fair city of San Francisco, an internist and nutritionist named Dr. Melina Jampolis. To find out how they taste,

These protein-packed bars come in four flavors: chocolate peanut, double chocolate acai, lemon raspberry, and cinnamon almond, which I tried. Fans of Luna Bars will love Dr. Melina bars too; they're pretty comparable in terms of flavor, sweetness (note the hint of icing), texture, and nutrition.

The bar I tried had a bit more crunch than Luna, sort of like a Rice Krispie treat, which was a nice touch. The cinnamon and almond flavors tasted very natural and not overly sugary, and with 14 grams of protein, the bar left me feeling very satisfied. Check out the chart below to see how it compares with a similarly flavored Chai Tea Luna Bar.

	Dr. Melina Cinnamon Almond	Luna Bar Chai Tea
Serving Size	One bar (45g)	One bar (48g)
Calories	180	190
Total Fat	6 g	5 g
Saturated Fat	2 g	2.5 g
Cholesterol	5 mg	0 mg
Sodium	80 mg	95 mg
Carbs	21 g	26 g
Fiber	5 g	3 g
Sugars	11 g	12 g
Protein	14 g	9 g

Aside from a few key differences, these bars are pretty comparable. Interested? You can buy Dr. Melina bars by the box here. If you've tried this or any other flavors, let me know what you think.