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Energy/Meal Bars

euphoria

euphoria

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Dec 23, 2004
Messages
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I've always been a carb lover, and I find that I am often left hungry if I eat a meal that doesn't contain some sort of complex carbohydrate.

Also, when I'm on the go or hiking I find energy/meal bars to be so easy to carry and pack for an 'emergency food' item. For instance, if I can't find a place to eat, if I start to get low blood sugar because I've been out way longer than I expected, etc.

I love Clif Bars, Luna Bars, Larabar, any and all of the like. I usually check out the calories and they're around 200-300 per bar, which I count as a large snack or as part of a meal. How healthy are these things really? I know that the Larabars have the fewest and the most natural ingredients. But then you'll look at the back of a Balance bar, for example and its pretty complicated. I'm just not really sure what I'm ingesting. I try to eat as 'clean' as I can, but I make exceptions for very few things.

What do you guys think about energy/meal bars? Do you eat them on a daily basis? Do you think they're nutritious as part of a meal or a snack or are they just like a candy bar to you?
 
Typically some form of complex carb is in my breakfast. Whether it be a kashi oat cookie or an energy bar.

Wouldn't recommend eating more than 2 a day for people trying to lose weight. Though, they are a great general performance enhancer.
 
They are a treat to me, without a doubt. Most of the ingredients are questionable at best, both in nature and in derivation. That is, they are derived from "dirty" sources, usually. The majority of the time, they are loaded with sugar, but how about you post the ingredients of the one that bothers you most?

Generally, if it's in a wrapper and geared towards giving you energy, it's going to be pretty unconducive to actually serving that goal. Take Red Bull for example...great for lifting you up for half an hour then crashing you down further than you once were. The really annoying thing about a lot of these "healthy" products is that they may have the ingredients on the back, but they don't talk about the poor quality of these ingredients, the chemical-laden, nutrient-deficient GM plants from which they are derived and the questionable processes they go through to reach the end stage of production.

If you want a quick healthy pick-me-up kind of bar, you can make your own with many recipes. Mix up whey protein, natural peanut butter, dark chocolate and oats or oatmeal. I haven't made this recipe before (and I added the dark chocolate myself - you could cover them with melted dark chocolate) but i've seen it kicking about and a friend of mine swears by them. Make them into wee bar shapes and shove them in the oven for a bit. Or something. Or just straight in the fridge maybe? I can't remember. I'm too ill for this.

Goodbye! God speed your black emperor.
 
Met RX big 100 bars only get the sweet and salty or the chocolate toasted almond flavors the other ones ive tried haven't been very tasty and were hard as a rock like if u threw one at somebody's head they get a concussion kind of hard, but the sweet and salty and the toasted almond ones are on point.
 
I think I may try making my own now that I have a kitchen. They are probably way healthier, I'm sure. But the convenience of Clif bars and things like that are what makes me end up eating them when I'm in a hurry or bringing them along on a journey. Knowing they won't expire in the heat and they are sealed. I'm going to look up some recipes for homemade bars though and see what i can find.
 
how much complex carbs are in bananas? ive always found bananas to be once of the the best fulfilling easier thing to carry around and eat. the energy i get from one wakes me up more than coffee and keeps me going for longer. much more healthy than energy/meal bars
 
ColtDan said:
how much complex carbs are in bananas? ive always found bananas to be once of the the best fulfilling easier thing to carry around and eat. the energy i get from one wakes me up more than coffee and keeps me going for longer. much more healthy than energy/meal bars
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I suppose it depends on how ripe the banana is. An under-ripe banana has more starch in it, and as the fruit ripens much of this starch is converted to sugar.
So very ripe bananas will have more simple carbs, however I don't think the difference is all that significant.
 
attempt4 said:
Generally, if it's in a wrapper and geared towards giving you energy, it's going to be pretty unconducive to actually serving that goal.
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source?

i've had great experiences with energy gels, chews and bars over long (6+ hours) biking/trail-running/swimming workouts. great for convenience, easy on the stomach and provide a steady, even source of carbs that lasts as long as i need. i usually go for something from a brand i recognize (mostly Clif and Powerbar) and have rarely run into one of their products that didn't do what it said. i'm sure you could find some complaints about the quality of the ingredients, but in terms of actually serving their purpose many of these are VERY effective.
 
You want a source for me stating that artificial stimulants such as sugar and caffeine gives you a crash?Sorry pal I didn't mean that they don't do what you want entirely, I meant and went on to state that they often end up making you more tired than you originally were. I was more referring to things like Red Bull, which is why I went on to talk about that. Though I'm aware that's not what this thread is about. I was also thinking about some of the "energy gels" that you get here that are choc-full of shite (actual scientific term)

ColtDan, banana's are pretty much one of the best foods for energy. I frequently eat 2 carrots, 2 apples and 2 banana's for a quick pick me up. Carrots are surprisingly filling and obviously offer a shit-ton of health benefits.
 
^ This. Whole food for the win!

Making your own bars is good too, but I've yet to find a commercial bar that has a decent nutritional profile and is even close to whole food. For emergency calories though, they can't be beat. But the same could be said of a Snickers bar.
 
Absolutely. If you really need a quick fix for energy, then the general rule of thumb is that if it's quick, easy and in a wrapper geared towards giving you "ENERGY!!!11" then it should be avoided. I'm not saying they are useless, merely that opting for a bag of seeds, nuts and fruit is infinitely better! I always carry a backpack or something if going for a awlk, with a flask of ginseng, green, redbush, ginger, lemon tea (and other shenanigans) as well as a couple banana's, apples and nuts. If you cant carry a backpack for some insane reason, then there's always room for a packet of nuts in yer pocket. To be perfectly honest, as a lady, you're not going to need as much sustenance quantity-wise so a small bag of nuts and a banana may (or may not) fill you up. Lucky women.
 
attempt4 said:
You want a source for me stating that artificial stimulants such as sugar and caffeine gives you a crash?Sorry pal I didn't mean that they don't do what you want entirely, I meant and went on to state that they often end up making you more tired than you originally were. I was more referring to things like Red Bull, which is why I went on to talk about that.
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i wanted a source stating that "if it's in a wrapper and geared towards giving you energy" it's full of dirty ingredients and only provides energy through simple sugars and a lot of caffeine. you're right about red bull, but assuming you can generalize from gas station video game fuel to sports nutrition doesn't make a lot of sense.

the products i was talking about are actually a lot more than just sugar and caffeine and are designed very specifically so that they don't "end up making you more tired than you originally were." they're typically a blend of simple and complex carbohydrates, made from real food (Clif Bars, for example, are made of "brown rice syrup, soy protein isolate, rice flour, barley malt extract, soybeans, soy flour and rolled oats" source ). and caffeine, in small doses (such as those found in energy gels/chews/bars), is a proven performance enhancer. i agree they're a little more expensive, and i'm sure you can get many of the same things from real foods. but as someone with a lot of experience in competitive endurance sports, i can tell you that the digestibility, convenience and carbohydrate profile of many of these products can be a real advantage over a pack full of bananas and peanut butter sandwiches.

just because it's in a wrapper doesn't mean you can assume it's crap.
 
double ewe said:
they're typically a blend of simple and complex carbohydrates, made from real food (Clif Bars, for example, are made of "brown rice syrup, soy protein isolate, rice flour, barley malt extract, soybeans, soy flour and rolled oats" source ). and caffeine, in small doses (such as those found in energy gels/chews/bars), is a proven performance enhancer. i agree they're a little more expensive, and i'm sure you can get many of the same things from real foods. but as someone with a lot of experience in competitive endurance sports, i can tell you that the digestibility, convenience and carbohydrate profile of many of these products can be a real advantage over a pack full of bananas and peanut butter sandwiches.

just because it's in a wrapper doesn't mean you can assume it's crap.
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Next time you (this goes for anybody reading this, not just you, double ewe) are in a grocery store, pick up a Clif Bar and read the ingredients list. Then keep reading. There's a list as long as the ingredients list of added vitamins and minerals. How did they get those vitamins and minerals in there? Extracting them from other sources, possibly manipulating them, and then putting them back in.

That's what some of us mean when we talk about the "ingredients" in these products.
 
Delsyd said:
There are only two that i like but i like them a lot.
Lara bars an cliff bars.
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Hi guys!
I am new to this forum. today i join this forum. I don't know what is lara bars and cliff bars. Is it use for weight lose? Tell me i shall be very thankful to you for giving me information.
 
Nope, not for weight loss. They are for quick energy during long exercise, or when camping.
 
addictivepersona said:
Next time you (this goes for anybody reading this, not just you, double ewe) are in a grocery store, pick up a Clif Bar and read the ingredients list. Then keep reading. There's a list as long as the ingredients list of added vitamins and minerals. How did they get those vitamins and minerals in there? Extracting them from other sources, possibly manipulating them, and then putting them back in.

That's what some of us mean when we talk about the "ingredients" in these products.
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i take several supplements (multivitamin, whey protein) that have clearly been extracted from other sources. why should that bother me?
 
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