Protein bars are essential to a fitness fanatic’s diet. Since I’ve started doing more resistance training and working out more frequently, I’ve been needing a lot more protein. I struggled for a while to find the healthiest and best tasting protein bars, but I finally figured it out. I thought I’d share my findings with you guys so you too can make the best of your protein bars. These are my honest opinions. I haven’t been paid in any way to give these reviews.
Perfect Bar
These adorable bars are one of my favorites because of its wholesome ingredient list. I LOVE that the first ingredients are nut butter and honey. The only real downside to these bars is that they’re pretty high calorie and they only have 12 grams of protein. As far as taste goes, these might just be the front runner.
NuGo Dark
This bar is very popular because of its rich chocolatey flavor. What I like about this bar is that it’s 0nly 200 calories, it has a moderate amount of sugar, and it’s GMO-free. What I don’t like about this bar is that sugar is the second ingredient and it’s only 10 grams of protein. It’s not at the top of my list, but it’s nice as a treat when the chocolate cravings are at their peak.
Oatmega
What I love about this bar is that it only has 5 grams of sugar, it’s only 190 calories and it has 14 grams of protein. There isn’t much of a down side is that it’s not very sweet. But, as long as you’re only looking for a protein boost and not a sweet treat, then this bar is perfect.
SquareBar
I am absolutely obsessed with these bars. I eat at least 3 every week. The best part about these bars is that they’re coated in chocolate, but they only have 12 grams of sugar. Don’t get me wrong, I try to stay away from sugar as much as I can, but as a meal replacer, paired with a piece of fresh fruit, this bar makes the perfect post-workout treat.
SIDE NOTE: I’ve been working on a recipe for SquareBar using their chocolate-coated peanut butter bars. The best part is they wanted to give all of you a special 20% off discount on a box of their bars. All you have to do is use the discount code “wakeuptowaffles” here.
RX Bar
What’s not to love about this bar? It’s much like Larabar in that it only has a few wholesome ingredients and no preservatives or artificial crud. I could eat one of these every day if I had that kind of money to spend. The only real downside to these bars is the taste. They’re easy to get used to, but for someone who’s used to a sweet protein bar, these would taste pretty bland.
Builder’s
These bars used to be a daily snack for me, but thank goodness I got rid of that habit. These bars are full of sugar! I mean, really?! Is 21 grams of sugar really necessary? The only up-side to these bars is that they taste good (duh… sugar) and they have a whopping 20 grams of protein. This bar has plenty of protein, but not much nutritional value.
Go Macro
I recently discovered these yummy bars through Instagram. I’m hesitant to get too obsessed because their first ingredient is brown rice syrup. I usually try to stay away from products that have a sweetener as the first ingredient, but these bars only have 9 grams of sugar. I do love that these bars are mostly made of nuts and the ingredient list is very short. Most of their bars only have 4 or 5 ingredients.
Quest
I’m no fan of artificial flavors, so this bar is on my bad side. When I lost weight, this was my go-to post-workout protein boost. Looking back, I now know eating so much artificial flavoring was not smart. Don’t fall for the 21 grams of protein and 2 grams of sugar that’s displayed prominently on their packaging. They’re just trying to distract you from what’s really in the bars.
CONCLUSION
RX bars are the healthiest choice. I highly recommend these bars if you plan to eat a protein bar every day. One of these bars has lots of protein, no sugar, and high nutritional value.
SquareBars and Perfects bars are the best tasting. They both have rich, nutty flavors. SquareBars taste like a chocolate bar and Perfect Bars taste like cookie dough. It doesn’t get much better than that.
I hope you learned something from this post. I highly recommend that you do some of your own research on these bars if you plan to try them. I firmly believe everyone should know what they’re putting into their bodies. Remember that healthy lifestyles are all about balance. It’s okay to make mistakes and slip up every once and a while. It happens to everyone. Happy snacking!
