Protein bars are a great way to help ensure proper nutrition when on the go. Our modern aspirations and traveling abilities have far outstretched the reach of our evolutionary body, and to survive in modern times we often need to rely on modern means. Protein is one of our most essential nutrients, and protein bars are concentrated, easy-to-carry, nutrient-dense ways for us to give our bodies what they need the most. Schedules can get hectic, and are often unpredictable. Rather than relying on our day to flow in a predictable manner, protein bars can help to give us the adaptability to handle whatever comes our way. Almost all the best protein bars are available for purchase in bulk online, which can help drastically reduce cost.  With the extensive number of options, you’ll likely be able to find a protein bar that perfectly fits your personal nutritional needs and tasted halfway decent as well. The most important facet to remember is that—above all other things—you should consider the nutrients in your protein bars long before judging them by taste alone.

What Are Protein Bars

You’ve likely heard of protein bars before, but there’s some considerations to make that are often overlooked. A ‘real’ protein bar has been almost engineered to help provide your body with ample, efficient nutrition to help keep you moving when you don’t have time to stop for meals. Protein bars are great for traveling, hiking, and even taking to the gym for convenience. Protein powder supplements are another similar nutrition product that offer many of the same benefits, and most protein powder brands also offer some for of protein bar product as well. At their core, protein bars are simply combinations of different types of foods and vitamins that are meant to deliver nutrition. What many protein bars today actually are, is simply what marketers feel will sell the best. These are the types of products that are often loaded with sugar and GMO ingredients, artificial colors and flavors, and are seen everywhere from gas station shelves to WalMart aisles. These are the products produced by giant corporations like Nestle, that use the same production supply chains to source many of their food products. More quality focused brands have devoted considerable resources into maintaining their own exclusive production facilities.

It’s important to pay attention to the labeling of these products, but also to remember that many natural whole foods such as dates have high sugar amounts as well

Generally speaking, there exist three types of protein bars on the market; those concerned only with taste and appearance, those that make consideration for overall nutrition yet still focus heavily on taste and flavoring, and then there are those that commit entirely to quality of ingredients and nutrition. An example of the first type, the nasty mass-marketed type, can be illustrated by the Gatorade Whey Protein Recovery Bars, which contain a laundry list of unhealthy ingredients. The first listed ingredient on these products are cane syrup (sugar) and commercially-processed GMO vegetable oils. An example of the second type can be seen in the Smores-Flavored Protein Bars by Quest Nutrition. These types of products are generally produced by the cheapest available ingredients, though show some concern for nutrition before flavoring. For example, those Quest protein bars list protein ingredients first, but also contain such ingredients as sucralose and ‘natural’ flavoring. The third type of protein bars can be illustrated by the Chocolate Mint Protein Bars from RXBAR, with only whole food ingredients and no added sugars. It’s important to pay attention to the labeling of these products, but also to remember that many natural whole foods such as dates have high sugar amounts as well.

The Best Protein Bars

Organic and Non-GMO options are always our first recommendation, though we recognize that they aren’t always available. Sometimes the only organic options still choose to use too much sugar in their products. For example, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bars from GoMacro are USDA-certified Organic, Vegan friendly, and Non-GMO, but their first ingredient is still Organic Rice Syrup—which is used as a sweetener. A little bit of sugar is preferred by many people, and a typical overall sugar percentage in healthy protein bars is around 15-25% overall sugar content per bar. In our opinion, that’s still a LOT of sugar—even if it’s natural sugar—especially for those fighting parasites or fungal issues. Parasites and yeasts like Candida feed off of sugars and carbs, and many of these types of products could make your current treatment protocols for such conditions much less effective. There are several brands of protein bars such as the Organic SunButter Paleo Protein Bars by Julian Bakery that only contain 1% sugar. These won’t win any taste competitions, and certainly aren’t for everyone. If you’re struggling with parasites or yeast issues, or simply trying to eliminate as much sugar from your diet as possible—these kinds of options can offer solid options.

The best protein bars are going to be the one’s that balance your unique macro-nutrient requirements with healthy whole food nutrition.

Knowing which protein bars are the best a matter of considering your personal circumstances. If you have no issues with foods, run 100mph everyday without sweating it, and eat fast food and processed foods everyday—you’d be fine picking whichever protein bars taste the best. Worrying about the contents of your protein bars before realizing that the McDonald’s menu is killing you won’t give you any real advantage. If you’re genuinely concerned about your health, and like so many of us today; suffering from hard-to-treat chronic health issues, you might be able to really benefit from carefully considering your choices of protein bars. Talk with your doctor or health professional about your diet and what balance of macro-nutrients is best for your personal circumstance. After you know where you stand, you might realize protein bars can help you recover lost calories from a diet, fill in nutritive gaps from restricted diets, and also help to make complicated food schedules a little less demanding by giving you some on-the-go options. The best protein bars are going to be the one’s that balance your unique macro-nutrient requirements with healthy whole food nutrition.

Where to Buy

Depending on the types of protein bars you are looking for, your best bet will likely be buying online in bulk. Most all protein bar brands offer direct sales through their websites, though sometimes shipping charges can start to become burdensome. Retailers like Amazon offer programs like Amazon Prime which gives free shipping on many protein bars, though be sure to check before you check out. Typically speaking, prices on Amazon are even cheaper than the prices you’ll find on manufacturer’s own websites. Wading through the many brands and options on such retailers can be a nightmare in many cases, so below we’ve listed a few of the protein bars we feel offer the best options—most of which fall into our third category of healthy and ingredient-first focus.

Final Considerations

Health and nutrition products are soaring in demand, and healthy alternatives to products like protein bars are becoming more easily available through online stores. Protein bars are valuable means of helping to balance your diet more completely, as well as offering a unique bit of convenience. Nutrition products and supplements are much more than is evident by simply reading their labels, and the brands that you choose to purchase from greatly affect the quality of the final product. This is important in all products such as mattresses, clothing, and cleaning products—but so important for anything that you’re planning on eating, drinking, or applying to your skin. These types of products become part of you, and if they are full of toxins or harmful ingredients than your body will become overburdened by them as well!