What to Look For In a Protein Bar

As with protein powder, a protein bar is there to supplement-add to-your daily protein intake.  

Like protein powder, there is a ton of garbage on the market, labeled as a protein bar when, in reality, it's nothing but a glorified candy bar.  

Let’s talk about what to look for-and what to watch out for-in a protein bar:

Typically, protein bars come with more carbs and fat than protein powder. 

Protein bars will also talk about "net carbs," which means they're not counting the fiber or alcohol sugars in their carb calculation. This means when you look at the nutrition info., it might say 15 grams of carbs, but the front of the bar (aka the marketing) is advertising it as "Only 3 net carbs per serving!"  

Since we're here for truth, not fad marketing, below are guidelines for a good protein bar, according to the nutrition label, not the marketing label: 

• Carbs: 5-15 grams 

• Fat: 2-10 grams (Notice this is a wide range. The nature of protein bars is to be higher in fat.

• Protein: 15-30 grams* 

*If your protein bar is whey protein, not vegan, protein should be closer to the 20-20 grams of protein range. Many vegan protein bars tend to be in the 15-gram range. 

As with all supplements, the key is in the label: not the marketing label, but the nutrition label.