Are Protein Bars Okay?

In the world of supplements, protein is a big deal. Protein supplements come in a variety of forms, but you most commonly see them in powders or edible bars. Powders are pretty straight forward, but sometimes people feel a little overwhelmed with the bars. There tends to be an unlimited amount of options when you go to the store or shop online. All of them will also have various ingredients, calories, and macros.

Protein bars are perfectly fine, so long as you get one that is of high quality and contains healthy ingredients.

What Makes a Good Bar?

A good protein bar will have high quality ingredients. Many bars can come with fillers and binders that help to hold things together, but these aren’t the best for our health.

You will also want to look for something that isn’t overpowered with sugar or trans-fat. If you’re going to use a bar to supplement your health and lifestyle, then you want to make sure that it’s actually doing you some good. It may say high protein on the label but be double that in sugars.

1UP Nutrition makes a protein bar that fits right in with these criteria. They make bars that are non-GMO, meaning that there are no artificially grown or modified ingredients. In addition, the bars are gluten-free and contain no trans-fats. A very clean, and nutritious protein bar is exactly what you get.

How Should you Use Them?

Protein bars are a tool, just like any other supplement. Meaning, that they shouldn’t be your only intake of food. Most of the food that you consume needs to be REAL food. So long as you can get the bulk of what you eat in as normal, then you can cover any gaps with a protein bar or shake.

If there are any meals that you have a tough time getting to, you could easily use a protein bar to replace them. This helps a ton with still getting in your protein, while also making it super convenient.

A great way to look at your day would also be to include them as snacks. For example, you consume breakfast first then have a protein bar for a snack. Next is lunch, followed by a protein bar snack. Then you round out the day with dinner. This helps keep you full until your next meal, while also getting in something nutritious.

The only advice to give around what not to do, is to keep the protein bar intake at no more than 2 times a day. Otherwise, they may start becoming the bulk of your intake and we don’t want that.

Conclusion

All of that to say, protein bars are great. So long as they are used properly as a supplement and not as your only form of food. They aren’t magical, but they do help cover those gaps that you may have in your nutrition. Check out the 1UP bars if you want something of high quality, other than that make sure you are reading those labels!