Energy Bars Nutritional Facts
There are four excellent energy bars readily available across the United States: Clif Bas, Larabars, ThinkThin bars and Luna bars. Each of them touts being nutritious, healthy and perfect for someone living an active life. Things you should consider when choosing a bar include calories, fat, saturated fat, fiber and protein.
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Keep Calories in Mind
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When choosing a bar, it's important to keep calories in mind. Most bars are 200+ calories per serving, which can be a lot depending on your activity level. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a very helpful chart called, "My Pyramid Food Intake Pattern Calorie Levels," which you can use to help you decide how many calories you need per day, based on your age and your activity level.
Clif Bars
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Based on fiber, calories, fat and protein, Clif bars seem to be among the more balanced on the market. Naturally Clif products devoid of chocolate and/or peanuts contain fewer calories and fat per gram than those including chocolate and/or peanuts. "Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch," for example, is a bar with 260 calories, with 60 calories from fat, 6 grams (g) of fat, 5g of fiber and 11g of protein compared to the "Carrot Cake" flavor, which has 240 calories, 35 calories from fat, 4g of fat, 5g of fiber and 10g of protein. The bars are the same exact size (68g). There are an array of vitamins in Clif Bars as well, and overall a Clif bar may be a smart meal choice supplemented with something light before or after a work out. Based on the USDA Calorie Level chart, if you are a female between the ages of 26 and 30 with a moderate activity level (moderate is defined as 30-60 minutes of activity per day), your daily caloric needs are estimated around 2000 per day. Broken up equally over 3 meals and 3 snacks, this averages around 335 calories per snack or meal.
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ThinkThin
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ThinkThin bars are high in protein, are gluten free, and contain 0 grams of sugar per serving. Interestingly, their "Brownie Crunch" bar has 230 calories per 60g serving, 70 of which are calories from fat, and has 8g of fat, 2g of fiber and a whopping 20g of protein. At 8 grams less per serving (size, that is), they are smaller than Clif Bars. Just keep fat content in mind when choosing this bar.
Larabar
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Larabars are gluten, dairy and soy-free and no matter the flavor, one bar is the equivalent of one serving of fruit. Dates and nuts are staple ingredients in this bar, and with the "Cherry Pie," variety, cherries are the bar's third ingredient. While they're much smaller than Clif bars or ThinkThin bars (48g is the size of one bar), they have notably fewer calories--190 calories per 48g serving size and 80 calories are from fat. The "Cherry Pie" bar contains 8g of fat per serving, 4g of fiber and 4g of protein. Considering the fat comes from natural sources such as the first two ingredients (dates and almonds), the bar provides healthy fat such as omega-6 fatty acid. This bar is also sodium and cholesterol free.
Luna Bar
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Luna Bar is owned by Clif Bar and is designed with women's interests in mind. Luna prides their bars on being almost entirely organic. For the "Peanut Butter Cookie," variety, there are 48g per serving (the same size as a Larabar) and has 180 calories, but only 50 of those calories are from fat. The bar has 6g of fat per serving, 3g of fiber, and 9g of protein.
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