Energy Bars With the Best Ingredients (and the Least Sugar)
Energy bars — those dense squares of nutrients that are reminiscent of dystopian sci-fi movies from the 1970s — offer clear benefits. They are convenient, provide a full serving of calories and nutrients without any preparation; they are storage stable; they’re perfect for those tense moments when more traditional cooking isn’t possible. But while many of these bars are healthy enough, the term “energy bar” can be misleading: a closer look at the nutrition labels will reveal that some of them are, in fact, fancy-packaged candy bars.
If your goal is a healthy diet supplemented with a convenient bar when needed, you should focus on foods with better ingredients and less added sugar. Here are a few options that fit all the requirements.
Check the Ingredients
How much added sugar is too much? It depends on how many bars you eat during the day. If you only have one bar before dinner in the afternoon, you can handle a lot of sugar per bar. If you’re sitting in your survival shelter drinking distilled water and surviving on energy bars, that’s a different story. The recommended daily intake of added sugar is about 24 grams for women and 36 grams for men . Given that there are “energy” bars per serving containing up to 28 grams of sugar , it’s very easy to overeat with these products. Look for the “added sugar” line on the nutrition facts label : less is more. (But be aware that a sweet bar with very little added sugar is likely to be high in sugar alcohols, which can lead to gastrointestinal problems if you eat more than a few bars a day.)
Also look for natural ingredients like nuts and fruits, as well as plenty of protein. If any “syrup” is at the top of the ingredients list, it’s probably not the healthiest choice (caveat: Bars designed for short-term energy boosts may use substances like brown rice syrup to deliver sugar). And the more chocolate there is, the more likely it is a candy bar in disguise.
What should be remembered? An energy bar can be made with simple, natural ingredients and still be high in sugar. For example, RxBar brand energy bars limit their recipes to a few simple ingredients, which is great, but many of these bars contain 13 grams or more of sugar.
Best bars
Judging by the quality of the ingredients and the amount of added sugar, here are some of the best energy bar options:
Quest Bar: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough . With just 1 gram of sugar and a whopping 21 grams of protein, these bars provide great nutritional value without overwhelming you with sugar. The ingredient list starts with protein, fiber, and almonds, and while chocolate is there, it’s not the main attraction.
Pure Protein Plus apple pie bar. Offering a reasonable 3 grams of sugar along with 20 grams of protein, these bars’ ingredients start with protein, almonds, and fiber. They use isomaltooligosaccharides as a sweetener, which can cause gastrointestinal upset in some people, but if you tolerate them well, this is a good choice.
KIND energy bar, dark chocolate, nuts and sea salt. KIND Energy Bars are generally a pretty good choice. Dark chocolate with nuts and sea salt has 5 grams of sugar and 180 calories, which is a decent choice for a snack.
Orgain protein bar made from chocolate chip cookie dough. If you’re looking for a vegan option, Orgain’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars contain 5 grams of sugar and 10 grams of plant-based protein.
Power Crunch Protein Energy Bar, triple chocolate. The Power Crunch Triple Chocolate Protein energy bar contains 5 grams of sugar and 13 grams of protein. Protein tops the ingredient list, and the bars are sweetened with a combination of stevia and monk fruit.