Are protein bars healthy? (Is your protein bar a Hersey bar in disguise?)

I saw an obese couple trying to decide which protein bars they wanted. Maybe they were trying to lose weight and thought a protein bar would be a better option than a chocolate bar, but a lot of those “healthy bars” have the same amount of calories, or more, than a candy bar.

A Probar meal replacement bar has 350-390 calories, depending on which flavor you choose, while a Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar has 220 calories. A Cliff Chocolate Chip Bar has 250 calories. That’s still more calories than the classic milk chocolate bar. If you look at the ingredients of some of these bars, they have some of the same ingredients too:

Hershey Milk Chocolate Bar: Sugar, milk, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, flavoring –  220 calories

Cliff Chocolate Chip bar: cane syrup (sugar), may contain milk, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, flavoring + other ingredients 250 calories

Quest Cookies and Cream: sucralose (an artificial sweetener), milk, cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin, flavoring + other ingredients – 190 calories

Not only are protein and fruit and nut bars expensive, they are not better than a small meal, and they won’t help you lose weight. Protein bars won’t give you more muscle and won’t flatten that belly, they are more likely to cause weight gain and a larger waist line since so many protein bars contain toxic chemicals listed as flavors, isolated proteins, sugar, dairy and too much fat.

Fruit and a small portion of raw nuts are great on-the-go healthy options when you need something to eat right away when out and about. 

Hershey website re: ingredients and nutrients: https://www.thehersheycompany.com/brands/hersheys-bars/milk-chocolate.aspx?cat=icon