You’ve heard it before: eat midday snacks to boost flagging energy and keep hunger at bay. But with jam-packed, hectic schedules, who has time for veggies and hummus or a homemade smoothie?

Judging by the displays at health food and convenience stores, pharmacies, and gas stations, the solution is an energy bar – a portable snack for time-starved people looking for a boost mid-afternoon, before and after workouts, or even at meal-time.

Read the label
An energy bar can be a reasonable snack – even a meal replacement – provided you choose the right one and it doesn’t replace whole foods on a regular basis.  But as convenient as energy bars are, are they good for you? It turns out you need to read labels to know which bars are healthy and which ones aren’t.

Some bars contain a hefty dose of artery-clogging saturated fat. For instance, Atkins Advantage Chocolate Coconut Protein Bar delivers 8 grams of saturated fat – the same amount in a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder.  

Others are packed with so much sugar you may as well be eating a Snicker’s bar. Thanks to the addition of chicory syrup, brown rice syrup and organic cane juice (a.k.a sugar, sugar, sugar), Clif Builder’s Protein Bar packs 20 grams – five teaspoons worth – of sugar.

And some energy bars harbour artificial sweeteners that can wreak havoc on your gastrointestinal tract. When consumed in excess, sugar alcohols such as maltitol, xylitol, and sorbitol, added to many low carb and low calorie bars, can cause bloating and gas.

Choose for you
Once you start reading labels, you might reconsider packing wholesome snacks from home. Fortunately, the energy bar category has expanded considerably in recent years; some are packed with plenty of nutrition, providing a wide range of options.

You can choose one that’s low carb, high carb, or high protein in dozens of flavours, such as chocolate peanut butter, fudge brownie, cookies n’ cream, lemon zest and natural blueberry. Energy bars fortified with folic acid and calcium are targeted at women (Luna, Pria) and others are supplemented with soy protein (SoyOne, Genisoy) to help lower cholesterol.

Atkins Advantage Chocolate Coconut Protein Bar delivers 8 grams of saturated fat – the same amount in a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder.

A handful of energy bars boast higher fibre thanks to the addition of prunes, dates, oat fibre and/or inulin, a type of soluble fibre to promote the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut. Genuine Health’s Satisfibre+ Express fibre bar delivers 7 grams of fibre – nearly one-third of a day’s fibre for women.

The newest nutrition bars to dominate store shelves are ‘whole food’ bars made from natural ingredients such as nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and sprouted grains.

They’re sweetened naturally with fruit or honey rather than refined sugar and syrups. Many are organic and some are even vegan (contain no ingredients derived from animals).

High carbohydrate bars you know as Clif Bar, PowerBar Sport, and PowerBar Harvest. Unless you’re very physically active or training for a marathon, you probably don’t need the 45 grams of carbohydrates most of these bars deliver. Some pack as much as 5 to 8 teaspoons of sugar per bar from cane juice, syrup, glucose-fructose and fruit juice concentrates.

High protein bars like IsoFlex, PowerBar Protein Plus, Atkins Advantage, Whey 2 Go and Detour are marketed to people hoping to build bigger muscles from eating more protein – along with more calories and fat. High protein bars usually contain 300 to more than 400 calories and 25 to 30 grams of protein per bar. Thanks to their chocolate coating, most of these bars contain 4 to 8 grams of saturated fat.

Moderate carbohydrate bars may have 180 to 250 calories, 20 to 25 grams of carbohydrate, and 10 to 15 grams protein. If you’re looking for pre-workout snack, research suggests that moderate carbohydrate bars – like Zone Perfect, Body for Life, and Genuine Health’s Protein+ Express – do a better job of boosting endurance during exercise than high carb bars.

Whole food bars Larabar, Elev8Me! Simply Bar, Rebar Energy, Nature’s Path and SourceSalba are a few of the many bars made from whole foods. Whole food bars vary in taste and calories, so you may need to try a few to find one you like. For a midday snack, look for bars with 150 to 200 calories for women and 200 to 250 calories for men. H&L

Leslie Beck is a registered dietitian in private practice at the Medcan Clinic in Toronto. Her latest book, Heart Healthy Foods for Life: Preventing Heart Disease Through Diet and Nutrition, is published by Penguin Canada. Visit her website at www.lesliebeck.com

RAISING THE ‘ENERGY’ BAR Use the following tips to help you choose a healthier energy bar: Choose bars that contain minimally processed natural ingredients such as dried fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains Look for 20 to 45 grams carbohydrate. If you’re sedentary, choose a bar with 20 to 25 grams of carbohydrate Look for bars that provide at least 3 to 4 grams of fibre Choose a bar with no more than 2 grams of saturated fat, the type that raises LDL (bad) blood cholesterol For the occasional meal on the fly, supplement an energy bar with a piece of fruit and a serving of milk or soy beverage Go easy. While most energy bars are better for you than junk food, if your gym bag or purse is full of empty energy bar wrappers, chances are you’re short-changing your diet nutrients and disease-fighting phytochemicals.