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Contrary to popular belief, snacking can actually be a key part of your diet while continuing to successfully lose weight. It’s still vital to achieve a maintainable calorie deficit in order to see the best long term results, but this deficit can be sustained while including the occasional snack throughout your day. That being said, the nutritional value of your snacks is the largest defining factor of the effect it will have on your weight loss journey, and there are many snacks which are often regarded as healthy but do very little to propel you towards your desired results.
If you feel like you’ve been following a balanced diet complete with snacks but are still failing to see visible changes in your body, there’s one food in particular which health experts suggest may be making your goals that much more difficult to reach.
Energy Bars
Often marketed as rich in protein, energy bars are also frequently packed with artificial sweeteners and a vast amount of calories, making them not as healthy as they wish to appear. In fact, registered dietitian nutritionist Paula Doebrich, MPH and owner of Happea Nutrition warns that energy bars are “candy bars in disguise.” These bars commonly advertise being “all natural” which provides the connotation of health, but this is hardly the case, even with bars that are loaded with nuts and fruit. “Dried fruit is packed with sugar. Add the “natural” sweeteners such as agave, honey, or maple syrup and you got yourself a candy bar,” warns Doebrich.
Food marketing often depends on appearances, and advertising the content of fruit within products is a great way to make something look like a healthy snack. However, while fresh fruit is packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, dried fruits are stripped of these benefits and are in fact loaded with sugar. “Many of those products also lack protein, which will leave you feeling hungry shortly after eating,” notes Doebrich. A healthy snack is one which will help to keep you full in between meals, and choosing one which is rich in carbs and sugar will fail to fulfill this role, making them more empty calories than anything.
If you want to keep energy bars in your diet as they are undeniably an easy snack to pack for busy days, it all comes down to checking out the nutrition label before adding them to your cart to make sure you’re getting the most out of any food you’re eating. “When picking up an energy bar, look at the nutrition facts, and make sure it has at least 8 grams of protein or more, less than 5 grams of added sugar, and 3 grams of fiber or more,” suggests Doebrich. “Also pick the one that has no more than 250-300 calories for a balanced snack.”
Just as they are not intrinsically healthy, energy bars are also not automatically bad for your body either, and it will always be case by case whether or not they will make a valuable contribution to your diet as you work to lose weight. It’s not necessary to track your calories in order to see results, but being cognizant of the quality of calories you’re consuming can help you to achieve the best results, so prioritizing bars which offer ample protein without overloading your body with sugar is going to be the best bet for helping you to lose weight without depriving yourself of nutrients.
