I remember back in the 1980s when about all one could get as a “meal replacement” in the form of a ‘candy bar’ was the product called Power Bar and another named Tiger’s Milk. The Power Bar was about as tasty as you might expect a piece of cardboard to be – that is, if you could get through the jaw workout that was required to finally extract its flavor. The Tiger’s Milk bar was better, but still lacking something. These are actually still around. I saw some in a mom-and-pop liquor store. They’d shrunken down in size so much from their 1980s version that you’d think someone had left them in a laundry dryer set to high.
'Protein meal replacement bars': Does Met-RX have the best tasting ones on the market?
Times have changed. Someone’s discovered how to make a protein meal replacement bar that actually tastes good. I’ll give that credit to Met-RX with their Protein Plus bars. They’ve done right with the flavor since first introducing them. But now they’ve come out with a new flavor called ‘Creamy Peanut Butter Crisp’ that can actually fool you into thinking you’re eating a sugar loaded candy bar. I’d say it beats every ‘protein meal replacement bar’ in flavor – including the other Protein Plus bars, which are good.
What Met-RX is using as their carbohydrate source in this ‘protein meal replacement bar’ is ‘sugar alcohol.’ This is a partially absorbable carbohydrate that has fewer calories per gram than table sugar. It’s a sort of chemical hybrid between sugar and alcohol (hence, its name) and doesn’t raise glucose levels as high as does an equal amount of table sugar. Some sugar alcohols are extracted from plants and some are manufactured from sugars and starches.
The label on this tasty protein meal replacement bar touts 30 grams of protein, 33 grams of carbohydrates, and 10 grams of fat, and a total of 310 calories. As long as there’s truth in labeling (something I can only assume), then these ratios are something I can live with from a bodybuilding perspective.
Value of a ‘protein meal replacement bar’
I don’t recommend making these bars a big or even daily staple in one’s eating plan. However, when convenience is the order of the day, they’re probably a better choice than pulling into a fast food restaurant. If you live a busy life, find yourself hitting the three-hour mark since your last meal, and don’t have any viable choices for fast calorie intake – these things can fill the stomach void quite nicely.
A tasty protein meal replacement bar (Creamy Peanut Butter Crisp) can also be a great alternative to airline food. I’ve used these for long flights (along with bananas) ever since the TSA decided my bodybuilding smoothies resembled some kind of explosive.
If you’re busy and like convenience, I highly recommend you at least try the Met-RX Protein Plus bar, Creamy Peanut Butter Crisp flavor. The ‘Mud Pie Fusion’ flavor’s not bad either.
That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.*
Posted by: coach outlet | November 16, 2010 at 01:20 AM