Are Clif Bars Healthy
Aside from not being suitable for those following gluten-free diets, are these CLIF energy bars even healthy? Well, for someone who is NOT participating in physical activity or endurance exercise, these bars should not be consumed. CLIF Bars have a high carbohydrate and sugar content that could cause someone to gain weight if they are not exercising regularly.
The American Heart Association recommends limiting adding sugars in the diet to 36g per day for males and 25g per day for females. Most CLIF Bars contain around 20g of added sugar, which takes up almost the whole daily allowance. Consuming too much added sugar increases the risk of developing serious medical conditions, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
For individuals who partake in endurance exercise, consuming these bars is a different story. Athletes require increased amounts of carbohydrates in order to prevent fatigue and sustain energy levels.
What Are The Alternative Gluten Free Energy Bars
Gluten free bars are scarce as energy Bars need gluten to give instant boost and energy. In addition, wheat acts as a major component to quickly break down cellulose and pump the body. Well, Finding gluten free alternatives is difficult but not impossible.
Here are few alternatives to Clif energy Bars that are organic and gluten-free:
- Bumble Bar Organic Energy Bar
Bumble energy bars are made from rice syrup, flaxseed, vanilla, and cinnamon. They contain no wheat nor have cross-contamination of gluten.
They come in 14 different flavors like chocolate crisp, chunky cherry, and awesome apricot. Bumble Bars have many fruit-induced energy Bars to give instant stamina and energy. If you are on a marathon, make sure to grab some bumble Bars!
- Macro Bars organic peanut protein
Macro Bars offer an exclusive range of peanut energy bars that are organic, vegan, and gluten free.
They have similar flavors like Clif Bars, such as chocolate chip, granola with coconut, and brownie blast. They make a perfect alternative for Clif Bars.
Are Fruit Smoothie Clif Bars Vegan
This one is a bit more simple as there are only 3 options. All these are entirely vegan when it comes to the use of animal products. But they do contain some palm oil which some might want to avoid. Other than that, they are safe for both vegans and vegetarians.
Did you know the Clif Fruit Smoothie Filled bars are both organic and contain only non-GMO ingredients? Meaning its a great alternative to other energy bars.
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Are Clif Bars Beneficial For Athletes
CLIF Bars contain a high amount of carbohydrates, almost 50 grams. This is because eating carbohydrates can help athletes and adventurers push further and stay strong for activities of a long duration.
Why are these highly dense carbohydrate bars beneficial for athletes? The company website advises people that they should eat CLIF Bars before, during, or after physical activity lasting more than 1 hour. When eaten two to three hours before the activity, a CLIF Bar can help store energy in the muscles for use during activity. Eating a CLIF Bar during an activity, such as a hike or bike ride can keep you from feeling burnt out or fatigued. Afterward, once activities are complete, CLIF Bars can help replace muscle glycogen.
Q: How Often Should You Eat Energy Bars
A: As stated energy bars are not intended to be eaten on a regular basis as a substitute for a proper diet. Theyre a supplement to that diet that allows you to work a bit harder during your workouts. Eating several energy bars a day in an attempt to stay constantly energized will only lead to complications like elevated blood sugar, vitamin deficiencies and weight gain. Its probably not even necessary to have an energy bar before every workout. Instead of just defaulting to energy bars take the measure of yourself prior to working out. You may decide you could use a bit of a boost. But you may also find from time to time that you dont really need it.
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Q: Are Energy Bars And Protein Bars The Same Thing
A: Although you can find both energy and protein bars today that blur the lines, classic energy bars are not the same as classic protein bars. Energy bars tend to focus on delivering calories and carbs in order to make you feel more energetic in the here and now. They are intended to be consumed some 30 minutes or so before a workout. While protein bars are more big-picture items that take a longer view and provide the muscle building proteins your body needs to recover and repair itself after the workout. As we said you can find bars today the blur the line between the two but for the most part energy bars and protein bars are not the same thing.
Q: What Is An Energy Bar
A: An energy bar is a type of dietary supplement that takes the form of the familiar candy bar but utilizes a healthier ingredient set including cereals and other foods known to bolster energy levels. Top or Best Energy bars are intended to provide a quick boost of energy for those preparing to engage in strenuous activity. Although they are commonly used today as a kind of coffee substitute by people who need a pick me up during their work day. Most energy bars deliver anywhere from 200 to 300 calories with 20 to 40 grams of carbohydrates. Most of the carbs in a typical healthy energy bar are derived from glucose, fructose and other types of sugar and augmented with sources of complex carbs such as barley or oats. The level of protein in energy bars is usually minimal and is often derived from whey. Most energy bars are also light on fats.
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About These Homemade Clif Bars
They are gluten-free and vegan of course. They are low fat and nut-free with no nut butters or oils needed. I used extra date paste to take care of all the binding. They contain oat bran for more fiber. If you dont have it or dont care to use it, sub oat flour instead. Since Clif Bars are meant to be a protein bar, I added some plant-based protein powder. I went with my favorite brand, Kachava. You can use any unflavored or vanilla vegan protein powder, or leave it out and substitute with oat flour instead. Or you could make them peanut butter chocolate chip by using powdered peanut butter in place of the protein powder. It will add protein and delicious PB flavor!Crunchy bits are a must, so I used brown rice crisp cereal to recreate that texture. Puffed rice cereal will not work as well as the crispy kind. They are SWEET! Dates + coconut nectar makes these quite sweet, but I was trying to stay as true to Clif Bar flavor as possible and the first ingredients is a sweetener.They are delicious!
Now Ive DIYed them, its your turn. And if you do, post a pic on with #feastingonfruit so I can see those chocolate chip snack bar beauties!
- 1/3 cup coconut nectar or maple syrup
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 1 cup brown rice crisp cereal
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup vegan vanilla protein powder
- 1/4 cup oat bran
- 2 tbsps flax seed meal
- 1/4 cup vegan mini chocolate chips
An Overview On Nutrition Bars
More and more people are turning to healthy foods and good nutrition to improve health and just feel better. With countless nutrition bars out there, how do you know which ones are the best? That is not an easy answer, but a little bit of research will help to make the process easier.
Who needs a nutrition bar? Nutrition bars are not just for those looking to lose weight or gain muscle they offer a solution for heart health, diabetics, allergy-sensitive consumers, athletes and moms-on-the-go, just to mention a few. So, this means nutrition bars need to have all the right stuff in them to support all these different lifestyles. You will need to get the appropriate bar for you and your dietary restrictions so be sure to read the labels before you buy.
There are numerous factors to consider when reading the label of a nutrition bar. Good carbohydrates, healthy fats, the amount of fiber and good proteins are all things you will want to know about your nutrition bar.
Healthy fats are important to our daily diets. Triglycerides and cholesterol not only store our energy but also give us insulation for our organs. Proteins wouldnt be able to keep us moving without healthy fats. Cholesterol is what our cell walls are comprised of because cholesterol is not water-soluble. The cholesterol only allows fat-soluble molecules in and out of the cell.
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Are Clif Bar Crunch Granola Bars Peanut Butter Gluten
GLUTEN FREE CONFIDENCE SCORE: 0/10
Clif Bar Crunch Granola Bar Peanut Butter is definitely NOT gluten-free as it contains wheat or other gluten-containing ingredients. See our 7 point gluten-free analysis below for more details.
1. Is Product Certified Gluten-Free? NO 2. Does Manufacturer Claim Product is Gluten-Free? NO 3. Is Wheat Listed as an Allergen? YES 4. Does Product Contain Oats*? NO 5. Are the Oats Certified Gluten-Free? N/A 6. Are Any Other Gluten-Containing Ingredients Present? NO 7. Does Manufacturer Claim Product Was Produced on Shared Equipment/Facility? NO
We use our 7 point gluten-free analysis help determine our gluten-free confidence score. While no system is perfect, we feel this is a reliable way to determine whether this product is gluten-free or not. Please use your best judgement.*Unless they are certified gluten-free, oats have a high likelihood of gluten cross-contamination.
Features To Look For In Best Energy Bars For You
Ingredients – What goes into an energy bar is the hot button issue for most health conscious folks today. They regularly watch what they eat and dont want their carefully constructed diets to be compromised by downing a nutrition bar before or after their workout. If you want your energy bar to be made from all natural, healthy ingredients youll need to read the label carefully. If it lists things like high fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup and sorbitol its not actually made with natural ingredients no matter what the label might claim. The best energy bar indication that an energy bar is made with all natural ingredients is if the ingredients list is relatively short and populated by things you can pronounce such as figs, egg whites, walnuts and the like, rather than pyridoxine hydrochloride and sodium molybdate.
Calories – Some choose to look at the energy bar as being a kind of meal replacement bar rather than a cup of coffee you can chew. If you look at it that way the 200 to 300 calories in the majority of energy bars fits right into the equation. It has to be said though that energy bars are intended to be just that: a quick way to obtain a needed boost of energy. They are not intended to take the place of a well-considered, well balanced diet. In fact, if you consume too many energy bars in an effort to speed up your weight loss or workout goals it can actually cause you to gain weight. So use them sparingly.
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Are Clif Bars Gluten Free
The answer to that question is No. Clif Bars are not gluten free energy bars.
Instead, they are made up of oats, wheat, and whey protein, containing rich gluten content. The gluten substances give these energy bars a rich flavor and hold the ingredients together.
Clif Bars are not recommended for people with celiac disease. However, even though Clif Bars are not gluten free, the brand does make a gluten free alternative, Luna Bars. Luna Bars are womens energy Bars that do not have all the nutrients like the classic Clif Bars but still do a good job.
Even though Luna Bars are promoted as womens energy bars, men can also consume them if they look for gluten-free Clif Bars.
Flavors of Clif Bars
Luna Bars are vegan and gluten free. They are not as delicious and provide lesser energy than the classic Clif Bars, but they are pretty good energy bars. They come in mild flavor and are not highly nutritious. If you are going out for a heavy workout, remember Luna energy Bars will not be sufficient.
Are Clif Bar Builders Protein Bars Gluten
GLUTEN FREE CONFIDENCE SCORE: 6/10
Clif Bar Builders Protein Bars may be at risk for containing gluten. While there are no specific gluten-containing ingredients, there are mild concerns of gluten cross-contamination with the ingredients or in the processing and manufacturing of this product. See our 7 point gluten-free analysis below for more details.
1. Is Product Certified Gluten-Free? NO 2. Does Manufacturer Claim Product is Gluten-Free? NO 3. Is Wheat Listed as an Allergen? NO 4. Does Product Contain Oats? YES 5. Are the Oats Certified Gluten-Free? NO 6. Are Any Other Gluten-Containing Ingredients Present? NO 7. Does Manufacturer Claim Product Was Produced on Shared Equipment/Facility? YES
We use our 7 point gluten-free analysis help determine our gluten-free confidence score. While no system is perfect, we feel this is a reliable way to determine whether this product is gluten-free or not. Please use your best judgement.*Unless they are certified gluten-free, oats have a high likelihood of gluten cross-contamination.
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Q: Will Energy Bars Make You Gain Weight
A: They can if you eat too many of them. As we have stressed in the above responses energy bars are not intended to be a substitute for a well-balanced diet. They typically contain 200 to 300 calories that you are supposed to use to fuel your athletic or exercise endeavors. If you get in the habit of eating them as a kind of regular snack bar while you sit at your desk youre likely to discover you are putting on weight as a result. Thats because youre not burning off the calories, your body is simply storing them away in the form of fat.
Vegan Clif Protein Bar Flavors:
Clif has two different varieties of Protein bars, one which has varied colors and is called the Builders bars and one which has a blue sky packaging and is called their whey protein bars.
If youve been vegan a while youll probably know where Im going with this, and thats that one of their lines, the whey line, is completely non-vegan. This is because it uses a protein sourced from dairy .
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Is It Bad To Eat A Clif Bar Every Day
Because Clif Bars contain a higher amount of carbs and sugar, theyre not an ideal healthy snack for all circumstances. Chon recommends eating a Clif Bar before or during moderate- to high-intensity activity when you need sustained energy. After that 45-minute Spin class? Not so much. Our bodies generally have enough fuel stored in our muscles for efforts under 60 minutes. And consuming too much sugar too often can lead to conditions such as obesity or diabetes.
That said, there are plenty of other bars to suit different needs. Skratch Anytime bars can be eatenyou guessed itanytime, thanks to the low sugar content and plant-based ingredients that are easy to digest.
Other protein bars such as RX Bar are a good option specifically for recovery because they have 12 grams of protein and 13 to 15 grams of natural sugar to help repair your muscles postworkout.
While you might be tempted to have a Clif Bar as a midday snacktheyre just so quick and easy!Davis cautions that this isnt the best choice, nutritionally-speaking. Clif Bars are high in added sugars and are usually meant for endurance athletes, she says. Instead, Davis suggests going for whole foods such as fruits and veggies paired with dips or nut butters, trail mix, or yogurt. These options have fewer simple carbs and sugars.
