Whether or not you're involved in the health and fitness world, you’ve likely come across the intermittent fasting trend, which helps with weight loss and improves a person's overall lifestyle.
Intermittent fasting involves following an eating pattern at specified times. Instead of directing the amount and types of food one can eat, it focuses on the time frame. For example, a standard intermittent fasting plan follows a 16-hour fast with meals restricted to an 8-hour window.
That said, when you sit down for your first meal, it can be hard to control yourself. A great way to break your fast is to start it off with a quality protein bar. The best protein bars have a healthy combination of fat, fiber, sugar, protein and taste, like a Quest Cookies & Cream Protein Bar.
Even on a regular eating schedule, it can be challenging to get all the necessary nutrients daily. And with intermittent fasting, it's even more difficult to consume the same amount of food as you normally would.
Protein bars help by providing the necessary amount of protein intake to help you achieve your health and fitness goals without taking up more space in your stomach than required. That's important so that you eat enough to sustain yourself and get other various vitamins and minerals from regular food.
On top of tracking your exercise routine, it's advantageous to use a fitness journal to help keep track of your macronutrients.
Unless you absolutely love cooking or are forced, cooking at home can be a tedious task. Most people have experienced the temptation to find the nearest grocery or convenience store to fill up on heart-attack-inducing chips to keep their hunger at bay.
Like any snack, a quality protein bar should be one you can grab on the go or keep nearby to break your fast and curb your hunger immediately.
Before going out to buy the first protein bar you set your eyes on, consider your health and fitness goals. Are you intermittent fasting to help build more muscle? Or is it to maintain or lose weight?
Your overall goals with intermittent fasting will determine the best protein bar to support your journey.
In the past, it may have seemed that anything healthy tasted like eating dirt with beautiful packaging. Quality protein bars are packed with nutrients vital to your health journey, but not all are created equal.
Some off-brand protein bars are loaded with sugar and fat, making them unhealthy and extremely counter-productive. The best protein bars are chock-full of flavor and have a pleasant texture that doesn't leave you questioning if a healthy lifestyle is worth it.
However, also consider your personal tastes. No matter how expensive and healthy a protein bar is, it's going to sit in the corner of your pantry collecting dust if you don't like the taste.
A quality protein bar for intermittent fasting shouldn't contain trans fat or have more than three grams per serving of saturated fats. One benefit that protein bars have is they contain fats and fibers typically missing in protein shakes. A good protein bar will have a minimum of three grams of fiber.
The amount of protein in a bar is detrimental to achieving your fitness goals. If you're looking to build muscle, look for bars with at least 20 grams of protein. For other health and fitness goals, 10 grams of protein should suffice.
The cost depends on several factors. You can stretch $100 to make custom protein bars to fulfill your needs if you're budget-conscious. Otherwise, you can expect to spend between $1-$4 per bar.
A. Getting adequate protein intake is vital for intermittent fasting. Your body goes through extended periods without food and nutrients during your fast. One way to push through is to get enough protein intake to help keep you feeling full longer.
A. While protein shakes are an excellent way to break your fast, protein bars offer more fibers and fats that are essentially missing from a shake. Protein bars are also much more convenient to grab and eat at any time without requiring any preparation or too much clean-up.
Quest Cookies & Cream Protein Bar
What you need to know: Quest offers an abundance of dessert-like flavors that suit anyone's unique tastes without compromising the nutritional quality.
What you’ll love: These bars are jam-packed with 21 grams of protein and approximately 1 gram of sugar. It offers a healthy balance between fibers, carbs, fat, protein and calories to help you push through your fast until the next eating session.
What you should consider: Some buyers expressed discontent with how the high fiber count made the bar taste.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Bodybuilding.com
Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bar
What you need to know: Pure Protein offers a gluten-free bar that stays within the 200 calorie limit in an army of flavors to help fuel your workout.
What you’ll love: There are various flavors available, but you can never go wrong with a chocolate peanut butter combination. It's an almost pure protein with the minimum recommended amount of fibers and fats that meet most dietary needs.
What you should consider: It contains sugar alcohol, which isn't bad but may cause a laxative-like effect for some people.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Garden of Life Chocolate Fudge Protein Bar
What you need to know: Garden of Life offers a plant-based, vegan-friendly protein bar with absolutely zero trans fats.
What you’ll love: This is a perfectly flavored bar for those sensitive to lactose or who follow a vegan diet. The high carb count helps keep intermittent fasters full through the fasting cycle.
What you should consider: There aren't as many flavors as other brands.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Christopher Lee writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
