Women's Nutritional Bars

[valchemist]

There was a post a while back on calcium in which a few people mentioned Viactiv Bars (and chews). I looked for the bars in my grocery store, but I could only find the chews. I found the Viactiv website, though, and the bars look like they would be good.

While at the store, I found that I was overwhelmed by the nubmer of nutritional bars out there. Many of them are those high-protein bars. I have no interest in those high-calorie and/or high-protein bars.

I am interested to know if anyone has any recommendations for a good women's nutrition bar...one that is relatively low in fat and calories, tastes good, and has nutrients and/or ingredients that are good for us gals (like calcium, folic acid, soy, etc.)

Thanks!

p.s. editing here...gertdog's post reminded me that another bonus would be if the bar contained a few grams of fiber.

[This message has been edited by valchemist (edited 05-21-2001).]

[gertdog]

I'll be interested to see any recommendations too!

I like Luna bars (especially the chocolate pecan pie variety), but my big gripe with all of the nutrition bars is that I can't find one that's tasty and contains a decent amount of fiber. Luna bars have only a little fiber.

[Julia1Pin]

Luna Bars-

All of them are great. Noone believes that they are relatively healthy. The biggest upside to them, aside from the fact that they actually taste good is that they have soy in them (I know I definately DON'T get enought soy in my diet.

But that's just MHO.

[adb]

I am a big fan of Balancebars - I think they taste great- lots of different kinds and are reasonably good for you. They are 30% protein (less than the mega-protein bars). I buy them at GNC on sale or at Costco but most grocery stores sell them for a little bit higher price.

Calories - 190-200
Fat 6g
Carbs 22g
Protein 14g

[JulieM]

My DH and I really like Clif Bars. I've seen a number of comparison charts in various health magazines and they always rate pretty high in taste and health. My favorite is the Chocolate Almond Fudge, which contains 230 cal. (40 cal. from fat), 1 g. saturated fat, 0 cholesterol, 140 mg. sodium, 230 mg. potassium, 10 g. protein, 5 g. of fiber and 39 g. of carbs. It contains soy protein and says it's 100% natural.

My DH's favorite flavor is the Carrot Cake. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Denise]

I'd definately have to vote for Luna bars. All the women here at work love them, and we especially love telling the men they can't have them! I don't know about fiber, but I love the soy, vitamin e, vitamin c, and calcium. A Nutz over Chocolate perfectly satisfies my craving for a Snickers!

[valchemist]

oh wow, you guys are great. Keep it coming (please http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif )!

Here is something I found on Luna bars (which are from the same company as Clif bars), in case anyone out there is interested.

Val
http://www.lunabars.com/lunbarboxof1.html

[tperes]

I vote Luna Bars and then Clif Bars.

I used to eat Balance bars, but I OD'd on them one summer while I was in the field.

A good way to up your protein intake is to get a soy protein shake powder/mix and make a shake in the AM for breakfast. I have GeniSoy Soy Ultra-XT, (choc. flavor of course!). One scoop of the powder (serving size) has 50% of your daily calcium, 5 g of dietary fiber, 14g of protein (28% RDA), 15% RDA iron, 170 mg potassium (something I always forget I need). They also guarantee the amt. of soy isoflavones.

So, I mix 1 scoop powder with 1 -2 scoops w/ FF frozen yogurt (vanilla or choc), fresh strawberries, and choc. soy milk, all in the blender until smooth. So YUMMY!!!!
You can also subsitute plain old ice (or forzen bananas) for the frozen yogurt. I have tried all types of concoctions with this mix, and they are all pretty tasty.

And, yep, you guessed it, I am a vegeaquarian!

[This message has been edited by tperes (edited 05-21-2001).]

[This message has been edited by tperes (edited 05-21-2001).]

[BeckyM]

I vote for Luna Bars too! I even let my husband have them, and he likes them as much as I do. LemonZest is our favorite, though we also enjoy the Nuts over Chocolate and the Chai Tea flavors. Yum! In fact, I have a LemonZest one in my bag right now, which I'll probably have as a snack after yoga!

[AltoAtHart]

I have to add my vote to the Luna Enthusiasts! I love the Smore's and Chai Tea variety. Watch for whole box sales at Wegmans in their Nature's wonders section. They have a great selection of natrual foods and nutrition bars. You can also get great deals at Vitaglo.com (yes that is vitaglo, not glow). I would steer clear of EAS AdvantEdge bars, although the nutritional content is excellent, the taste is a bit chalky... and doesn't have the great all natural ingrdients of Luna. If you would like nutrition shakes, EAS does make a great mix called Myoplex (I like the vanilla with half a pack of Carnation low sugar hot chocolate mixed in, and I've heard the strawberry is excellent). The mix is much better than the pre-prepared though, just to warn you. You can also find it on Vitaglo.com. They have great discounts and no shipping charge. Sorry if I overloaded you with info!

Eleonore

Bythe way I'm a newbie, but I'm already getting to know most of your names. So I thought I'd say hello, especially to valchemist! You have alleviated a great amount of stress from my life.

[This message has been edited by AltoAtHart (edited 05-21-2001).]

[valchemist]

Thanks Eleonore! And welcome to our little family. Glad I could help out with the fortune cookie recipe.

No, that wasn't info overload, that was great. I am going to go check out that vitaglo website as soon as I can tear myself away from this BB.

Val

p.s. A couple people mentioned it, but I have not a clue...what is Chai Tea flavor?

[This message has been edited by valchemist (edited 05-21-2001).]

[eks]

The Luna Bars are really good. I didn't care for the Viactive bars at all though.

[KarenW]

I am also a big fan of the Luna bars, particularly the Lemon Zest and Nuts over Chocolate. I've tried other brands, but Luna is my favorite. One bar that I didn't like was called Carb Solutions (or something like that). I was hungry at work one day and a friend gave it to me. It didn't taste bad, but had a very strange texture.

[AltoAtHart]

Chai Tea Simply put is a spiced Indian tea with milk and honey, or approriate substitutes(soy milk is a common replacement). Coffee Houses in my area are begining to serve it more and more as an option for those of us who prefer not to drink coffee (I'm a tea person myself. For more info on Chai

<A HREF="http://www.chaistall.com" TARGET=_blank>http://www.chaistall.com
</A>

or... http://coffeetea.about.com/food/coffeetea/library/recipes/tea/bltrecipeschai.html
and... http://coffeetea.about.com/food/coffeetea/library/weekly/aa022601a.html

Personally the best I can describe the Luna bar flavor is that of a heavily spiced eggnog. Really you should try it, but buy a single bar first at a local grocery store!
Hope this helped.
Eleonore

Sorry I'm having issues getting the UBB to work for these sites, just copy and paste, andif that doesn't work I'll try again.

[This message has been edited by AltoAtHart (edited 05-22-2001).]

[valchemist]

those links you provide are just fine, eleonore. they don't appear to be "hot links" when you are typing in your message. but once the message gets posted, the URLs become "clickable." (i.e. they become "hot links")

oooh...I love eggnog. I will take your advice though and just try one to start.

[SQ]

Another vote for Lunas! I let all the boys in the house eat them (along w/me) and they are big fans. Our favorites are: Lemon Zest, Chai Tea, Chocolate Pecan Pie and Orange Bliss. Toasted Nuts and Cranberries is also very good - no sweet coating on it, though. Occasionally I'll cut a S'mores into small cubes and freeze them for a little sweet nibble.

[kabs]

Has anyone tried Kashi GoLean Bars? I just recently bought a few and I think they are really yummy! They have lots of different flavors- I had strawberry vanilla yogurt one this morning for breakfast. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

They have 6g of fiber, 11g of protein, soy protein, and flax! Now, they do have 290 calories and 5g of fat, which some might coonsider a lot for a snack. But these bars are good sized (bigger than most nutri-bars), and they are very filling. So, I usually eat them for a quick breakfast, if I'm in a hurry.

I had a little trouble finding them at first, but they do have a website where you can order a sampler box. I think the website is www.kashi.com (http://www.kashi.com)

kim

[gertdog]

Wow, the Kashi GoLean bars sound great... 6 grams of fiber is terrific. I went to the website and a sampler pack of 6 bars is $10. I'm going to order them to try... will tuck them into my carry-on bag when traveling in June!

BTW, the $10 seems to include shipping.

[This message has been edited by gertdog (edited 05-22-2001).]

[valchemist]

I went to that www.vitaglo.com (http://www.vitaglo.com) site. It is great!! Check it out. Thanks Eleonore.

They have the Kashi bars there...and the prices there are better than the Kashi website. Much better. And there is no shipping and handling there!

here is a link: http://store.yahoo.com/vitaglo/kasgoleanbar.html

[This message has been edited by valchemist (edited 05-22-2001).]

[This message has been edited by valchemist (edited 05-22-2001).]

[gertdog]

Ooh, valchemist, you're right. Prices on the GoLean bars are better at vitaglo.com. $15.95 per dozen, including shipping.

I do think I'm still going to order the sampler pack from the kashi website so I can try each flavor. Then if I find one I like, I'll take advantage of the better prices at the vitaglo site!

Thanks for investigating!

[kabs]

Way to go, gertdog! So happy to have found the GoLean bars for a few dollars cheaper!