paleo protein bars – Page 7 – Paleo Protein Bar Reviews & Deals

Is Brown Rice Syrup Paleo?

Brown Rice Syrup – Is It Paleo?

Many protein bars that contain natural ingredients use brown rice syrup as a sweetener. Of course, if you are trying to maintain a paleo lifestyle and eating habit, you want to know whether or not brown rice syrup is paleo.

According to a post on the Paleo Hacks website, rice syrup is not paleo. However, the site does say that this sweetener is preferable to most other forms of sugar due to the fact that it is in the form of glucose vs fructose. Therefore, if you are going to consume sweetened food, this may be the option you want to choose.

I sometimes eat Odwalla snack bars, and they advertise their use of organic, natural and non-gmo ingredients. They use brown rice syrup in their products, along with other natural sweeteners like grape juice concentrate, date paste. I’m fine with that, since eating paleo 100% of the time can challenging these days to say the least.

“Is Brown Rice Syrup Paleo?” – what the experts say:

The Paleo Network says that there are no sweeteners that they consider paleo, but in their opinion, raw honey is the best option. Of course, not everyone agrees.

Jane’s Healthy Kitchen has an interesting list or paleo vs non-paleo sweeteners. Many items on the list (like lakanto, lou han gou, raw yacon syrup or African berries) you may have never heard of – and may hard-pressed to find them in a protein bar anyway.

paleolife bar

If you are looking for a paleo protein bar or snack bar that does not contain rice syrup or other sweeteners – natural or not – check out PaleoLife Bars.

About the Author: Cara Rennie is a paleo cooking chef, writer and advocate for healthy living. With over a decade of experience in the culinary industry, Cara has established herself as an expert in the paleo lifestyle, emphasizing the use of natural ingredients that promote a balanced and sustainable lifestyle. She firmly believes in the power of food to transform people's lives, while helping others discover the joys of paleo eating. Facebook | Pinterest

Greens Chocolate Energy Bar – Good or Gross?

The Pros and Cons of the Greens Plus Energy Bar + 9 More Flavors of Green Superfood Bars and one with 15 Grams of Protein. A common misconception of people that are paleo is that we eat bacon all the time. Many of us are not only focused on eating our grass-fed meats, but getting plenty of organic greens and fiber as well. So why not get greens and fiber in a paleo bar? Brilliant, right? Well, I found the Greens Plus Energy Bar, but there are some pros and cons. Here we go…

Pros of the Greens Chocolate Energy Bar:

You get a full 5 grams of fiber per bar (that’s 20% RDA)
The greens are not simply spinach and broccoli, they include superfood greens like organic barley grass, organic wheat grass, Japanese chlorella, hydroponic soy sprouts and organic alfalfa grass.
There also other awesome health-boosters, including bee pollen, Hawaiian spirulina, algae, green tea extract, grape seed extract, ginko biloba, milk thistle, licorice root and more.
A single bar provides 140% RDA of vitamin E, which is key for a strong immune system, healthy eyes and skin.
100% RDA od vitamin B12. Meat eaters typically don’t need to supplement vitamin B12, but vegetarians will like this.
Green bars have an alkalizing effect on the body.

Cons of this Greens Bar:

If you want to avoid sugar, the organic dark chocolate in the bar does have organic evaporated cane syrup in it.
For those who don’t want grains in their bar, this one has organic brown rice and organic brown rice syrup
It only contains 7 grams of protein. If you want higher protein, Greens+ does make a Whey Krisp Bar which has 15 grams of protein… but also contains agave nectar, organic peanut butter and organic brown rice syrup.

“Neutrals”: The source of protein in this bar is from gmo-free soy protein isolate. Everyone has their own opinion of soy, whether it is gmo-free, processed, etc.. So I decided to make a separate category for it here. Overall Rating: 4/5 stars Let Me Make Your Decision-Making More Difficult: There are 2 more flavors! Natural and Wild Berry Burst. …and there are more green bars! Raw Revolution Spirulina Dream This bar has less superfood greens in the bar, but it does not contain soy, cane sugar or rice. There are also 3 grams of fiber per bar vs 5. All Organic, Natural Ingredients: Cashews, Sunflower Seeds Kernels, Agave Nectar, Dates, Almonds, Spirulina Powder, Sprouted Flax Seed. Overall Rating: 4/5 stars Amazing Grass Green Superfood Bar Just like the amazing grass superfood drink powders, these bars contain a long list of organic superfood greens as well as probiotics and fiber. However, the bars have cane sugar and agave nectar with 27 grams of sugar, 5 grams of protein, 8 grams of fat and 4 grams of fiber. Overall Rating: 4/5 stars There are lots of flavors to choose from, including:

Organic Green
Organic Chocolate Green
Berry Energy
Chocolate Chip Coconut
Chocolate Peanut Butter
Sweet and Savory Almond

Sunflower Butter Paleo Protein Bars – What Do I Think?

Although I cook/prepare most of the food I eat, I needed to find an on-the-go, portable after-workout snack. Therefore, I decided to try out the Sunflower Butter Paleo Protein Bars for 3 main reasons.

They had high protein content (20 grams!)
Bars contained 100% real food, plus organic ingredients.
They had low sugar (1 gram) and a good amount of fiber (23 grams!).

I decided that if these paleo protein bars tasted at least decent, they could be the perfect post-workout snack. I ordered 24 bars and hoped for the best. =)

What I Thought of the Sunflower Butter Paleo Protein Bars

1. They Are Super Filling

I did not expect this benefit. However, it was a pleasant surprise. The texture is very dense, similar to a Quest Bar, but not as soft.

Bite out of the Sunflower Butter Paleo Protein Bar with Dense Chewy Texture The company recommends heating the bar for 10 seconds in the microwave, and I agree that is a good idea. Sometimes I even do 20 seconds. It makes the bar more tasty and easier to eat.

However, no matter how you eat it, it takes longer to chew than other cookie-texture natural food bars. I love this factor, because I end up full by the time I finish eating it!

One of the biggest problems that I have found with paleo bars is actually that they taste so good. I eat them quickly and end up wanting to have another.

With the Sunflower Butter bar, I don’t have to worry about that. I think the combination of slowed-down eating along with the high fiber, high protein and low sugar curb my cravings entirely.

2. Easy-to-Digest With No Bloating

With high-fiber foods, I typically expect bloating. Especially when you get 23 grams of fiber packed into a small snack bar.

Sunflower Butter Paleo Protein Bar Nutrition Content Label

However, that was not the case with the
Sunflower Butter bar. Again, I was pleasantly surprised at how a packaged food (although organic and natural) made me feel so satisfied yet not inflated afterwards.

When they say that this bar curbs appetite for up to 4 hours afterwards, they were not kidding. Even if you didn’t care about the high protein or high fiber content, some people might love the fact that a 50-calorie snack bar can keep hunger at bay for 4 hours. (What a great diet trick!)

3. This Protein Bar Contains Only 4 Ingredients

I like to eat simply make all of my own food. It keeps things simple, and foods are easier to digest. Therefore, I really appreciate packaged foods that include few ingredients.

The Sunflower Butter Paleo Protein Bars contain only 4 ingredients:

Egg White Powder (Non-GMO)
Organic Sunflower Butter
Organic Prebiotic Tapioca Fiber
Monk Fruit Extract

The prebiotic tapioca fiber not only helps curb hunger cravings, it also improves digestion. In comparison to other prebiotic fibers like those made from corn, tapioca is non-GMO. (This factor also scored points with me!)

In addition, I like the fact that the protein in this paleo bar comes from egg rather than whey. Don’t get me wrong, I think whey is a great source of protein.

However, I don’t think it always agrees with my digestive system. If you think your stomach might not like whey either, you may want to try an egg white protein based bar to see if you like it better.