If you use a protein bar as a meal-substitute, this recipe is for you!
While store-bought protein bars seem like a convenient, healthy option when you need to get out the door, they may not be as good of a choice as you think! Most store-bought protein bars are not something you should eat regularly. I would consider most of them a higher-protein version of a candy bar.
Lara bars and Rx bars don’t have many ingredients, which can make them seem like great choices. They are better choices than some bars, but because they often use dates as a binder, they have more carbs than most of us who are trying to make better choices should receive in so few bites. These bars also do not contain much protein. Perfect bars have a better amount of protein, but have a high amount of fat, that delivers a high-calorie punch in so few bites that I’m left hungry after eating them.
A better option is to make your own protein bars that you can tailor to meet your needs, and you can control what is going in your mouth. Grabbing one of these bars to go with my coffee is my favorite breakfast since I’m not awake enough to want to eat, but I know I need to get something in my belly before my day starts up.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups Whole Oats
- 1/3 cup Nut Butter. I use peanut butter, but you can use almond butter as well. Be sure to use a natural butter that requires you to stir it as this will provide the right consistency.
- 1 T Honey
- 8 scoops chocolate whey protein powder. I use the Stronger Faster Healthier Pure Whey.
- 1 cup Water
Stir all ingredients. You will probably think you don’t have enough water in the bowl, but trust the process and keep stirring. You only need to get the powder mixed in enough to get all ingredients wet, but the mixture will turn into a sticky ball. Line a 13×9 pan with wax or parchment paper. Drop the ball into the parchment-lined pan and spread the mixture evenly using the back of a spoon. If your spoon gets too sticky to spread it, runt the spoon under hot water. Put the mixture, uncovered, into the refrigerator overnight.
After the pan has set overnight, use a warm knife to cut evenly into 8 or 10 bars (see below). The top of the mixture will have dried out, but the bottom of the bars will still be sticky. To get the other side of the bars to dry out, take the paper and flip it upside down, with the bars stuck to it in the pan. Peel the paper away and break the individual bars away from each other. Go ahead and enjoy one now! Put the other bars into the fridge for keeping and the next time you grab for one, they won’t stick to your fingers 🙂
The additional bonus of making our own bars is that you can control your macro intake by how many bars you divide the mixture into. I split mine into 10 bars for a macro breakdown of 24/12/19
8 bars:
- Total cal per bar: 346
- Protein: 30g
- Fat: 15g
- Carbs: 24g
10 bars:
- Total cal per bar: 277
- Protein: 24g
- Fat: 12g
- Carbs: 19g
I hope this was helpful! As a good friend of mine says often, Make good choices!
-Lara Sturm
