Training & Nutrition - Energy Bar

There are a lot of energy bars out there and I was wondering which one was your favorite. Most of them either taste bad or cost too much. So I would like to get your input.

Powerbars taste like hard play dough.
Cliff bars taste like grandma's old granola.
Balance bars (yogurt honey peanut's my fav) taste like a dry peanut paste.

I'm kind of partial to Luna bars myself (I know they're for girls, but so what). They're the only bar I've had that doesn't have the texture of taffy. They taste pretty decent too.

Luna bars. Chocolate Pecan Pie, Smores and Orange bliss.
Cliff bar's new one called the Builder Bar, MY NEW FAV!
20 gr protein and the chocolate is good.

I've tried so many of the bars out there and they do taste like sawdust or chocolate covered partical board.

yeah clif bars are the best I've eaten so far. Luna are similar with less calories and sugar.

I had some high protein MetRx jobby the other day and it tasted like i'd imagine those chocolate flavored laxitives taste... <<never had one myself.

I'll have to look for the higher protein clif bars, the regular ones have always been my favorite. My kid loves em, too.

Frankly, I prefer a bana or other fresh fruits to energy bars. If you must have something more convenient that will keep, try dates or something similar.

Pria and Powerbars. Balance bars are sometimes good- it depends on the flavor.

Clif sucks.

Koffee

Oatmeal Raisin Powerbars.

Clif Fudge Brownie is the best.

powerbars & clif

chocolate for both.

Snicker's Marathon Bars. Chewy Chocolate flavor tastes pretty close to a real Snickers.

I love the detour bars !!!! They are the bomb!!!

I'm kind of partial to the ones I make myself.

Snickers is a gyp. It's the same thing as a regular Snickers candy bar. You're in denial! :D

Koffee

There are a lot of energy bars out there and I was wondering which one was your favorite. Most of them either taste bad or cost too much. So I would like to get your input.
There's no accounting for taste. Try some, find a few you like, and buy those. Asking for someone else's opinion on this is like asking what underwear is going to fit you best.

There's no accounting for taste. Try some, find a few you like, and buy those. Asking for someone else's opinion on this is like asking what underwear is going to fit you best.

Gosh, A lesson in reality in the internet fantasy land.

Powerbars while riding. Chocolate peanut butter, banana, oatmeal raisin, apple cinnamon, etc.

For taste, Clif bars. I love the lemon poppyseed! Balance Gold bars taste good too.

Gosh, A lesson in reality in the internet fantasy land.
Sorry to be such a downer :D

I'm in the market for some underwear, what kind is the best? :p

Power bar harvest apple bars by favorite.

PB&J, or Luna bars, if I don't want to smoosh my sandwich.

Fig Newtons are great little energy bars. Rice Krispy treats are a close second. Clif bars are awful (all of them) and PowerBars are not even food in my book.

powerbars aren't bad. peanut butter and chocolate are the best i've found. this kid i know at some trails by my house rides for powerbar so he always gives me boxes of the things.

cliff bars are like eating dirt with rocks.

Snickers marathon bars are freaking hard. I almost pulled out a filling chewing on them.

I kinda wanna take a shot at making my own. Anyone know how to do it?

I carry Musashi Growling Dog bars, berry flavor. I don't know if you can get them in the US but they taste okay and are not hard enough to double as replacement brake pads.

There is a new one called Larabar
http://www.larabar.com/

My fave is Cashew Cookie which is made from cashews and dates. That is it. The Ginger Snap is intensely gingery, and good. The Banana Cokkie Dough is also good. The other ones are ok, the cherry one is very cherry.

http://www.greenleaf-naturals.com/foodbars/larabar.html

I linked that because it's a little cheaper. You should be able to find it, I have found it in both bike shops and supermarkets.

cheebahmunkey, if you send me an email i will forward the recipe that I use.
clinthia

"while testing missiles"

a new bar came to the public - the Hooah bar, I read about in the WSJ and now in stores, I got some at 7-Eleven to check the hype. It was developed for military special forces and designed to deliver steady energy with complex carbs etc...I was expecting to taste wood, I was surprised on how good it tasted and was set for a rough all day ride. I checked the bars website and they say it delivers 19% more energy that all others...has anyone else out there heard about or tried these?

There is a new one called Larabar
http://www.larabar.com/

My fave is Cashew Cookie which is made from cashews and dates. That is it. The Ginger Snap is intensely gingery, and good. The Banana Cokkie Dough is also good. The other ones are ok, the cherry one is very cherry.

http://www.greenleaf-naturals.com/foodbars/larabar.html

I linked that because it's a little cheaper. You should be able to find it, I have found it in both bike shops and supermarkets.

Word - I was just about to post on these. As prior service, I've tried just about every energy/nutrition/meal replacement bar out there and these taste the best and don't feel like a block of wood in my stomach. Cherry pie tastes exactly like a *good* cherry pie, and so far none of them have that taste only a dieter could love. I get mine at Trader Joes for now. The softness is a real plus. I hate the feeling that I'm chewing leather or rock I get from many bars.

Luna is good and a close second for taste, although I feel the sea salt is overkill some people like it. Luna and Lara both run 190 calories, so not enough for most performance peeps as a meal replacement.

I disliked PRIA - I've found that diabetics and others who eat a low sugar diet enjoy the candy-like texture/taste but I still eat the real thing.

If you're willing to order online, consider www.revivalsoy.com - They have a slightly soy-nutty taste but the texture of a rice krispie treat - not like granola mixed with gravel like many toasted soy style bars. They have a lot of flavors and are relatively high protein if you're trying to lose weight or concerned with that.

I've used fig newtons before, but they can be messy in moist weather.

And I prefer seamless, tagless underwear with a 96%/4% mix of cotton/spandex.

"while testing missiles"

a new bar came to the public - the Hooah bar, I read about in the WSJ and now in stores, I got some at 7-Eleven to check the hype. It was developed for military special forces and designed to deliver steady energy with complex carbs etc...I was expecting to taste wood, I was surprised on how good it tasted and was set for a rough all day ride. I checked the bars website and they say it delivers 19% more energy that all others...has anyone else out there heard about or tried these?

Have they changed the formula recently? I tried them when they first came out (99/00 I think) and I thought they were scary. We bought a case for the unit I was in and we all tried them and every last person experienced bowel problems from them. Not trying to be disgusting, but that's kind of a big deal. They may well have been improved since that was like the first batch.

My favorite is the Odwalla Cranberry C Monster... but I think Odwalla is a regional company, I doubt they are available nationwide.

Given that I've seen them in Virginia, and you're posting is Cali, I'm guessing they are nationwide.

Have they changed the formula recently? I tried them when they first came out (99/00 I think) and I thought they were scary. We bought a case for the unit I was in and we all tried them and every last person experienced bowel problems from them. Not trying to be disgusting, but that's kind of a big deal. They may well have been improved since that was like the first batch.




I've not heard that. My understanding is they have been used by spc ops for years and years and i would imagine if they're were laxitive agents in them they would have stop using them on missions.

The article in WSJ and a report on our local news states they have only been avail to civilians fro less than a year - so not sure what you ate back in 99/00!!!! lol

Kashi GoLean Crunch Bars.

I'm in the market for some underwear, what kind is the best? :p

Nordstrom Cotton Boxer Shorts are the best. The web site only has white, but the store has some cool patterns. :D

I've not heard that. My understanding is they have been used by spc ops for years and years and i would imagine if they're were laxitive agents in them they would have stop using them on missions.

The article in WSJ and a report on our local news states they have only been avail to civilians fro less than a year - so not sure what you ate back in 99/00!!!! lol

LOL - I said we bought one *for our unit* as in - a military unit. I posted in my previous post stating that I was prior service, but I guess that wasn't clear enough. And the effect was not laxative, but the opposite - which is true for all military packaged meals - by making soldiers not need to use the bathroom, they make them stealthier and faster on the move. I had 1/4 of one bar and couldn't poop for almost 3 days afterward.

Ah ha. Well I can say I have 3 bars and no problems...I guess the recipe changed or the commercial are differint than military issue.

A brief and barely relevant history of the Hooah Bar:

Man, the marketing on those is really funny. The real reason they developed "Hooah" bars is because Rangers got tired of stripping all the waste out of MRES (the packaged meals many people buy for camping) and stopping to use a fork, so they stopped using them and replaced them with commercial energy bars on missions. That practice became widespread enough and enough people complained that the military developed their own alternative to the commerical market. Many Rangers still prefer Myoplex Deluxe, Detour and Clif (to the best of my knowledge.) But they are eating to replace all their meals for the day, so they favor higher fat and protein than most exercisers. Also, taste isn't really a big factor when you're shoving down as many calories per bite as possible. Soldiers in the field can burn over 6000 calories per day, and will generally eat anything that isn't tied down, "sugar spike" or no.

******************
End useless military trivia.

About Hooah bars, could you tell me what they look like now? The chocolate one was the color of the inside of a raisin with chunks of white (looked like bran or rice) in it. It was also incredibly hard and compact.

The ingredients and shape are different than I remember - they used to be shorter and fatter, more bricklike. These look more like regular bars - how's the taste?

My favorite is the Odwalla Cranberry C Monster... but I think Odwalla is a regional company, I doubt they are available nationwide.

Yeah, that's a really good one. Odwalla stuff is available pretty much everywhere I've been, including here. We used to have a similar juice company in New England called Fresh Samantha instead, but apparently Odwalla bought them?

Mojo bars are my favorite. They don't seem to get as dry and hard as some of the other bars out there. Although you can never go wrong with a good Clif Bar! :)

"while testing missiles"

a new bar came to the public - the Hooah bar, I read about in the WSJ and now in stores, I got some at 7-Eleven to check the hype. It was developed for military special forces and designed to deliver steady energy with complex carbs etc...I was expecting to taste wood, I was surprised on how good it tasted and was set for a rough all day ride. I checked the bars website and they say it delivers 19% more energy that all others...has anyone else out there heard about or tried these?

Those Hooah bars are a load of crap (or may cause a load of crap depending - I saw that other post about bowel problems :p). If you look at the ingredients in them, they're not any better than Clif Bar for example, and they don't use any ingredients that are better at providing "more" energy. There was another discussion among some sports nutritionists and RD's, and we all came to the same conclusion. But I'd say it's just what you said in your post above - "hype" :D

two things (before you think I am on military/hoah payroll!! lol)

First is i think Cliff bars taste horrible all of them, and the hooah bar did taste great both choc and apple. Second, I have three cousins in the navy and buying the hooah bar instead of another gives real money to the a R&D division to improve their food & body armor equipment. But I am no scientist and perhaps its all hype but I am pretty much sold

I tend to like the taste of the peanut butter crunch Cliff bar, but they give me terrible gas.

I like odwalla the best but cant find them in Virginia Beach. Cliff is still pretty good though.

Another vote for the Larabar. The Cocoa Mole tasted just like a brownie to me. But this was 60 miles into an 85 mile ride, so who knows what it would taste like otherwise? The link for cheaper bars above really is cheap - in town they're $2.25 apiece regularly. That's too much for me to spend.

Snickers Marathon Bar, this one. Cost .96 at Walmart
http://www.athleticnutrition.net/images/test/10610.jpg