Originally Posted by koffee brown
2 g of saturated fat is not going to hurt- if you consciously eat a diet low in saturated fat, one energy bar with 2 g of saturated fat is not going to bulk you up. Besides that, the lower in fat it is, the less "tasty" the bar, which I've also noticed. I think Clif bars taste like dirt... literally. It's too low in fat for me to even think as an option, but I find the Pria bars and the Balance bars have an acceptable amount of low saturated fat for energy bars. They do the job and are tasty enough for me to not barf when I'm trying to eat a quick energy snack while out there for a long ride (over 3 hours).
Less than two hours, I would say there's no need for an energy bar, provided you've gotten a snack before you left the house.
Koffee
Like I say, different strokes for different folks. Pria bars and Powerbars taste way too sweet for me.
Compared to the Clif bars the OP is currently consuming, you'd need 2-and-a-bit Pria bars to get the same serving size and calories (which IS an important factor on a ride), not only would total fat be higher, but you're also talking 5g+ of saturated fat per comparable serving (an extra 3-4g over what the OP is eating now). When the OP is approaching these as a snack, that's a significant amount of saturated fat. If you like the taste, then I guess it can be justified easily enough.
In any case, I try to keep saturated fats as low as possible. For those of us (like the OP) who are still trying to lose some weight, you need to approach your diet as a whole more than just as individual servings. Individual servings is an easy trap to fall in to. e.g. One scoop of ice cream won't hurt. One scoop of ice cream after a few slices of pizza will. If you can cut 2-3g of saturated fat out of a serving, that's worth doing.