Protein Bar option for Whole30

[amm0810]

My husband and I are in the first week of our first Whole30.  Husband works out during the day at work...sometime midday and typically would mix up a quick whey protein shake after his WO.  I wanted to share with you a great protein bar option that is whole30 compliant I found on seesarahbake.blogspot.com.  I found the egg white protein powder at local nutrition store but almost 1/2 the price on amazon.com.  Freeze dried apples I found at Trader Joe's.  I used deglet dates.  I made the 5 bar recipe and used a regular sized food processor.  They taste great and if your looking for some variety to hard boiled eggs or need more convenience this may fill a need.

 

Nutrition per bar - Calories: 240, Fat: 6g, Carb: 33g, Protein: 16g

 

Apple Cinnamon Protein Bar

What You'll Need:
 

{for 1 bar}

• 10 Almonds
• 3T Egg White Protein Powder
• 5g Freeze Dried Apples 
• A few sprinkles of Cinnamon
• 4 Dates, pitted {not medjool}

{for 5 bars}

• 60g Almonds
• 1 cup Egg White Protein Powder
• 1-28g pkg Freeze Dried Apples
• 1/4 -1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 20 Dates, pitted {not medjool}

What To Do:

1. In a small food processor, blitz the almonds, protein powder, apples, and cinnamon until finely ground.
2. Add dates and process until uniformly broken down.
3. Add very little water {seriously, a few drops} and process. Continue to do this until the mixture starts to stick together. I added probably less that 1 tsp over the course of 3 iterations for 1 bar and about 1.5 Tbsp for the 5 bar batch. 
4. Form into a bar or roll into bite-sized balls. I pressed into a small ramekin I had to make disks. Refrigerate in an air-tight container.

 

[MeadowLily]

Those are homemade Rx bars.  I recognized the recipe.

 

http://www.rxbar.com/ingredients

[Tom Denham]

Or you could eat a can of tuna.

[AmyS]

I agree with Tom. For Whole30, a post-workout meal is lean protein and carbs. Many Whole30ers swear by chicken breast and cubed roasted sweet potato. The thing is, if you're going to make something ahead to take with you, getting a can of tuna (plus can opener and fork) ready, or cooking up some chicken breast and sweet potato, will give you actual real food in less time than it would take to make these bars. Aim for real, actual food. It really doesn't take that long to prepare.

[LadyM]

So much fruit/sugar post workout is not a good idea, actually.

[LucieB]

I agree with above, not a good option. This is not compliant IMO. Learn to eat real foods, that is the goal of a Whole30.

[ashtynb89]

These sound fabulous.

[Icegirl54]

Amm0810,

Personally, I appreciate your posting the recipe. I'm 9 months into living whole30. And I've been looking for quick protein bar recipes.

I buy the RXBARS and LARABARS but they are too expensive. And all your ingredients ARE real food.

It's enough to live whole30. While tuna is a good source of protein, it's not very practical to carry a can of tuna fish and a can opener and a fork in your bag. And where would you eat it? Stink up the gym? While driving a car? Time and place for everything.

Thanks for the post.

[jmcbn]

Amm0810,

Personally, I appreciate your posting the recipe. I'm 9 months into living whole30. And I've been looking for quick protein bar recipes.

I buy the RXBARS and LARABARS but they are too expensive. And all your ingredients ARE real food.

It's enough to live whole30. While tuna is a good source of protein, it's not very practical to carry a can of tuna fish and a can opener and a fork in your bag. And where would you eat it? Stink up the gym? While driving a car? Time and place for everything.

Thanks for the post.

Yup, a couple of days a week.

1 date has approx 16g of sugar

1 mars bar has approx 35g sugar

There are 4 dates in each of these bars.

[Icegirl54]

The sugar in a Mars bar is a lot different than the sugar in a date. If not, then why even live whole30. I guess since I've adopted it for long term and I track all my carbs I look at it differently. You can't just eat tuna and chicken. Either way, I've been looking for a recipe that will include protein and I plan to try it.

[LucieB]

"Time and place for everything."

Exactly! That's the goal of Whole30. To take the time needed to care for your body, pause to eat a real meal after a workout, and appeciate the food you're eating. A postWO takes all of a few mins to eat.

This quick, grab n go, eat in the car culture is a huge part of the problem when it comes to people's relationship with food. Like you say, there's a time and place. But in a hurry in the car is not the place for food.

You're willing to drive to a gym, do a workout, and commit to a Whole30 challenge. So be willing to really commit to it- quit looking for easy outs and cheats. Otherwise, why are you doing this?

[Britishgal]

We were always taught never to eating standing up, always at a table (except for picnics) and always with cutlery (my mother can eat an orange with a knife and fork as she had to in her youth)

Whilst I think the fork, knife and fruit thing is dead nowadays I never eat on the move...can't...never have. Not even in a car. I lead a busy life too. It is doable if you make yet desicion to do it.

[MeadowLily]

Yup, a couple of days a week.

1 date has approx 16g of sugar

1 mars bar has approx 35g sugar

There are 4 dates in each of these bars.

There are so many forms of sugar.   Corn syrup, sugar sugar, upside down sugar created in a lab, honey, molasses and dried fruit sugars.   My pancreas cannot tell the difference.  This is why sugarless gum and diet soda pop are not allowed.  Both of those sugarless items raise my blood sugar.  Dates and dried fruits...absolutely.  The mind wants what it wants.   It can convince you that any form of sugar is better than none at all.  Dried fruits for those with any kind of blood sugar issue or sugar addiction mess with everything.

[kirkor]

The sugar in a Mars bar is a lot different than the sugar in a date.

Metabolically?

[Icegirl54]

This is my last reply on this subject because you need to look all healthy NATURAL foods as valuable. And if is obvious you have a blind eye to the value of fruit.

From Megan Grover who is a working nutritionist holding a Bachelor of Science from Waynesburg University and a Master of Science in human nutrition from the University of Sheffield. She has experience in primary and secondary scientific research:

Fruit contains many benefits compared to refined sugar. Besides being rich in antioxidants, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals, fruit is an excellent source of fiber. The presence of fiber in fruit determines what happens to fruit sugars in your body and how quickly they are broken down in your gastrointestinal tract. Unlike refined sugar, fiber in fruit expands in your gut, making you feel full. Fiber is the biggest secret as to why fruit sugars are not as dangerous as refined sugar, preventing the sugars from being rapidly broken down and stored.

1 date is 1.5g fiber.

Good luck to all.

[LucieB]

Sorry to hear that after 9 months of living Whole 30 you don't appreciate the rationale behind program recommendations regarding fruit postWO.

 

We're not saying healthy natural foods aren't valuable. We're saying that much sugar in the form of fructose isn't valuable, especially when it comes to postWO refueling. 

 

The goal of a post workout meal is to refuel the muscles. Fructose does not refuel muscles, instead it goes to the liver. Glucose is the preferred fuel source for muscles, and the program-recommended postWO potato is full of starch, which is composed of strings of glucose molecularly bonded together. This provides a slow release of the glucose molecules, similar to the fiber comparison. 

 

The fruit alone in one bar of the recipe above provides 33g of fructose, no starch, and 6.5g fiber. 

 

A fist sized sweet potato has only 0.9g of fructose with 16g of starch and 4g of fiber. 

 

I had to look up what a Mars bar is, the ingredients include sugar and glucose syrup, making them a relatively lower fructose option...but...no thanks. 

 

Hope this helps.

[jmcbn]

Sorry to hear that after 9 months of living Whole 30 you don't appreciate the rationale behind program recommendations regarding fruit postWO.

 

We're not saying healthy natural foods aren't valuable. We're saying that much sugar in the form of fructose isn't valuable, especially when it comes to postWO refueling. 

 

The goal of a post workout meal is to refuel the muscles. Fructose does not refuel muscles, instead it goes to the liver. Glucose is the preferred fuel source for muscles, and the program-recommended postWO potato is full of starch, which is composed of strings of glucose molecularly bonded together. This provides a slow release of the glucose molecules, similar to the fiber comparison. 

 

The fruit alone in one bar of the recipe above provides 33g of fructose, no starch, and 6.5g fiber. 

 

A fist sized sweet potato has only 0.9g of fructose with 16g of starch and 4g of fiber. 

 

I had to look up what a Mars bar is, the ingredients include sugar and glucose syrup, making them a relatively lower fructose option...but...no thanks. 

 

Hope this helps.

I should clarify - I was NOT suggesting a Mars Bar as an alternative, but rather comparing the dates to the candy bar - ie. they're pretty much one and the same once the digestive system breaks them down & they hit the liver.