There are dozens of varieties of nutrition bars on the market and they're not all created equal. A standard granola bar might seem like a smart pick but it's often full of added sugar and too low on calories to act as a successful meal replacement in a weight loss plan. If you want to use nutrition bars to help lower your net calorie intake, take some time to consider the healthiest choices.
Benefits
Most nutrient bars have relatively high fat, calorie and sugar counts, which doesn't make them ideal for weight loss. However, they also have a number of other factors that work in their favor. The high fiber contents in nutrient bars can produce and sustain a feeling of fullness, leading you to eat fewer total calories throughout the day. Bars are also often fortified with essential nutrients that may help provide some balance to diets that aren't always healthy.
Nutrition Facts
Before you buy any nutrient bar for the purpose of helping you lose weight, study the nutrition facts and ingredient labels closely. According to the USDA, a fortified fiber bar made with oats and chocolate has about 350 calories, 5 g protein, 10 g fat, 70 g carbohydrates, 22.5 g fiber and 25 g sugar. Other nutrient bars aren't quite so substantial. A single granola bar has only about 105 calories, 2 g protein, 4 g fat, 17 g carbohydrates and 1 g fiber.
Meal Replacements
If they provide a balance of nutrients and enough calories to fill you up, nutrient bars can serve as healthy meal replacement options in a weight loss plan. According to a 2003 study from leading weight loss researcher Dr. Steven Heymsfield, overweight and obese participants who ate one or two meal replacements per day lost more weight over a 40-week trial period than subjects who simply followed a low-calorie diet.
Considerations
No nutrient bar is guaranteed to help you lose weight. According to the National Institutes of Health, the only proven way to slim down is to burn more calories than you eat, ideally through a combination of a balanced, low-calorie diet and increased physical activity. In addition, MayoClinic.com points out that foods with low energy densities, such as fruits, vegetables, nonfat dairy products and whole grains, tend to be more beneficial for weight loss than energy-dense nutrition bars. Always check with your doctor before using a bar as a diet aid or making any significant changes to the way you eat.
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