Protein Bars?

Lance,
You are a little ahead of me, I had my surgery on March 24th. People have been telling me to eat these to get the extra protein, but when I look at the calories, it kind of scares me off, so I've never tried one. The South Beach meal replacement ones come highly recommended. I do snack on soy nuts and soy crisps to try and get a little extra protein in though. Let me know how you like them.

Sure thing. I'll get some this afternoon and try it out...don't know if I'll get the south beach kind or what, but I like their products.

Fair warning - too much maltitol can make you dump.    I know it does for me. I buy Premier Nutrition's Protien bars at Costco. They have 9-10 grams of sugar (no sugar alcohols), 280-290 calories, and 30 grams of protien. I usually have one instead of a meal.  They taste good and come in three flavors, Double Chocolate, Choclate Peanutbutter Crunch, and Yogurt Peanut crunch. Sam's Club also carries them. Some of the Atkin's bars will do in a pinch, but you have to be careful you're not getting one of the ones that are basically just a candy bar in disguise. Other than that - a lot of the protein bars out there can have up to 30+ grams of sugar.  Again, I state: Too much sugar / sugar alcohols will make me dump. 

> Again, I state: Too much sugar / sugar alcohols will make me dump. What's the best way to warn you before I have my next SB Meal Replacement Bar? But seriously... I really can't figure out why sugar alcohols wouldn't produce a dumping syndrome just as severe as one produced by sugar.  After all, if it's caused by an osmotic imbalance in the Roux limb, both sugar and sugar alcohols have very similar physical qualities. A few times I've had a vague feeling of nausea and discomfort after having one of these protein bars as the first meal of the day, but it hasn't been consistent or particularly remarkable.  20 minutes later, after sitting quietly, I feel fine.  I wonder if that's how I "dump"? /Steve

I tried the South Beach ones and the Adkins also. I bought them for the road, cause there ain't **** to eat out of a convenience store, and I don't like to take the time to stop at a sit down resturant. I didn't care for them, but then again, I never have liked granola bars or cerial bars or any of that kinda stuff pre-op either. They're way to sweet for my taste. I now make a little travel baggie w chicken or ham, cheese, some crackers, etc. Works better for me.

The EAS protein bars are too damn good!  Do you guys eat them as a replacement meal? CB

I just got some South Beach protein bar products. So far the chocolate cereal bar is delicious. I saw some South Beach bars that had 19g of protein but they were more expensive so I got the other kind that have 10g of protein....I'll get it right eventually, these were really cheap 2/5$ so I got 5 boxes just for fun.

Yeah, you have to pay attention to the whole name, since there are a couple of different types.  The "Cereal Bars" with 10g of protein / 140 cals are mighty nice, too, though their protein/calorie ratio is a bit low.  Still, I love the cinnamon raisin Cereal Bar; I don't buy them regularly since they're even easier to treat like a candy bar than the Meal Replacement Bars--I could chow down a couple of these no problem. Fish is right; if you can get by with a baggie of high protein snacks (turkey, low-fat ham, low-fat cheese, etc) you're probably ahead of the game.   Both the EAS and the SB bars are gooey/sweet (that's the maltitol for you!).  I'm glad they're available, though.  I'll have one for breakfast or lunch or 1/2 a one for a snack, and any of these can help "flesh out" your daily protein quota. /Steve

I have tried Pure Protein bars and they were OK.  South Beach has a chocolate covered peanut butter wafer bar that is dang good -  tastes like a Nutty Buddy bar, and it's high protein, low carb and low fat.  Gotta find some more of those.

A good source of protein they are, but almost all of the bars have many more calories than they're worth as far as satisfying the hunger.  I'm sure I could easily eat two bars before feeling satisfied. And that's around 500 calories usually.