Energy Bars: Enabling Humans to Eat Healthy without Compromising the Taste of Food

Many years ago, energy bars were specifically developed for astronauts as non-frozen snack items to provide them with both energy and nutrition. Astronauts used to keep these energy bars in their helmets as these bars were compact, slim, and easy to carry. Later on, the energy bars became popular amongst sportsmen, athletes, bodybuilders, and women for providing instant energy and enhancing their performances. With the span of time, people have started using energy bars for satiating their hunger pangs with good food alternatives. Moreover, people on weight loss have started munching on energy bars as their healthy meal options.

Basically, energy bars are prepared with lots of nutritious ingredients, such as cereals, rolled oats, dried fruits, nuts, seeds, and many more. These bars contain a balanced amount of essential nutrients required for a human body, such as carbohydrates, proteins, fibers, good fats, vitamins, and minerals. This is why energy bars are useful to fill the nutritional gaps which people miss out on in their daily diet. However, all energy bars are not created for equal health benefits. You need to differentiate the energy bars with their levels rather you can end-up up consuming more fats and sugars just like a candy bar.

What are the Necessary Points for Choosing an Energy Bar with Health Benefits?

As in the market, a wide variety of energy bars are available with different flavors and tastes, there exist chances of choosing an energy bar that is just as a mimic of a candy bar loaded with sugar and fats. Therefore, you need to be cautious at the time of picking an energy bar for exact health benefits. Some of the key points of choosing an appropriate energy bar are listed below:

• Check the labels on the energy bars before purchasing. Always prefer energy bars with fats less than 5g.
   
• If you are looking for an energy bar as a meal replacement food item then choose the ones having at least 3-5gms of fiber or a high amount of protein content near about 20gms.
   
• For weight loss, always choose energy bars having less than 500 calories.
   
• Try to avoid those bars which are having high amounts of fructose corn syrup or some other sugar sources.
   
• Choosing bars with good content of oats, honey, muesli, dried fruits, seeds, and nuts are much beneficial for getting instant energy.
   
• If you are willing to choose energy bars before an intensive workout then it is always preferable to go for high carbohydrate bars containing around 30gms of carbohydrate.

What are the Various Health Benefits of Consuming Energy Bars?

Energy bars are quick and easy-fix food items that impart instant energy with numerous other health benefits. Some of them are discussed below:

• As energy bars are enriched with a good amount of protein, these helps people to keep going throughout the day. These bars are much beneficial for doing lots of physical activities, such as running, traveling, trekking, performing hardcore workouts, and many more.
   
• Consuming energy bars can help in modulating our metabolism rate and hence can be beneficial for losing weight.
   
• In the case of building lean muscles, as you need to follow a diet control plan, energy bars can be a great option for treating your tummy with a tasty snack.
   
• The amount of macro and micronutrients present in the energy bars can help in improving the immune system of the human body.
   
• Some specific energy with high calories can also be helpful for muscle development and growth.
   
• Energy bars help you to feed your tummy with a good choice of food post-workout, as it is beneficial to build muscle tissues and at the same time repair the microscopic muscle tears that occur during the workout.

Key Message

Energy bars are portable, instant, and highly nutritious food options that can help humans to meet their personal health goals, starting from weight loss to muscle gain in a much more effective way. With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic as people are paying more effort in boosting their immune system, the global energy bar market is expected to reach new heights in the coming days. In addition, the increasing prevalence of healthy on-the-go snacking among millennials worldwide is the vital factor expected to uplift the use of energy bars to a great extent.

About the Author(s)

     

Rosy Behera

Rosy Behera holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and is currently working as a content writing professional. She loves to portray her thoughts and ideas via her command on words. Grabbing her audience’s attention with her creative write ups is one of her biggest assets. Apart from writing, she is a certified “Odisi” dancer and has done Gardharva in Drawing, Painting and Arts. She always explores new things through travel and is a big foodie.