Is Your Snack Bar As Healthy As You Think?

What You Should Look Out For When Choosing a Snack Bar

Are you among the many who rely on snack bars (or cereal bars) to get them through the working day? Whether to close the gap between breakfast and lunch or beat an afternoon slump, snack bars can give us the extra energy boost we need to get through a packed day.

But Have You Considered What Goes into Your Snack Bars?

Often, however, these kinds of snack bars are deceptively branded as ‘health foods’, with clever marketing techniques which conceal the fact that they’re usually not quite as healthy as they seem. For example, many snack bars advertise their high protein content but fail to highlight the excessive amounts of sugar and saturated fats they contain. This means that while you might think you’re picking up a healthy snack to fuel your body that bit longer until your next meal, you could actually be filling up on a combination of unhealthy fats and sugars…

Understanding your body’s nutritional needs, reading between the lines of ‘health food’ marketing, and finding delicious alternatives are just some ways you can rethink your snack choices for the better!

So – How Much Sugar and Fat Do We Need?

Sugars:

Eating too much sugar can be detrimental to your health, causing energy peaks and dips, mood swings, weight gain, and tooth decay. Excess sugar consumption is also indirectly linked to the development of type-2 diabetes.

The worst type of sugars, known as free sugars, are typically added to food and drinks but can also be found naturally in foods like honey and fruit juices. Despite naturally occurring in some cases, the inclusion of foods containing free sugars should be carefully monitored in a healthy diet. They should not make up more than 5% of the energy that you acquire from food and drink each day. This equates to roughly 30g (7 sugar cubes) of free sugars per day.

Fats:

Despite their negative connotations, we all need essential fatty acids to help our bodies absorb vitamins A, D and E. The two main types of fats found in food are saturated and unsaturated fats. A healthy diet should include a limited intake of saturated fats and plenty of foods containing healthier, unsaturated fats, like avocados and nuts. National nutritional guidelines state that men shouldn’t eat more than 30g of saturated fat per day – the equivalent of 4 tablespoons of butter – while women should eat no more than 20g.

In the UK, for a product to be labelled as low fat, reduced fat or ‘light’, it must contain at least 30% less fat than a similar full-fat item. It is essential to remain vigilant about these labels, as many products may not be as healthy as they claim to be.

Make sure to check the labels of your ‘health foods’ thoroughly to ensure that you’re not being fooled by manipulative marketing tactics!

How Healthy is Your Snack Bar?

The number of snack bars available in our supermarkets is overwhelming. Each bar offers something different, often with the promise of providing a healthy energy boost… But how accurate are these claims? Let’s take a closer look at a few of these supermarket favourites to see how their nutritional indexes compare to one another.

As you can see, just because a snack bar is branded as being ‘natural’ or ‘healthy’, doesn’t mean it doesn’t contain levels of sugars or fats that we should be wary of.

How Can I Be More Mindful when Choosing a Healthier Snack Bar?

One of the best ways to make sure that your snack bars are free from excessive sugars and fats is by making them yourself! This way, you’re in total control of what goes into them. Not only this, but they’re much more delicious!

Here’s a healthy, homemade alternative to get you started.

Energy Balls

Energy balls are an easy recipe to try at home – there’s no baking required! All you need is a blender, a nut butter of your choice, and some dates. The great thing about this recipe is that you can add different ingredients to suit your cravings and add diversity to your diet (just what your gut needs to stay healthy). Switch them up by adding different dried fruits, seeds, nuts or nut butters, a tablespoon of protein powder, or other nutritional powders/blends. This snack can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks or in the freezer for a month.

Ingredients:

Method: 

Snack Bars in Perspective

Snack bars are a great way to curb your hunger throughout the working day – we all need a pick-me-up every so often. However, it’s important to be mindful of the hidden sugars and fats that lurk beneath their ‘healthy’ exterior. Carefully study the ingredients and nutritional information before purchasing, or, even better – get creative in the kitchen and make your own!