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What Does the Protein Bar Chart Mean?!?
 Believe it or not, many supplement and nutrition companies are very deceiving!
What I have attempted is to address several issues that I have when purchasing protein bars.
Don't lie to me about the carb count!
The FDA says glycerine is a carb, so it should be counted as a carb. Many of the larger companies will include glycerine in the carb count, but some companies are still getting away with not counting it. My chart counts all of the carbs in each bar.
Just because you need protein to build muscle doesn't mean you need to jack up your cholesterol!
Some of these bars are very high in cholesterol. I am actually going to change my bar based on the research I have done here to a bar with 5mg or less of choleterol. My theory is that there is plenty of cholesterol in other foods that you are eating throughout the day, so eating a protein bar with a bunch of cholesterol in it may not be the best thing for your heart.
Sweeteners
Most of these bars are sweetened by either glycerine, sucralose, sugar, or all 3. I find this important because I try to limit my regular sugar intake in order to avoid cravings later. Also, many people may not be interested in eating artificial sweeteners on a regular basis. None of the bars contain aspartame, which has receive a lot of bad press, but sucralose has not been around long enough to study possible side effects.
Fat
Some of these bars contain fat and saturated fats, although most of them are pretty low in fat. If you are watching fat, you have to know how much is in each bar.
Calories
It is good to know how the different bars will fit into your daily calorie intake.
My conclusion is that these high protein bars are not good for low carb dieters. The real amount of carbs are in the 30gm range and if you are on Atkins, that is your whole allotment for the day in the induction phase and almost half of your day for the subsequent phase. There are bars out there that may suit the needs of low carb dieters, but they have less protein and calories. I should have a listing of some of them up here shortly.
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My Protein Bar Chart
 I have a list of 28 popular protein bars containing 30gm of protein or over on this chart. In it I have listed the calories, carbs, fat, and sweeteners for each bar. You may notice the carb count is different than the carb count that you see on the package for each bar. I have done the math and have included glycerine in the carb count. You can use my chart as more of a real guide than what some companies will lead you to believe. Click here to see the chart.
The National Institutes of Health has established a database that contains over 690,000 scientific citations & abstracts about dietary supplements. They also have some very useful links that you can use to research different supplements. Check it out at http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/.
Dr. Weil
A good website to check out is Dr. Weil.com. Here you can look up various types of medical conditions, supplements, etc. and you will get answers from a qualified professional. The only thing is that he is big into natural remedies, you opinions may differ from his.
My story with Dr. Weil.com is that I have chronic shoulder pain from an old injury that caused some torn cartlidge. I rehabbed it for 8 months and it still did not get 100% better. I couldn't lift like I wanted to or swim. I checked out Dr. Weil.com and he suggested a natural anti-inflammatory called Zyflamend. I started taking it and it seems to be working. I have less pain and can go back to doing the things I like.
Also, many people who start the Atkins diet and do not get immediate results may be concerned with a yeast problem called candida. If this is a concern of yours, please read this article.
Please keep in mind that it doesn't take a week or two to put on weight, so no matter what diet you go on, it may take a while to take the weight off!
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The Ephedra Question
 One of the major issues today is about whether to take a dietary supplement that is going to help you lose weight. Many people have asked me what I have done, and I honestly tell them. At one time, I took an ephedra based product. This product did help me take off some unwanted pounds, but it did have side effects. The main thing that I felt was dissiness when I would bend down. Also, I would get a heart palpatation from time to time when I was exerting myself. I was constantly going to the bathroom and I would get a slight "rush" after I would take it.
So, you ask, is it safe? Well, I took it for a long time, and I had adverse reactions to it. The bottom line is that it helped me at first, but I would never take it again because of the way it made me feel. For the most part, people will try and shed those unwanted pounds at any cost. So, you can find plenty of things that will tell you that these supplements are ok.
The FDA is actually considering banning ephedra. There is an article on CNN.com with all the info about the pending ban.
This should show you the magnitude of what is going on since there is a 1994 law that prevented the FDA from banning these types of products.
Get the facts before you buy any supplements!
In this section, I will list various sources of where you can get information about the popular supplements that are out there today. Please check back here often as I am constantly doing research. I am not going to list all pro or all con reports. I am simply going to try and list the facts and allow you to make your own judgments. Remember, imok.com is about what works for real people!
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This page was last updated on
1-23-2003 by Dominic Esposito
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The domain imok.com is for sale. Anyone who is interested can contact me directly at dominic@imok.com.
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