I was looking to incorporate protein bars into my diet, just for the ease of use. An I would like some other t-mag readers input, I am looking at the Iss reasearch’s pro42 bars. However before I purchase a box, has any one tried them, or any others that dont taste like dirt & have decent protein content?
I like to keep them in my desk drawer at work. It’s an easy snack. I recommend the EAS low carb bars - Apple Cinnamon are great and the Lemon Cheesecake are a nice change from time to time. I found them at our local Wal-Mart last week for $1.67 a bar. A lot cheaper than GNC.
go for the pure protein bars (worldwide). the blueberry cheesecakes ones are good
The ISS bars are dry as you’re gonna find. They are decent tasting though for the protein content. Remeber the ISS bars have glycerol in them, a sugar alcohol, so they are not exactly low carb. If you are only interested in protein, & don’t care about low carb, I like ProMax mint chocolate, but you have to eat 2 to get 40 g. Still, they taste like girl scout cookies so they arent’ too bad.
Greg- The EAS low carb bars do taste pretty good, but they are full of soy. Basically, they’re designed for women.
BTW, I talked to a friend of mine who runs an independent supp store and he was very pissed at EAS. He said their Wal-mart line has different amounts of protein compared to what he gets. Basically, according to him, the Wal-mart EAS line is cheaper because the quality isn’t up to standards. Wal-mart doesn’t get regular EAS supps, in other words. I haven’t compared labels myself. I had a GNC rep mention the same thing to me.
He also noted that now that Met-Rx and EAS have gone Wal-Mart/K-Mart, his business is really suffering. In fact, he installed tanning beds and a smoothie bar just to try to make some profit.
As for other protein bars, like most people, I’m waiting on the Biotest Advanced Protein bars.
I noticed that when the bars first came out. Basically the walmart version has gellatin protein and other not-suitable-for-bodybuilding ingredients. Now as for their low carb ready to drink shake, I haven’t found a fault with them yet. Of course, I don’t worry about soy, so I haven’t checked to see if it uses soy as a main ingredient. I’d eat the bars if I got caught grocery shopping at walmart with an empty stomach and the fresh baked doughnuts were calling . . . other than that I try to stay away from bars in general. Biotest ones would be worth it though.
I eat ‘Balance’ bars, the gold ones taste like snickers. They only have 15 g of protein though - casin, whey, milk, and soy in that order.
jj - Have you checked for glycerine on the labels? according to the FDA it is not a carb, so it does not have to be listed in the total carbs, but it acts like one in the body…you could be screwing up the fat fast (i did)
Designer Whey Protein Gourmet Bars are AWESOME! Flavors include Chocolate Espresso, Chocolate, Strawberry, Mint Chocolate, Lemon. They’re the best tasting I’ve had by far. Costs about 2.50/bar where I shop.
I would have to agree that the Pure Protein Bars are good. The two best tasting ones that I could eat like a real candy bar would be Snac Bars(yellow wrapper) and Bioprotein chocolate covered peanut butter.
The designer Protein Chocolate esPRESSo should come with the warning label “Contains crack cocaine” I could eat them like candy. As ar as old school, I adore the met-rx chocolate chip cookie dough, nothing says “putting on some size” like high fructose corn syrup. Back to the low carb, Nitro-tech peanut butter is delicious but is sometimes upsetting to my stomach, and I have a stomach made of cast Iron. Bascically If you aren’t a carbo-phobe or doing any pre-contest dieting go ahead and go with some sugary MRP bar, they taste good, and it wont kill you unless you are FAT and have a crappy diet. I maintain 9-10% bf off season and eat them with regularity when I am hungry and don’t have a steak and some brown rice in my back pocket 
I have not found a bar that meets my stringent requirements, so I have protein bars custom made for me.
…waiting on the train with Shugs for them dayum Biotest Bars…
The Pure Protein bars are aight--try the new S'mores. I've recently had a few Atkins Bars, and they're actually hella good! I know they've got some soy, but they aren't half bad, especially the chocolate peanut butter one (they've only got 2.6g of *active carbs*)
I’ll throw my vote in for the Pure Protein bars. I started with the Blueberry Cheesecake, and have also picked up boxes of Smores and Chocolate Mousse. They all taste great to me. A close second are the Designer Whey bars; the mont chocolate chip tastes great, but a little too chewy.
If I am not on any kind of low carb diet is there any reason to try to limit the glycerine I get from the bars in my diet? What function does the glycerine perform in my body metabloism?
Designer Protein lemon crunch bars (hi pro,low carbs) are the best tasting low carb bars I’ve had.
Hey Timbo-you are a brave, brave man for liking Pure Prot Choc Peanut Butter and Met-Rx Choc chip. I have a box of that exact Pure PRotein bar flavor on the shelf in my kitchen and let me tell you, that shit ain’t going down my piehole unless I am desperate!
And Met-Rx? GAG!
To each his own I guess.
Bobby-what's thes coop on your custom-made bars? Nutr. profile, manufacturer and esp. COST. SOunds like they'd be expensive
I like pure protein and the new eas ones. But I’ve always felt bloated when eating protein bars. When I want to diet down as I am now I feel much better on food. I tried the protein bar thing but I never really feel lean. I’m not sure what it is, but I went back and read some old T-mag articles and between the glycerine and the ground up cow hooves I’m not so sure anymore. I forgot now which protein it is but one of the proteins in the protein blend are useless, as far as what I remember reading. Does anyone else remember this?
Double J, Jeff Jarret, (aka jj)…I’m not a big fan of the Pure Protein PB Bars either, bro, but the blueberry and s’mores are good-to-go and the white chocolate ones are aight…i’ve never really had any met-rx ones I don’t think…i am a fan of those atkins bars those…i know you’re on revolt, but i think they’re not too shabby…and labrada bars are definitely the shiznit–but they do have some sugah, sugah, sugah in 'em–but hell, all the other bars are hiding crap, so might as well go with a trusted brand who’s not afraid to label what’s in the bar.
the only thing glycerine is good for is making you retain water and occassionally giving you the shits. that crap sucks.