Healthy Granola Bars: Fact Or Fiction
Look at you, making a conscious effort to eat right and stay active. Good job! It wasn’t
easy, but you’ve managed to break all those bad habits related to your diet and workout
routine, and now you’re on the path to a healthier lifestyle. Now, instead of a bag
of chips, your afternoon snack consists of a healthy, portable granola bar instead. But--
hang on-- what if those granola bars aren’t as healthy as you originally thought? Registered
dietician Rachael Link had some doubts about the supposed healthiness of the average granola
bar, which she chose to investigate as part of an article she wrote for Healthline. Now,
based on Link’s research, we here at Bestie hope to uncover once and for all whether or
not granola bars are really the “healthy” snack that they claim to be.
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Most people would agree that granola bars are a healthier alternative when compared
to the junk foods that other people, snack on, right? After all, just take a look at
the ingredients that go into your average granola bar: oats, nuts, seeds, dried fruit,
honey, coconut….that all sounds like healthy stuff to me. So where’s the problem? Well,
as Link points out in her article, not all granola bars are created equal. The nutritional
value of granola bars can vary wildly depending on the brand making them as well as the ingredients
used. If that wasn’t enough, determining which granola bars offer better nutrition
than others often isn’t as simple as just counting calories. For example, while Granola
bar A might be advertised as having fewer calories than Granola Bar B, Granola Bar A
might also have twice the amount of sugar as its competitor, as well as fewer useful
nutrients such as protein and fiber. So yeah, while it might not be lying about its lower
calorie count, there’s a lot more to consider when hoping to get the best nutritional bang
for your buck.
According to Link, the average granola bar can have anywhere between 100 to 300 calories,
and can usually contain somewhere between 1 to 10 grams of protein and 1 to 7 grams
of fiber. In addition, many granola bars may also be a source of micronutrients, such as
B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, and iron.According to Link, these additional nutrients may already
be present in the granola bar’s ingredients, or they might be added to the bar as a result
of fortification during the manufacturing process.
So now that we’ve laid the most basic nutritional facts bare, what are some other pros and cons
we can weigh when it comes to granola bars? Well, on the positive side, granola bars are
fairly convenient when it comes to snacking. They’re not very expensive, which makes
them a great way to snack on a tight budget, and they also come preportioned; that means
that every individual granola bar is treated as 1 serving, which means there’s less risk
of accidentally overeating. For this reason, research has suggested that preportioned food
might actually be very useful for weight management, seeing as it takes a lot of the guess-work
out of measuring portion sizes when it comes to your meals and snacks. No scales, no measuring
cups-- just take one out of the box, unwrap it and go to town. Boom, done.
As we already mentioned, granola bars also often contain a number of healthy ingredients,
such as oats, seeds, nuts and dried fruit.Oats, in particular, are very beneficial due to
being a great source of a type of fiber known as beta-glucan, which can help reduce the
risk of heart disease by decreasing your body’s levels of LDL, or “bad” cholesterol.
So there’s some good news about granola bars, but that’s not what you’re really
here for, right? Now let’s get into some of the potential downsides.
As we already mentioned, an otherwise healthy granola bar can often come overloaded with
a ton of added sugar, as well as empty calories and artificial ingredients. For some brands,
a single granola bar might even contain as much as 15 grams of sugar. To put that into
perspective, that’s enough sugar to fill 4 teaspoons! In one granola bar! For an even
better perspective, the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that the
calories you intake from added sugar should be limited to 10 percent of your total daily
calories; for an average 2000 calorie diet, that would equate to about 12 teaspoons per
day, at most. In other words, you could reach your daily limit for sugar intake simply by
eating 3 of these granola bars. That’s wild, right? Studies also show that an excessive
amount of sugar added in your diet can also put you at an increased risk of conditions
such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, but if you’re a regular here at Bestie then
chances are you already knew that.
Some granola bars have been known to swap out the added sugar for artificial sweeteners
instead, but these come with their own health-related detriments as well. Some sweeteners such as
xylitol and sorbitol can’t be fully broken down by your body and might cause digestive
issues, and others such as aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin may have a negative effect on
your blood sugar and gut bacteria, according to some studies.
In addition to the added sugar, granola bars are also often highly processed and can contain
less than healthy ingredients such as vegetable oils and preservatives, as well as artificial
flavors.
All of this seems like a lot of information to digest, no pun intended. With both the
pros and the cons in mind, should you still make granola bars a part of your diet? Well,
according to Link, granola bars can be a healthy snack choice, but you may want to exercise
a little more caution when choosing a brand at the grocery store. For starters, Link suggests
that you always pay attention to the ingredients on the label, prioritizing real foods over
additives. Try to find granola bars that contain less than 10 grams of sugar per serving, as
well as at least 5 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber. Since ingredients on food
labels are listed by weight, stay away from any granola bars that list sugar or other
sweeteners as one of the first 3 ingredients on the list. If you’re feeling wary of store
bought granola bars, you can also always buy the base ingredients and look up the recipe
to make your own, though that might defeat the purpose of granola bars being an easy
and convenient snack. Still, homemade food always tastes better because of the effort
that went into making it, right?
Whether you’re trying to lose weight or simply start making healthier choices, finding
the right foods to snack on can be a bit of a struggle. While granola bars can offer a
lot of convenience as well as several healthy ingredients, you should always make an effort
to read the label and make sure you know exactly what’s going into your body.
Was this video helpful or interesting for you? Got any other healthy snacking tips you’d
like to share? Feel free to drop a comment below to help keep the conversation going.
Also, be sure to check out our Health And Nutrition Facts playlist on Bestie for more
videos similar to this one.