Question on Meal Replacement Bars. (Read 986 times)

Meal Replacement Bars

There is no such thing. Meals cannot be replaced by "nutritional" bars.

I agree with everything Trent wrote, especially about eating like the French or Japanese. EAT LESS. Smaller portions is the key. FWIW, About 70-75% of my daily calories come from milk, protein shakes or bars and they do well by me. I do take supplements though (multivitamin, fish oil, zinc, magnesium, vit c & e after runs, etc).

Totally agree w/Trent.....& if you're goal is portability, try things like: apples, raisins, nuts, dried fruit (in limited quantities), etc.....homemade oatmeal cookies may even be more nutritional than said bars.... try chatting w/this group for other ideas: http://www.runningahead.com/groups/jiggly_joggers/Forum

But what about Pop Tarts, the pre-race wonder food?

Pop Tarts are the wonder pre-race energy foodlike substance. They are second only to Star crunch.

I don't know what steel cut oats are

Slow-cooking oats (i.e., not instant) can be either rolled or steel cut. Most of what we eat and know in this country is/are rolled oats. With rolled oats, the grain is steamed until it is soft (but not cooked) and it is pressed between two rollers and made flat. That makes it cook more quickly and gives it a better mouthfeel than whole grain. Steel cut oats runs the grain through an apparatus that basically cuts each grain into littler bits. These retain more of the oats' original chewiness and texture, but they cook relatively quickly like the rolled oats. I prefer the steel cut oats. They are also fairly popular on the British Isles and can be bought at most health food stores that have bulk grains and beans. To cook either, the easiest way to do it is to have one part grain to 4ish parts water. You can use a crock pot, an oven or a cast iron pot. Heat the water to boiling. Add the oats with perhaps a touch of salt. Heat back to boiling and keep it hot for about 45 minutes. It takes very little work. I usually heat mine in the cast iron pot with a lid and then stick it in the oven set to 300 degrees and then turned off. I do this before my run and come home to fabulous oats.

skipping the rest of it...as someone who has lost weight Meal replacement bars dont do much to satisfy your hunger, they have a lot of sugar so they tend to spike your blood sugar and make you more hungry. There are lots of fast breakfast options that are sooooo much more satisfying. oats are good and omelets can be made in 5 minutes (all the veggies pre chopped in baggies in the freezer) If you MUST eat in the car there are better options but ds is screaming so I bbl

I agree with Trent on this one. Those breakfast bars are garbage and honestly, do you think you're not going to be starving again in an hour on only 100 calories of quick-burning sugars? There are SO many better things to eat for breakfast. If you're in a hurry whipping up something like what Nate described is a great idea. Or even some yogurt and some granola (healthy granola, not a sugar packed pre-packaged bar) before you run out the door is better than a Special K bar.