How to choose protein bars that are good for you.

If you ever visited the Department of protein bars in supermarkets, stores, sports nutrition, then you have obviously swam head. Feel like variations of these bars are endless.

Protein bars can vary greatly from the point of view of such important factors as calories, fat, sugar, additives and other ingredients. If you will attentively read the labels, you can try something more like chocolate than is really nutritious and protein-rich snack.

Moreover, the protein bars can be expensive, although many of them contain easy to obtain and inexpensive ingredients that most people can assemble at home for a fraction of the cost of prepackaged product. However, you can not replace the protein bar is convenient for a quick snack when you want to get more energy and you have no time.

But before you put protein bars in your backpack or bag for training, it is important to have an idea about how much protein you actually need to eat each day - this number varies depending on several individual factors - so you can figure out how to add protein bars to your diet. After that you will be able to buy these bars that fully meet your requirements.

How much do you need?

Protein is vital for many bodily functions but the body cannot produce this macro - it needs to come from food. When the protein is cleaved during digestion, the formation of amino acids. Are the building blocks of protein that the body uses to build and maintain muscles and organs.

Protein is vital for the production of blood, connective tissue, antibodies, enzymes and even your hair.

Since protein is essential for building muscle mass, people who are very active, say, athletes or people with heavy physical activity, need to eat some more. The same applies to women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Bodybuilders typically eat much more protein than the average person to maintain the muscle growth.

The average person should consume 25 to 35 grams of protein per meal.

"Healthy" sources of protein

The richest sources of protein are meat, poultry, fish and seafood, eggs, and milk and other dairy products. But there are many plant sources of protein, including beans and legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains. This is all the products that are easy to include in a balanced diet, so if you consume them in large quantities every day, you will probably get a lot of protein.

The trick to choosing protein sources is to stick to those that contain little saturated fat and processed carbohydrates, and rich in nutrients. For example, you better have the salmon steak (17 grams of protein), than a rich steak of marbled beef (23 grams protein).

But you have to keep in mind that eating too much protein bad for the kidneys. Therefore, people predisposed to kidney disease should be careful not to overdo it.

Protein bars

If you are going to include protein bars in your diet or as a regular snack between meals, or as "take-and-run" when you don't have time for a full meal, or as a strategy of weight gain or weight loss - read-wrappers and understanding the ingredients on the various types of bars is the key to the selection of the most useful options for you. Here are some General guidelines to consider:

1. The content of protein. For a snack between meals or before or after workout look for a bar containing at least 20 grams of protein. The meal replacement should be at least 30 grams of protein.

2. The type of protein. The protein bars typically comes from dairy or vegetable sources. The most common are whey; soy; eggs; milk; rice; peas. If you have an Allergy or sensitivity (for example, you have a lactose intolerance), be sure to select the bar containing the type of protein you can safely eat.

3. Calories. If you are looking for a bar for a snack between meals, stick to which contains about 220-250 calories. The protein bar that you can use for a full meal, may contain from 300 to 400 calories.

4. Fat. 10 to 15 grams of total fat ideally, and no more than two grams of saturated fat. Avoid harmful TRANS fats contained in partially hydrogenated oils.

5. Fiber. This element is key: fiber fills, so the more fiber in the bar, the greater the likelihood that your stomach will not need food until the next snack or a full meal. Don't settle for less than three to five grams of fiber in a protein bar.

6. Sugar. Try not to choose protein bars that compete with candy for sugar. Some contain 30 grams of added sugar, when the ideal is about five grams or less. Artificial sweeteners (like erythritol, sorbitol, and maltitol) are not the best choice: they tend to cause bloating.