Cereal bars, often marketed as healthy, may not be as nutritious as they seem, with some containing more calories, carbs, and sugars than candy bars. It is important to scrutinize the macronutrient content of these products, as many are processed with added sugars and less beneficial ingredients. For healthier snack options, consider fresh foods like vegetables with dips, yogurt with fruit, or nuts.

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2. Death by Cereal Bars
More and more we are seeing cereal bars being marketed as healthy options, but are they
really as good for you as they claim? Hmmm- I suspect NOT!
With most of the population being busy and grabbing food on the go, cereal bars are rapidly
becoming a more popular choice for breakfast, a snack and even a meal replacement. But are
you sacrificing your health or weight loss for the sake of convenience?

3. So, what do some of the macronutrients in these cereal bars
look like – PGPT London
Nutrition per 100g Calories Fat Carbs Sugar
Alpen strawberry yogurt bar 415 10 75 35
Nature Valley crunchy granola bar 456 17.2 64.5 28.3
Kellogg’s Nutri-grain elevenses raisin bar 372 9 67 40
Mars Bar 452 16.9 70.3 57.1
Nak’d Bar Cookie Cashew 410 23.4 46 39.2
Green and Blacks 70% Cocoa 580 42 36.5 28.5

4. When picking your food choices, it is important to look not only at the calories, but also the
carbs, fats (remember to also break fats down between saturated and unsaturated. As a general
rule of thumb if the saturated fat content is more than a third of the total fats than don’t buy it)
and sugars, especially when purchasing things like cereal bars. Some cereal bars have more
calories in them than a Mars bar (and a pretty close to the mark with sugar and carbs!) Don’t kid
yourself. If you want sugar and something sweet take a chocolate. Leave the cereal bars out of it
completely. The only cereal bar that in my opinion can be put into the health range because of
its natural products are the Nak’d Bars. The one above is one of the highest in calories out of the
range.

5. Although some muesli and cereal bars can be low in calories, there is a lot of added
(not natural) sugar in them. Let me give you the following example. A meal of
chicken, accompanied by a cup of broccoli, a cup of asparagus and a cup of baby
spinach would be approximately 18g of carbs. Now compare that to a nature valley
granola bar which is 15g of carbs. Option one is so much more nutritious, filling and
wholesome yet the general public are sitting down to a cereal bar for supper because
of laziness. Crazy right?!!

6. So next time you reach for a cereal “healthy” bar as your snack or meal and you’re
trying to lose weight…stop right there! Often prepacked, processed or food with a
long shelf life have many added ingredients, added sugars and are not fresh and
natural.
Here are my top 5 snacks for on the go..
2x Celery sticks with a tablespoon of cashew butter
1x small pot of total Greek yogurt with a handful of blueberries
2x Carrot stick with a tablespoon of hummus
Small pot of mixed olives, feta and sun dried tomatoes
15 almonds and 15 chickpeas mixed together

7. peter@pgpt.co.uk
020 8203 8657
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