Kirkland (COSTCO) Protein Bar Opinions

[71CHEVY4X4]

Been eating these daily ( 2 or 3 bars per day )- trying to decide if they are "healthy" or not - from what I can tell they seem OK

high level - 21 G protein, 10G carb, 10G fiber, 2 G sugar , 190 Calories

Where's the negative to these things ??

[AdamWW]

Negative: tons of fiber in a firm that would bloat most people… and depending on your overall diet you’re consuming about 600 calories of not very nutrient dense food

Healthy is kind of a relative term

[EliKoehn]

Serious question: how do you mean "in a form that would bloat most people"?

[Bosko]

Where's the negative to these things ??

processed food source/thread

[desslok]

I mean, if you dislike delicious real food and just want to eat bars, and can afford the extra expense, and can stomach the sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners, then they aren’t going to kill you anytime soon. Eating 4 of those would rip me a new one though.

[71CHEVY4X4]

I continue to try to get a majority of my protein from real food for sure - chicken breast, 90-10 hamburger, salmon ect......

but typically use the bars for in-between meals ( snacks) - eat on average 2 per day

Typically I struggle with eating a "real" breakfast so start my day with a bar, FAIRLIFE Protein shake at snack then real food for lunch

[AdamWW]

Serious question: how do you mean "in a form that would bloat most people"?

Gut distress is a very common complaint among people consuming IMO's... the processed fiber in things like Quest bars. Three of these bars would be like 30-40 grams of IMO fiber.

[EliKoehn]

Gut distress is a very common complaint among people consuming IMO's... the processed fiber in things like Quest bars. Three of these bars would be like 30-40 grams of IMO fiber.

Interesting, didn't know. I can see a negative gut reaction but "bloat" as it's often taken to mean like water retention, is not something I would have thought to be caused by fiber, even in a processed form.

[AdamWW]

Interesting, didn't know. I can see a negative gut reaction but "bloat" as it's often taken to mean like water retention, is not something I would have thought to be caused by fiber, even in a processed form.

Mainly gas related I believe, or constipation

[FatBallz]

At 21g of protein and 190 calories, I would say it makes a good snack or dessert, but I wouldn't base a diet around them.

Now I'm thinking of picking some up next time I'm at Costco.

[paulinkansas]

I continue to try to get a majority of my protein from real food for sure - chicken breast, 90-10 hamburger, salmon ect......

but typically use the bars for in-between meals ( snacks) - eat on average 2 per day

Typically I struggle with eating a "real" breakfast so start my day with a bar, FAIRLIFE Protein shake at snack then real food for lunch

Make yourself a Vince Gironda hormone precursor shake. Read my tips in the nutrition.misc section. You can make it portable with ice cubes.

[snailsrus]

At 21g of protein and 190 calories, I would say it makes a good snack or dessert, but I wouldn't base a diet around them.

Now I'm thinking of picking some up next time I'm at Costco.

they don’t taste good, Costco has better tasting protein bars generally, right now they have “FITCRUNCH Chef Robert Irvine's Whey Protein Bars”

Are they unhealthy? Not really, waste of money, ya. I would get the zero Greek yogurt Costco sells and have it with fruit or cereal. I mean jerky isn’t bad either. String cheese, even their canned chicken is pretty decent


Damn the fiber is really high. 1 fiber one bar destroys me and that’s 9 grams of fiber.



This are more “whole food” protein snacks from Costco
They have egg turkey breakfast sandwiches 200 Cals 17 grams of protein
https://www.redsallnatural.com/produ...usage-eggwich/


Egg white bites 70 cals 5 grams protein
https://www.veggiesmadegreat.com/fri...white-frittata

[EliKoehn]

Robert Irvine probably put cayenne pepper in his protein bars, I'd venture to guess.

[FatBallz]

they don’t taste good, Costco has better tasting protein bars generally, right now they have “FITCRUNCH Chef Robert Irvine's Whey Protein Bars”

Are they unhealthy? Not really, waste of money, ya. I would get the zero Greek yogurt Costco sells and have it with fruit or cereal. I mean jerky isn’t bad either. String cheese, even their canned chicken is pretty decent


Damn the fiber is really high. 1 fiber one bar destroys me and that’s 9 grams of fiber.



This are more “whole food” protein snacks from Costco
They have egg turkey breakfast sandwiches 200 Cals 17 grams of protein
https://www.redsallnatural.com/produ...usage-eggwich/


Egg white bites 70 cals 5 grams protein
https://www.veggiesmadegreat.com/fri...white-frittata

I'm always on the look out for sweet snacks that have at least some nutritional value to eat at night. Usually it ends up being cereal like Frosted Mini Wheats or Raisin Nut Bran (the best) or something like yogurt or cottage cheese with fruit, but that's getting old. Maybe I'll check out those fitcrunch bars.

[GeneralSerpant]

With all the fiber you might be inclined to use it to supplement your meal if it's an issue.

People need protein and people need energy. Fat tends to be a more sensitive factor of energy because it's 9 calories per gram instead of 4. Carbs are optimally used for more assertive work, but ultimately just turn into body fat if you don't use it, and have 4 calories per gram (minus the fiber so good job on separating that out and making our lives easier here).

20-30 grams protein per bar is the good standard. Muscle goers usually use .7 grams per pound bodyweight as a requisite intake of protein, so if you're 200 lbs and thus need 140 grams of protein per day, then this will take care of 1/7 of that need.

[MrCarrot]

I think all these bars are pretty much the same old cr*p, marketed as "2g of sugar" and "20g of protein" but with sugar alcohols and cheap filler protein.

I admit to eating one every evening as a treat. However in the last 12 months I've gone back to mostly buying regular chocolate and having small amounts, purely because I'm not convinced the protein bars are in any way "healthier" or beneficial, but they're about 3 times more expensive.

If I'm low on protein one day I'll cook half a chicken breast extra, or crack open a can of tuna. For me now, the protein bars are nothing more than a treat, so I might as well have something that is slightly tastier and much cheaper, aka real chocolate.

Oh and I would add, when I first started eating protein bars they made me constipated (ironic considering the packaging warns of a laxative effect), but after a while they no longer had that effect on me.

[pinfante]

Been eating these daily ( 2 or 3 bars per day )- trying to decide if they are "healthy" or not - from what I can tell they seem OK

high level - 21 G protein, 10G carb, 10G fiber, 2 G sugar , 190 Calories

Where's the negative to these things ??

Kind of like knock off quest bars...