The Cultured Girl

Protein bars are an ideal pre-workout breakfast, because they provide you enough energy without making you feel full. The challenge is finding a bar that packs enough protein but doesn’t have so many calories that it cancels out your exercise.

Clif Bars, for instance, contain a whopping 10 grams of protein (about 20 percent of your daily allowance), but depending on the flavor, you’re also getting 200-250 calories and troubling amounts of fat. For that reason, I was recently drawn to the new 100 Calorie bars from Balance Bar, until I realized they are sorely lacking in protein and therefore not likely to keep me going until lunch.
So I’ve decided to stick with Clif’s Luna Bar, which has long been my protein bar of choice (particularly the lower-fat varieties like Toasted Nuts ‘n’ Cranberry). Luna Bars have the same amount of protein as Clif bars but 180 calories max. I was also delighted to read on Hungry Girl yesterday that Luna just rolled out a new line of breakfast bars called Sunrise, which have 8 grams of protein but more fiber than regular Luna bars. Plus, the flavors, including blueberry yogurt and vanilla almond, are more conducive to morning munchies than, say, S’mores.