Rx Bars: The Breakfast of Champions?
A Bite-Size Read for Your Health and Your Waistline
Time to wake up! Start with a shower, read the paper while sipping coffee and OH GOD I OVERSLEPT. Scratch that. Throw on some clothes. Wash my face. Grab an Rx bar for breakfast on-the-run.
While Rx bars are super convenient for times like these, you’re probably a little worried given this is a Nutrition Nugget, where all your favorites are put in the hot seat to question if they’re as healthy as you think.
Let’s start by looking at the label on one of these bars. All the flavors have minor differences, but for this article, I used the blueberry bar. It’s made from 3 egg whites, 6 almonds, 4 cashews, 2 dates, and no B.S. (bad stuff), according to the package. With such a short list of ingredients, all of which are healthy, it would be easy to say case closed and call Rx bars a win. But let’s read just a little more. There’s 12 grams of protein despite there being “3 egg whites,” and a whopping 20 grams of net carbs. Wait, what?!
Ideally, net carbs would be in the single digits so as not to spike our blood sugar. When our blood sugar spikes, or is too high, the body stores fat. So what do we do about this? Well, we can balance carbs by adding protein, fiber, or fat. The fat from the nuts is plenty, so in this case, I would go with protein or fiber. This could either be a hardboiled egg white or a piece of fruit, but any source of these nutrients would work to make a balanced meal.
That seemed too easy right? Just add a little fruit and Rx bars become the breakfast of champions? Not quite. Look back at that 12 grams of protein in the blueberry bar. If there were really 3 egg whites in the ingredients, that should be closer to 21 grams of protein. If you’re starting to think this label might be some bad stuff, you wouldn’t be alone. There’s a pending lawsuit in the state of New York claiming the bars have misleading packaging, alleging they actually contain egg white powder instead of egg whites.
Even if these claims are true, this does not make Rx bars inherently unhealthy. I bring it up only to remind us all how important it is to read labels…in full. Use all you know to question foods that are advertised as “healthy,” look beyond those marketing tactics and if something seems fishy don’t hesitate to get to the bottom of it! Stay healthy, my friends.
