Modern Metabolic Health with Dr. Lindsay Ogle, MD

How To Pick A Protein Bar That Supports Metabolic Health

• Lindsay Ogle, MD

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Tired of “protein” bars that read like candy? We put eight popular bars under a metabolic microscope and lay out a simple plan to choose options that actually support appetite control, muscle maintenance, and better blood sugar—especially if you’re on a GLP-1 and struggling to hit your daily protein. No hype, just clear criteria: 20 grams of protein for a true meal assist, minimal added sugars, smart fiber for satiety, and a gut-friendly sweetener profile.

We start with why protein is non-negotiable for metabolic health, then explain how GLP-1 appetite suppression can make protein targets harder to reach. From there, we compare GoMacro, KIND Protein, and RXBAR as nutritious snacks that fall short for protein supplementation. We break down Clif Builder’s as a solid protein source with a sugar load better suited for endurance days, not desk days. Finally, we spotlight four strong contenders—Quest, First Form, Pure Protein, and Think—covering calories, carbs, fiber, sugars, and sugar alcohols so you can match the right bar to your goals and your gut.

You’ll leave with practical rules to shop fast: aim for 20 grams of protein per bar, favor fiber if you need help hitting daily targets, watch added sugars, and test your tolerance to sugar alcohols. We also share when to use bars as a meal stand-in, when to treat them like a snack, and how to keep whole-food protein at the center of your day. Have a favorite flavor or a brand we missed? Share it with us. If this guide helps you choose smarter, subscribe, leave a quick review, and pass it to a friend who’s ready to upgrade their protein game.

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Dr. Lindsay Ogle, MD:

Welcome to the Modern Metabolic Health Podcast with your host, Dr. Lindsay Ogle, board certified family medicine and obesity medicine physician. Here we learn how we can treat and prevent modern metabolic conditions such as diabetes, PCOS, batty liver disease, metabolic syndrome, sleep apnea, and more. We focus on optimizing lifestyle while utilizing safe and effective medical treatments. Please remember that while I am a physician, I am not your physician. Everything discussed here is provided as general medical knowledge and not direct medical advice. Please talk to your doctor about what is best for you. This is especially true for anybody who is utilizing a GLP1 medication. My name is Dr. Lindsay Ogle, and I'm a board-certified family medicine and obesity medicine physician. And many, if not most, of my patients are utilizing GLP1 medications to improve their health and maintain a weight that is healthy for them. And for each of my patients, I review their nutrition and make recommendations on how to improve their nutrition, not only to help aid in weight loss, but to help improve their overall health and well-being. And protein is one of the macronutrients that we focus on. And the reasons are plenty. Protein is essential. We need it for our body to function appropriately. We need it to build and maintain our muscle, and that includes our organs like our heart. And it also is our building blocks for enzyme reactions in our body and for hormone production. Protein is so important. Protein also helps signal to our brain that we've had adequate nutrition. And by doing so, it helps to signal fullness and satiety and can help prevent excess hunger. The trick is when somebody who is on a GLP1 medication and their hunger signals are already suppressed because of this medication, then it can be difficult to consume enough protein in the day to meet your body's needs. And because of this, sometimes patients need to supplement with protein. And today we are going to review eight common protein bars that many of my patients have either considered or tried, or I recommend them to try. I'm gonna go through the macronutrients of these eight brands and discuss the pros and cons of them. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, and everybody has their favorite protein bar. You also don't have to utilize protein bars, but I think that they can be a great tool to have. However, I don't recommend that you only rely on protein bars for your only source of protein. There are other great options out there, and I'm gonna share a link below so you can access a PDF of many different protein options. So let's get started. The first three brands that I'm going to go over are popular brands, and they have really great ingredients, but unfortunately are a little bit lower on the protein side. So although they are marketed as being high in protein, these bars do not have enough protein to replace a meal. They could be used as a protein snack in between meals, or potentially it could be that, you know, candy bar replacement if you like them. The first is Go Macro Bars, and they have several different flavors. But for this review, I chose their dark chocolate option. For their dark chocolate bars, it has 270 calories and 10 grams of protein. This bar has 37 grams of carbs and nine of them are sugars and eight of those are added sugars, and they are three grams of fiber. So this bar is really heavy on carbohydrates, and I am not villainizing carbohydrates, but this is not the best option if your goal is weight management or blood sugar control. If we are truly looking for a true protein bar, then we want something that has more protein and less carbohydrates than this bar has to offer. That being said, it is not an unhealthy option. It is just not optimal for a protein bar. Next on the list is kind protein bars. And this is the specific kind bars that have the word protein in the label. Even though they have protein in the label, these also don't have a, you know, really strong source of protein. The flavor that I looked at for this comparison was the dark chocolate nut flavor, and it had 12 grams of protein in it. There was a total of 240 calories and 18 grams of carbohydrate, eight of which were sugars, six were added, and there were five grams of fiber. So this is actually a pretty decent source of fiber. Um, and again, the protein, it's a little bit on the lower side, but when you add in that five grams of fiber, it's overall not, again, not an unhealthy option. It's a great thing to have, you know, on the go for a snack, but this is not a super strong protein bar option if what you're looking for is protein supplementation. The third protein bar that is a little bit on the lower side for protein is RX bars. I chose to look at the chocolate sea salt flavor, and this one also had 12 grams of protein in it. There were 200 calories and 23 grams of carbohydrate, 14 of which were sugars, and all of these grams of sugar came naturally from dates, which is a great source of um sugars because it is not added. Um, and those dates also bring along fiber. So there's five grams of fiber in this bar. Again, it's a healthy bar, it's giving you lots of nutrients, and it has a good balance of fiber and protein, but the actual total amount of protein, again, is not enough to replace a full meal, um, but is a great snack option or dessert option or something to tide you over until you get to your meal. The next brand I have a little bit mixed feelings about it's Cliff Builder's Bar. So the um flavor that I looked at was the chocolate flavor, and most of these flavors are chocolate or chocolate related because I personally really like chocolate, so that was what I was looking for in this comparison. Um, but the Cliff Builders Bar, again, this is specific for the you know box or the package that has builders in it. That is the one that's gonna have more protein. It did have 20 grams of protein, which is typically the cutoff that I look for for what I consider as an obesity medicine physician to be a true protein bar. But it had a lot of added sugar, which again, I'm not villainizing sugar, but added sugars are something that I try to minimize as much as possible for my health, for my patients' health, especially for my patients who have insulin resistance, prediabetes, diabetes, PCOS. Um, this the this bar, the Chocolate Cliff Builders bar, has 17 grams of added sugar and 31 grams of carbs all together. There are two grams of fiber, but to me, those two grams of fiber are not enough to offset the 17 grams of added sugar. There are 280 calories in this bar. So this is one that I think can be great for somebody who is truly doing endurance activities. So if you're going on a very long hike and you need that quick energy, that um, you know, easy access to calories and sugar, cliff bars are great. But for the everyday person, this is not going to help you achieve your health goals. So I would not choose this um brand for that reason. Again, great for long trips or great for long hikes, but not for the everyday person who is trying to maintain their weight and their metabolic health. All right, we are halfway there and we have four more brands to go over. These last four, I think, are great options and they all meet that 20 gram threshold of protein to, in my opinion, count as a true protein bar. And first one of this group that I want to talk about is a very popular brand, which is Quest Bars. Quest Bars have so many different flavor options, and so if you are looking to try this bar, I definitely recommend choosing the variety pack so you can try the different flavors out because they're very different and unique. But the one that I looked at for this is the chocolate chip cookie dough. This bar has 190 calories, so it's a little bit on the lower calorie side compared to some of the prior bars. And it has 21 grams of protein and 22 grams of carbohydrates, one gram of sugar. This bar has 12 grams of fiber, which is an excellent source of fiber. So if you are somebody who struggles to get their daily fiber in, and I talk about the importance of fiber, especially on a GLP one in a prior video that I will link here. Um, so if you struggle with that, a quest bar could be a two for one punch getting in 21 grams of protein and 12 grams of fiber. Quest bars do use sugar alcohols, and so if you're sensitive to sugar alcohols, if it causes you stomach upset, then this may not be the brand for you. But if you tolerate them, then that is a-okay and a great option. And a great option for either a meal replacement, a snack on the go, uh, special treats. Again, if you find one of those flavors that you really enjoy. The next brand on my list is one that you may not have heard of. It's a little more niche, but there's actually a um somebody on Instagram that I saw uh promote this brand and I tried them, and I actually really personally like their protein bars, and it is called First Form. They also have several different flavors. Um, the one that I looked at is chocolate crunch. This one absolutely for me is a great replacement for when I am craving a candy bar. It's extremely chocolatey and rich, and it comes with 20 grams of protein, 260 calories, so a little bit on the higher side of calories, has 19 grams of carbohydrates, four are sugars, three of those are added, and it has one gram of fiber. So it does not have that added fiber that the Quest bars have, um, but I think it can be a great treat, especially if you find a flavor that you enjoy. Okay, we have two more that are fairly similar. Um, it is pure protein and think bars. So, first with the pure protein, um, I looked at their chocolate deluxe flavor. Um, this one has 180 calories, 21 grams of protein, 17 grams of carbohydrates, three sugars, um, four sugar alcohols, and two grams of fiber. So I think this is a great, well-rounded option. Could you know be a light meal or a snack or a treat again if you find one that you really enjoy? And last is the think bars. I've seen these at Aldi, um, and there are at some other stores as well. I looked at the brownie crunch flavor. That bar has 230 calories, 20 grams of protein, 24 grams of carbohydrates. This one has zero sugars in it, but it has eight sugar alcohols or eight grams of sugar alcohol and two grams of fiber. So, again, if your stomach is a little bit sensitive to those sugar alcohols, be cautious with this brand. But if you tolerate it, it can be a great option for a protein bar. So there is a review of eight brands of protein bars. The first three were relatively low in protein, so they had less than that 20 gram cutoff that I consider to be a true protein bar. The fourth is one that had more added sugar than I would recommend in a protein bar. And then the last four had a good balance. Some utilized more sugar alcohols than others, and so that is important to be aware of. But the main takeaway that I want you to get from this is that protein bars can be a wonderful tool. It is great to keep in your pantry or in your bag or at work or in your car to grab when you are really hungry and you need something to tide you over, or if you're craving something sweet and indulgent, this is a very healthy option as a replacement. There are dozens of brands out there, and everybody has a different preference on texture and flavor and how their body responds to the macronutrient composition of the protein bars. And so I recommend trying several of these or other brands that are out there. If you have a favorite, whether it's a different brand or a favorite flavor, please let me know in the comments. Either if you're watching this on YouTube, put that in the comments below. Or if or if you have a question or if you want to share your response, you can email me. Um, that email is support at Missouri Metabolic Health.com, and I would love to hear from you. I hope you found this helpful, and I can't wait to share with you next week my review of pre-made protein shakes. Thank you for listening and loving how you can improve your metabolic health in this modern world. If you found this information helpful, please share with a friend, family member, or colleague. We need to do all we can to combat the dangerous misinformation that is out there. Please subscribe and write a review. This will help others find the podcast so they may also improve their metabolic health. I look forward to our conversation next week.