BETTER BAR BITES

Walk down the cereal aisle these days and you will see almost as many choices of breakfast and snack bars as there are breakfast cereals, all to accommodate the on-the-go lifestyle of Americans. There are crunchy to chewy, savory to sweet offerings that go far beyond the old days of your basic granola bar or Pop-Tart.

High protein snack bars include those from companies like Akins, South Beach and Kashi, and are often geared to dieters, but they are appropriate for anyone and often are a better choice to replace a meal. They often contain more than 200 calories each so be sure you can afford those calories. These make great after school snacks for kids that play sports at school before coming home. Cereal-based breakfast bars contain more carbohydrates than protein and are better as a snack. Choose the ones made from whole grains that contain at least 2 grams of fiber.

Some bars contain "functional" ingredients, such as plant sterols in Nature Valley Healthy Heart Bars, the pre-biotics in Fiber One bars and the pre-biotics and psyllium in All Bran bars.

Products labeled "natural" or "made with organic ingredients" are not necessarily more healthful.

Nutrition Comparison of Breakfast Bars
The following list is a selection that contain: 200 calories or less, 2 grams of fiber, 1.5 grams saturated fat or less and no more than 12 grams (3 tsps) of sugar

Kellogg's All-Bran Fiber Bar
Fiber One Chewy Bar
Atkins Advantage Morning Cranberry Almond Bar
Kashi TLC Chewy Bar
Quaker Simple Harvest Chewy Multigrain Granola Bar
Slim-Fast Optima Muffin Bar
Quaker Sweet and Salty Crunch Bar
Kashi TLC Crunchy, Pumpkin Spice Flax Bar