What’s the Deal with Meal
Replacement Bars?
Meal bars or other meal replacement products are great
for making a little meal when you don’t have time to
stop for that big healthy salad topped with a zesty
bleu cheese salad
dressing you really want.
They are easily portable,
filled with vitamins and minerals, come in dozens of
flavors and textures, and feel like a treat.
Although meal bars purport to be healthy foreating during exercise, most of them have as many
calories as a candy bar, the fat and sugar content being
similar, but with added vitamins and minerals to make us
feel like we’re “eating healthy”. But if you eat a 200
calorie meal bar during your workout, you may be
defeating your purpose.
Your body gets hit with a rush of sugar, which
it burns up, leaving your fat reserves in reserve for
another day. If you are exercising to lose weight,
pushing in a couple of hundred calories deprives you of
a primary benefit of your workout.
On the other hand, maybe you come to the gym straight
from work, and you’re hungry. It’s difficult to work out
with any motivation when you’re stomach is growling at
you. Instead of buying a beefed-up candy bar, try a
piece of fruit instead. The calories you get won’t have
the refined sugar of a meal bar, and you’ll only get
about half as many calories from a banana or an apple.
Have it with a glass of water ten or fifteen minutes
before starting your workout.
Continue reading the next aerobics article on fitness supplements, pills, and potions
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