Snickers Marathon bar
 

So I just started again 1 week ago to go without pop or junk food and eat really healthy. But when i started to think about my powerbar i have been eating it seems to me that i should probably go without. Should i take it out of what i eat and change it for some other type of powerbar? If so what would be something good to have instead?

Its the Snickers Marathon Protein bar. Caramel Nut Rush

That all depends on you. I bought a six pack of the very same marathon bars a couple weeks ago and ate them all in three days...but that was because I was hiking 30 miles of Appalachian Mountain with a 60 lb backpack. My body needed that sugar for energy...I wouldn't recommend that level of sugar under any other circumstances (barring marathons, soccer practice, and the Tour De France).

So as I said, that all depends on your activity level and the timing of consumption.

you should stay away from simple sugars like this as much as poss... stick to your complex carbs for your energy. I find if im lagging or starting to feel a little dizzy - then a have a dextrose tablet (flavoured little tabs of dextrose) not to be confused with sucrose/fructrose/lactose or malto.. just keep some in my bag with me...

I'm a little confused by this. Why would it be better to down a tablet that is pure glucose as opposed to a power bar or Snickers marathon? Or even a regular Snickers?

Ok... snickers ingredients: Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Skim Milk, Lactose, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Artificial Flavor)Peanuts, Corn Syrup, Milkfat, Skim Milk, Vegetable Oil (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil)Salt, Lactose, Egg Whites, Chocolate, Artificial Flavor.

Now - your asking why not a snickers.... if 'I' feel like a boost 'I' would not eat this crap (maybe thats cos i am more strict) and the fact that it contains simple sugars/salt/lactose/fat and artificial flavours will give you just as big a slump when you come down of your 'sugar high'. Dextrose is the bodys main fuel source (not sucrose(sugar) that is found in the snicker) and is ready for glycogen storage. notice here how i have only been talking about the snickers... if you would like me to comment on the 'power bar' please provide the details of that and i will chat about that as well.

You keep saying simple sugars. My point is that dextrose is THE simplest sugar. It's not even a disacharide like sucrose.

I understand why you don't like the protein bars. My question is why you think dextrose is some magic sugar and the "simple sugars" in the bars are so different.

There are much healthier snacks for a boost. Peanuts or nuts in general for instance. Dextrose tabs are not some automatic ticket to muscles full of glycogen. More likely an ticket to a sugar crash.

I don't need to ask about a Power bar because I can look up the ingredients myself.

so you would only stay away because of the simple sugars.....not the partially hydrogenated oils that will rape your heart?

but it's ok to down just plain dextrose....i'm with eric....there's some weird logic here that i can't understand :)

BTW...something I forgot to write but is the most important point I wanted to make...

It's not right to compare different base amounts of foods. In other words, comparing a WHOLE snickers bar with just a few dextrose tabs is not valid. You have to compare a like amount of carbohydrates in this case.

Which means you'd be comparing a bite or a couple of bites of the snickers bar...I don't know. But I guarantee that the glycemic load of a like amount of carbs from a snickers will be nowhere near as high as from the dextrose tabs.

NOT just a few dextrose tabs represent a high glycemic load...it's not, simply because it ain't a lot of carbs.