So, you know how you walk into the smoothie bar and you can customize a $6 smoothie? You add the protein, pick your fruits, add your vitamin or energy booster, peanut butter, and other extras? Well, the “Youbar” is a similar concept. Except here, you get to design a protein or recovery bar from scratch.
The concept is actually really neat, given the multitude of dietary restrictions or food preferences that people have.
For instance, if you wanted an all-Paleo bar, a gluten-free bar, all organic/non-GMO, a vegan-bar, a high-fiber bar, a low-carb bar, or a combination of all of them, Youbars can make it for you. And judging from the post here they make it from scratch, from their own kitchen.
Most people are turned off of the concept of eating protein bars because of the fear of allergens or ingredients they’d rather not put in their bodies. The nice thing about youbars is that you get to hand-pick every ingredient that goes into your customized bars, making it a neat choice for people with allergies, on strict diets (Paleo, low-carb, etc), people trying to avoid artificial sugars or ingredients (nursing moms or pregnant moms), or anyone trying to eat vegan, etc.
On their “build-a-bar” page, you get to scroll down the list of all the base ingredients and pick how you want to flavor the bar. A side bar on the page tallies up the protein, carbs, fat, calories, fiber, and so on as you create your product. Very neat feature, especially if you are aiming to stay under a certain daily limit (for fat or carbs, for instance).
It also makes for a unique idea for a gift for a fitness friend (assuming you know their tastes), or as a fun activity to encourage your child to pick ingredients to create a healthy snack for them on the go.
I named my own youbar the “Random Sumi Bar” (RSB) because it was totally and completely random. I didn’t try to meet any specific macros goals for carbs, fat, protein but did pick things I like to eat, like chocolate (they even have extra dark!), and berries.
You even get to pick the level of sweetness, which is another neat concept since most conventional bars tend to be really sweet, at least for me. I wasn’t trying to make magic here with marrying flavors or whatever, so I was really pleased to find out the RSB tasted good.
I’m not a big fan of bars in general, but know that realistically, many of my clients and fellow busy friends need a clean, healthy product that they can stash in their gym bag/purse, pack when traveling, and eat while on the go. Depending on how you design your bar, you can even create one higher in carbs, calories, and protein and lower in fats so it’s ideal post work out.
Making or baking your own protein bars is also an option, but chances are if you’re considering a product like youbars where someone else does the grunt work, you’re probably already pressed for time.
In that case, youbars would be an ideal choice for you. After all, the internet is full of home-made protein bar recipes, that you can make at a fraction of the cost of youbars. With this product, you’re paying for the convenience, fun, and luxury of having someone else make it for you.
Worth a try?
Definitely, but as a treat; YouBars are pretty pricey.
Sumi Singh is a personal trainer and group fitness instructor in Austin, TX, an online diet coach, and the author of Stay at Home Strong.
Her training website is www.shailafitness.com and she can be contacted for personalized diet coaching directly from here.
You can purchase her book on post-pregnancy and female fat loss at…
