I am a former runner, but I no longer indulge. As regular readers know, I ride a bike just about daily on Chicago’s Lakefront. If I am going to be out getting exercise, I would rather be on the bike than running. I have bad feet and when I was a runner I suffered a lot of injuries to my feet and ankles. I think running is a good healthy exercise although I do not think you should run a marathon and wrote about it on November 10.
Having said that, Chicago has a major marathon each year and it takes place in early October. Although I don’t participate, I do attend the Chicago Marathon Health and Fitness Expo which has lots of goodies for endurance athletes which includes cyclists, too.
These are the goodies I picked up at this year’s Chicago Marathon Expo
That’s where I discovered some really good and good tasting chocolate energy bars. An expo like this is valuable because you get a nice cross section of the current products available that might not be at your local stores. Also, they often have ‘show specials’ where they give you a nice discount if you buy it right there. As a retired guy, I am always happy to be able to $ave.
This year, I was very happy to encounter the Power Crunch Choklat protein energy bar which is ALL CHOCOLATE not just chocolate flavored. This bar weighs about the same as a Hershey Bar – 1.54 ounces. Like the Hershey With Almonds Bar, it contains not almonds, but little bits of Proto Whey Crisps which supply the protein and are crunchy to chew.
I love the taste of the Choklat bars. It is the same as eating chocolate candy only it is good for you and supplies you with needed energy and real nutrition.
What about the nutritional breakdown? Each bar consists of six sections, so you can measure out how much you are consuming very easily and accurately. I personally love this as my energy breaks on bike rides are limited to 50 calories so I don’t tie up my system in digestion when I want it to be pedaling. Each bar has two servings. A serving has 7 grams of total fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, no cholesterol, 35 mg of Sodium, 40 mg of Potassium, 8 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber and 5 grams of protein. I could live without the 4 grams of saturated fat, but it still falls well below the 21 grams we are allowed each day.
Last but not least, they offer BOTH a dark chocolate and a milk chocolate bar, so no chocolate lover needs to feel left behind.
I bought some at the Expo and have been enjoying them almost daily since then. Love ’em.
There are other varieties of chocolate-flavored bar offered by Power Crunch. These are brilliantly designed with delicate wafers inside that give the bars a very light texture unlike a lot of energy bars which can seem like eating flavored sawdust. You can read my detailed write up from last year for more details.
Chewing the Power Crunch Bars is also like eating candy. They are solid bars so if you are trying to break them up like I do, it is not as easy as the Choklat bars.
Their nutritional breakdown is similar. One bar is 1.4 ounces. Total fat 13 grams, saturated fat 5 grams, no cholesterol, 80 mg of Sodium, 195 mg of Potassium, 10 grams of carbohydrates, one gram fiber and 13 grams of protein.
There is also a white chocolate variety that is equally tasty if that flavor of chocolate is more appealing.
Finally, for the chocolate lover, I wrote up Chocolate Honey Stinger Waffles back in August and they are a wonderful pick me up as well as taste treat.
On balance these Power Crunch Bars work very well in my cycling program. Let me know how they work for you.
Tony
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