Dietitians Corner

We all need a bit of variety and those on a meal replacement plan are no exception.  The Tony Ferguson shake range certainly has lots of variety in flavours but having a bar in the product line up is a welcome addition. I got to try the new chocolate flavoured Protein Bar this week and it was certainly a meal replacement I was looking forward to trying.   As I had a few samples, I also asked one of my clients with a discerning palate to give it a try as well. 

My client and I had agreement on the taste and texture! It is delicious and easy to eat. Sometime protein bars can be quite dense and feel a bit odd to chew and swallow. But this bar has quite a light texture and felt quite natural in the mouth.  There is a variety in the texture with a little bit of caramel and some very small chocolate chunks which made it  more interesting to eat and encouraged me to slow down and enjoy it.

I have a sweet tooth (as does my client) so we really enjoyed the flavour. I am very sensitive to chemical flavours (I have a very strong taste radar for artificial or natural sweeteners and can even pick up a taste in the very best tasteless protein powders) but I didn’t get any sense of anything artificial in this bar.  The ingredient list is long but mostly because of the fortification of vitamins and minerals, fibre and a detailed breakdown of other ingredients such as the protein powders used. 

The bar has 15g of protein, 210kcal, 4g of carbs (less than 1/3 of a piece of bread) and a welcomed 4g of fibre. It is a little lower in protein, higher in fat and lower in carbs than the Classic Shake. It has more calories than the rapid shake (130kcal vs 210kcal) but similar to the classic shake and high protein range. Having the 4g of fibre in there is great for bowel regularity and filling power. 

Speaking of filling power, I also tested how long the bar was able to keep me satisfied for. I had it for my lunch after my regular breakfast and coffee in the morning.  My hunger was about a 4/10 (1 being starving and 10 being uncomfortably full) when I had the bar. I ate it slowly and had a cup to tea with it.  I rated my hunger/fullness again 1 hour after eating and found it was about 6/7 out of 10.  I was pretty surprised by that. To maximise my satiety, I drank about a 1L of water over the afternoon.  By the 3-hour mark I was ready to eat again (Hunger was 4/10).  This was actually pretty good for me as I usually eat every 3 or 4 hours anyway. I was really craving carbs at that point because the bar has very little and my body was wondering where it’s usually supply had gone. If you are on a very low carb or keto diet however, this may not bother you like it did me. 

I hope that is a useful reflection and insight to anyone thinking of giving it a go. Feel free to send comments and questions to me through the website.

Purchase Tony Ferguson products here.

Anna D’Arcy, APD

My Nutrition Clinic