Cereal bars will be a staple of most swimmers’ kit bags and kitchen cupboards. But what role do they play in a healthy and performance diet?
Snacking between meals
A quick snack between meals can prevent you feeling too hungry and accidentally overeating at the next meal. Some are quite small and not very filling so avoid the appeal to eat 2-3 at once
Pre-Training Snack
Cereal bars tend to be high in carbohydrate so they are great at topping-up pre-training energy stores, aim to eat them 60-90min before training.
What to look for
Generally, the fewer the ingredients the better. If you can’t pronounce it then it might be better to avoid it!
Some cereal bars can contain A LOT of added sugar. A sugar content of >22.5g per 100g is considered high.
Post training snack
Use the carbohydrate content to replenish your carbohydrate stores and pair them with a source of protein (milk, yoghurt, cold meat…) and fluids for complete recovery.
Some good choices
| 1 | Nakd Bars (all varieties) | No added sugars or hidden extras. Great as a quick pre- or post-training snack. |
| 2 | Trek Flapjacks | A higher carbohydrate flapjack without too high a sugar content. Great as a snack between meals or recovery after harder training sessions. |
| 3 | Kind Bars | A high fibre and low sugar bar. Good as a snack or dessert option. |
| 4 | Cliff Bars | High in carbohydrate and sugar so best kept for pre-training as a fuelling snack or post-training as a recovery snack. |
| 5 | Pulsin Raw Brownie | A naturally sweetened high fibre brownie. Good for a chocolate treat. |
| 6 | Get Buzzing Bars | A high carbohydrate flapjack which is ideal to have around tough training sessions or competitions. |
| 7 | Frusli Bars | A simple low fat bar which is perfect as a snack during competition. |
| 8 | Eat Natural Bars (all varieties) | Minimally processed bars with no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives. Due to the nuts some of these can be quite high calorie so best saved for posttraining or as a structured snack between meals. |
| 9 | Get Fruity Bars | Simple bars containing oats, fruit pieces and fruit juice. Perfect as a snack during competitions. |
| 10 | Perkier Quinoa Bars | A vegan bar with a strong vitamin and mineral content. Good as a snack between main meals. |