When you’re trying to be healthy, but live a busy life, meal and snack time can be difficult. That’s why health bars full of protein and fiber can help you stay on track while saving time. One such type of health bar is from RXBAR®. The RXBAR® brand is well-known for being very honest about the ingredients in its bar products, right down to the amount of each major natural ingredient is in each bar. This can be helpful for anyone following a healthy lifestyle. However, it can be even more helpful for those with food intolerances or allergies, such as those following a low FODMAP lifestyle. Let’s see how RXBAR® products stack up when it comes to low FODMAP status.
Are RXBAR® products low FODMAP?
The ingredients on the label make it easy to figure out the low FODMAP status of RXBAR® products. The majority of the RXBAR® products contain three major ingredients: egg whites, dates, and nuts. The nuts are either almonds, peanuts, pecans, and/or cashews.
When it comes to nuts, 10 pecan halves, 32 peanuts, or 10 almonds are considered a low FODMAP serving size by Monash University. However, even a small serving size of 10 cashews contains a moderate amount of fructans and a high amount of galacto oligo saccharides. When it comes to dates, 1/3 of one pitted date is considered low FODMAP. However, once you reach ½ date, it becomes a moderate FODMAP food, and 1.5 dates is equal to a high FODMAP serving.
Using this information, here are the RXBAR® products that can be considered low FODMAP safe in the portion size listed.
- Maple Almond Butter: Half of this RXBAR® contains ½ egg white, 9 almonds, and ¼ of a date along with maple sugar, coconut oil, sea salt, and natural flavors.
- Almond Butter: Half of this RXBAR® contains ½ egg white, 9 almonds, and ¼ of a date, along with coconut oil and sea salt.
- Vanilla Almond Butter: Half of this RXBAR® contains ½ egg white, 9 almonds, and ¼ date, along with vanilla beans, natural vanilla flavor, coconut oil, and sea salt.
- Honey Cinnamon Peanut Butter: Half of this bar contains ½ egg white, about 14 peanuts, and ¼ of a date, along with honey, cinnamon, coconut oil, and sea salt. It is unclear however, how much honey is in this bar. More than a teaspoon of honey could be considered moderate FODMAP and could cause symptoms in some people. However, this half of a serving could potentially be tolerated by some people. Be sure to try a small piece first before trying a half-bar serving to see if this RXBAR® is tolerated.
- Peanut Butter: Half of this RXBAR® contains ½ egg white, about 14 peanuts, and ¼ of a date, along with coconut oil and sea salt.
RXBAR® also carries Kids products, but these are unfortunately high FODMAP. This is because even half of a RXBAR® PB Chocolate, Double Chocolate, or PB+J bar contains ½ of a date which is considered moderate FODMAP. Also, the RXBAR® Kids flavors of Chocolate Chip, Berry Blast, and Apple Cinnamon all contain 5 cashews and 1 date which are high FODMAP food servings.
Take home message
With natural and honest products like RXBAR®, it makes protein bar shopping easier for those with food allergies and intolerances. However, since many of these natural protein bar products use dates for a sweetener, and others contain cashews, then these options are not safe on a low FODMAP diet. Therefore, be sure to read labels carefully and for products like RXBAR®, only eat a serving size of ingredients that is considered low FODMAP safe. Another option is to try a low FODMAP-certified product like the Casa de Sante protein snack bar in Vegan Chocolate. This delicious protein bar is keto, paleo, and vegan safe and only made with low FODMAP ingredients like organic almond butter, organic cocoa powder, stevia, pea protein, and organic coconut oil . As an added bonus, this bar contains just 190 calories, but with 12 grams of protein and 14 grams of fiber so you can use this snack bar to replace a meal on your busy days.
