Granola Bars & Diet Bars: FAIL.

Has anyone EVER successfully incorporated these into a diet plan, granola, Slim Fast or other bars? ARRGGHHHHHHH… these things make me hungry as hell after I eat them! WTF??

I picked up some Trader Joes granola/nut bars and thought they were a great deal at 150 calories each. BAH. I am D-O-N-E with any of these granola or “food bars.” I ate ONE and damned if I didn’t feel like eating the whole box!! But alas, I did not cheat, I did resist! I gave them to my skinny husband and told him to hide them in his room and eat them.

Calories can be deceiving. That’s like those little Weight Watchers desserts, you can’t eat just one if you are in possession of more than one in your house. One of my very first diet failures (and there have been many, before I learned the “never cheat no matter what” rule) happened with those Slim Fast meal bars. Let’s get something clear: all of this crap is just another form of candy bars with vitamin powders and maybe a couple of whole grains thrown in. Other than that, pure sugar, fat and salt. I don’t care whether it comes from Slim Fast, the health food store or Trader Joes, they all produce the same result after they are consumed: ravishing hunger.

And that is how the calories are deceiving. At 6 meals a day, about 150 calories a meal (my eating plan which is more than great for keeping my appetite from going completely out of control), one of these stupid bars seems like a great option. You pull it out of the box, it’s big, it’s “natural,” it’s tasty and it’s a MASSIVE FAIL. I slapped myself on the head and thought, you dork, why didn’t you think of this before and remember your Slim Fast bars experience?!?!

Ah yes, the time I attempted the Slim Fast diet. “Just one regular meal a day and two of our drinks or bars.”  Um, no. The Slim Fast diet is one huge piled up meal and an entire box of Slim Fast bars; you just can’t stop eating them once you get started! These things are not good for fat people. Don’t listen to the advertising. And honestly, with all the sugar in that stuff, I don’t see how people with 10 pounds to lose could stick to it without plowing through their chocolate shakes or bars.

Ditto the experience with the granola/nut bars. If husband wasn’t hear to eat up my potential fails, I’d have to take the things out to the dumpster, I wouldn’t even be able to throw them in my trash.

I know us fatties all have trouble with food like ice cream, cakes, fried foods, etc., but granola bars? diet bars? I can’t believe that I am the odd one out on this one.