Whether you’re bodybuilding, running in a marathon, playing a professional sport, or even rock climbing, nutrition is incredibly important.
Without sufficient nutritional intake, the body is unable to perform at its best. If you’re planning on participating in physically strenuous activity, it’s essential to give your body the fuel it needs.
There are three stages of nutrition that are important to rigorous physical activity- priming, fuelling, and recovery. Priming nutrition occurs before you begin your physical exercise, and helps the body generate a reserve of glycogen in muscle tissue that is can draw upon whilst performing at max capacity.
Fuelling is equally important, delivering the body with the fuel it needs in the middle of exercise once glycogen reserves have been depleted.
Recovery, the final phase of the nutritional process, provides the body with the energy it needs to recover from intense physical exercise sessions and begin the repair processes that lead to a stronger, tougher body. One of the most common techniques used to address all three forms of nutrition by fitness enthusiasts is supplementing the diet with power bars, which are a convenient and tasty way to boost nutritional intake.
Not all of the power bar solutions available on the market today are actually healthy for the body, however. Although most power bars claim to deliver clean energy, most are packed full of artificial ingredients, sugar alcohols, dairy products, and are extremely low in nutritional value, making them not much better than a candy bar.
When selecting a power bar to keep you going before, during, and after an intense physical exercise session, the best practice is to select a completely natural product that contains no artificial additives. Low GI solutions that provide the body with slow-burning energy are best, as they won't spike blood sugar levels or cause “crashes” during mid-workout.
Battle Oats, a UK based power bar brand, have recently released a new range of high protein energy bars that offer a far healthier nutritional profile than most solutions that are currently available on the market. Available in a wide range of flavors and created from completely natural ingredients, the Battle Oats range is specifically designed for health-conscious fitness enthusiasts.
In this article, we’ll assess the Battle Oats range of energy bars and find out what makes them different from other power bar solutions to help you decide whether they're the right clean energy boost for you.
What Are Battle Oats?
Battle Oats are a new energy bar solution that are intended to provide fitness enthusiasts with a healthy, gluten free, high protein alternative to unhealthy energy bar products. Created from completely natural ingredients, Battle Oats are available in a wide range of flavors and are formulated to taste just like a traditional flapjack.
The Battle Oats range is available in six different flavors- White Chocolate Coconut, Cranberry & Blueberry Fusion, Cinnamon ‘N’ Raisin, Double Chocolate Brownie, Dark Choc Chip, and Cherry Bakewell. The Battle Oats formula has gone through a complete redesign recently, as the first wave of Battle Oats bars, released in 2014, were manufactured by a third party production company that cut corners manufacture of the bars, resulting in an inferior product.
The team behind Battle Oats pulled the products from shelves in 2014, and after a complete redesign, re-released the brand later in the same year with a family-run bakery creating the bars, resulting in the highly nutritious and delicious product available today.
The Battle Oats Difference
The biggest difference between the Battle Oats formula and other energy bars is that each Battle Oats bar is made from 100% natural ingredients. The Battle Oats formula is free from artificial additives and is manufactured through a process that conforms to UK gluten free individuals, ensuring that they are free from any potential gluten allergens.
All of the protein in the Battle Oats formula is free from gluten, meaning the entire range is completely vegetarian friendly, and as the formula is also palm oil free, Battle Oats bars are an environmentally-conscious choice. Instead of being pressure-extruded, the Battle Oats bars are hand baked and cut, making them a natural, nutritious, and delicious choice.
The nutritional profile of each Battle Oats bar is impressive. All of the bars in the Battle Oats range boast a massive 15 grams of whey isolate sourced protein at a weight of just 70 grams, and are completely free from GMO ingredients. Battle Oats bars are also free from wheat, and extremely high in healthy fats while free of trans fats.
Battle Oats Review Summary
One important fact to note about the Battle Oats bars is that they’re intended to provide the body with the raw materials it needs to increase muscle glycogen levels, so each bar contains 308 calories. The total carbohydrate content of each Battle Oats bar is 20.2 grams, of which around 40% is dietary fiber. The other 13.2 grams, however, consist entirely of sugar.
If you’re following a ketogenic diet, it’s important to take this factor into account when calculating your macros. If you’re on a paleo or regular carb intake diet, however, Battle Oats bars are one of the best, cleanest energy bars available on the market.
