Are Think Thin High Protein Bars Keto Friendly?
At the time of writing this post, I’ve been on the ketogenic diet for over five years and logged over 250 blood ketone tests in an effort to estimate the effects of food and ingredients on my ketosis, including those in Think Thin protein bars.
I think keto dieters naturally gravitate towards protein bars like Think Thin's looking for a convenient sweet treat that won’t kick them out of ketosis, but are protein bars the right place to look? In this post, I’ll evaluate Think Thin High Protein Bars, give them keto friendly grades, and see how they stack up to other low carb treats!
Savage Fuel Keto Friendly Grades:
A: Completely compatible, positive or no impact on ketosis.
B: Highly compatible, but don't go too crazy.
C: Moderately compatible, be mindful and limit intelligently.
D: Barely compatible, detrimental to ketosis and not recommended.
F: Not compatible, overdo it just a little and kiss your ketosis goodbye.
Keto Friendly Grading Factors:
RULE OF THUMB FOR NET CARBS PER 100 CALORIE RATIO:
0-1 GREAT, 1-2 OK, 2-3 CAUTION, 3+ RED ALERT
Percent of Total Calories from Net Carbohydrates: Since servings sizes often vary significantly, this is the most consistent metric of keto-friendliness.
Net Carbs per Serving: What is a serving size and how many carbs are in it?
Glycemic and Insulin Index of Ingredients: Not all carbohydrates and protein have the same effect on our blood sugar and insulin levels.
Hidden Carbs: Hidden carbohydrates are based on the caloric values and glycemic indexes of ingredients sometimes classified as fibers or sugar alcohols.
Nutritional Density: Foods that are higher in percent of total calories from net carbs but are also high in nutrition per calorie can still be worth eating like broccoli.
Easy to Overeat: Some foods are difficult not to overeat and require extra willpower to avoid overindulging which is an important factor to consider.
Think Thin High Protein Bars Keto Friendly Grades:
Overall factors: They use large amounts of Maltitol in these bars which is a sugar alcohol with a glycemic index of 36 (more than half the GI of table sugar) I'm counting 50% of the Maltitol in these bars for simplicity, which is low-balling since it's closer to about 67%. Each of these bars has about 10g of hidden net carbs in the form of Maltitol which is reflected in the net carb counts below. They're also low in nutritional density and easy to overeat.
Chocolate Mint: F-
16g Net carbs per 230 calorie 55g bar
28% of calories from net carbs (Red)
5g SugarBrownie Crunch: F-
12.5g Net carbs per 230 calorie 60g bar
22% of calories from net carbs (Red)
0g SugarLemon Delight: F-
13g Net carbs per 230 calorie 60g bar
23% of calories from net carbs (Red)
0g SugarWhite Chocolate: F-
13g Net carbs per 230 calorie 60g bar
23% of calories from net carbs (Red)
0g Sugar
Creamy Peanut Butter: F-
12g Net carbs per 230 calorie 60g bar
21% of calories from net carbs (Red)
0g SugarChocolate Fudge: F-
13.5g Net carbs per 230 calorie 60g bar
23% of calories from net carbs (Red)
0g SugarMaple Almond: F-
13.5g Net carbs per 230 calorie 60g bar
23% of calories from net carbs (Red)
0g SugarChocolate Strawberry: F-
14g Net carbs per 240 calorie 60g bar
23% of calories from net carbs (Red)
0g Sugar
Sea Salt Almond Chocolate: F-
16g Net carbs per 230 calorie 55g bar
28% of calories from net carbs (Red)
5g SugarChunky Peanut Butter: F-
11.5g Net carbs per 240 calorie 60g bar
19% of calories from net carbs (Red)
0g SugarCaramel Fudge: F-
11.5g Net carbs per 230 calorie 60g bar
20% of calories from net carbs (Red)
0g SugarCookies and Creme: F-
13g Net carbs per 220 calorie 60g bar
21% of calories from net carbs (Red)
0g Sugar
Think Thin High Protein Bars Keto Friendly Conclusion:
Think Thin Bars vs ChocoPerfection and Keto Bars
Based solely on Think Thin high protein bars inclusion of large amounts of Maltitol I would not ever buy them on principle. Maltitol is a misleading and shady ingredient to include in any product. These companies use it to make their products appear low carb while stabbing you in the back and raising the blood sugar. It pisses me off that there might be diabetics out there eating these products and not understanding why their blood sugar is affected.
Do not buy these bars, do not support Think Thin, there are a ton of other more keto friendly products made by great companies like ChocoPerfection and Keto Bars. To illustrate the point let's see how these products stack up:
Not even close, Think Thin bars are far from being keto friendly, stay away and stick with the best keto friendly sweet treats that honestly taste better anyways like ChocoPerfection and Keto Bars. my personal favorite is ChocoPerfection, it gets an A- keto friendly grade and an A+ in taste from me.
They have a lot of great flavors too, dark and dark mint are my favorites and Raspberry is the only flavor I don’t like. The dark mint with a handful of macadamia nuts tastes just like thin mint cookies. You get the classic mint chocolate flavor with the salty and crunchy macadamia nuts, it’s my favorite ultra low carb dessert.
If you’re interested in trying some I’d recommend getting the variety pack and a pack of the dark chocolate so you can try all their flavors and still have more of the dark which you’re going to like anyways. They have free shipping in the United States too which is sweet.
Also check out our Keto Shop for more expert selected keto friendly products or my first YouTube video “5 Tips to Get Back Into Ketosis Fast” below!