What's the best meal replacement/protein bar?

The short answer: none of them!

I don't pretend to know everything about nutrition but I do know the most crucial component: nutrient density.

There's no need to ever eat a meal replacement bar (MRB) or protein bar, ever, ever, ever. Protein bars and MRBs are nowhere near as nutritious as real, whole food sources.

Who truly doesn't have time to eat real food? Maybe an E.R. surgeon? There are very few of us who can't at least shove a slice of organic turkey breast down their gullet along with a handful of nuts.

Are you that E.R. surgeon who slices and dices for 12 hours straight? Have a nurse hand-feed you; just don't drop any crumbs into the patient's innards.

Are you a traveling salesman or cop, frequently on the road and accustomed to making a pit-stop at the 7-11 for a quick pick me up (though the boost will be artificial and short-lived)?

Bring a small cooler with you in the car and load it will fruit, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, lean protein slices, string cheese, organic beef jerky and of course plenty of water.

Office workers who scarf down a bar after work and then go to the gym would get better nutrition eating a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack with the above choices. If you don't have time for a real lunch, consider eating a handful or two of these snacks every 90 minutes. You'll keep your energy up and even increase your metabolism.

For those who do plenty of resistance training, you'll want primary protein sources to encourage muscle repair. Nuts are a fine complimentary protein source, but not one to rely on for significant muscle growth. If it was, bodybuilders would be scarfing down cashews after a workout, not egg whites.

Organic chicken legs (drumsticks) are a compact and healthy major source of protein. And they're easy to prepare. Just throw in the oven the night before work. If you're averse to eating them cold, take them out of the fridge in the morning and a few hours later, when it's time for your mid-morning snack, it'll be at a palatable temperature. Don't worry about it spoiling and getting e. coli if your immune system is working fine.

We could go on and on about the actual ingredients in bars, how they are artificial and many even potentially harmful. Even seemingly more health-conscious picks can have lots more sugar than a whole food source. But that should be a given. It's a wonder then why so many people opt for bars. Sure, they're easy and cheap, but just as so is always having a bag of mixed nuts handy. Ideally, you don't wait until you're hungry to have a snack. By then, your metabolism and blood sugar has slowed way down.

So if you're starving and buy the latest organic greens bar, don't be surprised if that's all you eat for lunch doesn't leave you feeling even more lethargic 30 minutes after you eat it.

There's no substitute for 3 meals a day balanced with the right ratio of the 3 macronutrients (fats, protein, carbohydrates). What's the right ratio for you? Well, that's the hard part. That takes food journaling, paying attention to how you feel, and time. But take my word, eating a plate of brown rice, a drumstick and a salad is better than a bar any day, for almost everybody. Even a couple pieces of turkey breast, an apple and a handful of cashews would be, too.

Think about that next time you reach for a bar.