Think Thin Gluten-Free Protein Bars

Are Protein Bars Food?

There was time in my life when I used protein bars as food.

That was years ago and years before I had to become gluten-free.

That was a sad time.

It was a sad time, because taste and texture and pleasure were missing from that "food." Those protein bars were awful. Barely tolerable. Barely edible.

Why waste so much precious life-time on "barely tolerable"?

I came to learn that protein bars have a purpose, but it is not as a straight up "food."

There are just too many other delicious and nutritious and enjoyable foods out there to use protein bars as part of my regular diet.

But gluten-free protein bars do have a purpose. A very special purpose in the life of this now-gluten-free eater.

They are transportable, packable, life savers.

Truly life savers.

You can try traveling a significant distance to unfamiliar territories without one of these on you. You might get lucky.

Or you can use your luck in a different way.

You might end up thanking your lucky stars that you had a gluten-free protein bar in your bag.

I sure did!

Think Thin Protein and Crunch Bars

These bars are gluten-free and right there, they have my attention. I had to pick up a couple and try them.

I had to see if protein bars had evolved from the "barely tolerable" regime, especially now that I need gluten-free products exclusively.

But I didn't try one right away. I ended up needing a reason to try one.

It turned out that the White Chocolate flavor saved my travel day.

I was flying home from a business trip and had to change planes in Phoenix. 

The gate area was packed with hot bodies everywhere. My departure gate was right next to my arrival gate and they had already opened the door to start boarding my departing flight. 

I looked for eating establishments. Only one was in sight and within in my time domain. The line was long, bags and bodies bumping and jostling in random walks in, around, and through the line. I had to nudge my way towards the open cooler to look at the offerings.

Prepackaged salads. No labels on the dressings.

You want me to eat unknown ingredients and then strap myself inside a tin can with 100+ of the closest "friends" I didn't know I had?

I think not.

That, for me, is not safe. I skipped the salad, unlabeled dressing, everything. Too risky.

As I stood by the gate waiting to board, I pulled out a Think Thin bar. White Chocolate.

I wasn't going to risk that salad with unknown dressing, but I would risk a labeled, gluten-free protein bar. At least I wouldn't get sick.

And at this point, I was so hungry that I didn't care if it tasted like a protein bar of days gone by.

But I got lucky! This gluten-free protein bar was good!

Not as in fresh-cream-from-the-cow-and-vanilla-bean crème brûlée or anything, but good. Certainly palatable. I might even go so far as to say "tasty."

I don't think I had anything else on me to snack on that day. I always hope I can find some fresh, safe food at connecting airports, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way. This gluten-free protein bar was worth its weight in gold that day.

Protein bars have indeed come a long way. Tasty and safe? You bet!