People often send me emails asking me to compare Atkins and Medifast protein bars. People sometimes ask me for my opinion on how these two bars are different. I am also often asked which bars are better in terms of taste, nutrition, and efficacy. I will talk more about these things in the next article.
Some nutritional differences between these two bars that could affect effectiveness: To be fair, I am on Medifast and need to disclose this up front. But I have tried Atkins and have also done a lot of research on it. More than that, I am going to compare these two bars side by side to gauge their perceived effectiveness.
To try and compare similar products, I’ll look at the Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars from both diets. First of all, I’m looking at the Atkins advantage. This one has a very high 240 calories. A whopping 110 of these calories come from fat. The total fat content in this bar is 12 grams. There are 22 grams of carbohydrates and 15 grams of protein.
When you look at the Medifast bars, some of the big differences become obvious. This Chocolate Peanut Bar is only 110 calories (which is less than half of the Atkins bar). You could eat two of these bars and still consume fewer calories. This bar only gets 30 of its calories from fat. The total fat content of this product is very low, 3 grams. (The Atkins bar has 4 times more fat.) There are only 12 grams of carbohydrates and 11 grams of protein.
Sure, Atkins has a little more protein, but it also has tons more calories, fat, and carbs. In fact, I’d be skeptical that a product this high in carbs, calories, and fat could get you into ketosis (or fat-burning mode, which is the cornerstone of these types of diets). Simply put, with the Atkins product, you’re probably getting enough protein, but your calorie-to-carb ratio is too high.
To be fair, both of these bars taste decent and neither have the weird, chalky texture of some bars. But flavor is just one piece of the puzzle. If you’re going to eat diet foods but you’re not going to lose weight, what’s the point? In fact, I believe in the science behind Atkins because Medifast is based on the same idea. The goal is to get the right ratio of carbohydrates, calories, and protein. But only one of the bars achieves this. Hopefully this article has made it clear which bar this is.
