I recently switched my sugar free protein bars to a sugared bar with the same ratios.

I am noticing that they taste better, I do not get headaches or aftertastes but the calories are a little more. For the most part, I feel all around "better". Some of thos sugar free things were just gooey and really too sweet to begin with. They also backed me up a little.

Are there any drawbacks (no diabetes here) to eating these instead of sugar free? I have NOT been noticing any sugar crashes as the grams are only 18 or so and I have some almonds with these bars to even out the rations a little more.

I personally wouldn't consider it much of an issue.

High sugar surges are a bad thing, and should ideally be restricted to post workout meals only. However, as I commented on another post, a lot of sweeteners are just dodgy chemicals which often wind up being carcinogenic. A good few have already been proven to initiate cancer in certain conditions.

If I had to choose, I'd go sugar, though if I could avoid both then I would.

I agree. Everything being equal, natural sugar is preferred. Natural sugar isn't really as bad as people make them out to be - it's just that it's so easy to over consume that's the problem.

I did the same thing, accidently, as I was buying whichever bar was on sale in the 200 calorie range 12 grams or more protein. Some of them were making me so sick and tasted so artificial, that I started to look more closely at the ingredients. I think it is the sucralose and sugar alcohols that are getting to me. I agree with all the above, I think the real thing is better than the aritficial stuff.

My usual protein bar has 210 calories / 20 grams of protein - AND it has sugar in the chocolate coating.

I'm not too worried about it - the amount of sugar in it is negligible when comparing it to my old habit (as many snickers as I could eat ) and I find it delicious as a post-workout meal. It's like a nice treat to reward myself for a good workout