FOOD REIVEW: Lara Bars
(Eruption - Van Halen)
For a variety of reasons, I've tried to look at more intelligent snacking here in the last six months. Chief among the categories of snacks for me are sweet things. They're chief because they cause me so much trouble. I can do great and terrible things to a bag of, say, powdered donettes.
Seriously, don't bring them anywhere near me unless you want them vanished. It's these little things and spice cake with cream cheese icing.
Anyway, in my quest to try and find something sweet that won't destroy me utterly if I happen to eat one of them a day, I've stumbled onto Lara Bars. If I'm being fair, 'stumbled' isn't the word I'm looking for either. My wonderful sister-in-law who is in pretty much every way more educated about healthy eating than I am advised that I go check Lara Bars out, so I did. A lot.
Here are the highlights:
- INGREDIENTS: Maybe the biggest thing that people really like about Lara Bars is the fact that they frequently only contain 5 or 6 ingredients, and they're all pronounceable and familiar. There's no mad science here, no names with a million syllables that you need a doctorate to pronounce. Even better, the ingredients are non-GMO, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan-friendly. They're unprocessed and never baked. So, it's basically these things and a bowl of ice.
- NUTRITION: Most flavors of LaraBar have around 200 calories in them, around 24 grams of carbs, around 5 grams of protein, around 5 grams of fiber, and around 12 grams of healthy fats. The majority of the sugar content comes from the dates that are used in LaraBars, which we'll discuss in a minute. But first...
- PORTIONS: Standard bars are around 1.5" by 3". They're great for a quick punch without completely ruining a meal that you might eat an hour or two later. For those thinking that they can eat a few of these in a sitting, be warned that the fiber in these bad boys could unleash the beast when you least expect it. If you want to eat more than one in a day, test it before stranding yourself somewhere with no running water, no of toilet paper, and friends that might judge you.
- DATES: LaraBars almost always use dates as a binding agent and sweetener. Dates are an amazing food for a variety of reasons, which you should absolutely feel free to Google on your own time. As one of the primary ingredients in nearly every flavor of LaraBar, it stands to reason that if you don't like dates, you probably won't like LaraBars. Be warned. Additionally, the use of dates as a primary ingredient lends itself to a certain texture with these bars. This is less of a "love it or hate it" situation and more of a "Does the texture bother you?" kind of a thing. Especially with the fruit-flavored bars like Lemon and Key Lime, the bar tends to have a stickier, slicker texture.
- ENERGY BAR: LaraBars are not designed as meal replacement bars. After a considerable amount of nosing around on the internet and reading labels, the one thing I keep coming back to is that they're really designed to give you fuel, not replace a meal. The vitamin content in them isn't off the hook like it is with some other bars. What you do get is from whole foods though, so your body will have an easier time digesting them and utilizing what it digests instead of simply peeing it out.
- FLAVORS: There are 21 flavors of this bar and counting, so there's something out there for everyone. The flavors run the gamut from, "That's not really my thing," to "How in the world is this healthy?" I've tried quite a few of them and will outline them for you briefly here:
Apple Pie: Sort of no, actually.
Banana Chocolate Chip: The banana represents here, but the chocolate doesn't. For me, banana and dates isn't an appealing taste, so...this one's out.
Carrot Cake: Carrot cake is just spice cake that someone spilled carrots in. I tolerate it because of the spice cake, and because of the cream cheese icing that comes along for the ride. Unfortunately, there's no cream cheese icing here, and carrot cake without icing is a sin and a punishment reserved for people in the Special Hell.
Chocolate Chip Brownie: Not bad. People who enjoy less sweet, more bitter dark chocolates will probably like this a great deal.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: This one frequently makes it onto top lists for LaraBar flavors, and I'd probably give this my second favorite flavor behind the Mint Chocolate Brownie. This isn't bad at all, though I don't know if I'd call the taste very comparable to actual dough. It's good though, whatever it is.
Key Lime: Sort of no. This tasted like a less flavorful lemon bar. The lime flavoring wasn't enough to stand on its own and it just ended up tasting like a date bar with some acidity coming from somewhere. If citrus is what you're after, go get the Lemon Bar.
Lemon Bar: This was the first flavor that I tried, and if you like lemons, you'll enjoy this a great deal. The flavor is fantastic, and as long as you don't mind the moist texture that the dates give the bar, you'll be quite pleased with this.
Mint Chocolate Brownie: This one is the daddy. I have no idea how this can be even remotely healthy for you tasting the way it does, but if there's ever a doubt about which flavor to choose and you like mint and brownies, this is a no-brainer. Easily the best flavor I've tried.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip: This was a bit of an outlier, honestly. The flavor was good, but it represented a significant departure from the usual texture that you get with LaraBars. I liked it, but something about the texture was more reminiscent of oatmeal with peanut butter mixed in with it. Not bad though.
In general, these bars don't appear to be horrible for you as long as you don't sit down to a box of them in a single sitting. For curbing a sweet tooth, they appear to do the job nicely.
You know, unless there's donettes.
For a variety of reasons, I've tried to look at more intelligent snacking here in the last six months. Chief among the categories of snacks for me are sweet things. They're chief because they cause me so much trouble. I can do great and terrible things to a bag of, say, powdered donettes.
Seriously, don't bring them anywhere near me unless you want them vanished. It's these little things and spice cake with cream cheese icing.
Anyway, in my quest to try and find something sweet that won't destroy me utterly if I happen to eat one of them a day, I've stumbled onto Lara Bars. If I'm being fair, 'stumbled' isn't the word I'm looking for either. My wonderful sister-in-law who is in pretty much every way more educated about healthy eating than I am advised that I go check Lara Bars out, so I did. A lot.
Here are the highlights:
- INGREDIENTS: Maybe the biggest thing that people really like about Lara Bars is the fact that they frequently only contain 5 or 6 ingredients, and they're all pronounceable and familiar. There's no mad science here, no names with a million syllables that you need a doctorate to pronounce. Even better, the ingredients are non-GMO, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan-friendly. They're unprocessed and never baked. So, it's basically these things and a bowl of ice.
- NUTRITION: Most flavors of LaraBar have around 200 calories in them, around 24 grams of carbs, around 5 grams of protein, around 5 grams of fiber, and around 12 grams of healthy fats. The majority of the sugar content comes from the dates that are used in LaraBars, which we'll discuss in a minute. But first...
- PORTIONS: Standard bars are around 1.5" by 3". They're great for a quick punch without completely ruining a meal that you might eat an hour or two later. For those thinking that they can eat a few of these in a sitting, be warned that the fiber in these bad boys could unleash the beast when you least expect it. If you want to eat more than one in a day, test it before stranding yourself somewhere with no running water, no of toilet paper, and friends that might judge you.
- DATES: LaraBars almost always use dates as a binding agent and sweetener. Dates are an amazing food for a variety of reasons, which you should absolutely feel free to Google on your own time. As one of the primary ingredients in nearly every flavor of LaraBar, it stands to reason that if you don't like dates, you probably won't like LaraBars. Be warned. Additionally, the use of dates as a primary ingredient lends itself to a certain texture with these bars. This is less of a "love it or hate it" situation and more of a "Does the texture bother you?" kind of a thing. Especially with the fruit-flavored bars like Lemon and Key Lime, the bar tends to have a stickier, slicker texture.
- ENERGY BAR: LaraBars are not designed as meal replacement bars. After a considerable amount of nosing around on the internet and reading labels, the one thing I keep coming back to is that they're really designed to give you fuel, not replace a meal. The vitamin content in them isn't off the hook like it is with some other bars. What you do get is from whole foods though, so your body will have an easier time digesting them and utilizing what it digests instead of simply peeing it out.
- FLAVORS: There are 21 flavors of this bar and counting, so there's something out there for everyone. The flavors run the gamut from, "That's not really my thing," to "How in the world is this healthy?" I've tried quite a few of them and will outline them for you briefly here:
Apple Pie: Sort of no, actually.
Banana Chocolate Chip: The banana represents here, but the chocolate doesn't. For me, banana and dates isn't an appealing taste, so...this one's out.
Carrot Cake: Carrot cake is just spice cake that someone spilled carrots in. I tolerate it because of the spice cake, and because of the cream cheese icing that comes along for the ride. Unfortunately, there's no cream cheese icing here, and carrot cake without icing is a sin and a punishment reserved for people in the Special Hell.
Chocolate Chip Brownie: Not bad. People who enjoy less sweet, more bitter dark chocolates will probably like this a great deal.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: This one frequently makes it onto top lists for LaraBar flavors, and I'd probably give this my second favorite flavor behind the Mint Chocolate Brownie. This isn't bad at all, though I don't know if I'd call the taste very comparable to actual dough. It's good though, whatever it is.
Key Lime: Sort of no. This tasted like a less flavorful lemon bar. The lime flavoring wasn't enough to stand on its own and it just ended up tasting like a date bar with some acidity coming from somewhere. If citrus is what you're after, go get the Lemon Bar.
Lemon Bar: This was the first flavor that I tried, and if you like lemons, you'll enjoy this a great deal. The flavor is fantastic, and as long as you don't mind the moist texture that the dates give the bar, you'll be quite pleased with this.
Mint Chocolate Brownie: This one is the daddy. I have no idea how this can be even remotely healthy for you tasting the way it does, but if there's ever a doubt about which flavor to choose and you like mint and brownies, this is a no-brainer. Easily the best flavor I've tried.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip: This was a bit of an outlier, honestly. The flavor was good, but it represented a significant departure from the usual texture that you get with LaraBars. I liked it, but something about the texture was more reminiscent of oatmeal with peanut butter mixed in with it. Not bad though.
In general, these bars don't appear to be horrible for you as long as you don't sit down to a box of them in a single sitting. For curbing a sweet tooth, they appear to do the job nicely.
You know, unless there's donettes.
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