by Senior Reviewer Maytal Wichman
Did you know that dates are some of the most nutrient-dense foods out there? With numerous vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B and iron, as well as fatty acids and fiber they are a near-ideal food. Larabar is a company that created the famous date-based Larabar and have recently launched Renola – a gluten-free alternative to granola. Everything from Larabar is gluten-free, non-GMO and kosher and most products are soy-free, dairy free and vegan so I was really excited to try out Larabar and Renola to see if healthy food can also be delicious.
Larabar is a gluten-free blend of fruit, nuts and spices and for the most part contains absolutely nothing else – no added sugar, addatives, preservatives, etc. Most Larabars contain just a few ingredients and the maximum ingredients per bar is 9. The main ingredient in them is dates, which gives them texture and sweetness. I received the Apple Pie, Cherry Pie and Coconut Cream Pie for review. I started with the Apple Pie Larabar. The unsweetened apples gave it a little tang, which I loved. As I mentioned, the dates provide sweetness but Apple Pie flavor wasn’t overly sweet, just delicious and very filling. The Cherry Pie Larabar was even more tart than the Apple Pie flavor because of the unsweetened cherries. I loved that it had only three ingredients: unsweetened cherries, almonds and dates. The Coconut Cream Pie was my absolute favorite. I’m a huge fan of coconut and this one really hit the spot. It was very sweet and rich and I felt like I was having dessert. At only 24 grams of sugar (which is derived from the dates) this is a dessert I could get used to.
Most people know by now that granola isn’t really a healthfood since it’s loaded with sugar, whether in the form of cane sugar, corn syrup or even in the form of oats that behave like sugar in the body. But it’s still delicious so we keep eating it. The new product, Renola, is granola-like but without any oats or wheat products so it’s gluten-free and grain-free. I received some samples for review and tried the flavors with yogurt. I tasted all three flavors (Berry, Cocoa Coconut and Cinnamon Nut) which were equally delicious and tasted identical to regular granola in texture and flavor – I could not tell the difference. The cool thing is that while each bar is high in fat, almost all of it is unsaturated and with low carbs, high protein and high fiber content this not just healthy granola, it’s healthy period. This is because it contains mostly nuts, seeds and dried fruit.
You can buy Larabar bars and Renola at major stores such as Target, as well as at Amazon and on the Larabar site.
I was not compensated for this post. I received samples for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
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Senior Reviewer Maytal Wichman is the owner of Mama’s Bites and has also written for The Huffington Post. She has been living in New York City for thirteen years and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature as well as a Law Degree, but blogging is her true passion. Maytal is a stay-at-home mom to three kids (ages 7, 5 and 1) and loves finding great products that make her family’s life easier.
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