Wednesday, July 26, 2006

The Lärabar

In my never-ending obsession with bars, I finally had a Lärabar. I like the idea of Lärabar: all ingredients are in their "whole, natural state" - un-cooked, un-processed, no preservatives, nothing that we can't pronounce. Since the bodega supplied no other choice but the Ginger Snap variety, I gave it a whirl. I do love gingersnap cookies.



Ingredients: dates, almonds, pecans, ginger, cinnamon, cloves (yep, that's it)

Nutritional data
Calories - 220
Total Fat - 13g (1g saturated)
Fiber - 5g
Sugars - 18g
Cholesterol - 0g
Sodium - 0mg
Total Carbs - 22g
Protein - 5g
Notable Vitamins (% of daily intake) - Vitamin E (15%), Magnesium (15%), Maganese (50%)

It's a bit high in fat & calories for my preference for a bar, since I eat bars mostly as snacks. However, the fat & calories come from the nuts and the natural fruit sugar, which is certainly better than a whole lot of other foods with comparable nutritional data. It's also notable that the bar provides 1g of Omega-3 and 3g of Omega-6 fatty acids. I like the high fiber content and the lack of sodium.

Though it's not the most attractive thing in the world, the taste was quite good, in that wholesome-hippie-food kind of way. A bit heavy on the cloves, so there was a good kick to these. I'd have another flavor, in a hunger pinch, but I think I'd rather stick to Luna Bars.

3 comments:

KrisM said...

I did try those--they're kind of "meh". Plus, the whole Unprocessed thing is untrue, seeing as you are smashing all sorts of foods together and then wrapping them in plastic--they've been processed. I know what they MEAN, but really think they should say "unrefined" or something along those lines.
Hmm, that's more of a semantics rant than a food rant. Let's just say I'll go for the Luna as well!

Anonymous said...

I don't love that particular flavor-- Cherry Pie is my fave, with Chocolate Coconut second and Coco Mole third.

Jackie said...

I feel like the Larabar has a lot of sugar - even Clif bars have a bit too much, but I will eat those. I tend to go with Balance bars (either the Almond Brownie or Peanut Butter) because they have a good amount of protein and not TOO many calories. This week I'm trying out the Promax as well. Guess nobody wants to cook when it's 90° out! :)