Product Review: Odwalla Bars

Odwalla is an eco-friendly company has a commitment to healthy living and producing healthful, delicious products. For over 25 years, the Odwalla company has been producing nutritious juices. More recently, this company has produced food bars created with the same philosophy that has gone into making their popular drinks.

A few weeks ago, I decided to try to drop the 20 pounds I had recently gained while being pregnant. I had previously tried a number of cereal bars and had never found any that were not either filled with sugar, or the size of a pack of Juicy Fruit gum. While at our local health food store, I spotted Odwalla bars on sale for a dollar a piece, which piqued my interest.

After looking at the ingredients I was convinced to purchase a few bars. I always try to avoid things with high fructose corn syrup as a main ingredient. The main sweetening ingredient to most Odwalla bars is brown rice syrup. All of the other main ingredients were natural too, and include date paste, rolled oats, and oat flour. Additionally, the label reads that 35% of the contents of these bars are organic.

I first tried a banana nut bar. Upon opening the package I saw pieces of walnuts and bananas, so there were bits of whole food in the bar. I had never seen this before in a food bar. The Odwalla bars are nice sized, very moist and cakelike. After eating it with a big glass of water, my hunger was satisfied for hours.

Each type of bar touts a different type of nourishment. For instance, the Berries GoMega™ bar has 1000 mg of vegetarian Omega-3 fatty acids (you know, those compounds you are supposed to be eating your fish to get). The Strawberry Pomegranate bar is an excellent source of antioxidants and vitamins C and E. The Superfood™ bar's green color is mildly offputting at first, but is delicious. And eating something green as well as sweet is satisfying on many levels.

I have since tried most of the other flavors they offer. They are all have the same moist texture with bits of real food in them. My personal favorites are the fruit-flavored selections. My least favorite was the Super Protein^®, as it seemed a bit too bitter.

The number of calories per bar ranges from about 220 to 250. So, these are not a low-calorie choice, but they are a high-quality choice. I highly recommend these bars as a meal replacement while dieting, particularly because they contain no refined ingredients. I began my diet three weeks ago and eating these bars daily at lunch has helped me to lose five pounds. And here's a hint: I emailed the company to tell them how much I love their product and they sent me coupons for free bars! Enjoy!