Nurturing my inner... raising the bar

When you workout, you need some great pre exercise fuel.  That can sometimes be a bagel, some oatmeal or a banana.  But when time is tight, and if you remain half asleep like me until you get to the gym or class, a bar is the ticket.  Can eat it while driving too.

Recently, I gave a friend a beet salad with goat cheese I made and when she returned my container, she put a thank you card, some Powerbar Oatmeal Raisin bites and this Kind Fruit & Nut bar in the bag.  How kind!  Had always wanted to try one of these.  Very delicious.  Lots of nuts and coconut.  Super chewy, but crunchy too.

What you see is what you get.

I'm big into dark chocolate and cocoa type foods.  Got lots of antioxidants and good cell repair stuff in it.  So I tried this Pure Organic Chocolate Brownie Bar.  Delicious!  They've come a long way with these things.  Exercise or meal replacement bars used to be not so palatable years ago because many tasted gritty, like they were made of tree bark.  Not anymore!

You won't mistake it for a real brownie, but
you'll still really like it before a run.

On to my new favorite.  Betty Lou's Just Great Stuff Organic Cacao Acai.  I LOVE this bar.  It has got a sweet berry like flavor from the acai, but a chocolate undertone and then crunch from the cacao nibs.  Just scrumptious.  Very moist and I could eat it instead of a candy bar, to be honest.  Which wouldn't be the worst choice ever made.  It's about the same calories as a candy bar, but way less fat.  (And has much more redeeming qualities thanks to an ingredient list you can actually read because it's made of real food.)

Not sure what a goji berry tastes like. I didn't
notice anything distinct about that part.

You can buy a whole box at one time and get a discount at Whole Foods.  Then you'll have plenty to happily distribute to your friends if you want to introduce them to your new find.

Chocolate and berries are a great combo.

I think this kind of news is important to share, because there is little worse than trying to make yourself eat a bar at 6:30 am that tastes like spackle.  Or that is so dry, it depletes your mouth of all saliva upon contact.  Blech!  It's about time they really started stepping these up.  Just because it has the right kind of calories that are good fuel for your body before you exercise, doesn't mean it can't taste great too!