Posts Tagged ‘Plant Based’

Hey readers, I am back from the Black Rock Desert and my third trip out to Burning Man. Now I can speak from experience as to which protein bars actually held up best in the intense desert heat (which was significantly less intense than previous years). I’ll be trying to settle back into my groove of 1-2 of these a week now that life has gone back to relative normalcy.

Post 22 - 22 Days Coconut Chocolate Chip

Brand: 22 Days

Product: Coconut & Chocolate Chip Protein Bar

Weight: 2.6oz / 75g

Cost: $2.99/per from manufacturer.

Stats

Calories: 290

Total Fat: 12g, Sat. Fat 4.5g

Cholesterol: 0g

Sodium: 5mg

Total Carb: 33g

Fiber: 12g

Sugars: 15g

Protein: 20g

Protein per ounce: 7.69g

Protein, Cost per gram: $0.15

Carb to Protein Ratio: 1.8-1

Vit A: 0% DV

Vit C: 2% DV

Calcium: 8% DV

Iron: 35% DV

Organic, plant based, vegan, non-GMO, soy free, gluten free.

Not made in gluten free facility.

Flavor:

It was faintly coconut tasting, not as strong as I would have liked but probably for the best since coconut can be one of those flavors where either you love it (like I do) or you hate it. The chocolate was definitely more of the central flavor in this bar and the overall flavor was quite pleasant. Like the other 22 Days bar I reviewed, the texture did remind me a bit of a power bar, really chewy but with a pleasant mouth feel. It did not have a shred of the dreaded chalky taste that typifies cheap protein; one of the major reasons I love this brand is they are entirely plant based without and cheap whey, wheat, or soy protein as fillers. The importance of this point cannot be overstated as most protein bars on the market are loaded with cheap filler proteins from China. Outside of the protein, there was a ton of iron, at 35% DV this would be the most iron-rich bar I have reviewed making it good for people who are iron deficient. This coconut protein bar manages to be even more nutrient dense than 22 Days peanut butter protein bar, not by much but by enough to be notable.

As I made note of in my first review on 22 Days Daily Mocha Mantra, 22 Days has some organic protein bars that pack 20 grams of protein into each bar. While they are a bit heftier than other bars by about half an ounce they still pack in more protein per ounce than anything else I have reviewed, even more than the Squarebar. These 22 Days bars still have the cheapest protein per gram cost at 15 cents a gram and the best density of any bar reviewed; at this point I doubt I will find anything better. While I did not bring any of this flavor with me to Burning Man, I did bring three other 22 Days bars and they all held up well (save for my walnut protein bar where it seemed that the factory seal didn’t hold in the heat, the bar still tasted great but it was kind of stale).

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Brand: 22 Days

Product: PB & Chocolate Chip Nirvana

Weight: 2.6oz / 75g

Cost: $2.99/per from manufacturer.

Stats

Calories: 280

Total Fat: 10g, Sat. Fat 2.5g, Poly Unsaturated 2.5g, Mono Unsat. 6.5%

Cholesterol: 0g

Sodium: 0mg

Total Carb: 36g

Fiber: 10g

Sugars: 17g

Protein: 20g

Protein per ounce: 7.69g

Protein, Cost per gram: $0.15

Carb to Protein Ratio: 1.8-1

Vit A: 0% DV

Vit C: 2% DV

Calcium: 4% DV

Iron: 35% DV

Fair Trade organic, plant based, vegan, non-GMO, soy free, gluten free, Natural Food Certified, Produced with Solar Energy.

Not made in gluten free facility.

Flavor:

You might look at this and think it will be your standard, boring, peanut butter chocolate protein bar. If you do think that prepare to be totally wrong. This is what CLIF bars wishes it tasted like and what Power Bar wishes it could power up to be. The texture did remind me a bit of a power bar, really chewy but with a pleasant mouth feel. It did not have a shred of the dreaded chalky taste that typifies cheap protein; one of the major reasons I love this brand is they are entirely plant based without and cheap whey, wheat, or soy protein as fillers. The importance of this point cannot be overstated as most protein bars on the market are loaded with cheap filler proteins from China. Outside of the protein, there was a ton of iron, at 35% DV this would be the most iron-rich bar I have reviewed making it good for people who are iron deficient.

As I made note of in my first review on 22 Days Daily Mocha Mantra, 22 Days has some organic protein bars that pack 20 grams of protein into each bar. While they are a bit heftier than other bars by about half an ounce they still pack in more protein per ounce than anything else I have reviewed, even more than the Squarebar. Amazingly, these bars also have the cheapest protein per gram cost at 15 cents a gram. For the great flavor and nutrient density at the best price, I may have found my new go-to protein bar; at least when I don’t want coffee with my protein. I would totally bring this to Burning Man as well, the chocolate was mixed into the peanut butter base and I would not expect this to get melty in the desert sun.

Hey readers, my apologies for my extended absence. My writing career has begun to take off and I have been doing a lot of cannabis writing for other sites, at the expense of my own blog. I’ve decided to correct that by starting a new series of posts on here profiling the various organic protein bars I have found at my local health food store. I have always been big on physical exercise in various forms: dance, weight lifting, biking, soccer, sword fighting, parkour, running, basketball, martial arts, boxing, volleyball, football, archery, and much more. I have also always been a big fan of proper nutrition, the combination of those two loves has given rise to this current series.

As the focus of this series is on the protein part of the protein bar I have included a “protein per ounce” category. Protein bars come in all shapes and sizes and some inferior ones use creative packaging to appear more nutritious than others. I feel that calculating a protein per ounce ratio of weight-protein is a simple and effective way to level the playing field. For the budget conscious I also included a cost per gram of protein. I do recognize that more than the protein content matters, which is why I have included the full nutritional content and a flavor profile.

The first protein bar I am profiling is 22 Days Daily Mocha Mantra.

Post 1 - Daily Mocha Mantra

Brand: 22 Days

Product: Daily Mocha Mantra

Weight: 1.7oz / 50g

Cost: $2.99/per from manufacturer.

Stats

Calories: 220

Total Fat: 12g, Sat. Fat 2.5g, Poly Unsaturated 2.5g, Mono Unsat. 6.5%

Cholesterol: 0g

Sodium: 20mg

Total Carb: 21g

Fiber: 5g

Sugars: 14g

Protein: 10g

Protein per ounce: 5.8g

Protein, Cost per gram: $0.30

Carb to Protein Ratio: 2.1-1

Vit A: 0% DV

Vit C: 0% DV

Calcium: 6% DV

Iron: 10% DV

Fair Trade organic, plant based, dairy free, gluten free, Natural Food Certified, Produced with Solar Energy.

Not made in gluten free facility.

Flavor:

While this review is of the Daily Mocha Mantra flavor I have had various protein bars by 22 Days and they have been my go-to protein bar, up until this protein bar review series. Who knows which one my favorite will be by the end of these posts? The Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Nirvana flavor is delicious but also pretty standard chocolate/peanut protein bar. Looking over 22 Days website for this post I see they have stepped their game up and now have 20g protein versions I will need to check out for a future post. As of now, the Daly Mocha Mantra packs in more protein per ounce than any other bar I am reviewing, but not necessarily at the best price or with the best flavor.

The Daily Mocha Mantra protein bar is the only one I have come across that is made with real coffee. This protein bar is caffeinated and flavored with actual coffee, not any BS or fillers. If you want a real “get up and go” protein bar for your morning work out then this is it. You can pass on the Starbucks with this protein bar. I am a huge coffee fan, so I found this to be a selling point; for the same reason other people may not like it. I’m not sure if it is the coffee or the hemp protein powder they use but something gives this bar a slight grittiness. I really don’t mind it, because at least it isn’t that chalky powdery taste that nearly all non-organic protein bars have from cheap protein powder. I will take coffee grittiness over a dry chalked up mouth any day. As this is my first review in the series I can’t give you any comparison. But stay tuned to future posts and the recap I do at the end of the series.