It all started at FitBloggin'...which I'm sure has been the start of many a great story, both on- and offline!
I was at my friend Abbie's dining room table, sorting through the FitBloggin'-SWAG-kit-that-is-LEGEND. I found a plastic packet with 3 foil-wrapped bars: Lenny and Larry's FIT Protein Brownies. I didn't realize it at the time, but they were treating us to a sneak preview - the product itself didn't launch until after FitBloggin'!
Anyhow, my friend's sons noticed what I had in hand and gave me what my kids call "pretty eyes" - think the character Puss-in-Boots in the movie Shrek right before his opponents end up in tatters. *POOF*! Two of the three bars were gone. (I, fortunately, remained uninjured.) This left me with the raspberry chocolate brownie. I'm not usually a fan of fruit & chocolate combinations, and a lot of nutritional treats tend to have more sugar and carbs and way less protein than I prefer in a snack. But the nutritional stats looked good. Here's the scoop for their Chocolate Raspberry flavor:
I gave it a try. YUM! The texture was chewy - more so than a regular brownie - it kind of reminded me of a cross between a brownie and a Tootsie Roll. I tend to eat things way too quickly, and I found that these made me slow down and (1) enjoy the flavor and eating experience and (2) helped my brain register that I was eating something substantial.
When I Tweeted appreciatively, Lenny and Larry's contacted me about writing a review, and I happily agreed. I got a nice, big box from them with bars in all three of the FIT Protein Brownie™ flavors:
Now, regular readers know I enjoy unusual foods. (Chocolate kale, anyone?) So to "normalize" my "oooo, these things are tasty" review, I recruited my kids and one of my daughter's friends to try them. Here's how we rated the bars:
I was at my friend Abbie's dining room table, sorting through the FitBloggin'-SWAG-kit-that-is-LEGEND. I found a plastic packet with 3 foil-wrapped bars: Lenny and Larry's FIT Protein Brownies. I didn't realize it at the time, but they were treating us to a sneak preview - the product itself didn't launch until after FitBloggin'!
Anyhow, my friend's sons noticed what I had in hand and gave me what my kids call "pretty eyes" - think the character Puss-in-Boots in the movie Shrek right before his opponents end up in tatters. *POOF*! Two of the three bars were gone. (I, fortunately, remained uninjured.) This left me with the raspberry chocolate brownie. I'm not usually a fan of fruit & chocolate combinations, and a lot of nutritional treats tend to have more sugar and carbs and way less protein than I prefer in a snack. But the nutritional stats looked good. Here's the scoop for their Chocolate Raspberry flavor:
- 190 calories per serving - and one bar IS one serving! How many times have I ripped open a nutrition bar and eaten it, to find that one bar is 2 servings? Well, enough times to be more meticulous about my label reading than I used to be, that's for sure.
- 7 grams fat, 13 grams protein, 22 grams carbohydrates (7 grams fiber, 9 grams sugar). For those who use diabetic food exchanges in meal planning, this is equivalent to 1.5 starch (less if you net out the fiber) and 2 lean meat servings. When I had gestational diabetes, I learned from the nutritionist that one can maintain a more even blood sugar by spreading out one's carb servings throughout smaller meals and snacks during the day and by ensuring that you eat a little of your protein when you eat your carbs. (Similar to the recommendations made by the insulin resistance diet authors.) The ratio of protein to carbohydrates in these bars definitely fits the bill for me!
- Gluten-free and non-GMO
- No sugar alcohols - you will know why this is a good thing if you, like I, have overindulged in products that proclaim "Low Net Carbs!!!" and the fine print of "May cause gastrointestinal distress"....
"How was it?"
I gave it a try. YUM! The texture was chewy - more so than a regular brownie - it kind of reminded me of a cross between a brownie and a Tootsie Roll. I tend to eat things way too quickly, and I found that these made me slow down and (1) enjoy the flavor and eating experience and (2) helped my brain register that I was eating something substantial.
When I Tweeted appreciatively, Lenny and Larry's contacted me about writing a review, and I happily agreed. I got a nice, big box from them with bars in all three of the FIT Protein Brownie™ flavors:
- Chocolate Raspberry, the one I tried from my FitBloggin' samples.
- Chocolate Decadence, an all-chocolate brownie. This bar has 190 calories, with 7 grams fat, 23 grams carbohydrate (7 grams fiber, 8 grams sugar), and 13 grams protein.
- Peanut Butter Crunch, a chocolate-peanut butter brownie with crunchy bits. This bar has 190 calories, with 8 grams fat, 23 grams carbohydrate (7 grams fiber, 8 grams sugar), and 13 grams protein.
"This isn't one of those weird health foods, is it?"
Now, regular readers know I enjoy unusual foods. (Chocolate kale, anyone?) So to "normalize" my "oooo, these things are tasty" review, I recruited my kids and one of my daughter's friends to try them. Here's how we rated the bars:
- 1st place: Peanut Butter Crunch. We only had 2 other tasters for this one, because my daughter doesn't like peanut butter. We tasters loved this one, with its crunch and the peanut butter and chocolate combination. One taster preferred it to the plain chocolate one because "it is not as darkly chocolate."
- 2nd place: Chocolate Decadence. This one was in the solid "like" end of the rating scale for the kids; for me, it was a very close 2nd to the Peanut Butter Crunch.
- 3rd place: Chocolate Raspberry. 2/3 kids were a little wary of the fruit and chocolate combination and declined to sample. The one who tried it said it wasn't her favorite; she found it a little hard to chew. I liked it, but if I had to buy a single flavor, I'd get the Peanut Butter Crunch.
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