Before I had even tasted my first ever Natural Balance Foods product, I loved the ethos of the company : "We're a little young British company devoted to increasing world happiness with healthier snacks, humour and helpfulness. That means we make delicious, good-for-you munchies, do our best to help others, and try to spread a little joy along the way. If that sounds like your kind of company, we'd love your friendship and support. Thank you and please get ready to be happy." Wow, with a sales pitch like that, how could you ever not like their products ?
Well, if they don't taste nice, I guess ! So when I was offered the chance of reviewing some of their bars, I jumped at the chance. A little while later a huge selection box arrived, containing an assortment of Nakd bars, Trek bars and fruit-infused raisins (which I've already reviewed here). Wow ! The only problem was knowing where to begin with the sampling !
Well, I decided to start with the Wildly Different range of Nakd bars. Described as "premium raw fruit, nut & oat bars", I thought they'd be too healthy to get that really luxuriously naughty sense of taste heaven. Well, I thought wrong ! They come in three flavours, Apple Pie, Berry Cheeky and Cocoa Loco and they are all surprisingly satisfying and delicious. They're lovely and moist and gooey, unlike lots of dried-out sawdust-textured healthy bars ! Once you've tasted them and realised how moreish they are, it's hard to believe how good they are for you, but the label tells you they're only 100 calories, they count as one of your 5 a day, they're naturally vegan, they contain nothing artificial (no added sugar, syrups, wheat, dairy or GMO) and they're "cold-pressed, never baked". Not only that but they also have an Animal Aid logo on them so you're presumably helping our four-legged friends too by stuffing your face on these little nuggets of delicious goodness !
Reading the list of ingredients is like doing an inventory at a greengrocers : raw dates, oats, raw raisins, raw peanuts, apple juice, raw raspberries, raw almonds, raw walnuts, raw strawberries, a touch of cocoa, cinnamon or nutmeg, depending on the bar, and that's it ! No E-numbers, no artificial additives, nothing you don't understand, in fact nothing that you wouldn't find in your own kitchen cupboard. As they say on the label, "Rumour has it, little green pixies stay up all night lovingly smooshing raw fruit, nuts and oats into these über-natural yum-bombs to promote health, humour and helpfulness. Hope you love 'em as much as we do !" Well, in a word (or two, if we're being pedantic), I do - über-natural yum-bomb just about sums it up nicely !
Each Nakd bar weighs 30g which doesn't sound much but they are actually quite filling and they satisfied my cravings for something sweet to nibble on. They're so gooey and chewy and juicy and so many different (natural) flavours explode in your mouth as you devour them that you feel like you've eaten more than if you'd wolfed down a chocolate bar of the same proportions, for example. However, if you want something bigger to get your teeth into, you can also get the same three flavours in bigger 68g bars. They're basically double-sized bars so, unsurprisingly, they roll in at 228 calories and count as two of your five a day.
Whichever sized bar you choose, you can feel very saintly in your choice of munchies because the bars are 91% fat free and they are absolutely packed with the goodness of fruit and nuts. As they sum it up so well on the label, "Natural never tasted so naughty ..." !
Now, time for a mum-dilemma - do I encourage the kids to eat them because they're so healthy or hide them in the cupboard they can't reach so I can eat them all by myself when they're in bed ?!
star rating : 5/5
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Just ordered some of these. Thanks for your review!
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