What's your take, I just bought 4, by the end of the day they were all gone.. So good.. Reminded me of candybars, and filled me up. I don't think eating 4 in a day is good, however.. Ok I don't think, I know it's not good. Anyone eat them? Try to stay away from them?

Jeff

I bought a whole box of Lara Bars a few months back. I ate them as a snack. Then after the box, I was about done. The dehydrated fruit was a tie over to the real stuff. I read that dehydrated fruit doesn't have the same enzymes, etc. as the fresh, which my body told me as I didn't seem to fill up on them. For me, the Lara Bars good in a pinch but a poor substitute for the real deal.

Therese

It`s good to have them around incase cravings appear but try to restrict yourself to one or at the most two on any given day.

I agree...I use them when I'm craving something bad or traveling but never more than 2 a day. I'm glad they exist though....I keep one in my purse sometimes and use it as a last resort when there's nothing else to eat.

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

LaraBars are good but not organic so I prefer:
Cliff's raw organic bars:
[www.clifbar.com]

In fact the Raw Revolution bars are my favorite
Raw Revolution raw organic bars:
[rawindulgence.com]

I don't eat these much but as you people stated it's nice to have some around when in a hurry or eat something small that's pack with nutrition...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2006 07:19PM by rawdev.

FYI: Clif bars aren't raw. They use roasted nuts.

The makers of Larabar just came out with a 90% raw, they use roasted cocoa, bar called Maya.

Personally, I dig making my own bars. A lot of love goes into what I create myself!

Happy snaking!

Well, they are not well combined and of course dehydrated is never as ideal as fresh, but if they keep you from making worse choices, like eating cooked, then by all means keep eating them. :-)

Take care,

Audrey
www.rawhealing.com

I thought larabars were already raw? no?

ShineON-

Larabars are 100%raw except for the cocoa in their Chocolate Coconut and the Cocoa Mole. However, they just introduced a 90%ish raw chocolate bar, same standards as their original Larabar, but they use roasted cocoa and cacao nibs. Otherwise, all ingredients and the processing are at a super low temp.

They are a really cool company and they seem to be doing the right thing; giving SAD eaters something that they can enjoy, feel good about eating and not everyone has an idea that they are vegan, gluten free, and raw.

True, some of the Cliff bars have roasted nuts but not all.
[www.clifbar.com]

I guess it comes down to your own personal preference (Cliff's organic or Lara's bars that aren't organic).

Lastly the Raw Revolution raw organic bars are the best:
[rawindulgence.com]
[rawindulgence.com]
[rawindulgence.com]

Raw Revolution
Best of both worlds; Raw and organic.
I really like the Spirulilna & Cashew Raw Revolution Bar
[rawindulgence.com]

Just ordered 10 raw organic bars.. I tell myself I'll eat one a day. Mark my words.. They will be gone in 48 hours..

Thanks guys..

It's bewildering to me why they are raw, but not organic. That's an oxymoron to me!

Hi Rawrrr,

there is a chance that larabars are made from organically grown foods, but they are not certified organic foods so they can't print it on the label. Just a thought.

Ian.

Raw bars make me feel good & they're convenient.

I'm sure I'd feel even better if my life consisted of grazing on wild food all day long but since that's not my reality, I love having the bars w/green tea at the office or Starbucks the way I used to take coffee/candy bar breaks.

I don't get the sugar glut or guilt that I get w/cookies, that "eew why did I just do that to myself" feeling - blood sugar stays stable.

I'm skeptical that Lara Bars are 100% raw. First they do not say that as far as I know, they just say that they do not cook them. Second, they contain banana and apple which I have not found naturally dried in stores, always with higher heat/kiln etc. Maybe there is a process to dry with low heat but in that volume? Very difficult and expensive. I don't think Lara bars are dehydrated after they are formed, too thick, but who knows.

Phytoangel may be right about the Clif bars. You are right that their nectar series does not have roasted peanuts for example, but I'm pretty sure they bake _everything_ that comes out of their plant. I remember hearing this from someone at Clif.

Hi dfbai,

dehydrating bananas and apples to low temp (105F) isn't hard, I do it and wish I didn't more often. I see low temp and sun dried bananas in the shops as well.

Are larabars raw? I have two larabars in front of me, the chocolate coconut chew flavour says "raw food" on the packaging, the other Cinnamon roll flavour, doesn't.

I try to avoid the larabars with roast coco and the cashewnuts, since I'm not sure they are really raw. Both the bars i have today have the two things I try to avoid.

I've also played with making my own versions of the larabars, lots of fun but suffers from the same flaw as buying boxes of larabars, you eat the lot too quickly....

Ian.

I'd rather eat organic nuts and fruits then raw nuts and fruits.

Lara's Maya Bars are certified organic, 100%. So obviously they do have access to certified organic ingredients and suppliers just like everyone else does. They are also the same price as the Lara bars. So why they don't use the same source of certified organic nuts etc. in their Lara bars, who knows. Maybe there is a bigger profit margin for them on the Lara bars using non organic ingredients.

I tried the Raw Revolution bar once and it was great. Far better then Lara Bars. I have no idea why the Lara Bars took off so much and are so popular everywhere, since they are not only not organic but totally boring and bland. Unless they have great new flavors, the ones I tried were totally boring and bland. I don't get how anyone could like them. The Think Organic Raw Bars are much better and more flavorful. Probably because organic ingredients and fruits usually have more flavor. The Maya Bars taste really weird too. I only like the Mint one because even though it tastes weird it has a great after taste of peppermint oil that lingers and is refreshing.

There is only one store I've seen the Raw Revolution Bars in and it's not that close to me. Next time I go there though I will stock on on a bunch. I do understand how they are habit forming and hard not to eat a lot of. They are not really a lot of food and are not really that filling. And so convenient and solid and more substantial then fresh raw foods. So they are closet to cooked snacks I guess. Is it bad to eat that many. I think it is if it is so filling to you that it replaces too many fresh foods in your diet. But if you still eat a lot of fresh foods and other healthy foods I don't know. It is expensive though to eat that many. That's over $150 a month just on bars.

As with anything, we all have choices and we don't all have to enjoy the same things. Choices are beautiful.

Yes, Larabars are raw. The only ones that aren't 100% are the ones that use cocoa. That means chocolate coconut chew, cocoa mole and all of the Mayas. I called and talked to customer service and they said that the cocoa containing flavors are 90% and up raw.

As for organic, well, I met Lara and she said that initially she was a tiny entity trying to share good, clean food with the masses and she wanted to keep it affordable, so organic wasn't an option. Now, I have heard that they are looking at switching over all bars to organic in due time. Also, Maya is $1.99 and Larabar is $1.79 suggested retail, so yes, organic does cost more.

We should all learn to not be so critical and obsessive about the foods that we eat and that others may choose to eat!

I liked some of the Think Organic Raw Bars, but I've found mold on a bunch of them which has completely put my off the brand. I've not had that problem with Raw Revolution or Lara's Bars.

Larabars in the San Francisco Bay Area cost anywhere from $1.29 to $1.99.

Ian.

phytoangel Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Also, Maya is $1.99 and Larabar is $1.79 suggested
> retail, so yes, organic does cost more.

Wow, they are totally overcharging you. I see them at WholeFoods and both the Larabar and Maya bar are $1.29 each. It's not the organic one that costs more it's how much your shops choose to mark up the prices based on organic or not probably.

> We should all learn to not be so critical and
> obsessive about the foods that we eat and that
> others may choose to eat!

Well who cares what others eat, but we can be as critical and discerning as we want about the foods that we eat. That's the point of personal choice.

Mold on the bars? Gross! That would turn me off to them too. Once I had gotten a bad box of Organic Food Bars, that I returned and it turned me off to buying them again. I also had a hemp bar once by Manitoba Harvest that had a large piece of glass in it. That turned me off to buying those again. What kind of manufacturing conditions are those?

Hey this might be old news but the company behind LaraBars did finally released an Organic line of bars calle Maya.
Just click on the food and it will bring up both the LaraBars and the MayaBars.

[www.larabar.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2006 08:18PM by rawdev.

That was weird. I went to pick up some meds at Costco and not only did they have boxes of Cliff Bars, but they had these bars next to them that said they were RAW very conspicuously on the front...Anyone know what I'm talking about? I swore I'd remember it so I could look them up, but I didn't. They were $18.99 for 18, I think...interesting...

There are so many "health food energy bars" coming out in the markets. Many of them are raw. They all contain lots of dried nuts, seeds, coconut, dried fruit, and sometimes superfoods hrown in there. For me, I love good dried fruit snacks, or dehydrated crackers occassionally but i cant eat more than a bite of those "energy bars"

a few months ago afer looking at the ingredients of the apple cinnamin larabar, i decided to make my own. if i remember correctly the ingredients are apples, dates, raisans, walnuts, and cinnamin. they were easy to make and tasted delicious! they were the next best thing to fresh!

I first bought the Larabars ebcause I needed some easy to carry food that didn't need to be refridgeration. I missed the fact that they are NOT ORGANIC when I bought them.

Next I tried Prana bars. They are organic, but are not 100% raw. I'm eating the apricot pumpkin seed ones that are 77% raw.

Finally I found one 100% raw and organic bar. I'm very happy, although I wish I could find more than 1. And apparently, I ate the last one today. Damn. I'll have to do soem research to tell you all about it. I know it was blueberry flavored and I got it at Whole Foods.

Ok, they are called Organic Food Bars. ou've got to be careful because they have a lot of flavors, but this is the only one I've found that is 100% raw. One place I've found that you can get them online at vitaminshoppe, among other place (cheaper than Whole Foods, so I'm glad I looked . . . but then there's shipping).

Anyway, there are also raw food bar choices at rawfood.com. I haven't tried any yet, though.

Happy eating!

P.S. I haven't seen them in the Store, but it loks like the Cranberry ones are 100% raw too. YEAH! VARIETY! At least a little.