Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 07:03 AM
It’s Trade-Up Tuesday! Every Tuesday, I blog about a trade-up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. It’s a very popular day to stop by and visit.
Today, I’m giving away my favorite bars: LaraBars!
I credit Tina, my fellow blogger at NuVal, with introducing me to LaraBars. She told me about how much she loved them. I tried one while we were presenting NuVal at the American Dietetic Association conference – and the rest is history!
Before I came to work for NuVal, I would look for a snack bar that was low in calories – and that was pretty much my only criteria for choosing one. Maybe I would look for a little protein too. But once I opened my eyes to the concept of nutrient density – and started looking at the NuVal score of a food, I really changed what I was eating. One of the things that I love about LaraBars is that they have so few ingredients. Take a look at the ingredients in the LaraBar Apple Pie Bar:
When I lined up these LaraBars to photograph them, I put them in order of score – highest on top, lowest on the bottom:
- LaraBar Apple Pie: NuVal score of 53
- LaraBar Banana Bread: NuVal score of 40
- LaraBar Cherry Pie: NuVal score of 38
- LaraBar Peanut Butter Cookie: NuVal score of 33
- LaraBar Cashew Cookie: NuVal score of 32
- LaraBar Lemon Bar: NuVal score of 32
- LaraBar Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip: NuVal score of 20
Snack bars, in general, range in score from 2 to 82 and the average score for a snack bar is a 21. So these LaraBars score above average (well, except for that last Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bar, which by the way, is really delicious!)
One of the best things about LaraBars? Not only do my husband and I love them, but our kids do too. So, I can pack them in every bag – work bags, gym bags, my purse, backpacks, sports bags, dance bags, etc.
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky reader will win this fabulous LaraBar Sampler. It’s a great prize – especially if there are some LaraBar flavors you’ve been curious to try. Just leave a comment below telling me which “bag” you’d most likely carry your LaraBar around in. I’ll choose one winner at random at 8 am Eastern on Wednesday. Good Luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: LaraBars
Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 06:58 AM
Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday! Every Tuesday, I blog about a trade-up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. Today, it’s my son who is growing up and trading up along the way. He is now 7 and a half (he reminds me). When I first started writing this blog, he had just turned 6. Wow, how time flies! Yes, my son is getting so big. These days, he is all into the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. He’s read all five of them, and we just watched the movie for Family Pizza Movie Night. It’s about a middle-schooler! How did this happen?
Now that my son is a “big kid” (and we are no longer allowed to say the word “baby-sitter” in our house, it’s “sitter”, for the record), he is getting particular about his snacks. Like they have to be cool, you know. He says this as he slings his backpack over one shoulder, because you know, the Wimpy Kid says that you should only wear your backpack on one shoulder (not two).
Snacks for school are hard. I like to find something with some protein – it’s a long morning and the kids need a lot of brain power these days. And at our school, snacks need to be peanut-free. My son is a slow eater, so I look for something that packs a lot of punch in just a few bites. I know they don’t have long to eat their snacks. So, we tried out these Clif Kid Chocolate Chip Z Bars:
They fit a lot of criteria:
- 3 grams of Protein
- NuVal score of 25 (better than the average Snack Bar score of 21)
- Fit in Snack Part of lunch box nicely
- Cool
Compare these Clif Z bars to say, Quaker Chewy Dips Chocolate Covered Chocolate Chip granola bars. They get a NuVal score of 4. Ewwwwww.
So, what’s a Mom of a growing grade-schooler to do? Stay energized! Seriously. This parenting this is not for the faint-of-heart. It takes a lot of stamina. You need your sleep, your exercise, your water. your nutrition. So, to complement this giveaway, I added my favorite energy bars for when I am on the go: Larabar Peanut Butter Cookie. They get a NuVal score of 31 and they keep me ready to bowl, bike, dance and play basketball with my 7-and-a-half-year-old growing boy. Let me just go pay the sitter!
To Enter
One very lucky commenter will win both boxes of bars. There are 6 Clif bars and 5 Larabars, so that’s a lot of bars! Just leave a comment below telling me what you were reading when you were 7 and a half. (Do you remember?) I’m curious! (For me, it was Ramona the Pest!) Alternatively, I’ll take what activities you loved to do.
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: snacks, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: LaraBars, snacks, Trade-Up Tuesday
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 07:02 AM
Welcome to Trade-Up Tuesday! Every Tuesday, here on A Better Bag of Groceries, I tell you about a Trade-Up I’ve made since learning about NuVal and I give away free stuff. Today, I’m giving away some foods that I am relying on these days for energy and stamina: Nature’s Path Cereal and Larabars!
I have to admit – I am freaking out just a bit now that it’s June 1st. My June is going to be busier than ever. I get twitchy just thinking about it. Every area of my life is going into overdrive:
- Work: new retailers coming on board, business trips on the agenda.
- Kids: Can there be any more end-of-the-school-year activities??? School play, concert, dance recital, teacher gifts, pre-school graduation, children singing in church, yada, yada, yada.
- Fitness: Teaching a new boot camp beginning mid-June. Just call me Jillian!
- Home: This is the part that is really making me twitchy. Major changes going on at our home. Yikes!
So, with my agenda overflowing, it was time to stock up on some foods that are easily accessible, low-maintenance and chock full of energy.
First, I decided it was time for a new cereal. I am a total floozie when it comes to cereal. By that, I mean I am all into a cereal for a given period of time. I can’t get enough of one particular brand – every day – yum, yum, yum and then (boom!) I’m over it. So it was with the stale box of Shredded Wheat that I have collecting dust in my cupboard right now. I know it is a Rock Star on the NuVal scale. It gets a 91for crying out loud. But, alas, it is just not doing it for me. So, I found myself in the Healthy section of my grocery store last Friday eyeing the Nature’s Path selections. Hmmmmmmm. Flax, Omega 3. I figured it would get a great NuVal Score.
I brought home a box of the Flax Plus MultiBran, loaded it with Strawberries (100) and Blueberries (100) and topped it with skim milk (91).
As my friend Tina would say, Holy Yum! I am so loving this new cereal. It was just the new something that I needed to face this crazy month I have ahead of me. Quick easy energy. I spent part of Memorial Day checking out the NuVal scores on this cereal. It gets a 38. OK, I was a little disappointed. I mean, it’s still better than the average score for cold cereal (27), but I was expecting it to be higher. Oh, well! It is delicious!
As I said, the month ahead is so daunting that I know it will be critical to have some quick and easy nutrition ready to go when the going gets rough. And that’s were the LaraBars come in. Fooducate, one of my favorite food blogs, had a great post recently about LaraBars. The amazing thing about them is how short the ingredients list is. For example, on this LaraBar Apple Pie, the ingredients are: Dates,
Almonds, Unsweetened Apples, Walnuts, Raisins and Cinnamon. On the Peanut Butter Cookie (my favorite!), they are Dates, Peanuts and Salt. Nice and simple.
The NuVal scores are:
- LaraBar Apple Pie: 57
- LaraBar Peanut Butter Cookie: 29
LaraBars are definitely one of my favorite new discoveries of the past six months. Oh, how I love them!
Today’s GiveAway
One lucky commenter will win a box of Nature’s Path cereal, a Larabar Apple Pie, a Larabar Peanut Butter cookie and a NuVal t-shirt. Wow! Great prize! Just leave a comment below telling me one of the following:
- A food that you rely on for energy and stamina when your life goes into overdrive OR
- A trade-up you’ve made since learning about NuVal
I’ll choose one winner at 7 am Eastern time Wednesday. Good luck to everyone!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Trade-Up Tuesday
Tags: Cereal for Grown-Ups, LaraBars, Natures Path
