Kind Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate

Can this possibly be "good" for you?

The Attraction

After my last review of Odwalla Berries GoMega, I received some emails questioning what was a good healthy snack bar since in my assessment was less than stellar about the Odwalla bar. I didn't have an answer off-hand, but I thought it was fine time to start testing a few so I can recommend some to try as opposed to just give you ones to avoid.

The Review:
I've seen these Kind bars around for a bit. I can't say I was necessarily excited at the idea of trying another "health" bar, but I also think we can't just eat milk chocolate bar and potato chips everyday (although I would probably try). I will say that just by the looks of the transparent wrapper, it looks more appetizing already than some other bars in this "healthy"arena. This bar was not a compressed bar, but it does advertise a bunch of almonds, peanuts and chocolate! However far looks can get you, this was a good start, but as in life, it can only get you so far for so long. Let's see what lies beneath the surface, shall we?

If only all healthy things looked this good

After liberating the Kind bar from the wrapper, it's difficult not to take a second and admire the overall beauty of this bar; from the glistening shine off the assorted nuts to the drizzle of dark chocolate across the bar. As if that wasn't enough, the whole underside is coated in dark chocolate. If looks could kill, I would be in for some serious trouble.

I finally take a bite and it's...every bit as tasty as it looks. Dare I say the abundance of nuts and chocolate in some regards can stand right up there against your perennial snack bar favorites. Think a nuttier Snickers bar. In fact, it's so nutty, it reminds me of another nutty chocolate bar, the Nuggle. Forget about tasty for a "healthy" snack, it's just plain tasty. I will say that although it advertises peanut butter, I don't really detect any. It could be that the bar itself is so full of nuts that it gets lost in the shuffle, but frankly, I forgot about it because I was so surprised at how good it tasted.

I could get used to this!

The Sweet:
Deliciously comparable to many commercially available chocolate snack bars

The Bitter:
Exactly how "healthy" is this?

Conclusion:
I get it, I'm not exactly comparing apples to apples here if I'm putting this up against the Odwalla bar. Most people in the world would probably prefer dark chocolate and nuts vs. compressed oats and cranberries (duh, really?), but let's just let this snack stand on it's own. I can't vouch for how "healthy" this particular Kind bar is, but compared to a standard Snickers bar I would hope it's better for you. In fact, maybe that should be the approach here; maybe in the future when you have a hankering for a "guilty" chocolate snack, instead of reaching for the standard candy store variety, reach for one of these.

Are you going to turn into a supermodel from eating these instead of the customary assortment of chocolate goodies? Not likely, but if you can shave off a few calories along with a few grams of sugar and get some protein in the process as well, what's the harm? Your taste buds certainly won't be upset with this compromise.

Video of the Week

Hope you packed a lunch

Over the course of time, I've come to accept that some people work at their own pace; some a little faster, some a little slower. However in this case, I can't tell if this woman is working at this pace deliberately or she is just a super methodical mover. Whatever it may be, I don't think she would last very long as a bank teller in NYC. Either she would get constantly get yelled at by customers and quit or tons of customers would catch heart attacks from their blood pressure boiling over waiting. (Have you seen how we react to just slow walkers on the street?)