I’ve never been a huge bar person for the sole purpose they’re usually just “nutritious” candy bars with not a ton of good-for-you ingredients but a ton of ingredients similar to a candy bar. Sure, most companies include some extra grams of protein into their bars but that doesn’t mean they’re always helping out your body. Through some product research on vegan bars with ingredients I can recognize (and pronounce), I found the company GoMacro.
GoMacro focuses on living a sustainable life by consuming wholesome food, eating local, organic and plant-based when possible and giving back to their community. While aiming to affect the world positively, their products are USDA Organic, Certified Vegan and Gluten-Free. Through these factors, I was instantly curious to try their products. Thankfully, I received a small package of a few of their bars to taste-test and sample.
The bars I sampled were Protein Paradise, Morning Harvest and Protein Pleasure. In order of best to worst I would go with the Protein Pleasure giving me the most satisfaction and the Protein Paradise taking me “away from paradise” you could say.
If and when I eat protein bars, I want them to have a ton of flavor and chunkiness. I want to taste the real ingredients inside of the bar and not just artificial sugars and pastes. Because of this, I was dissatisfied with the Protein Paradise. Maybe I wasn’t a fan because of the similarity to caramel (I’m not a fan of caramel) or the fact it tasted exactly like a Tootsie Roll which threw me off. The only problem I have with these bars is that the first ingredient is brown rice syrup (commonly known to people as none other than sugar). If the first ingredient in a product is sugar then how healthy can it really be? This bar highlighted the brown rice syrup due to the caramel flavor.
But in defense, every other ingredient is a winner in my eyes. This bar contains cashew butter, sprouted brown rice protein (for those vegans out there), cashews, coconut sugar (low-glycemic index which makes your body thank you), coconut oil and more. All of these ingredients made me so happy! Hopefully GoMacro will be able to dump the brown rice syrup in the near future and just opt for more coconut sugar. The ingredient everyone should know and love.
Onto the other two bars I tried that I actually REALLY enjoyed. The Protein Pleasure and Morning Harvest.
The Protein Pleasure was the first one I opened (primarily because it is peanut butter and chocolate chips… how could I resist it?) and I ate half right away while saving the other half for a later snack. The bars contain a hefty amount of sugar and fat but for the ingredients, they’re a good bar pre-workout. This one tasted exactly like peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough and due to its texture, I even rolled it up into a bite-sized cookie ball. Always fun to play with your food. I appreciated the fact the chocolate chips in this bar are Fair Trade. Another reason why GoMacro really tries to benefit the community they’re serving. Super peanut butter-y and a whole lot of flavor and chewiness. A good first choice.
The last bar I tried was the Morning Harvest. This almost tied with the Protein Pleasure in satisfaction because of the chunks of walnuts and apples I could taste throughout the bar. I would suggest maybe microwaving it a little bit and maybe it will resemble apple pie! I haven’t tried it but it sounds delicious. With cinnamon, walnuts, almond butter and apples, this bar is the perfect snack for a fall afternoon or on a hike through the park. I was impressed that this bar contained dates unlike the others I tried which had me smiling. I love dates and if a bar contains them, you know you’re taking in natural sugars. Sweet and good for ya.
After only trying three flavors, I definitely had a great impression for the bars and how the company creates each flavor. Just like every other bar company, most taste the same but with these, I could receive a distinct first and different underlying taste from each one. Caramel, peanut butter and apple. Those were the images that I got from these samples.
The next time I try a GoMacro bar, I will go for the Prolonged Power packed with bananas and almond butter (yum!?) or the Sunny Uplift with cherries.
I’d have to give GoMacro a 7/10 for a nutrition/protein bar. They’re vegan, organic and flavorful but the brown rice syrup gives the bars a bit of glazed texture that I was not a fan of. Aside from that, these products are a win! They’re available online as well as in numerous health food stores such as my favorite place, Whole Foods.
You can order GoMacro here.
-Addie
