#1 Ingredient Heart Healthy Peanuts | Gluten-Free | Ingredients you can see & Pronounce
Net carbs: 9/13 g Added sugars: 4/8 g (Dark Chocolate/Peanut Butter flavors)
Overall rating: 😄👌🍫
Flavor
I reviewed Kind Bar Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt and Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate flavors.
There’s nothing surprising here. Both bars are clumps of peanuts and almonds with different flavors mixed in and drizzled on top. I’m not sure if it’s the bar’s formula or if it’s gone stale, but the DCN&SS was way crunchier. I would call it too crunchy for my personal tastes.
The flavor is great though. Using real nuts gives it a richer, more well-rounded and, dare I say, natural taste. The peanut and almond’s natural complexities weave perfectly with delicately bitter dark chocolate and the various syrupy sweeteners.
The PBDC flavor has honey in it, which blends in a smooth warmth with this most classic of flavor combinations. This tastes the way Reese’s cups wish they did. Full, rounded nuttiness nestled in a bed of warm sweet honey fudge.
Both of these flavors taste beautiful, simple, and natural.
Packaging appeal
Kind Bar does an excellent job of marketing to health-conscious consumers. Clean, simple designs, minimal virtue signaling, 11 health claims despite the small size, and a transparent window into the wrapper make this scream health and goodness. The transparent window is also a great metaphor for the company’s transparent business practices.
The different flavors have different ingredient callouts on them. DCN&SS highlights both its protein and sugar content, while PBDC only specifies its 8G of protein. 9g of sugar in such a small bar sounds like a lot, so they left that off.
PBDC also has a cool cross pattern on it, which adds a nice bit of visual pizazz.
Ingredient quality
Here’s a decent rule of thumb: If it’s coated in chocolate, it’s probably not a health food. I would not feed these to my kids as a snack, but rather as a dessert. Unfortunately marketing these as a dessert would be horrible for business, so here we are selling candy in the health food aisle again.
The peanut butter flavor is far worse health-wise. It has extra sweeteners and some soy protein isolate to crank up the nutritional value. The phytoestrogens in soy disrupt your endocrine system, which can have significant negative impacts, particularly for developing children and women trying to get pregnant. I’m not certain whether soy’s phytoestrogens remain in the protein isolate, but I tend to avoid soy as a food additive whenever possible. I do still go to town on some marinated tempeh now and then.
I know there are health-conscious moms out there giving these bars to their kids and feeling good about it. But what effect does all this sugar and soy have on people’s health? This has enough sugar to get most kids cranking, and it would be really easy to over sugar a developing child with bars like these.
They’re not necessarily unhealthy, but I think Kind Bars should be in the candy section next to all the artisan fudge.
Company practices
“Do the kind thing for your body, your taste buds, and the world”
Despite the dubious nutritional quality, KIND is a good company. They have a variety of philanthropic programs, including a community non-profit and international education programs.
And even though the health claims are slight distortions, they do use great ingredients compared to a lot of other protein bar companies. They play a small part in the candification of kid’s diets, but they do so in a healthier way.
It’s always great to see companies putting their money where their mouth is, though. Their brand is based on doing good for the world, and this company absolutely puts its profits to good use. Do you think people can taste the generosity?
Snackability
Very snackable. These bars are small, which is perfect for moms and kids. I just ate two and it’s enough to quiet the tummy rumbles without making me feel bloated or overly full. Being mostly made of real food, these feel great in your stomach.
Overall, Kind bars get a rating of 😄👌🍫. It’s candy, but at least it’s made of real food.
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