Zone Perfect Combines Strawberry & Yogurt For One Heck of A Tasty Treat!
Written: May 18 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Nice light taste, crunchy, filling, great for between meals.
Cons: If you don’t like the flavor combination, skip this bar.
The Bottom Line: A great addition to the Zone Perfect series of bars, this makes a great between meal snack or when doing the Zone Diet.
|
|
|
| Freak369's Full Review: Zone Perfect Strawberry Yogurt Bars |
When it comes to sports nutrition bars, there are so many choices that you can get confused as to what the bottom line is regarding nutritional values, which is best for your diet and which ones should be avoided. You have your choice between low carbohydrate, low fat, energy, high protein, no sugar, high fiber and meal replacement bars. Of course you also have to factor in any allergies you may have, dietary restrictions and personal food choices. I’ve always been aware of vegetarian and vegans and they things that they willingly omit from their diet, but until I started reviewing some of the sport bars, I was unaware of the offshoots of the vegetarian / vegan lifestyle like the lacto / ovo groups. At one point in time I thought I was adding too much information to my reviews – such as the ingredients or listing that it contains dairy products, peanuts, peanut flour or fish oil – but it’s clear that there are groups of people that simply don’t want to eat these types of foods.
I can fully understand wanting to cut out certain things from a diet because most of the time I stick to a strict low carb / no carb diet. Knowing what you are eating is just as important as having the will power to stick to a diet or “well planned eating schedule”. It’s important to know that this isn’t a diet bar and shouldn’t be used instead of eating a complete meal. If you are trying to lose weight by cutting back on calories this might not be the best choice for you since it contains 210 calories – for that you can have a large salad with tons of vegetables and a low calories dressing – something that will full you up more than this 1.76 ounce bar. But inevitably there will come a time when you can’t drag a salad along wit you or you really need something sweet to eat. Consider having half of a bar and saving the rest for the next day or when you need a small snack between meals.
What Is It?
First off, this isn’t a meal replacement bar; if that is what you are looking for, pick something that will give you more in exchange for the calories and carbohydrates you’ll be ingesting. One of the main reasons I purchased this bar was to try out the flavor combination of mint and chocolate, not having much luck with the Zone Perfect Chocolate Raspberry Supreme I wasn’t sure how this one would go down, but after eating more than I should have I can honestly say that these are great! I highly suggest these bars for anyone that is looking for a balanced between meal snack, looking to avoid regular candy bars or doing a dedicated Zone diet.
For those not familiar with the Zone Diet, here is a little background about the basics of the diet. The Zone Diet consists of a food plan of 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat. For me, these bars are far too high in carbohydrates for me to eat on a regular basis but I do have them on my cheat days of when taking a break from a ketosis cycle. For those doing the Zone Diet, these bars allow you the chance to even out weak spots in your daily diet and help stay on track when you are feeling run down, need something sweet or are bored with the same snacks.
Taste
The first bite of the Zone Perfect Strawberry Yogurt bar didn’t taste all that great to me. I wasn’t expecting the light yogurt type coating on the outside of the bar but after a few bites it really started to grow on my. I like strawberries and I like yogurt, I’ll even go so far as to say that I like strawberry yogurt – but would I like this bar when I was done with it? OK, it wouldn’t be my first choice but it wouldn’t be at the bottom of the list either. Since this doesn’t have the chocolate coating you might not get the ‘sweet relief’ from it but in most cases it will crush your craving for something sweet. For me this is a good light snack that I would more than likely snack on in the afternoon – most likely after a work out or cardio session. Since I stick to a low carbohydrate diet, these would only be an option when I was taking a few days off from my diet or having a well deserved cheat day. The flavor is nice and light and doesn’t have a lingering or bad after taste so if you like strawberry yogurt, this is a flavor you might want to check out.
Nutritional Values
Checking out the wrapper, you’ll be able to find all the nutritional values that you will need to know before you purchase and consume this. For those who are looking to build a certain type of diet such as low carbohydrate or low fat, it is important to look at what you will be getting from the calories, carbohydrates and fat as well as the vitamins and minerals. This bar will provide you with 80% of the RDA [recommended daily allowance] of selenium and chromium, 50% zinc and 200% of Vitamin B6. On the low side you have calcium at 2% and iron at 10%. As I mentioned earlier, even though this supplies some of the RDA of vitamins and minerals, this shouldn’t be used as a meal replacement bar. The Zone Perfect Chocolate Mint bar has enough calories [210] and carbohydrates [22 grams] to hold you over until you can eat a complete and well-balanced meal but should not be a substitute for one.
Ingredients
Soy protein nuggets, corn syrup, yogurt coating, sodium caseinate, cocoa butter, fructose, natural flavor, strawberry flakes, oat fiber, fig paste, date paste, plum and prune bits, sunflower oil, beet juice, gellan gum, apple bits, toasted barley flakes, toasted oats, brown crisp rice, gum arabic, citric acid, guar gum, glycerine, lecithin, ascorbic acid, magnesium oxide, ascorbyl palmitate, niacinamide, zinc oxide, fish oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, thiamine monomitrate, chromium chloride, folic acid, sodium selenite, sodium molybdate, biotin and cyandbalamin.
Since sunflower oil, various fruits and dairy products are listed in the ingredients - those that have allergies to any type of peanut, nut or dairy products should avoid this bar unless this particular product is something that will not affect you. You’ll also see a warning on the package that states “ May contain traces of peanuts. For further information about the ingredients of this bar, feel free to visit the official website at www.zoneperfect.com. As I mentioned in the introduction of this review, some people might think that adding the ingredients is unnecessary – so feel free to skip this part. For vegans this isn’t an option since it contains some diary products [yogurt, cocoa butter] and fish oils [Omega additive]
The Bottom Line
This would be a great bar for an afternoon snack or something to hold you over until your next full meal. Beware of the first bite, if it doesn’t taste all that great – give it another try. If I hadn’t given it a second bite there is a good chance that this wouldn’t have been a very positing review. Keep in mind that the yogurt coating of the bar might mix with other food or beverages you previously consumed so you might not be getting the “full taste” of the bar when you first taste it. For me, this wouldn’t be my very first choice when picking out Zone bars, but I’d have to say that it would be in my top five. When looking strictly at the yogurt covered bars, aside from the peach – this is the best flavor.
For more information about the Zone Perfect bars or diet, please visit the official website at www.zoneperfect.com. You can also call the toll free number for assistance in finding a retailer in your area that sells these – [800] 666-6830
As always, thanks for the visit!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
The Stats
Complete Name: Zone Perfect Bar Strawberry Yogurt
Expiration Date: Yes, clearly labeled on the inside bottom flap.
Serving Size: 1 bar, 50 grams
Calories: 210
Carbohydrates: 24 grams
Protein: 14 grams
Price: $1.09
As always, thanks for the visit!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
Other Zone Perfect nutrition bar reviews …
Zone Perfect Fudge Graham Cracker
Zone Perfect Chocolate Raspberry Supreme
Zone Perfect Apple Cinnamon Crunch
Zone Perfect Chocolate Mint
Zone Perfect Nutrition Bar
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.