My Nakd Bar Review

This blog post is all about the art of snacking, including my honest review of the Nakd Bars as I often get asked ‘are Nakd bars healthy?’!

Do you snack between meals? If you’re trying to lose weight then the most important thing is that you burn off more calories than what you are taking in. Snacking between meals is perfectly healthy if you are hungry and your chosen snack is within your calorie allowance for the day. As a general rule, I personally like to keep each of my snacks to under 200 Kcal (calories) or 10% of my total daily calorie intake. If I’m just peckish then I normally choose fresh fruit and/or yoghurt, however if I feel a bit more hungry or I’m being a bit more active than usual, a snack bar is my usual snack of choice!

When it comes to your health, the key is to make the most out of your calories – eat for goodness 80% of the time & then the other 20% more indulgent foods won’t matter! And no, it’s NOT essential to make all of your snacks from scratch as the supermarkets are now bursting with healthy pre-made finds! Introducing the Nakd bars. Nakd are a brand which pride themselves in not only being gluten, wheat and dairy free (perfect if you’re intolerant!), but contain 100% natural ingredients as well.

Nakd snack bars are made from 100% raw fruit and nuts and contain no added sugar or syrups. The fruit-based bars also count towards one of your 5 a day (as do the delicious dried fruit packs, which are flavoured naturally; fruit has never tasted so sweet without added sugar!). At just 135-157 Kcal for the snack bars and 68 Kcal per bag for the raisins, the Nakd range makes an ideal snack option either between meals or before exercise and they taste delicious! My favourites are definitely the cocoa variety.

Regarding the ingredients, the Nakd Cocoa Mint bar contains:

• 48% raw dates
• 29% raw cashews
• 17% raw raisins
• 6% cocoa

Regarding the nutritional benefits, nuts provide our bodies with; healthy fats and essential fatty acids (omega 3) which promote heart and skin health, soluble fibre to improve cholesterol levels and maintain a healthy digestive system, vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant and vitamin essential for skin health, as well as plant sterols. Fruit provides our bodies with essential antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fibre which together help to reduce disease risk and maintain health.

The only way to know what you’re eating is to look at the label; it doesn’t take long, but the only way to eat healthy is to mindfully eat healthy. And when it comes to healthy snacking I advise you to:

1. Check the ingredients list: if sugar/glucose/syrup is the first or second ingredient then personally I would leave it alone (sugar contains nothing but calories – no goodness, and it rots your teeth!)
2. Check the nutrition label: if the total snack bar is more than 200 Kcal (or 150 Kcal if you’re trying to lose weight) then perhaps choose one that is lower if you’re watching your weight.

Nakd bars contain no added sugar and are under 150 Kcal.. can you tell I’m a fan?

P.S. Since I wrote this blog review Nakd have brought out at Oatie range.. made with raw fruits, oats, nuts and spices, They have a more crumbly texture than the original nakd bars, thanks to the added oats, but are equally delicious!

The oat bar Nakd range is wheat and dairy free but not gluten free (because of the oats) and each bar contains ~100 calories, 17g carbs, 2g protein, 3g fat and 2g fibre. I think the reason why I’m such a huge fan of the nakd ranges are that they are 100% natural.. take the Banana Bread bar for example.. the ingredients are:

• 37% Dates, 23% Bananas, 21% Oats, 8% Walnuts, 7% Raisins, 3% Apple Juice, Cinnamon & a hint of Natural Flavour!

Plus they are totally delicious too!! . What are your favourite flavours?!