I haven’t heard much about Atkins recently, well not since that book came out and it became the diet that literally everybody was on. It’s the low carb diet that I’ll be honest went out as fast as it came in on my dieting radar, because I just couldn’t be bothered to read all the ins and outs of the nutritional jargon within the book. However, that being said I did take the principal of low carb eating away with me and it became a way of controlling my weight back when I actually gave a damn about what the scales said.
These days my attitude to food has changed somewhat, I’m now more about what makes my body feel good, what makes me perform at my best and quite frankly what food gives me the greatest of pleasure (life’s too short folks!). But of course I exercise regularly, which means I can totally indulge my chocolate loving ways and my need (yes, really) for Prosecco.
The thing is, I know how many of you out there like to cut your carb levels as a means of reducing your overall calorie consumption for weight loss, which is why I was keen to review these new bars from the Atkins Harvest range.
Available in three different flavours: Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel, Apricot, Almond & Coconut, and Mixed Nuts & Chocolate, the bars claims to contain 55% less carbs and 50% less sugar than standard nut and seed bars. Hmmm pretty good, plus they’re gluten free, contain more than 7.5g of fibre and with less than 9g of carbs per bar it’s gotta be a good thing, right?
Well yes and no. They’re proper tasty business, there’s no denying that, with their crowd pleasing chunky, sticky, nuttiness seriously they’re downright delicious, but, and here’s the big BUT, at just under 200 cals per 40g bar the calorie content is a bit of a shocker.
I see it like this…if you want low carb, you exercise regularly and you’re bit of a sugar fiend and therefore highly likely to pay a visit to the gym’s vending machine for a post-workout choccy bar, then these are bang up your street. Just be careful that a) you only eat one of these in one sitting, which to be honest shouldn’t be too tricky as they really are rather filling and b) you factor in the higher calorie intake into your overall daily calorie consumption.
Right that aside, let’s get onto what they taste like, because that soooooo matters, right?
Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel
Packed with peanuts, almonds, cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and a layer of dark chocolate on the bottom, eating this bar is like eating a bowl of your fave salty peanuts whilst drinking hot chocolate. Chewy, with just the right amount of saltiness, the dark chocolate really helps take away some of the sweetness. If you’re the kind of person who likes mixing the sweet with the salty popcorn at the cinema, then this ones for you!
Apricot, Almond & Coconut
No chocolate on this one I’m afraid and because of that it’s nowhere near as sweet as the ones that do have a chocolaty element. Full of whole and chopped nuts, I couldn’t see the apricot so I presume it’s been pureed down and used as a bit of a binding agent. I personally couldn’t taste the apricot that much either, which was a shame and actually I would’ve liked some larger chunks of it, as the bar felt a lot drier and this made it harder to eat. Tastes very strongly of coconut, not a bad thing but make sure you have a drink to hand when you eat this one.
Mixed Nuts & Chocolate
This one was by far my favourite and I loved the layer of chocolate on the bottom – it looks great and satisfies my ridiculous chocolate habit. Sticky, sweet, chewy, crunchy, it basically tastes like a healthier Snickers bar. Peanuts, almonds, cashew nuts and pumpkin seeds it’s a hearty bar that will keep both your tummy and your cravings well and truly satisfied.
Bit calorie heavy but heck nowhere near as much as an actual Snickers, filling, tasty and they look pretty damn fine too, so that’s the Atkins Harvest bars in a nutshell really!
*Product gifted for review.
