FJ's Verdict:

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Product Name: Kashi GoLean Roll Bars
Company: Kashi
MSRP: $18.49 / 12pack Click To Save 15% On Kashi Roll Bars!
Availability: High (Online stores, retail outlets & Health Food Stores)

Fellow bar loves and health geeks who want something on the go, I have an announcement to make. Your long days of searching for the perfect protein/health bars will probably never come to an end. So… keep searching. But in the mean time, Kashi’s line of GoLean bars have a “roll” version and it’s something that might command a second look from you.

A while back I reviewed their “chewy” version of Kashi’s GoLean bars and was thoroughly disappointed. It was too high in sugar and the taste made it hard to eat the whole bar in one sitting. Kashi gave me the silent treatment after that review, I guess the truth hurts. And… it’s not like I didn’t try and help them improve their own product. But anyways, I don’t live in the fucking past, so let’s try out this other version and see what’s up.

Product Claims:

Designed to help you stay satisfied. All natural. Contains 12g protein and 6g fiber. A chewy peanut butter center is surrounded by smooth chocolate and then rolled in roasted peanuts, crunchy soy crisps and whole grains. Optimized Glycemic response: GoLean Roll is specially designed for an Optimized Glycemic Response to help balance your body sugar. The Glycemic Response is optimized by the type of carbohydrates and unique combination of protein and fiber.

Slow release carbs: GoLean Roll contains whole grains, nuts and low glycemic carbs to deliver a steady stream of energy, helping you avoid sugar spikes and crashes. Protein 12g: GoLean is high in protein. Protein helps give you a lasting feeling of satisfaction and is essential for muscle development. Fiber 6g: GoLean Roll is an excellent source of fiber, which promotes a lower glycemic response and helps you feel full longer.

First Impressions:

Right off the bat, these looked a helluva lot more appetizing than the chewy bars. Kashi sent me two flavors: Fudge Sundae and Oatmeal Walnut. At 55 grams, they seem to be a decent size for a snack and can easily be consumed in between meals without being too heavy.

Now let’s take a look at the nutritional facts *crosses fingers*.

We have 1.5g of saturated fat, and 0g of trans fat (good). Then we have sodium… 250mg (ouch). I don’t know why there is such a fascination with adding a ridiculous amount of sodium in foods today. There is no reason a 55g bar should have 250mg of fucking sodium in it. NONE! Lets move on to carbohydrates, of which there are 27g. This can easily make this bar a decent post-workout contender. After that we have 6g of fiber (Good), 12g of protein (Not bad) and 13g of sugar (Meh).

Let’s take about the protein first. 12g isn’t bad, in fact for most people this is a good amount, specially since I can see these bars being eaten as a mid-day snack. What I have problem with is the TYPE of protein. Soy isolate. Soy is slow releasing but as a man, I wouldn’t bother with it. There is some whey isolate in there as well, but judging from it’s position in the ingredient list, there are only trace amounts of it. This won’t make much of a difference.

Now let’s talk sugar. This one ingredient completely killed the validity of the Chewy bars from Kashi. Well at 13g, the roll bars have about 2x the amount I’d recommend but it’s also the usual average that I’ve found in most health bars (with the exception of those that are made with sugar substitutes).  Anything around 10-15g is usually the average for such bars. The only place where you will find 5g of sugar or less, is in bars that are focused on muscle building or just plain heavy on protein. I’m sure there are exceptions as the amount of bars out on the market is pretty insane, and it’s safe to say I haven’t seen them all.

Real World Results:

The bars are covered with a special blend of nuts and other good “stuff”. For the Fudge Sundae bar, I’m guessing it was covered in peanuts, while the Oatmeal Walnut flavor was covered in (from what I could visually tell) Almonds, Peanuts, Oats & Walnuts. Good stuff.

After staring at this thing for a few seconds, I took a giant bite. It has a decent combination of crunchy and chewy-ness to it. In fact, Id go ahead and say that it’s quite satisfying. The overall feel is still quite dry so again, I’d strongly recommend that you drink a full glass of water… or the top of your mouth will feel like the surface of Sahara.

Here’s where things get interesting… although it’s got 13g of sugar, you really can’t taste it. The sweetness is quite mild and it tastes like bar that probably only has 5-6g. I like that. I think the culprit here is the caramel. You see, in the center of the bar is a protein roll, and you know what those taste like right? Dry and chewy. This roll is covered in a layer of caramel and then dipped in the nutty stuff. Now, why couldn’t they NOT do that and replace the caramel with dark chocolate? Less sugar and everything would still stick.

Then we have the after-taste… Which isn’t bad on the Fudge Sundae bar, but is quite unpleasing on the Oatmeal Walnut bar. It starts off tasting good and leaves behind a taste that could only be replicated by a product that was super stale. Worse, is that this after-taste decides to set up camp and hang around your taste buds for a while. The fucking thing just won’t go away! I found an easy work-around for this problem though… COFFEE!

Conclusion:

First, let me start off by saying that this bar is a HUGE improvement over their chewy type. It’s got a decent taste to it (Hey! I was able to finish the whole bar in one sitting this time!), the stats aren’t too shabby and at $1.50 its a pretty good deal. Keep in mind that I was only able to try the 2 flavors out of the available 5 (Chocolate Peanut, Chocolate Turtle, Caramel Peanut, Fudge Sundae, Oatmeal Walnut) so that after-taste problem can probably be avoided.

Now, should you try these? This is where I gota sit and scratch my head. Its really fucking confusing because on one hand, it’s not a bad choice as a post-workout bar for people who are really active (like me, for example). I can handle the 13g of sugar, the 27g of carbs while obliterating the 12g of protein, so once in a while I’d eat it over the very-sugary PowerBars. Plus its a LOT cheaper.

But on the other hand, I would be hard pressed to give it to someone who goes for a light jog only 3 times a week and already has a off-balance eating lifestyle. Then there is the soy protein (which is great for women, but less than ideal for a manly man!)

Hmm… (fast forward 15 minutes)

OK! I got it. This bar would be great for the highly active woman with a busy lifestyle. For the rest of us though, it can be a “once in a while” type thing (because eating a snack such as this is better than missing a meal). As for the rating,  I’d give the Fudge Sundae bar a 3/5 while the Oatmeal Walnut gets a 2/5 for having a horrid after taste… but because I can’t do half stars and because I’d personally never buy a crappy flavor I’m going to award the Go Lean Roll bar a final score of 3. Respectable, but there is an obvious room for improvement.

In the end, the search for the perfect bar is still on!

To Being Fit & Sexy 4 Life

-FitJerk

FlawlessFitnessBook

P.S- There is one more GoLean bar that is left to be reviewed, and that’s the “Crunchy” type. Stay tuned for that review.

Random Question: If money was no object, what would your dream health bar look like? List the stats and let the creative juices (You do have some right?) flow…