Sunday 14 August 2011

Another Healthy Snack Bar Review: 9-Bars

Reposting This as the bars are available in Lagos right now, email me for more info:


I LOVE these bars :) I was introduced to them by Keris and Matt of Fitter London last year. Perfect timing as I needed a healthy snack option which was high in protein and most importantly - contained natural ingredients :) These bars contain carbohydrates but the sources aren't processed... carbs aren't the devil, as long as they're from natural sources ;)

I took them to the Nutrition & Fitness workshops (More info HERE) in Lagos and everyone loved them. The feedback I got, after the workshops, was - "The chocolate covered bars were the best". It is not chocolate, it's actually carob (a chocolate substitute). <-- Which is why I've decided to make them available to purchase in Nigeria... but more to come on that later ;)

In 9-Bar's words "9Bar is a deliciously nutritious seed bar designed to get the maximum nutritional goodness from seeds in a convenient and tasty way, so its no great surprise to find the main ingredient of a 9Bar is a blend of wholesome seeds."

Why have a 9 bar instead of chocolate or flapjacks or biscuits? They are healthier and highly nutritious - Amongst many other nutrients, they contain protein which makes you feel fuller for longer (including all 20 essential amino acids), minerals and vitamins (including potassium, b vitamins, vitamin d and more)
Most chocolate bars:
- are full of empty calories: They are of very low nutritious value for the amount of calories they have
- contain processed ingredients eg corn syrup and artificial flavor and as you know I'm a full supporter of natural ingredients.




This is my favourite and seems to be the same for majority of people. This bar is covered with carob which is is extracted from the carob bean (also known as locust beans) and is sometimes used as a substitute for chocolate. This bar tastes soo nice (and I'm yet to get a negative review about it) and the carob tastes like chocolate... someone told me it's almost like it's too good to be true (Ingredients are listed below, these bars contain sugar BUT a small percentage and they are from natural sources. Sugar in small quantities is fine!):
  • As long as you have a maximum of one bar (as a snack) a day, this will serve it's purpose as a healthy snack. 
  • I've had 2 on some days especially if I have one bar as breakfast when I'm on the move and don't have time to sit down and have a cooked breakfast. 
Ingredients: Mixed seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, poppy) (55%), carob topping (sugar, vegetable fat, soya, carob, emulsifier: sunflower lecithin) (15%), honey, raw cane sugar, vegetable oil, dehulled hemp seed (3%).

For more info on 9-bars, check out their website: http://9-bar.co.uk/about-9bar/our-bars.asp

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Email me if you're interested :)

4 comments:

Natural Nigerian said...

What mg of sugar does it contain? The w/v. It is a bit disconcerting seeing sugar in 2 places. First ingredient in the carob topping and after the seeds, sweetening agents (honey and sugar) are the next ingredients.

Adura O. said...

Hi :)

I'm so sorry I did a rush job of this earlier today as I was trying to get a few posts done.

I actually asked the same thing when I had been eating the bar for a few months. Approximately 10% of the bar is cane sugar and another 10% is honey.

The best way to avoid a sugar rush if you feel the sugar might be too much for you is to have half the bar earlier in the day and the other half later.... I actually intended to mention it in this post.

I really like 9 bars but I don't have more than 4 a week... again I will include in the post later.

Ceri said...

top tip - I love putting these in the freezer 30 mins before eating, it makes the top nice and crunchy and much easier to cut in half (which is helpful when you're only trying to eat half at a time :)

Adura O. said...

Great tip Ceri!