Zoe Raises the Bar on Healthy Snacking

One downside of new wonder drugs like GLP-1s — drugs that can actually help you lose weight in a way only snake oil could previously promise — is that people now are overoptimistic about the benefits of various supplements. Millions of people spend billions of dollars on pills that might have some benefit, if they actually contain enough of the ingredient, but may not, and a healthy diet would make wholly unnecessary.And yet a healthy diet is often strikingly hard to pull off in a busy daily routine. Fast food and meal deals are as convenient as advertised, but a diet built around them tends to be higher in saturated fats and calories, and low on a range of helpful micronutrients. And that’s before you throw in the food between meals — snacks — which are so often just confectionery.Zoe is a gut-health science brand focused on trying to fill that gap. I’ve been using their Daily30 supplement — what looks like a seed mix but contains several different plant types — consistently for well over a year now, adding a serving of it every morning to my smoothie or oatmeal. And where the Daily30 makes it easier to have healthy meals, their new Gut Health Bar brings plant variety and high fiber in a convenient snack.They look a bit like the Kind nut bars you would find at the checkouts of a supermarket, and has no emulsifiers, artificial additives, or artificial sweeteners, and has more than ten plants, eight grams of fiber, and seven grams of plant protein. The sweetness comes from maple syrup in both, and the primary ingredient is almond — about a third of the bar’s ingredients on the dark chocolate version. They’re also vegan.The result is something a bit chewy, not too sweet, and surprisingly satiating for their slim size, partially because of the whole ingredients. They’re also available in two flavors: a slightly lighter, sweeter raspberry and goji berry bar, containing about 180 calories, and my preferred flavor, the salty, slightly bitter dark chocolate one. Neither is a raspberry ripple or chocolate log, though; these flavors are the final component on top of their complete bar of almonds, cashews, edamame, red lentils, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, seaweed, and kombucha.They’re a pretty great snack, and perfect to have in the bag to stave off hunger on a commute or at work when you might otherwise jump for something sugary. They are far more expensive than the Mars Bar though. You expect to pay a premium for something like this, just as you do for protein bars. But with more ingredients, little processing on them — and no cheap central ingredient like whey protein — the manufacturing costs have to be considerably higher. And so therefore is the price.The box of Barebells Protein Bar — far from the cheapest protein bar — is $30.99, or $2.58 per bar. A box of 12 Zoe bars is $50, or $45 on a subscription, putting each bar at an average of $3.75–$4.17. But few Americans are actually short of protein, and it’s easily fixed with whey, while 94 percent fall short on fiber and 78 percent on vegetables. There are plenty of snacks like Barebells, but there’s nothing else quite like this.

Zoe Raises the Bar on Healthy Snacking

Zoe Raises the Bar on Healthy Snacking

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