Keep Healthy Snack Bars Review

I homeschool, but still love to have snacks on hand at home and traveling when my family members get a little peckish. I try to find snacks that are healthy and wholesome, but sometimes I cave into my cravings and the kids want for sugary sweets and unhealthy confections. I am only human! Fortunately I was given the opportunity to try something in the snack food world that is good for my family.

Keep Healthy Inc. is a company that produces healthy snack bars. Their bars have no artificial ingredients or preservatives. The ingredient list on each bar is short and sweet. Every ingredient is pronounceable and fairly simple! All of their bars are gluten free, Non-GMO, kosher, and made in the USA. They also do not use refined sugar or high fructose syrup - just fruit and nuts. I love that these are easily packed in a lunch or on-the-go snack when we have field trips and outings. There are 6 different types of bars including: Original Date Bars, Chocolate Covered Date Bars, Original Fruitkies Bars, Chocolate Fruitkies Bars, Organic Protein Bars, and Organic Low Glycemic Bars. Keep Healthy is also a proud sponsor of the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation. 2% of sales are donated with a minimum donation of $10,000 in 2016/2017.

Some of the Keep Healthy variety of snack bars.

Keep Healthy Inc. sent me a variety pack of 16 individually wrapped bars to try. In it each bar was a different flavor...so as you can imagine I didn't have time to try them all. Every bar I did sample (which was actually quite a few) was really yummy though.

The Original Date Bars have a base of dates, the fruit superfood that is high in fiber and antioxidants. Dates are also great for anti-inflamatory benefits.These are all gluten, dairy, and GMO free. Includes 4 delicious varieties to try including: Apple Walnut, Apricot Coconut, Cashew Date, and Pecan Date. I loved the Apple Walnut one the most from this section.

The Keep Healthy Chocolate Covered Apricot Coconut Date Bar is my absolute favorite!!

The Chocolate Covered Date Bars are their original date bars covered in dairy free chocolate. Includes four delicious varieties to try: Chocolate Covered Apple Walnut, Chocolate Covered Apricot Coconut, Chocolate Covered Cashew Date, and Chocolate Covered Pecan Date. I love chocolate, so these were my favorites out of the date bars and my absolute favorite was the Chocolate Covered Apricot Coconut.

The Original Fruitkies Bars have only three kinds of ingredients: fruit, nuts, and brown crisps. These are in their health bar section because the sugar is lower than the snack bars. Still they are sweet enough to gratify the hankering for other things. These come in 9 delicious flavors which include: Blueberry Pecan, Cherry Fig, Cherry Walnut, Cranberry Pumpkinseed, Macadamia Date, Mango Almond, Papaya Cashew, Pineapple Coconut, and Strawberry Apple. I love the Pineapple Coconut and Mango Almond one. So delicious!

The Chocolate Fruitkies Bars are better for you than any regular candy bar or cookie. They are so luscious and guilt free! They come in 8 flavors including: Chocolate Covered Apricot, Chocolate Covered Blueberry, Chocolate Covered Cherry, Chocolate Covered Cranberry, Chocolate Covered Mango, Chocolate Covered Papaya, Chocolate Covered Pineapple, and Chocolate Covered Strawberry. I got to try the pineapple and mango one. Both were really yummy!

The Organic Protein Bars are new to the Keep Healthy Health Bar collection. Each provide 15 grams of plant based protein.These are a great to replenish protein right after a workout. These are also USDA organic as well. There are 6 flavors including: Almond Vanilla Crisp, Apple Cinnamon Crisp, Chocolate Cherry Crunch, Chocolate Coconut, Chocolate Fudge, and Strawberry Banana Crisp. I love the Apple Cinnamon Crisp the most out of the ones I received.

Delbin enjoying the Keep Healthy Banana Nut Organic Low Glycemic Bar.

My oldest son, Delbin, has Type 1 Diabetes, so when he has a low blood sugar I like to have healthy snacks on hand that will supply him with the proper things he needs. I hate having only sugar-filled or overly processed snacks to offer him. Keep Healthy Bars have the perfect bars for his low blood sugars and they also have Organic Low Glycemic Bars that won't radically change his blood glucose levels. These particular bars help him be fueled with all natural, plant based ingredients and keep his blood sugar stable. Besides diabetics watching their levels, these bars are great for Great for: busy lifestyles, the sugar conscious, weight management, and before or after a workout (12 grams of plant based protein!).There are 5 different flavors of the Low Glycemic Bars including: Banana Nut, Chocolate Cherry Mint, Coconut Crunch, Lemon Zest, and Sea Salt Brownie. My favorite of these was the Coconut Crunch and Lemon Zest.

Keep Healthy Snack Bar Varieties.

I love these snack and health bars. Keep Healthy Inc. offers a wonderful variety of yummy flavors that you are sure to love. These are perfect to satisfy those cravings and energize you throughout the day. They are the perfect snack without the guilt and great to refuel your kids for an after school snack or brain food if you homeschool.

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You can purchase the bars from the online store on Keep Healthy Inc.'s website. A box of 16 bars is $23.84 to $39.84 depending upon which bars you select.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

The Planet Friendly Diet Book Review and Giveaway

I was provided with a complimentary copy of The Planet Friendly Diet to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

A part of my New Year's Resolution is getting my family to eat a lot healthier. This is a huge undertaking, let me tell you! My husband and kids have been less than cooperative with the changes I have tried implementing in the past few weeks. When I go grocery shopping with my husband he usually breaks down and buys something unhealthy. I have been trying to change my family's habits, but habits are very hard to break!

Enter, The Planet Friendly Diet by Cat Smiley, a book about getting back to healthy over the course of 21 days. This is how many days it usually takes to create good habits. You may be thinking to yourself why does a skinny lady like me need a weight loss book?? Well Cat's book is really more than just a weight loss book. I need all the help I can get to stay a healthy weight since usually I am considered underweight by physicians and I really do need to eat healthier and exercise more. This book is chocked full of helpful advice and hints to get you well on your way to a healthier, happier lifestyle. It is based on a gluten, wheat, dairy and meat free diet. Some suggestions with recipes in the book do involve fish, with a totally vegetarian option also available. The Planet Friendly Diet is a cleansing program that resets and replenishes without resorting to fasting, hunger, or deprivation. It basically consists of drinking 4 liters of clean water a day - 2 liters before noon and 2 more before 5pm, having a super smoothie for breakfast (or alternative breakfast listed) and super smoothie for lunch, a sensible dinner with healthy ingredients, and nutritious snacks in between. All of this should add up to about 1200 calories per day.

The recipes for the dinners all sound delicious and not at all bland. They usually consist of fish or tofu (these are used instead of red meat and poultry). She also uses beans, brown rice, quinoa, dairy free yogurts/cheese/milk, veggies/mushrooms cooked in veggie broth, and lemon/herbs/garlic/spices/homemade salsa/etc. to season and flavor her recipes. Each single portion recipe has a lovely photograph of the completed meal, is under 500 calories, takes 20 minutes or less to prepare, and costs less than $5.

I love that The Planet Friendly Diet book includes a lot more than recipes and nutrition information. It has a total of 63 tips to help start you out on this journey and make things easier. These tips include information on what to do to get started, basics, hydration, fruit & veggies, grains & fiber, eggs & dairy, meat & fish, salt & sugar, and how to keep going after the 21 days have ended. There are blank lined diary pages to fill out for each of the 21 days with weight, goals, notes, what you ate for each meal and snack with cost and time taken, estimated calories eaten, and how much water you consumed. Weekly shopping lists are also included for the 21 days to ensure zero-waste.

This is a great 21 day guide to sustainable weight loss and optimal health. I do feel that in addition to a physical exercise routine The Planet Friendly Diet book would be the perfect melding of disciplines. If you stick to the plan and don't stray you will be well on your way to a beneficial lifestyle in 21 days.

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

Enter to Win $1000 to Thrive Market!

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Thrive Market is a membership-based online shopping club that carries the best-selling 4,000 healthy foods and wholesome products in everyday sizes from the top 400 natural brands on the market at 25-50% below traditional retail prices. You can search over 80+ qualities, values, and certifications including: Gluten-Free, Vegan, Paleo, Raw, Nut-Free, Dairy-Free, Made In USA, Certified Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified, and many more to find the healthy product that fits your own lifestyle. The membership costs less than $5 a month (only $59.95 annually) to have access to the highest-quality, Non-GMO, certified organic and natural products on the market today at well below the regular cost. Thrive Market also matches your membership by donating one to a low-income family in need so we can all thrive together!

Want to check it out? Thrive Market is offering my readers a one month trial membership.  Even better, they've created an amazing opportunity to win a free 1-year membership plus a $1000 shopping spree at Thrive Market, so you can stock up on everything from healthy snacks to green home products.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this post. Affiliate links are in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

My New Roots: Inspired Plant-Based Recipes for Every Season Cookbook Review

I received this book free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

You may know Sarah Britton (BFA, CNP) from her extremely popular foodie blog, My New Roots, which focuses on healthy recipes that are plant-based natural whole foods. Sarah Britton is the Copenhagen based holistic nutritionist, writer, and photographer behind both her blog and cookbook that shares the same name. She is also a seasonal eater and lover of organic and super foods. She has won many accolades and awards for her work, been on TED talks and featured in O, the Oprah Magazine, Bon Appétit, and Whole Living. If you've seen her blog you have seen her fantastic wholesome recipes gorgeously presented with photographs that she herself took. If you've seen her TED talks (you can on YouTube if you haven't) you have seen her lovely infectious spirit and enthusiasm for nutritious food. She is, in my opinion, a vegetarian culinary goddess.

In her newly released and very first cookbook she takes inspiration from her blog by creating brand new recipes that also are plant-based natural whole foods. The book is divided into seasonal chapters: Spring, Early Summer, Late Summer, Autumn, and Winter which then are each divided into recipe groups: Mornings, Small Measures, Mains, and Sweets. In the Introduction, before the recipes start, she introduces herself, her blog, her food philosophy, why eating in the rhythm of the seasons and connecting with the cycles of nature makes so much sense, and the use of symbols in the book. After the Introduction and before the recipes she shares Essential Techniques of cooking dried legumes, cooking grains, making ghee, making seed and nut milks and butters, growing sprouts, and flavoring food with the use of salt (sea salt, Himalayan rock salt, soy sauce, tamari, miso), sugar (raw honey, pure maple syrup, barley malt, brown rice syrup, coconut sugar, dates, fruit juice, applesauce), and acid (citrus juice, vinegar - raw organic apple cider vinegar is healthiest).

This cookbook has whole foods, super foods, vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free recipes inside. Sarah Britton does use goat/sheep/cow cheese/yogurt, ghee (which in most cases can be substituted with coconut oil), honey (although she says you can substitute with maple syrup), bee pollen, and eggs in some of her recipes, so this book is not completely vegan, but it does have quite a few recipes that are and they are clearly marked with a v at the top of the page under the recipe title. Besides the v symbol for vegan, there is a gf  symbol for gluten-free, a clock symbol for when the recipes need planning ahead, and a moon symbol for when it will take 8 hours or longer to do a task that is required (like soaking legumes, fermenting, etc.) in the recipe. Some of these recipes are great for paleo and raw food diets as well.

The layout of each recipe is quite simple. At the top of each recipe includes the title, serving sizes or how much it makes in both US standard and metric units, and symbols. Each recipe also has a small paragraph where the author introduces it. I love her down to earth tone and kindred spirit feel of her writing as well. Then she has listed ingredients and detailed directions to each. Sometimes you see a paragraph within the picture or pages to give more information, facts, or background about an ingredient or a note, tips, and tricks to help you in the recipe process.

Just thumbing through the pages in this cookbook is so satisfying to me. There are things in My New Roots that are revolutionary in my opinion. I wouldn't have thought on my own to make "bacon" from coconut, try celeriac, or poach radishes. I can tell you that I couldn't help but drool a bit when looking through the My New Roots cookbook. What I love about this, verses other cookbooks that I have on my shelf, is that just about every recipe in this cookbook has a photo of the finished dish to go with it. The photos are beautiful and mouth watering just all by themselves!

At the end of the My New Roots cookbook there is a section on stocking the pantry, a gratitude section where she thanks people, and an index to help you find things easier. I love that with the section on stocking the pantry you can get the ingredients in your kitchen closer to healthier and more holistic.

For me the My New Roots cookbook is fantastic! I love the presentation and everything looks and sounds so delicious! I cannot wait to dig into this deeper and try all the food and drinks within. I recommend this to vegetarians or anyone willing to try the lifestyle that need inspiring and motivated cooks who would like to be a little adventuresome with their palate.

Watch for a sneak peek of her cookbook...


Follow Sarah Britton and My New Roots
Her Blog http://www.mynewroots.org/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MyNewRoots
Twitter: @mynewroots
Instagram: http://instagram.com/mynewroots/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mynewroots/

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Blogging For Books for sending me this book for free to review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.