My Review of LÄRABAR Renola™…Plus a Giveaway

RenolaPost (1)

As some of you might know, I was selected by LÄRABAR® to be a 2015 LÄRABAR Ambassador.  This essentially means that LÄRABAR sends me free samples to hand out at events, to give away through my blog, or whatever.  Main point is, I have to give them away.  At the end of this post, I’ll be giving you an opportunity to receive free LÄRABAR samples, but more on that later.

A part of being a LÄRABAR Ambassador is the opportunity for me to try other products they have for free so that I can provide a review…an opportunity I definitely don’t mind.  Because I was already a fan of LÄRABAR before I became an ambassador because of how simply and healthily their fruit and nut bars are made, I have no problem with promoting them as they promote healthy eating to the masses. As you see in the picture above, they gave me a bag of Cocoa Coconut Renola™, which is essentially their version of granola.

The Meaning Behind “Renola”

So what’s up with the name Renola™?  Why don’t they just call it LÄRABAR Granola?

From the look of it, they call it Renola because they see this product as “Reinventing Granola™”…re-nola, get it?

Renola™ is a combination of nuts, seeds and fruits, with no grains (which makes this a gluten-free product).  The fact that there are no grains at all was particularly interesting to me because, I don’t know about you, but I’ve thought that granola isn’t really granola without oats.  To me, oats are the most noticeable ingredient in granola, so I had a real interest in how LÄRABAR would be able to pull off a new granola without them.

Why I Kinda Liked Renola™ before I even tasted it

One of the things that makes me eager to try any of LÄRABAR’s products is the fact that they consistently tend to be non-gmo, are often free of other allergens (soy free, dairy free) as well as the fact that I can pronounce every single ingredient in the ingredient list.  LÄRABAR tends to be very simple with their ingredients, but some kind of way they still make good products.  So even without tasting Renola™, I liked it for its simplicity, and I figured that it would taste ok at least since LÄRABAR has a good track record in my book.

On To The Tasting and Review…

Ok, so here’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for.  I opened my bag of Renola to give it a try…

RenolaPost (2)Give me a second to chew please…

RenolaPost (4)

Not bad.  Not bad at all, actually.

My Detailed Review

First of all, the texture of the granola was what I was most curious about, being that there are no oats.  The texture of this granola was actually not unlike that of other granolas that I’ve had, which is good.  I thought that there might be less ‘crunch,’ a crucial characteristic of true granola, but it seems like the nuts and seeds provide plenty of that.

The taste was definitely acceptable as well.  Often when you have healthier versions of foods, they tend to not taste as good as their less healthy counterparts, but I’ll say that Renola™ tastes as good as any of the better granolas that I’ve had. It doesn’t taste like health food; it tastes like, well, granola :).

By the way, I gave some to my wife, and she likes it, too.

RenolaPost (3)

Would I eat this again?  Sure, I would.  I’ll be curious to try out some of the other flavors, especially with some yogurt and frozen fruit (one of my favorite ways to eat granola).  I would say that the main takeaway from my review is that granola doesn’t need oats to be granola, and Renola™ has proven that to me.

RenolaPost (5)

Announcing My Giveaway

Now, onto my LÄRABAR giveaway.  Starting today and ending on Monday, May 4th, 2015, TWO of my readers will have an opportunity to win four LÄRABAR samples:  Roasted Nut Roll, Cashew Cookie (my favorite), Peanut Butter Cookie, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.

RenolaPost (6)

Here is how you qualify:

  1. You must be a subscriber to YourHealthAtTheCrossroads.com
  2. You must e-mail me at shawn@yourhealthatthecrossroads.com to express your desire to win some LÄRABAR samples

If you win, I will let you know on or shortly after Tuesday, May 5th, and I will need your address so that I can ship you your LÄRABAR samples.  Remember, the deadline to meet qualification requirements is Monday, May 4th, and there will be two separate winners.  Don’t wait!

Shawn McClendon
Shawn McClendon is an author, podcast host, fitness entrepreneur and owner of Back to Basics Health and Wholeness LLC, an organization dedicated to empowering people to take responsibility for their own health.

3 Responses to “My Review of LÄRABAR Renola™…Plus a Giveaway

Trackbacks & Pings

Start a Discussion...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: