Product Review 1: Bear Naked Granola

Hello Hungry Health Nuts....and other readers.

I am so excited about this product review because I have A LOT to say about it. This is one of my staple items that I use in my healthy lifestyle and also, one of the very first healthy foods that I had to make friends with. I use the wording, "make friends with" because this was something that I had to learn to do when changing my lifestyle. Having come from a family that likes to eat out A LOT and enjoys their carbs, meat and potatoes, learning to like things like...salad and green beans was VERY hard for me. My mother even used to put bacon in our green beans, cooking them in butter and basically zapping them of all nutritional value. Welcome to America, everyone. Before I changed my lifestyle the idea of eating VEGETABLES was repulsive. Granola was inherently evil. And I think I know why. There are certain repressed memories from your childhood that never really go away. You forget the actual memory but the result of the trauma is still there. I speak of this as if it was a huge deal, but when I was a kid, my mother force fed me granola bars. My mother had a lot of bright ideas of what she thought was healthy. And she swore by granola bars. I don't think I disliked the taste or texture of granola bars as a kid...but I think after being fed granola bars in a desperate attempt to make me healthier (um Mom, get a clue..the bacon in the green beans was probably where the error was) I developed a distaste for them. I can remember my mother's voice. Me: "Mom I'm hungry". Mom: Katie...have a granola bar. *cue horror flick music* DUN DUN DUN! The idea of having a granola bar was absolutely horrifying to me. I think that it used to make me cry actually. So you can imagine....trying to get me to eat granola with THIS horror story under my belt...is a tough job.

I remember my first shopping trip to the grocery store after I decided to change my eating habits. I knew OF things that people ate when they were on a diet. I knew what you were supposed to eat, lots of vegetables, fruits, smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt (oh that's another one of my food demons that we will conquer in this blog) and....yes...granola. I think I stood in the cereal aisle for 20 minutes just staring down the bags of granola and "healthy" cereal. All I wanted to do was bolt down the aisle, grab my Coco Puffs and run. But no. I was dedicated. This was a mission for me. And I wasn't going to fail. I first picked up the Bear Naked brand because the company name made me laugh. Yes, I can admit to being a 6 year old sometimes. The word "pee pee" still makes me giggle. Yes, I giggled typing it just now. Bare Naked has a bunch of flavors of granola, a bunch of different combinations of flavors, types of grains, seeds and fruits. However my local WalMart thinks it's funny to only stock 3 different flavors. Thank God they stock the one that I eat otherwise I would probably go on a tirade of fury. I picked up the yellow bag (all their bags are different colors according to flavor) which I was immediately drawn to because it has blueberries in it. Now...blueberry ties with banana for my favorite fruit flavor. So anything blueberry is okay by me. The full name of the product that I buy is called Bear Naked: Peak Flax: Oats and Honey with Blueberry.

This product consists of (according to the website), oats, honey, dried blueberries and ground and whole flax seeds. Now for all you healthy food skeptics out there that are like "Oh you will NEVER get me to eat FLAX seeds," because you know, the word itself sounds tasteless and like something that you'd feed your pet canary...I am here to tell you that it is NOT a bad thing. I too, was skeptical. I too wondered, how can something like this even taste good? I am probably going to be eating cardboard. The very idea terrified me. But I slyly placed the granola in my basket and purchased it. One of the best decisions I have made in my healthy eating journey.

Texturally, it's not bad. I think that's a driving force behind what I like to eat and what I don't like to eat. Taste comes secondary to texture for me. If something has an off-putting texture, I will probably gag it up. And I was very worried that it would have a horrible texture. I can say now that it's not too crunchy, which is good, but it's not too chewy. The honey in this product gives it a perfect sweetness and a desired amount of chew. It softens the granola to where it's not too rough. The dried blueberries are simply wonderful. They do not skimp on the blueberries, they are generous from what I have experienced and that also gives the granola a nice chew. So the taste and texture are good. But how is the cost?

You know honestly, I know there are going to be some haters out there that say, Bear Naked is overpriced. I can't give you a real price on this because the price will vary from store to store. I believe at my WalMart it's $4 and something cents for a 12 ounce bag but don't quote me on that. That's a ball park figure. Personally, I don't have a lot of money to spend every month on groceries and it seems to fit in just perfectly with my budget. My ex-boyfriend went through this obnoxious hippie stage at the beginning of a relationship where he felt the need to eat only oats, seeds, some fruits, and cheese pizza. He went to the store with MY money and purchased all kinds of weird stuff to make our own granola. So my ex-boyfriend would probably say it was much more economically savvy to make your own granola. But I hate my blasted ex-boyfriend so I'm going with Bear Naked granola. I don't have time to sit there and "toast my own oats" wearing a pair of hemp pants and tye-dye bandanna. I have much better things to eat up my time with. I also find that one of these bags usually goes a long way. You don't have to really keep buying it unless you're going to be eating it every morning for the rest of your life. I eat this granola twice a week and I will tell you how I eat it.

My three favorite ways to eat this granola is plain; by itself, with some yogurt, or with some cow's milk or soy milk. The first way is good for snacking. If I'm going out somewhere that I know I won't be able to eat a meal for awhile I put some of this in a baggy and hide it in my purse for inconspicuous snaking later on in the day. The second way is good for breakfast and the granola goes pretty well with any flavor yogurt. I just tend to clog up the yogurt aisle at the grocery store gawking over how many odd flavors Yoplait can come out with. Really? Black Forest Cake? I think I might try that one with this granola. And since all the Yoplait flavors kind of taste the same (hey, just my opinion) the granola can pretty much work with whatever color of yogurt you like that day. Yoplait's Red Velvet Cake is a really off putting shade of red. Go buy a cup just to look at it. It's totally weird. My favorite way to eat Bare Naked Granola? With soy milk. Cow's milk works too, but Silk's Vanilla Soy Milk with this granola is Devine. I believe that this combo was the first meal I had after my ex-boyfriend left me. I remember storming in the house, screaming my lungs out and pouring myself a bowl of this stuff. I was just starting to go through this transition to healthy eating right before we broke up. Then I had my McDonald's binge and jumped back on the band wagon 4 months later. I remember sitting in front of the television watching Cake Boss with my Bear Naked granola and soy milk sobbing. "Oh oats, you are the only thing that understands me!"

Seriously guys, I can't say enough for this product! It is so delicious and I know if you like granola, you'll like it. Hey! Even if you don't like granola, try it! I didn't like granola until Bear Naked came into my life.

Also, I wanted to say something about my blog in general. I was a little bit iffy about what I would do for my Friday entry. I had thought about doing a FAQ thing, but I don't think that's going to work. I'm going to be doing a Snaking Friday entry because this is something that I have personally struggled with. Trying to find healthy snacks. Please stay tuned for tomorrow's episode!

Live Long and Prosper,

The Hungry Hungry Health Nut