I’ve tried a lot of protein bars in my day, ranging from the meal replacement bars to the crunch-wafer type bars, but FitJoy Bars are definitely unlike any I’ve tried--in a good way. FitJoy is the latest brand to be created by Nutrabolt, the parent company of sports nutrition brand Cellucor. Released in the summer of 2016, FItJoy Protein Bars are currently available in seven flavors: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosted Cinnamon Roll, Chocolate Peanut Butter, French Vanilla Almond, Mint Chocolate Crisp, Chocolate Iced Brownie, and Homemade Pumpkin Pie, all of which contain no artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners and are GMO and Gluten-Free. I’ve only gotten to try the French Vanilla Almond and Chocolate Peanut Butter flavors but nonetheless, here’s a breakdown of how these bars stand out amongst their competition.

BAR CONSTRUCTION

On the outside, the Chocolate Peanut Butter bar appears to have three layers: a peanut butter bottom that feels like a firm, yet squishy truffle, a top coating of chocolate, and a layer of peanuts on top of that coating. The first ingredient in both the Chocolate Peanut Butter and French Vanilla Almond bars is Dairy Protein Blend which is a combination of whey protein isolate, milk protein isolate, and whey protein crisps. I’ve tasted other bars with these whey protein crisps and they are super hard and crunchy, which causes crumbs. These FitJoy bars do not cause crumbs, get too solid (settling problem), and they’re not too chewy either. They’re really just chewy enough. The texture is comparable to biting into slightly hardened brownie with nuts on top of it, for the Chocolate Peanut Butter bar.

The French Vanilla Almond incorporates yogurt into the bar, as a swirled yogurt, erythritol and palm oil coating over the bar. Instead of peanuts on top of the bar, this flavor has ground almonds sprinkled and stuck to the top. Under the layer of almonds, is the protein, stevia-sweetened goodness.

MACRO-FRIENDLY

All six flavors of FitJoy bars pack 20 grams of protein at least 10 grams of fiber, 4-5 grams of sugar and more than 100mg of potassium. Most of the bars are 220 calories, with a couple coming in a 230. The fat in the bars likely comes from the actual chewable nuts plus the sunflower lecithin, which is a type of lipid. With less than 30 grams of carbohydrates per bar (the most is 25 grams), FitJoy strike a great balance between getting you full but not leaving you bloated and with gas.

TASTE

The Chocolate Peanut bar tastes like a candy bar, probably a Payday or Snickers, but without so many peanuts since they’re only on top of the FitJoy. There’s no chalky or rubbery tastes and the chocolate isn’t rich either. For the Vanilla Almond flavor, the yogurt tastes definitely comes through and at first, it tastes like the yogurt in yogurt covered raisins or almost like vanilla frosting. Again, these bars are sweetened with stevia, not sucralose, which is hard to fathom consider their not-bland flavor profile.

THE VERDICT

A protein bar can’t get much more “clean” than GMO-free, gluten-free, no dyes, no artificial preservatives and no artificial sweeteners. If you like stevia and nuts, these bars are for you. I’m sure the cookie dough flavor must be AMAZAING, but I’ve yet to try that one. Overall, FitJoy bars make the ideal snack for any health-conscious person. They’re not a meal replacement bar, but they do the job in beating hunger without getting you fat.

FitJoy protein bars are available at bodybuilding.com, vitaminshoppe.com, gnc.com, and amazon.com. For more information about FitJoy, visit fitjoynutrition.com