Why? Why Kashi, Why? I have so much respect for your 7 whole grains (& sesame) on a mission!
I went hunting for a new granola bar at Shaws the other day and liked the sound of Kashi’s Roasted Almond Crunch bar. BUT when I looked at the nutrition label (see below), it said the bar had 6g of fat and 180 calories. When I want something to tide me over between breakfast and lunch, I’m not looking for so much fat and cals. And it seemed totally bizzare – when did Kashi bars get so high in fat?
When they doubled the serving size!! Apparently, the new bars are packaged 2 to a wrapper now. I think they did it so they could slap “4g of fiber” and “6g protein” on the front. I feel like it’s false advertising or something. I feel like they’re misleading the consumer because most people think of kashi as a healthy brand, but doubling up their bars and telling people to eat 2 (and get more fat and cals than they used to) so they can advertise the now bumped up fiber and protein content (which would have been a puny 2g fiber and 3g protein before) just seems wrong to me.
Because I’m a Libra (the zodiac scales), I gotta give the possible other side to this. Maybe Kashi did some consumer research and found that a) people were eating 2 bars anyway, and by packaging them the way they were being consumed, they made it easier for people, reduced plastic waste, and as a bonus could advertise the new high protein and fiber content. OR b) They wanted to go head-to-head with Nature Valley granola bars, a likely competitior owned by General Mills, who packages two bars in one wrapper.
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MelindaG says
nooo! how could Kashi do this to us? I like the chewy granola bars in Honey Almond Flax – and never felt the need to eat more then 1 at a time… Though 1 Honey Almond Flax looks to be the same size as the two in that picture…
CaliGal says
Balanced Libra that you are, the flipside of your reasoning happens to be true. I work for Kashi and came across your blog. We found that people do expect 2 bars per package, so we set our nutrition goals based on 2. The healthy fat, which much comes from the almonds, helps the bars stay together. Nobody likes crumbles.
foodess says
On the upside, only 0.5 grams of that fat is saturated… if you’re concerned about that. And the fat will help keep you full longer, if you decide to have a ~200cal snack – some people find snacks this size help them keep control of hunger.
(I’m with you, though… I’m not a big snacker. I’d rather save the cals for something higher on the delicious scale).
Biz Morris says
I love you, Caroline. I agree on the bars…I am always surprised (saddened) by the amount of sugar in these Kashi bars and cereals!
Anonymous says
i’m not a fan of counting calories and fat grams. if it’s made with natural plant-based ingredients, such as almonds, why fret about the fat? seems silly. nuts are healthy.