Pea Protein, Please! LÄRABAR ALT Review

We’re all about healthy alternatives. And LÄRABAR is one of our favorite energy bars. About as close as you can get to whole food and homemade in an energy bar (unless, of course, you make your own!), LÄRABAR is known for featuring clean, good ingredients. But, LÄRABARs — clean and tasty as they are (OMG, Cherry Pie is like the best thing ever) — have always had a lot of sugar and not a lot of protein to balance it out and keep your belly full, especially after a workout. But all that has changed. There’s a new LÄRABAR on the block. And it’s name is ALT. Powered up with a vegetable protein made from peas (no soy or whey!) that gives each bar 10 grams of protein, it’s kind of like our LÄRABAR prayers were answered. All made with nine or fewer ingredients (that you can pronounce!), each bar is gluten-free, non-GMO, dairy-free, vegan and kosher. The nutritionals vary a little from flavor to flavor, but generally are about 200 to 250 calories each. There’s Pumpkin Pie … Lemon Pound Cake … Peanut Butter Cookie … and Cinnamon Apple Crisp! While these are all still a little too sweet for us and too high in sugar (10+ grams and we cry uncle), we love the ingredient list and the pea protein. Plus, like most LÄRABARs, these are tasty. Our favorite was the Pumpkin Pie (so spicy and wonderful!), followed by the Cinnamon Apple Crisp (just like it sounds), the Peanut Butter Cookie (more savory) and the Lemon Pound Cake (good, but nearly as lemony and refreshing as we had hoped — not really very buttery or pound cake-y either). The texture for all of the ALTs is like most LÄRABARs, but just a touch drier. Really pleasant for a protein bar!   Overall, we’ll be reaching for the ALT the next time a LÄRABAR is calling our name. And we’re really hoping that A) They come out with more ALT and flavors, and B) More companies start using pea protein! Would love to see this veggie-based protein go a little more mainstream. Have you ever had a LÄRABAR ALT? What was your fave flavor? —Jenn