Thursday, December 01, 2016

Product Review & Giveaway: GoMacro Thrive Bars

New Thrive Bars by GoMacro

I have a very sweet yoga student who comes to class somewhat irregularly, but when he does come, he often brings me a snack. He's brought me several great bars recently, and even a bag of that delicious curry popcorn from Trader Joes. He was the one who introduced me to the bars by GoMacro. He brought me one to class, and I loved it! The original GoMacro bars come in a bunch of flavors - my favorite flavors are always the ones with chocolate. Those bars run from 240-290 calories a bar, with anywhere from 4-12 grams of protein.

Recently GoMacro reached out to me and offered me the opportunity to review their newest offering - a line of "superfood seeds & nuts" bars based with less-processed ingredients called Thrive Bars. All of these bars are Vegan, Organic, Non-GMO, and Gluten-free. The base of all six flavors is a blend of organic sprouted flax seeds, hemp seeds, and puffed quinoa - sweetened with organic brown rice syrup and organic coconut sugar. They each also have organic sprouted brown rice protein. From that starting point, each bar has a different range of ingredients depending on the flavor. The ingredients really are pretty impressive - organic, wholesome, plain english. I really like that . The wrappers have a tag line on them that says "ingredients grown not made," which seems completely accurate. I don't mind an occasional bar full of processed soy protein, but it's nice to have some tasty less-processed options around. These bars are all 190 calories, and depending on the flavor, have anywhere from 5-8 grams of protein per bar.



all those bars lined up in their wrappers made me think of a slumber party.
sleep tight! 


My 3 Favorite Flavors

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip - Any time a bar comes in chocolate peanut butter flavor, that is always going to be my favorite! This bar is extra peanutty with big chocolate chips, and didn't let me down. I also appreciated the cocoa powder in the base, which gives the bar an extra level of chocolatey-ness, especially for such a wholesome and whole-foods bar.

Chocolate Nuts and Sea Salt - This bar has some nice nutty chunks in it, which give a good crunch, along with full-size chocolate chips, and a bright touch to the flavor from the salt. 

Caramel Coconut - This flavor surprised me, I wouldn't have expected to like it as much as I did since it doesn't even have chocolate in it (ha ha). In both flavor and texture, it's very coconutty! All of these bars are chewy and substantial, but I especially loved the texture of this bar.

*I was also happy to see that GoMacro is on the FEP Approved Chocolate list - meaning that their chocolate sources don't use childhood slave labor. yes!

Almond Apricot - I love apricots, but I felt like the apricot flavor didn't come through much in this bar. I felt like I was mostly tasting the base ingredients. Perhaps if I wasn't expecting or hoping for more apricot-ness, I wouldn't have noticed. There are definitely lots of almonds though, and this bar has a good nutty crunch to it. 

Ginger Lemon - This bar was another one that really surprised me - the nice ginger flavor really comes through right away - both in aroma and flavor. This bar is more chewy than crunchy, which I enjoyed. The lemony hit is not upfront or overwhelming at all, but it's there. I really liked this flavor more than I expected to, since I usually think of myself as a chocolate+peanut butter gal! 

Blueberry Lavender - This was probably my least favorite of the three, but I could have predicted that from the get-go since I am not really a fan of lavender in my food. That said, I wished the blueberry flavor presence was stronger, and honestly I didn't even pick up that much on the lavender. 

You can have sack races with your thrive bar friends!


such beautiful packaging!

Here is something else that I would really like to salute GoMacro for: gorgeous, aesthetically pleasing, environmentally-friendly packaging. This case of twelve bars came in such a lovely box of unbleached cardboard, with their elegant embossed graphics on it. So beautiful and such a minimal waste. I frequently receive products for review and often the shipping packaging is overflowing with plastic and styrofoam and layers upon layers of packaging. This was such a pretty and sensible packaging presentation, I was so impressed.

** Giveaway! ** 
Guess what else is impressive? In addition to sending me a case of Thrive Bars to review, GoMacro is happy to offer a case of assorted flavors to one lucky blog reader (US only). To enter, please leave a comment on this post and tell me what your favorite bar is so far. Also, check out GoMacro on Facebook and on Instagram.

Guess what else!! Even if you don't win, GoMacro has a 30% coupon code good for their Thrive bars if you'd like to give them a try. The code will work once per customer and is Thrive30 - use it at their site, GoMacro.com 

24 comments:

  1. I'm digging the look of these supper nutty and seedy bars! I haven't tried them yet, but the coconut caramel flavor sounds particularly amazing.

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  2. I have not tried these bars before but almond apricot and chocolate peanut butter chip both sound good.

    cbythesea5 at gmail dot com

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  3. Chocolate nut & sea salt would be my choice! Thanks for opportunity to win!

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  4. These bars look so yummy and hearty! I'm with you on favorites - chocolate all the way!

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  5. i loooove gomacro bars. tahini date is my fave!

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  6. I have never tried these, but I love anything with chocolate!

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  7. I haven't tried these (yet!) but I also am pulled to the chocolate ones. If I had to pick one to try first it would be the Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt.

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  8. Chocolate and peanut butter are so perfect together. So that's the bar that's calling to me!

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  9. Aw I love your doodle of everyone in their little sleeping bag/wrapper!

    I haven't tried these bars but I think my favourite > least favourite line-up would have looked a lot like yours! I totally get what you mean about being surprised by the coconut bar (I am not a coconut obsessive but often the bars with coconut in just *work* better than others, especially in terms of texture - all that glorious fat haha) and the lemon bar - I am trying to cook more with lemon because I always forget how delicious it is.

    Not entering the giveaway as am on the wrong side of the Atlantic but just wanted to say hi :)

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  10. I think the ginger/lemon is calling my name! But then again, you can't go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate. I can't pick just one!

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  11. I haven't seen this yet but no doubt the chocolate peanut butter chip would be the one I would choose first. I will be looking for it.

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  12. I haven't tried these yet, but would love too! My favorite Gomacro bar I've tried is the coconut granola, delicious!!!

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  13. I would love to try the Chocolate Peanut Butterchip flavor.

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  14. Lesley10:58 AM

    Hi Amey: The Almond Apricot would be great to try. By the way, I am a dedicated reader of your blog, for many years. It's my favorite blog ever! You're so talented: your drawings are adorable and amazing, and when you've decorated birthday cakes over the years, I am always so impressed. They are works of art and so professional. I know you are an artist too! Thanks for all you do!

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  15. I haven't even heard of these bars, but that coconut caramel is calling my name.

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  16. They also sent me these bars, and I loved them! Don't enter me in the giveaway though since I've already had a box. But I had the same reaction as you to the Ginger Lemon. Turned out to be my fave, and I'm typically a PB+Chocolate gal too!

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  17. Anonymous4:43 PM

    i haven't heard of these bars either but will be on the look out for them. of the ones you mentioned I think the apricot almond would be my first choice.

    fruitcrmble AT Comcast DOT net

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  18. My fave bar right now is the larabar in....you guessed it, chocolate peanut! So I think I'd love that flavor in thrive too!

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  19. the ginger lemon!

    - judith (j.rontal@gmail.com)

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  20. I love your drawings, they're so adorable!

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  21. I haven't seen these around but the lemon ginger sounds most appealing to me.

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  22. I have not tried these but I think the peanut butter looks great. truckredford(at)Gmail(dot)com

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  23. These bars sound great! I haven't been able to try them yet, but I'm most excited about the coconut caramel -- that sounds so fantastic. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!

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  24. I'd love to try these, especially the caramel coconut one!

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