Balance Oasis... a women's alternative to the regular Balance Bar
Written: Dec 01 '03 (Updated Apr 11 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: made for women, variety of flavors, not to expensive
Cons: not as great tasting as other bars, not much cheesecake flavor
The Bottom Line: An ok tasting nutritional bar, at an ok price.
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| kld718's Full Review: Balance Oasis Bar - Strawberry Cheesecake |
Of course, I have already mentioned in previous health reviews that I am a very active person. I like to run and cycle more than anything. I have no desire at this point in my life to be wrapped up in watching my weight. But I also don’t really have to worry about that right now either. I have weighed the same since I was in high school. This is because I tend to watch what I eat and have a very active lifestyle.
Lately, I have been really busy. I have been working more because we are short staffed and more often than not, do not have the time to eat a decent meal. I run in the mornings before I take my shower and run my errands before going to work. I often do not feel like eating breakfast or lunch because I am either not hungry, or just have too much going on. So I tend to carry around a breakfast or snack bar in case I get hungry.
In my quest to find the perfect bar that I can enjoy eating without choking, I stumbled across the Balance Oasis Bars. These bars are supposed to be specifically designed for women, so I was pretty anxious to try them out and see if they helped me at all.
These Balance Oasis Bars come in 6 flavors:
Chocolate Celebration
Chocolate Peanut
Lemon Twist
Oatmeal Raisin
Strawberry Cheesecake
White Chocolate
The Balance Oasis Bars come packaged like regular nutritional bars. Each flavor has a different colored package that it comes in. I have bought the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor (pink), Chocolate Celebration (dark brown & light brown), and the Chocolate Peanut Crisp (brown & tan) flavor. I have yet to see the White Chocolate or White Chocolate Raspberry flavor, so have not tried it. I also have not tried the Oatmeal Raisin or Lemon Twist flavor because I don’t like raisins or lemon-flavored products.
The bar is wrapped in your typical nutritional bar packaging and comes in the 1.69 oz. (48g) size. At the beginning of this year, the Strawberry Cheesecake packaging was completely a two-toned pink color. But when I bought some towards the middle of the year, they had changed the packaging. It was still mostly pink, but they added in a kind of purplish color also. I haven’t bought any of these bars since July because I caught them on clearance at Target and stocked up on them. I don’t know if they have completely changed the packaging or if that was just a special.
~ Nutritional Facts ~…from Strawberry Cheesecake wrapper
Calories: 180
Calories From Fat: 30
Total Fat: 3g
Saturated Fat: 2g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Carbohydrate: 28g
Protein: 8g
Sugars: 16g
Sodium: 250mg
Potassium: 240mg
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B12, Calcium, Biotin, Iron, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin E, Phosphorus, Vitamin K, Magnesium, Thiamin, Zinc, Riboflavin, Selenium, Niacin, Copper, Vitamin B6, Manganese, Folic Acid, Chromium, Molybdenum.
~ Ingredients ~…from Strawberry Cheesecake wrapper
Protein Blend, Brown Rice Syrup, Sugar, Rice, Rolled Oats, Fractionated Palm Kernal Oil, Glycerin, Wheat Flour, Natural Flavor, Strawberry Puree Concentrate, Strawberry Puree, Dried Strawberries, Nonfat Milk, Malted Barley Flour, Fructose, Dextrose, Corn Syrup, Soy Lecithin, Water, Dried Yeast, Salt Citric Acid, Pectin, Acetic Acid, Asorbic Acid, Beta Carotene, Vitamin A Palmitate, Calcium Phosphate, Potassium Phosphate, Ferrous Fumarate Reduced Iron, Vitamin E Acetate, Niacinamide, Folic Acid, Thiamin Mononitrate, Vitamin B1, Riboflavin, Vitamin B-6, Vitamin B-12, Calcium Pantothenate, Phytonadione, Zinc Oxide, Magnesium Oxide, Copper Gluconate, Manganese Sulfate, Chromium Chloride, Sodium Molybdate, Sodium Selenite, Biotin.
~*~ My Thoughts ~*~
I have to say that I do like these bars, and that surprised me because I have tried the regular Balance bars and have not been totally impressed. While I cannot say that these Balance bars are my favorite, I do tend to pick them up every once in awhile because I can eat them without feeling sick to my stomach afterwards.
At just 200 calories, and loaded with vitamins and minerals, these Balance Oasis Bars are pretty healthy for you. Calcium, Iron, and soy protein are just three of the added benefits of these bars. I usually take calcium and iron supplements, but find that I have a habit of forgetting to take my vitamins when I am in a rush during the morning time.
Having these bars to snack on during the day, allows me to get my vitamins into my diet and not having to worry about forgetting. These bars are not made for just getting an energy fix, they’re specifically designed for those that desire to gain weight. I have looked to this bar not only for energy, but to maintain the weight that I am at and to not loose anymore.
You can buy these bars at a variety of places. Most supermarkets and drug stores that I frequent have them for sale. Or you could head to GNC, they have everything at that store. The bar itself looks like any other nutritional bar. The only bad thing about these bars is that they are not coated in anything. Just looking at the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor, you see a medium-sized bar of what looks like packed oats and is covered in a white substance, which you have to assume is the “cheesecake” part. Nothing fancy about this bar. Just a regular bar with some creamy looking icing slapped on top. And the taste does not scream “cheesecake”, but has a slight creamy strawberry flavor, so some might be a little disappointed. It’s definitely edible though, and leaves only a very minor aftertaste.
I usually stock up on them when they go on sale. I have paid everywhere from $.48 to $1.29 for these bars, depending on what kind of sale or coupon I had. I often buy them when they go on sale at Walgreens, buy one get one free. My last purchase happened to be at Target and they were in the clearance bin for $.48, so I bought a ton of them. I haven’t seen them offered at Target anymore, so I am thinking that they were getting rid of them.
Overall, I am happy munching on these bars every once in awhile. I tend to prefer the Luna Bars or the PowerBar Pria bars when I purchase nutritional snacks because they taste better to me. The Balance Oasis Bars are not my favorite kind of nutritional bars, but they are good every once in awhile.
~ Happy Healthy Munching!
Kim
Some other Snack Bars that I have reviewed:
Luna Bar
PowerBar Protein Plus
PowerBar Pria
Ensure Bar
Atkins Diet Advantage Bar
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kld718
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 in Wellness & Beauty, Books |
 - Top 200 |
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Location: Central Florida
Reviews written: 606
Trusted by: 315 members
About Me:
RIP Barbara...you will be greatly missed
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