Healthy and Happy with Bobo's Oat Bars for National Oatmeal Month

Morning madness, anyone? I don't know who those happy-go lucky moms are that sit chatting and laughing with their entire family for breakfast, on a weekday, before leaving for school and before going to work. These moms are just about as real to me as a Disney princess. My kids wake up each and every day before school as if they were just left on our doorstep the night before. We were recently given the opportunity to sample Bobo's Oat Bars during the month of January as part of National Oatmeal Month. We were offered an assortment of flavors of oat bars to enjoy at home to facilitate this review. In my efforts to simplify our mornings and get a healthy start to our day, I decided to give Bobo's Oat Bars a try.

If I had my way, I would really love for my teen and tween to have a ice , warm bowl of oatmeal for breakfast before heading out to school. Unfortunately, toast, cereal and granola bars are really their preferences. What appealed to the kids and myself most about the oat bars is that we had found a viable compromise. Bobo’s Oat Bars are baked from the heart in Boulder, Colorado. These nutritious and delicious oat bars, are high in fiber for a healthy, filling start to the day, available in a variety of 16 different flavors and individually packed to grab and go. No family fusses and no morning messes. Winning! 

Bobo's Oat Bars are not only great for breakfast, we also packed them with our lunches and had them as an afternoon snack. These oat bars are hand-baked, all-natural, gluten-free and vegan breakfast/snack bars. Each soft and chewy bar is made with the finest organic, wheat-free and gluten-free non-GMO ingredients, Bobo’s Oat Bars are currently available in 16 healthful flavors with sweetened with brown rice syrup and no refined sugar. Bobo’s Oat Bars nutritional values will vary slightly depending on the flavor of the oat bar,  the Original regular sized bar, contains 360 calories and 12 grams of fat, of which only 3 grams is saturated. 

This month, it seems like everyone is talking about New Year resolutions and ways to lose weight and eat healthier with whole grains like oats. But let’s be honest, while oatmeal on its own is a great low-cal choice for breakfast, plain cooked oats are bland and can be gummy if not cooked properly. In addition, we tend to doctor oatmeal up with a large helping of all sorts of yummy ingredients to help us choke it down. The next thing you know, the once-benign bowl is suddenly packing on the calories, according to Angela B. Moore, MS RD, a Denver-based nutritionist and exercise physiologist.

“A half cup of oatmeal with one tablespoon butter and two tablespoons of maple syrup or brown sugar runs about 355 calories, with 22 grams of refined sugar and 11 grams of fat, 7 of which is saturated, plus any other add-ons like dried fruits and nuts you like,” Moore explains. “Very few people will just eat a bowl of plain oatmeal. It’s like bread – it’s what you put on it that makes it delicious and satisfying.”

“I think an oat-based snack bar is perfect for today’s busy lifestyle, but many bars are loaded with sugar and fat which almost negates the health benefits of the oats. Read the label carefully for nutritionals. Also, if it doesn’t taste good, it doesn’t matter how easy or healthy it is, you won’t eat it.”

The good folks with Bobo's team say, don’t ditch the oats if you’re too busy - “tote your oats”!

Check out Bobo's Oat Bars and let us know which flavor you are ready to try as you grab and go.