Protein is an important building block for people of all ages and genders.

Firstly, protein helps promote muscle mass and growth. If you are physically active, it is integral to be eating enough protein to help build muscles. Maintaining higher protein intake can also help you maintain muscle strength during periods of weight loss (3, 4, 5).

Secondly, protein is not only for younger people who are athletes or working out! Eating more protein is one of the best ways to mitigate risks of age-related muscle and bone deterioration. Protein helps you stay fit as you age (3).

Thirdly, protein is the most filling of the three macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbs). It will keep you fuller for longer and helps sustain your energy levels (3). No more midday crashes at the office!

Our bars are plant-based for both functional and health reasons. Our founder, a lifelong vegetarian, chose a plant-based lifestyle for ethical reasons. As an athlete, she struggled to find truly high-protein, plant-based options on the market. Anecdotally, we've heard from family and friends that animal-based proteins (whey or casein) have caused inflammatory or bloating issues for those with sensitivities, and many prefer plant-based options for digestive reasons. 

From a health perspective, a diet high in plant protein has been linked to many health benefits, including lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity (1). Plant-based diets are associated with significant reductions in blood pressure (2).

Lastly, from an environmental perspective, some people also consider pea protein to be a more sustainable option than whey protein, as growing peas tends to have less of an environmental impact compared to growing cattle (1).

Yes. Since our bars contain both pea and rice protein and nuts, the bars provide a complete amino acid profile. If you are unfamiliar with complete proteins, protein is composed of 20 amino acids. Your body produces 11 of these 20 amino acids on its own. The other nine are essential amino acids that you can only get via food. A food is considered a complete protein when it contains all nine of those essential amino acids (6). Many animal-based proteins offer a complete protein source, while some plant-based proteins may lack a full profile. Individually, pea protein is rich in lysine but lower in methionine and cysteine, while rice protein has more methionine but less lysine. Complementary plant-based proteins include various combinations of grains and legumes, such as beans and rice and pasta and peas. By combining the plant-based protein of rice, peas, and nuts, you can achieve a better balance of essential amino acids more akin to animal-based proteins (7).

Our bars do not contain: gluten, dairy, egg, soy, corn, seed oils, sugar alcohols, gums, artificial sugars, refined sugars, artificial flavors, natural flavors*, stevia.

*You might wonder about 'natural flavors'—doesn't that sound clean or healthy? Chances are that a lot of the shelf-stable foods that you purchase have this ingredient. Actually, we don’t think it sounds that natural – or healthy – at all! According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), natural flavors can be anything that is created from substances extracted from plant or animal sources, including: spices, fruits, vegetables, edible plant material, dairy products, meat, poultry, and seafood, and eggs (8). By contrast, ‘artificial flavors’ are synthetic chemicals produced in a lab (8). However, here’s the kicker for those “natural flavors”: even though they may originate from natural sources, according to the nonprofit food science organization Environmental Working Group, these natural flavors can be made up of over 100 chemicals – solvents, emulsifiers and preservatives can make up to 90% of the “natural flavor.” So, natural and artificial flavors aren’t really that different (9)! There i also limited regulation around enforcing suppliers to disclose where natural flavors come from – a concerning discovery in our view! In fact, one natural flavor called castoreum – used as vanilla imitation flavoring – is found in the anal secretions of beavers (10).

So, though our co-manufacturer tried to persuade us to put natural flavors in the bars, which can improve the overall flavor profile over the lifetime of the bar, we refused. We wanted to stay true to our mission of a minimally processed bar.

Please note our bars are manufactured in a facility that also processes: eggs, soy, milk, wheat, sesame, and tree nuts.

Organic sunflower lecithin is a minimally processed emulsifier that helps to stabilize separation in foods. When we first began testing recipes out of our kitchen, to minimize the number of ingredients, we did not use an emulsifier, which led to the oil in the 100% natural peanut butter separating, making the outside of the bar oily. As a result, when we started working with the co-manufacturer, we decided to add sunflower lecithin to improve the texture of the bar. 

Some studies have linked certain benefits to consumption of sunflower lecithin, including the following: improvement of skin health, boosting of brain function, support of cardiovascular and liver health, and decrease in inflammation (11). Sunflower lecithin is non-GMO and naturally free of gluten, soy, and dairy. Sourced from a seed-bearing sunflower, sunflower lecithin is created by dehydrating a sunflower and separating it into three parts: oil, gum, and solids. The lecithin is extracted from the gum via a cold press procedure (12). Relative to soy lecithin (another emulsifier commonly used in processed foods), sunflower lecithin is viewed as minimally processed, given its usage of cold-pressing (11).

Organic monk fruit, also known as lo han guo, is a small, melon-like fruit, of the same family as pumpkins and melon. Buddhist monks have grown the fruit in southern China for hundreds of years, historically using it medicinal purposes. More recently, it has begun to be used as a natural, lower-calorie alternative to refined sugar, as it can be up to 100 to 250 times sweeter than sugar. Further research on its more nascent usage as a sweetener is ongoing in the Western world, but monk fruit has been safely consumed in Asia for centuries, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has labelled it as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe). Some early research also suggests that monk fruit has other benefits, including its lack of impact on blood sugar and anti-inflammatory properties (13).

Our bars contain 9g of added sugars from organic honey—a completely natural source—and 10g of total sugars.

If you think this amount is on the higher side (believe us, during R&D, we really tried our best to reduce it!), it's important to consider the following: this is naturally occurring sugar from honey. Our overarching purpose as a company is to avoid refined sugars, sugar alcohols, and artificial sweeteners. Initially, we used less honey (and thus lower sugar) during the first test runs, but the bars required a slightly sweeter and softer texture that more honey would provide. Additionally, honey acts as a natural humectant, helping retain moisture in the bar without the need for artificial preservatives. We opted for completely natural sugar with a slightly higher content, rather than adding sugar alcohols like vegetable glycerin, or other ingredients such as erythritol.

To put this amount of sugar in perspective, one teaspoon of honey contains 6 grams of added sugars, and one tablespoon contains 17 grams. Compared to other bars on the market, most ‘natural ingredient’ bars contain 12-20 grams of sugar, with some containing up to 25 grams! Therefore, we believe that our bar offers a more attractive overall nutritional profile.

Our bars are plant-based certified, gluten-free certified, non-GMO certified, and Oregon Tilth organic certified.

All ingredients in our bars are certified organic by Oregon Tilth except for pea protein crisps. This only comes down to one simple operational reason: our current supplier doesn't offer an organic version of the pea protein crisps; sourcing these organic pea protein crisps would involve significant investment and would have further delayed our launch. Given resource constraints as a small startup, we've chosen to launch our product as is. However, we see the value in organic products and are working toward making our bar 100% organic.