Pottentia Whole Food Paleo Protein Bar, 20 Grams Protein, Coconut Almond, Dairy Free, Egg White, Gluten Free, 6 Ingredients, 8 Large 86 Gram Bars, High Fiber, No GMO, No Soy

***UPDATED 8.21.18***WARNING: my prior review was based on the product BEFORE they changed the recipe, size and price. This review addresses these major changes, and therefore, my rating. I want potential buyers to understand that this highly-rated bar is riding the coattails of the OLD recipe, size and price. Perhaps it should have been listed as a new product, rather than using the old product listing and making major changes. I do not know if all reviewers will update their rating to reflect the current product. But I will, so here goes…Finally these are back in stock, after waiting 3 or 4 months. I ordered three boxes, one of each current flavor (double choc, PB and choc, coconut almond) to see what they’re like now.1. The bar size has been cut in half from about 80g/bar to about 40g/bar, across all flavors (see images, new PB and choc on left, old coconut almond on right). Is this a problem? Not really, so long as the price per gram, taste and quality remain the same…read on.2. The ingredients have changed for the bars, with the prebiotic ingredient changing from Prebiotic Fiber (or Prebiotic Tapioca Fiber, flavor dependent) to chicory root. I don’t know if this is good or bad health-wise, but it does not have the same taste I’ve enjoyed.3. THE KICKER: price per gram has gone from about $0.23/g to $0.35/g, based on pricing from April 2018 (old recipe) and August 2018 (new recipe) – A 30%+ PRICE INCREASEI do not like the new recipe. I don’t hate it, but I don’t like it, not like the old recipe. It’s still got a good, all-natural ingredients list, but it doesn’t taste as good as before. Deduct one star.During the past few months, I have tried contacting Pottentia to see what the availability problems have been with their bar. I am…was…a HUGE fan. I received NO responses. Bad move Pottentia. Before whatever change recently happened, I was able to get responses within a day. Deduct one star.A PRICE INCREASE OVER 30%?! For what? What improvement has been made to this bar? As far as I can tell, size, flavor, and price all went the wrong direction. Deduct one star.I stand by a 2-star rating with the current product until price goes down, flavor goes up, and size goes up. Feel free to ask me questions in the comments section.***UPDATED 7.24.17***I still eat one of these bars every day and continue to enjoy them. I keep going back and forth as to which flavor I like best, but lately it's the PB Cacao. As my previous update indicates, these seem to have around a 6-month shelf life and I have yet to see the dates on these go out longer than that. And my previous observation continues to be supported: they are noticeably fresher if you get them in the 1st month of their 6-month shelf life, both taste and appearance (refer to images). Regardless of its freshness, they always taste good.***UPDATED 3.10.17***I received my latest purchase, 2 boxes of each flavor, yesterday. Pottentia had recently run out of these bars and just got new stock in, so I have what I believe is from their new batch. All 4 boxes have very similar expiration dates - 8/22/17 and 8/23/17, which makes me think these have about a 6 month shelf life from when they are made. I was curious to see if they were any different than the previous box, which had one left. I grabbed a bar from the new box of PB Cacao this AM and right away noticed these were significantly better than the "old" batch. The new ones are softer, fresher, and taste noticeably better. And I thought they tasted great before! Fresher, softer, better tasting, as I audibly mmm'd the whole time I ate it. I can only assume this is due to being a very fresh batch of bars. I have included photos of the older PB Cacao batch (darker color) and new batch (lighter color). Keep in mind, the old ones still taste great, it's just with the fresh batch all of the flavors were amplified. Also, I would not recommend eating two of these in an 8 hour period. Your body will respond to 150% of its daily fiber intake in short order.Will update with future observations, as I am officially an addict to these things.ORIGINAL REVIEW:I know this sounds nerdy, but reading the ingredients list brings me great joy. So I decided to give these a go to see if I could truly have a super-healthy meal option at the click of a 'purchase' button. Answer: yes. I would like to see these show up on Subscribe & Save because I am now buying at least 2-3 boxes a month.I think these are hands-down, the best protein bar/meal replacement foods on the market! It is very difficult to find ANY that are non-GMO, all natural, no hormones, no artificial sweeteners, no artificial anything. Well, I feel like I’ve struck a gold-mine here. I enjoy eating these and feel satisfied afterwards. Really, if you try these and think there’s a better one out there, please let me know!Here are my top 5 reasons for recommending these bars:1. No artificial sweeteners - I learned long ago that my stomach does not respond well to artificial sweeteners. Loud, embarrassing digestive sounds were the culprit. When I finally linked it to artificial sweeteners, I decided to end any consumption of them (particularly sugarless gum, sorry doc!)2. No soy protein - too many protein bars get their protein source from soy. I don't like soy and I've read enough about it to try and avoid it completely.3. High quality whey protein - "21g+ Grass Fed Whey Protein. Hormone Free and Antibiotics Free." Does it get any better than that? (yes, it does, read on)4. No sugar added - take a look at the image of the ingredients for these bars. It is pure poetry. One of my big complaints about other protein bars has been the addition of too much sugar! I have been eating the Gatorade bars on occasion, but not as often as I'd like, simply because of the massive amount of sugar in them. These bars have only natural sugar, from the organic dates, and I am OK with naturally occurring sugar in my diet.5. They taste great! Reading the ingredients list, I thought these were going to taste like cardboard and bitter chocolate. Not so. I look forward to eating these daily, even after eating them daily for the past month.For anyone who thinks these are not a good value, or are too expensive, what is your comparison? I am unaware of a meal option that is 300 calories of gluten-free, non-GMO, organic goodness for around $3. Throw in the convenience of a premade and pre-packaged bar, and I think these are a very good deal.Pottentia – you have hit a homerun in my book!

9/2017 Final UpdateTo date, I have purchased almost 100 boxes of bars, which means I'm coming up on my 1,000 Pottentia Protein Bar anniversary ... I should ask for a free shirt :) On average, I consume two-three bars/day. Through exercise and healthy eating, my body fat and weight have not changed from the additional calories from these bars. If anything, my body fat has decreased, because I find myself eating these bars instead of going out to eat when I'm pressed for time. What impresses me the most is that all 1,000 + bars tasted the same. The quality is always consistent. I never once thought to myself ... what happened to this batch? I often found myself asking that question when consuming quest bars, as I noticed the quality and taste changed over time. No so with these bars.6/2017 Update:My wife also now eats them, and she is extremely picky when it comes to protein bars because of texture. She loves the texture of these! I am still over 30 boxes of these (will probably double now that my wife is eating them), and I'm up to 3 bars a day. No bloating. No gas. Body fat staying around 15%. Perfect ratio of carbs : fat : protein. Thank you to Nave @ Pottentia. 100% unbiased review. I get satisfaction from helping others (I own a personal training business working with the special needs and mainstream population ... I love inspiring others to a healthy lifestyle)4/2017 Update:I have now purchased over 30 boxes of bars. I must say that I now like the taste way more than quest bars. I bought a box of quest bars last week (new flavor) and was shocked at how bloated the quest bars made me. I had been using quest bars for years, not realizing it was messing me up. Stick with Pottentia for the best quality and flavor. This a 100% unbiased review and have nothing to gain other than helping others!ORIGINAL REVIEW:I have been in the health & fitness industry for over 10 years and have always used artificial ingredients because I simply didn't care. When I hired a functional nutritionist, she told me the health concerns of consuming artificial ingredients and advised me to remove them from my diet. So, I did and had to find a way to replace my protein bars. After searching on Amazon, I found the Pottentia bars and am 100% sold. Here are the things I like about the Pottentia bars:1.) Quality - They are Gluten Free, GMO Free, Antibiotic Free, Hormone Free, Additive Free, and NO Artificial Sweeteners. Most bars on the market use some form of artificial sweetener and the bar tastes very "fake." Pottentia, on the other hand, places a high-value quality ingredients2.) Satiety - Finally, a bar that actually fills you up. Have you ever noticed the difference when you eat a 6oz chicken breast pumped with chemicals compared to a 6oz organic, hormone free chicken breast? If you are like most people, you get fuller on the higher quality chicken breast. The same applies to these bars, as they are organic use only high-quality ingredients. I find myself full for a good 2-3 hours (I workout 5x/wk, have a high metabolism, and consume about 4,000 calories a day).3.) Cravings - When I was eating other bars (quest bars, oh-yeah, etc) I found myself constantly craving them, even if I wasn't hungry. I would eat them late at night, simply because I craved the artificial taste. After a week of switching to Pottentia and removing artifical sweeteners from my diet, I no longer find myself craving all these "junk" bars. It is amazing what happens when we put the food God designed for us into our body.4.) Digestion - Unlike some of the other bars on the market (quest bars, oh-yeah, etc) these bars digest very smoothly. I do not get gas, bloating, or any side effects.5.) Taste - For an all-organic bar, the taste is really good. I'm not going to sit here and tell you it tastes better than a quest-bar, because it doesn't. However, the small compromise in taste is worth switching over for the above reasons. The reality is that eating "healthier" doesn't always taste as good at first, BUT over time your taste buds will change and you won't even notice the difference. If you eat fried food all the time and switch over to grilled food, you may miss the fried food at first and think it tastes better. Over time, that will change.Try them for yourself, you won't be disappointed!