NEWSFLASH: Fiber One Chewy Bars Unite Mankind!

I received an email last week from a woman I'd never met. She mentioned she thought she'd contacted me before on behalf of EatBetterAmerica.com (which she hadn't) then asked if I'd like to participate in a product review for Fiber One Chewy Bars.

Fiber.

That's all I saw. You all may remember my love affair with roughage so I didn't ask any questions and instantly said yes. I wasn't sure who this woman was or who she worked for, but she was offering me free fiber and I didn't want to mess up a good thing. A few days later I received a FedEx package from Michigan with one box of Fiber One Chewy Bars. Before the courier had even gotten back to his truck, my kid and I had wolfed down the first four.

There were no further instructions inside the box and I wasn't sure what was expected of me. I emailed my supplier, asking what kind of review she wanted and she replied that I could write anything I pleased. I ripped into the fifth bar and composed this little beauty (yes, it's skippable):

I'm really into high-fiber products and am used to them being somewhat difficult to chew so these were a very pleasant surprise. I didn't feel like I had to work to get them down. I didn't have to work to grind up any fiber and by looking at the bar all I could see was rice puffs and oats instead of huge chunks of roughage. Almost all I tasted was honey and chocolate which for a bar with as little sugar and fat as these have in them, was great. They have a "melt-in-your-mouth" quality that I can only compare to a warm rice crispie treat. Fantastic. Another huge benefit for me is that they are soft enough for my two year old to eat and enjoy. She usually can't eat most granola bars since they are too stiff - and most only have about 5% of daily fiber and tons more sugar anyway. I would definitely buy these for myself as on-the-go snacks but I'm most excited about having a stash of them for my two year old picky eater who has been begging for them ever since her first bite yesterday. And of course, because they have so much fiber, they actually work to satisfy a hunger craving when we are out on the town.

I thought the packaging was pretty bad. I know General Mills is probably trying to appeal to the health-conscience crowd and didn't want to do any cutesy packaging, but the colors and fonts on the package are pretty sterile and unappealing. Maybe a bigger deal should be made on the package about the soft texture of these bars since that's what sets them apart from other fiber bars in my opinion. I know they are called "Chewy Bars" but many other kinds of granola bars claim to be chewy as well and are nothing close to as soft as these. And it seems like granola bars usually come six to a box - these only had five.

But really, the taste and texture is fantastic. I've checked the nutritional information a dozen times to make sure that something that tastes this decadent really could be so good for my body. A+ on taste, C on packaging.

I emailed her my review as I licked the last of the goo off my fingers. I assumed it would be submitted to General Mills along with hundreds of other reviews and perhaps even be considered in their product development. Then her response - "Just for future reference, you don't have to let me know what you're going to be posting. Anything you come up with is fine!"

Posting? After a few emails back and forth and we had it all straightened out. Apparently my blog is considered a powerful marketing tool and she had wanted me to put a blub up here to hype the new product. Some may call it selling myself out but I dare anyone to resist the lure of free, delicious fiber straight to their door via handsome FedEx carrier. Go buy the freakin' bars. They will save your marriage, smooth your skin, clear your driving record and enthrall your colon. Anyone else want to mail me free food?