Granola Bars, Dissected

After putting my new granola bar recipe into MyFitnessPal, having cut eight individual granola bars, I discovered that the nutritional information per serving wasn't quite where I wanted it to be. (Fouled by deceptive ingredients!) There's clearly room for improvement—although not in the taste department. They certainly were delicious!

Looking at the chart, you can see that a bulk of the calories are coming from the shredded coconut. Next time, I'll exchange it for 3/4 cup of oats to lower that calorie count while creating more of a traditional granola bar. I'll also use just 1/3 cup of agave nectar instead of 1/2 cup, which might also bring down the sweet factor. And last, but certainly not least, I'll switch up the nut mix to 1/2 cup of sliced natural almonds. Black Cocoa almonds were fun, but not the best option. (A girl's gotta have a treat on occasion!)

After implementing these changes in MyFitnessPal, the nutrition chart looked more like this. A marked improvement in my humble opinion. I'll make them later this week, so watch for "Granola Bars, Recreated." Here's to hoping they turn out just as deliciously as the first batch.

In the meantime, let me know if you come up with any other improvements to try.