Imagine being stranded on campus every Monday for eight hours with only ten to fifteen minutes to spare between classes. For me, fatigue and hunger were the only things that resulted from these circumstances. Both were exacerbated by classwork and of course, being deprived of an actual meal. Eating one meal before my first class just isn’t enough to last me until I get home. I had to learn that the hard way the previous semester.

I already know what you’re thinking, “Why don’t you just pick up snacks in between your classes?” Well, due to my prior run-ins with stale Nutri-Grain bars, bags of SunChips containing more air than chips and other sodium-packed, overpriced, near-expired surprises from campus vending machines and kiosks, I gave up on making these brief stops on campus.

My Solution

I found the answer to my calling while taking a quick stroll through The Vitamin Shoppe. I needed something that was easily portable, packed with protein, not messy and lacked both soy and tree nuts.

I was initially pessimistic about such a snack even existing, but one of the health wizards in The Vitamin Shoppe showed me otherwise. She pointed me towards a neat stack of D’s Natural No Cow Bars.

No Cow Bars

No Cow Bars are vegan-friendly and they contain around 20 grams of plant protein per bar. They are low in sugar and carbs while being free of soy, dairy, gluten, and GMOs. No Cow is an excellent source of fiber as well. For those of you that have tree nut allergies like I do, some bars do contain ‘traces’ of tree nuts and others actually have almonds.  

No Cow is a great choice for a post-workout, recovery snack or just something to help reduce the suffering of sitting in classes for eight hours. You can purchase one pack of twelve No Cow Bars from D's Naturals for $29.99 or head over to your local The Vitamin Shoppe and buy them individually for a little under $3 each.