What is a no cow bar?
No Cow Bars are high protein, low sugar protein bars. Made out of pea and rice protein, a No Cow bar contains absolutely no dairy.
It’s also sweetened naturally using a combination of stevia and monk fruit.
At the moment a 12 pack of these bars retail for $29.99 which works out to roughly $2.50 a No Cow bar.
No Cow Bar Review
This is our No Cow Bar review, in this article we’re going to be looking closer at this product to see how effective it really is and if it is one of the best protein bars on the market.
Areas that we’ll be looking at in this review include no cow bar’s nutrition facts, ingredients, if it’s keto friendly and some of the more commonly asked questions regarding this bar.
The main selling points of now car protein bars are:
- Dairy-Free
- Non-GMO
- Soy-Free
- Kosher
- Vegan
- No Added Sugar
Right off the bat it’s one of the cleaner protein bars we’ve seen on the market – with most of them relying on whey and milk as protein sources. We’re glad that this anti-dairy stance is so deeply embedded into now cow’s products.
Are no cow bars gluten free?
Any No Cow Bar is certified gluten-free, which means you shouldn’t run into any issues if you suffer from any intolerance.
What flavors does a No Cow bar come in?
No Cow Protein Bars are available in the following flavors:
- Chocolate Glazed Doughnut
- Sticky Cinnamon Roll
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
- Chocolate Fudge
- Raspberry Truffle
- Lemon Meringue Pie
- Blueberry Cobbler
- Mint Cacao Chip
- Chunky Peanut Butter
- Vanilla Caramel
- Carrot Cake
- Chocolate Coconut
Certainly a lot of great looking flavors from this brand. Now let’s get into the meat of this review, and discuss the nutrition and ingredients.
Where to buy No Cow Bar?
No Cow Protein Bars are available from numerous online retailers including:
- The Official Website (nocow.com)
- Amazon.com
- CVS
- GNC
- The Vitamin Shoppe
- Vitacost
- Walgreens
- Lucky Vitamin
- Walmart
No Cow Bar UK
If you’re looking to get No Cow Bars in the UK, they are available from the following sites: PostedProtein, Predator Nutrition, Amazon.co.uk and Dolphin Fitness.
Not as many options, but if you want to get them there are some good places to start.
No Cow Bar Nutrition Facts
12 Servings Per Container
Serving Size: 1 Bar (60g)
Calories: 210
- Total Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
- Sodium: 220 mg
- Total Carbohydrate: 19 g
- Dietary Fiber: 14 g
- Total Sugars: 1 g
- Sugar Alcohol: 5g
- Protein: 21 g
- Vitamin D: 0 mcg
- Calcium: 8 mg
- Iron: 0 mg
- Potassium: 43 mg
As you can see, there is a good amount of protein in these bars, 21 grams which makes up for more than a third of the product. However, as you can see, there 19 g of carbohydrates in here too – which could be a problem for our keto dieters.
Most keto diets recommend a total of intake of 50 g of carbohydrates a day. There’s nearly half of the total intake in just one of these bars. That might be something worth considering.
It’s worth noting that a No Cow bar has a total of 210 calories. Which is more than most of the protein bars we’ve reviewed on the site.
No Cow Protein Bar Ingredients
Ingredients: Protein Blend (Brown Rice Protein, Pea Protein), Soluable Corn Fiber, Glycerine, Palm Oil, Almonds, Cocoa Powder (Processed with Alkali), Natural Flavors, Salt, Water, Cocoa Butter, Sweetener Blend (Erythiritol, Stevia Leaf Reb M, Monk Fruit).
Also Contains: Almonds. Produced on equipment that also processes peanuts, soy, milk, wheat, egg and other tree nuts.
This is definitely vegan, but we do have some issues with these ingredients and would like to point out a few pros and cons you may have missed with the No Cow Bar:
Pros
- Uses Stevia – Great natural sweetener that scores 0 on the Glycemic index.
- No artificial flavors – No Cow Bar is flavored completely naturally.
- No whey – Pea and rice protein is definitely the way to go in the modern age, given whey’s side effects.
And of course, some of the earlier points that we mentioned at the top of this review. However, there are some considerable cons to No Cow Protein Bars too.
Cons
1. Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Gluten-Free and Vegan But…
Although No Cow Bar is totally free from dairy, soy and gluten and even Vegan – if you look at how this product is produced this may not totally be the case.
No Cow Bars are made on equipment that also processes soy, wheat, milk and eggs – which are the opposite of vegan, dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free lifestyle.
Although the bars aren’t made with these ingredients, there’s chance there might be trace amounts in these bars. This is definitely worth knowing if these are serious factors for your diet / health.
2. Contains Palm Oil
Palm Oil is currently having numerous negative effects on the environment, water and air quality.
No Cow says they get their palm oil from a sustainable source via the RSPO which is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil – which is “certified sustainable”.
There have been studies showing that Palm Oil forests both certified and un-certified, may have similar effects on the environment and may even be considered as a tactic known as ‘Greenwashing’ to make it appear environmentally friendly, but to continue business as usual causing similar levels of damage.
There appears to not be much difference between certified and uncertified when it comes to forest degradation.
This is a huge issue and a lot to unpack – something that we’re not going to cover to much in a review of a $2.50 protein bar. If you want to learn more read this study.
No Cow Bar Keto
Is No Cow Bar Keto Friendly?
Not really. If you’re in a pinch – you could make it work. No Cow Protein bars have 19 grams of carbohydrates in a 60 gram bar.
Most Keto diets require you to have at maximum 50 g of carbs a day. This is nearly half your overall allowance. This gives you only another 31 g to for the rest of your meals throughout the day to avoid breaking ketosis.
In our opinion, if you’re keto, we’d avoid something that can eat this much into your overall carb allowance. Stick to low carb meals, or protein options that contain little to no carbs. This can allow you to have more freedom in what you have in your diet
No Cow Bar Summary
As you can see, there are some advantages to using a No Cow Bar as your protein source – you just need ensure you’re okay with the fact that this bar may not be keto-friendly as it contains 19 grams of carbohydrates.
You also need to make sure that you’re okay that No Cow Bars although vegan and free from dairy, gluten and soy – are still made with equipment that also process milk, eggs, soy and wheat.
Finally, the palm oil debacle. Although certified-sustainable by the RSPO, it may not be all that it seems. Definitely an issue that needs further investigation.
Aside from that, No Cow Bars appear to be a great source of rice and pea protein which could help boost your macros for a quick protein hit on the go – along with a variety of flavors.
We recommend:
Performance Lab Protein Stack
Performance Lab's Protein stack is the cleanest and most effective protein powder we've seen on the market.
Made with USDA organic brown rice protein and enhanced with probiotics, it is all natural vegan alternative which claims to be 30% faster to absorb than whey products.
It's low carb at 2 g of carbohydrates per serving, and high protein making it perfect for keto diets or for those who want more control of their macros.
If you're in the market for a better protein powder, you should definitely read what we had to say about it: