You might be wondering why I’m writing a review for something that has the word “Paleo” in it. No, I’m not a Paleo eater. I’m not a vegetarian or vegan, either. I like to think of myself as a vegan PLUS a Paleo, because I eat just about everything. This fact could account for some of my gripes about my figure but hey….I love all food (thank God I also love exercise!). I’m not the kind of person who enjoys controlling and limiting the types of foods I eat, nor do I exactly believe that we should. Let me clarify that: none of us should be eating fried chicken every day, or McDonald’s….well, ever.

But my Paleo and vegan friends are very healthy people, and they are very much alike, because they both choose whole foods and don’t eat a lot of crap. So even though I don’t believe in axing either meat or grains from my life, the healthier eating is motivating, and I have taken some notes from all of these folks in my daily menu. But I sort of believe that humans evolved to eat whatever they were able to kill or gather, and that included meat, vegetables, nuts, grains, etc. It’s the homogenized, industrialized, antibiotic-fed, corn-filled, sugared and salted, genetically modified food nowadays that I disagree with, and it’s those kinds of foods that I try to limit in my diet as much as I can.

Okay enough about me, what I came here to talk about is this great product called Paleonola. The first time I tried it was after the NYC Barefoot Run (has anyone else noticed that event has somehow seeped into my life in about 100 different ways?). As part of the swag bag every participant received, there was a little sample-sized packet of Paleonola. The name seemed a little clunky to me at first, but I guess it made sense: Paleo-style granola, right? So I brought it home and threw some in my soy yogurt (from a local organic dairy farm) the next day.

Holy crap, this stuff is good.

So good, in fact, that I wrote to the company to tell them how much I loved it, and they graciously sent me a sample packet of each one of their flavors to try.

I’m a granola fan, but I usually avoid the greasy, high-carb stuff they sell at the supermarket and just put some raw nuts in my yogurt (not too many raw almonds though, they make my face itch). Especially when I’m on a good-eating kick, I feel guilty eating a handful of regular granola. Paleonola has no grains in it. No hydrogenated oils, no preservatives, no corn syrup, low-carb and totally vegan. The Original flavor is made with just some ground up nuts, coconut, and fruit. It’s got that amazingly satisfying crunchiness, with a little bit of gooey-yummy flavor. Positively addicting.

Paleonola offers five flavors: The Original, Chocolate Fix, Maple Pancake, Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie. I usually prefer options of the plain variety because I’m not really a fan of taking something that works and adding weird flavors to it. It often seems trite and gimmicky to me.  But in Paleonola world, for example, Apple Pie is not “apple pie #6” flavored. Thankfully, it’s much subtler than that. There’s just little bits of dried apple and some spices in it. Unlike most products on the supermarket shelves, the additional flavors don’t go overboard, so if you like the original, you’ll like the other flavors too. The only one that I’m not as much into is the Chocolate Fix. I know, go figure – I’m like the Chocolate Queen. I think it’s just me, though – when I’m eating granola, I’m not in the mindset for chocolate. But I bet it’d be great in a baking recipe. If I was any kind of baker (which I’m not) I’d probably be able to make a hundred delicious recipes out of this stuff.

I can only think of one drawback to this product: although I am a huge fan of Paleonola I’m not as huge a fan of the price ($8.99 for 10 oz. bag). We are all so used to paying super low prices, aren’t we? It’s because we are typically buying cheap foodstuffs that use cheap ingredients (have you heard they put sawdust in some food? Yuck!). But like my Grampa always told me, “you get what you pay for.” Paleonola is truly a high quality product. And considering the top-notch natural ingredients, the price, while seemingly high, is actually pretty fair. Also they do offer coupons if you sign up for their newsletter, and they have subscriptions to receive Paleonola monthly, or to give as a gift (an awesome gift for the Paleo in your life!)

Paleonola has been growing as a company, and in September they announced their first appearance in some Whole Foods stores near their home town of Cranston, Rhode Island. You can follow the latest Paleonola news on their blog, and find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Now it’s time for the first ever Barefoot Monologues giveaway!

Want to try some of the best granola in the world? The lovely folks at Paleonola have offered to send an entire Variety Pack of each flavor to one lucky reader. There are many ways to enter (1 entry for each action item):

1. Follow my blog by clicking “follow” if you’re a WordPress member, or by clicking “Sign me Up!” on the subscription widget to the right of this post.
2. Post a comment at the bottom about how much you love Paleonola, or how much you enjoy the Paleo lifestyle.
3. Share this review on your Facebook or Twitter account (I’m @trishreeves)
4. Follow Paleonola’s blog.
5. Like Paleonola on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.

Post a comment for each entry! The giveaway will be open through Sunday, December 18th. On that day I will let the random generator pick the winner for me, and I will announce him or her on my blog. Good luck and thanks for participating!