A little while ago I got an email offering me the opportunity to try some products from USANA Health Sciences. I saw the email and immediately thought, “Where do I know that name from?” And then I remembered… “Oh yeah! I used to drive past their US offices every week on my way to work when I lived in Salt Lake City!” That was back in 1999-2001, so I’m granted a bit of a pass on temporary memory loss, okay? And even then, I saw the name USANA on the building and never knew exactly what it was. Now I know that USANA sells supplements, foods, and personal care products.

I was sent a box that contained two items to review. First up the Berry Nutty bar.

These bars are built upon a foundation of cashews, almonds, cranberries and cherries. There are a few other ingredients involved (oats, flaxseed, coconut oil, agave, sea salt, etc.) but the ingredient list is pretty straightforward. Other things to note:

• All-natural ingredients
• Gluten free
• Soy free
• Dairy free
• Low glycemic
• No trans fats
• Low sodium
• Non-GMO
• Prebiotic fiber

And if they are shipped to your house in Las Vegas during the hottest June on record… they kind of melt.

They’re tasty bars and I liked having a snack that seemed pretty wholesome and satisfying. I didn’t like the super sticky wrapper after it had melted. Woe is me…

These bars sell for $43.95 for a box of 14 on their site.

The other item I was sent was their probiotic. These are delivered via a little packet of powder (like those “to go” drinks come packaged) but the difference is these have no flavor. No flavor, no calories, no anything… except a bunch of little bacteria ready to be ingested. (Hey… that’s what probiotics are!) I’ve seen other powdered probiotics that require refrigeration. These ones are shelf-stable and last for up to a year.

They have foreign characters on the packet. I don’t know what those say. I’m not even sure what language they are, but I know it’s not Japanese because I can totally read Japanese. Or…. at least recognize it somewhat after studying Japanese for two years in high school.

I really can’t taste this when added to a drink, so you can pretty much add these to any COLD drink you may want. I’m not a scientist, but it does seem counterintuitive to add these live active bacteria things to a scalding hot drink and put them to death before consuming them.

These cost $28.55 for a box of 14.

Both products are of good quality, but they seem kind of expensive. I’m not sure that the bars are worth that price when there are other bars that have solid, whole food nutrition for less cost and easier accessibility. But a probiotic… if you find one that really helps you feel better then I guess it’s worth the price. I only tried these a couple of times so far, not long enough or consecutive enough to experiment to see if they help me feel better in any way.

I know they have some kind of sponsor/seller program for people who want to sell USANA products/make that their career or whatever. I am not interested in that so I didn’t look into that information. I also saw that USANA is a partner of the Dr. Oz show and that guy kind of seems like a nut to me, but I guess that could be overlooked if the products were life changing.

Disclosure: I was sent these products free for the purpose of review. All thoughts posted are always my own.