Michael Pollan’s ‘Food Rules’ takes a look into the highly processed “fake food” Western diet and its correlation with the slowly declining physical health of Westerners. He gathers “food rules,” guidelines to living a more wholesomely healthy lifestyle, and they don’t include counting calories, eating only protein, or only carbs, or eating nothing but cabbage for a week. He simply proposes that we eat more simply.

One such rule is to not eat anything with ingredients that your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize, and another is to avoid anything with more than five ingredients inside.

That’s It embodies that simplicity and respects the integrity of real food. All of their products have only two to five ingredients and are preservative-free, vegan and raw. We’ll give you the rundown on the whole That’s It product line here in our That’s It fruit bars review!

What Is That’s It? What Are That’s It Fruit Bars?

They use real fruit, no sugary concentrates or other imposters that are often advertised as fresh fruit.

As is evident given the name of the company, That’s It keeps things simple and very minimally processed. They use real fruit, no sugary concentrates or other imposters that are often advertised as fresh fruit. As the company explains: “That’s It ® grew from the idea that nature knows best. We believe that adding a bunch of extra stuff to natural fruit only takes away from the purity and balance that nature intended.”

The products are currently dubbed “all-natural” but the founder/CEO Lior Lewensztain says that they plan on becoming completely and officially organic in 2017.

That’s It Fruit Bars Review

The beauty of That’s It fruit bars is in their simplicity. The aim with these bars is to help people get the recommended two fruits a day in one easy, yummy snack that doesn’t suffer due to the negatives associated with artificial sweeteners or preservatives.

The bars are chunky, and may not be the prettiest of colors but such is to be expected when using real, dried fruit. Don’t be deterred by the aesthetics, because these are really tasty. The flavors currently available are:

• Apple + Banana.
• Apple + Blueberry.
• Apple + Pineapple.
• Apple + Pear.
• Apple + Cherry.
• Apple + Mango.
• Apple + Apricot.
• Apple + Strawberry.
• Apple + Coconut.

These all taste great, but the Pear, Strawberry and Cherry flavors seem to be real fan favorites. Each flavor boasts 100 calories per bar so they make an energizing but light snack – perfect for keeping you going in-between meals!

That’s It Zesty Fruit Bars Review

That’s It Zesty Fruit Bars are an exciting spin-off from the main offering of the company. They come in three different flavors: Apple + Cinnamon, Apple +Mango & Chili, and Apple + Pear & Ginger and they are all full of flavor and really delicious. Mango & Chili is my personal favorite! The flavors with chili and ginger are probably less kid-friendly, but make a great snack for adults.

That’s It Bites Review

That’s It Bites are chocolate covered fruit snacks. They come in all of the fruit bar flavors, shaped into bite-sized spheres, and are coated in fair-trade dark chocolate. These do have added sugar, a given considering the added chocolate, but not too much of it.

Fruit is still the main ingredient in these, and shines through with a light coating of chocolate for a decadent upgrade to the original bars. The Bites are not available for purchase yet, but they are set to launch within the next few months and look very promising.

Related: Check out our Super Foods features covering Goji Berries, Macadamia Nuts, and Pistachios!

Are That’s It Fruit Bars Healthy?

Dried Fruit

The real question at hand is whether dried fruit itself is healthy, because That’s It Bars are just that – dried fruit – but blended in delicious flavor combos and conveniently packaged in serving-sized bars. Dried fruit is dehydrated, so it is shrunken and everything inside is more concentrated. That means that you’ll be getting more fiber and vitamins than you would eating a regular fruit because you’ll probably eat more of it.

However, the nutrient concentration comes along with the downside of sugar concentration. Dried fruit is sweeter, which is nice taste-wise, but it shouldn’t be eaten as often as fresh fruit. Think of it as a really healthy treat.

The nutrition facts of the That’s It bars fluctuate a bit between flavors but they generally have 3 grams of dietary fiber, 1 gram of protein, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 10% RDV of Vitamin C, and a little bit of iron and calcium. But they’ve also got 22 grams of sugar, and while it is raw, healthy fruit sugar, it’s something to take note of if you plan on eating these often.

Are That’s It Fruit Bars Paleo Friendly?

The Paleo diet prescribes a way of eating that returns to the eating habits of our ancestors in the prehistoric era. This obviously includes processed foods and refined sugars, so the fruit bars are Paleo-friendly in that regard. All of the fruits utilized in That’s It bars are considered Paleo-friendly, thankfully! However, Paleo experts do not recommend eating a whole lot of fruit because it is a low-sugar, low-carb diet, so these bars are Paleo-friendly but in moderation.

Are That’s It Fruit Bars Gluten Free?

All of the That’s It products are certified gluten-free and suitable for gluten-intolerant or celiac eaters.

Going on a #targetrun to stock up on That's it. before the #blackfriday rush. Who wants to race? pic.twitter.com/e7eeJVsHwY

— That's it.® (@Thatsit) November 23, 2016

Where Can I Buy That’s It Fruit Bars?

That’s It is sold by a multitude of large retailers including Whole Foods, Target, Costco, Starbucks, and 7-11 as well as in many health food stores across America. They are also sold on Amazon and directly from their website. You can buy these in bulk or separately, and they come in variety or individual flavor packs.

DIY That’s It Fruit Bars Recipe

DIY Fruit Bars

To make your own fruit bars similar to these, start with dried fruit or dehydrate some fruit on your own. Dehydration is nature’s natural sweetening and preserving process, so these dried fruit make bars that don’t need added sweetener and can be easily stored.

You don’t need an expensive, bulky dehydrator to make dried fruit, just an oven. Set it to a very low temperature (about 110 F) and leave the oven door ajar (if you have an oven lock you can pull it out before turning on your oven so the door can’t close completely) which allows steam and moisture to escape and air to circulate around the fruit. Slice fruit evenly and lay down on a baking tray in a single layer.

It’ll take a few hours (usually around four hours) depending on the fruit and thickness, so check on them every half hour or so once you’re into the second hour. If your oven has a fan setting, turn it on for this and you may not need to leave the door open.

There’s a reason That’s It uses an apple a base for all of their bars. They’re pretty neutral in flavor, add a nice sweetness, and have a good texture for this purpose. The basic recipe structure for making these bars at home is 2 cups of dried apples (with the peels, cores and stems removed prior to drying) and 1 cup of your fruit of choice, dehydrated as well.

When your fruit is cooled, put it in a food processor or powerful blender and chop and mix ‘em up. Add a little bit of water to help the fruit bind if need be. By a little, I really mean a little. Less than a teaspoon. You can play around with how long to process for depending on how smooth you want your bars to be.

Roll the mixture out into a flat sheet (the easiest method is to put the mixture between two pieces of wax paper and rolling it out with a rolling pin) and then cut it into bars and store in plastic baggies or with wax paper in between the individual bars so they don’t stick together. Enjoy!

Conclusion

Whole, fresh fruit is always best, but can be super inconvenient to carry around, go bad pretty quickly, need to be washed, etc, etc. And, it can be tough to get kids to eat a whole apple. These bars are a perfect, easy fruit source to bring along to the gym, to keep in your bag as a snack on the run, and are awesome in school lunches!

They are high in natural, raw fruit sugar which doesn’t quickly spike up your glucose levels and leave you depleted of energy when it wears off. To top it all off, That’s It bars are sent to the International Space Station, so they pretty much have an official stamp of approval from science itself. Simple, straightforward, nutritious and tasty. That’s It!