Product Review and Protein Powders Comparison; Own Potions versus Recipes

Friday already! Has this week flown by for everyone or is it just me? Solstice brought some sun on Monday and Tuesday, but now rain is impending. Nice timing, since we got all our raised beds mulched by yesterday evening.

I have a product review to share today. I'm going to add my voice of response to Sequel Naturals' new 'Shake and Go' protein powder, thanks to my winning a 10oz package of it in Averie's giveaway a couple weeks ago. Many thanks again to Averie for that and much else.

We have an eccentric relationship with our mail service here, for reasons that are inscrutable to me (except that the dichotomy of using a PO Box but also having a street address is potentially confusing), and I ended up receiving my 'Shake and Go' via the town Library! This isn't as totally tangential as it sounds, since Phil's daughter works there, so I'm grateful to her as well for sending it in my direction.

I had the perfect opportunity to try it, because I got it last Friday night, when we arrived home late from Anchorage and I was to work all day at the bookstore the following day. I brought it with me, and shook it with some nut milk and hot tea as part of lunch.

Considering that this protein powder includes hemp protein, which tends to be grainy, and pea and rice proteins, which tend to be chalky, the texture is amazingly good. As with all 'shake to mix' protein powders, it's important to have some liquid in your shaker (or mason jar!) before adding the powder, or else it'll all just gum up on the bottom. But this powder incorporates well. I found that a combination of vigorous shaking and then stirring out any remaining lumps yielded good results. So the texture's good on two counts: not lumpy, and not chalky/gritty either. I was impressed by that.

This protein powder is sweetened with 'organic coconut palm nectar:' a new-to-the-market low-glycemic sweetener that's just starting to achieve prominence. It is produced by tapping the coconut tree for sap from the flowers (so that the sap is harvested rather than allowing the flowers to mature into coconuts) and then dehydrating/concentrating the sap. As a coconut lover, I'm glad to have read that tapping the trees is not harmful to them and that as an agricultural practice, it is equally sustainable to growing for the nuts. I'm glad to read it but not entirely convinced, having worked with coconuts so much, and feel that I should research it some more. 

That said, this was my first experience tasting a product made with coconut nectar. And to my taste, the shake is surprisingly sweet, but not in an unpleasant way. And since I'm avoiding sugars so much at the moment, it's likely that things taste sweeter to me anyway.  But compared, for example, to Olympian Labs' pea protein powder, which uses stevia and a little xylitol; or to Life's Basics' plant protein powder, which uses stevia, xylitol and a small amount of fructose, the sweetness in this shake is very pleasant. The two that I just mentioned are slightly sickly-sweet. 

The 'Life's Basics' protein powder also utilizes pea, hemp and rice proteins and also, like Shake and Go, includes green food powders, but its texture is not as good. That said, a 130 calorie serving of it provides 23g protein, whereas the 'Shake and Go' yields 12g of protein for 120 calories. So if increasing protein is really important to you, 'Life's Basics' may be a better value even though it doesn't taste as good. 

I worry about the fructose in 'Life's Basics' also, although not very much, since it's among the last ingredients listed and I suspect there isn't a lot of it. 'Life's Basics' also uses chia as a protein source, which probably impacts the overall texture. However, it only provides 3g of fiber per serving whereas 'Shake and Go' provides 6g. That said, the total carb count for 'Shake and Go' is 12g, which is at the high, high end of anything I'd eat, whereas 'Life's Basics' only has 5g total carbs.

On the 'Shake and Go' packaging, it suggests shaking with just half-to-one cup of water. That's a very small amount of liquid for a shake! I have a hard time imagining being satisfied for long with so little. I tried it with about 12oz (a cup and a half) of nut milk and herbal tea mixed. Even with that amount of liquid, using the two-tablespoon serving size yielded a shake that was satisfyingly rich and thick. Of course, this was probably helped by the fact that there was some nut milk in the liquid part (although my nut milks tend to be thin). I'm guessing that the xanthan gum listed in the ingredients is what allows it to be thick and smooth like that. By the way, for those who are allergic to corn: xanthan gum is a corn derivative. It's generally used in very tiny quantities, though. I don't feel good if I eat corn on the cob, but I haven't noticed ill effects from eating something with xanthan gum.

Speaking of allergens, pea, hemp and rice proteins are said to be hypo-allergenic, which is one of the reasons for their popularity. Combining them ensures optimal amino acid profiles. Something that's interesting to me in my body is that rice in general makes me sick, and I've tried a straight rice protein powder that also didn't work for me. But with both 'Shake and Go' and 'Life's Basics,' my tummy seems to have tolerated whatever rice was in there. In both cases, rice is the lowest-quantity protein used (judging by the ingredients label).

Two Bottom Lines:

First bottom line: 'Shake and Go' is delicious and wonderfully textured in a way that would cater to 'mainstream' palates. I'm so impressed that they've managed to smooth out the 'chalky and gritty' of many other hypoallergenic products that are typically only acceptable to people like myself who cannot tolerate the mainstream stuff! That said, it's priced out of my range and I probably wouldn't have gotten to try it had I not won it - so, many thanks again for that: I'm so glad to have tried it. But I think that it's kind of like a 'special treat:' I'll use it when I'm out of town for two weeks next month and probably won't have kitchen access and need to fend for myself. Or when we go camping. So, no regrets that I have it here when I'm off cacao for a couple of weeks: it will get its time in the limelight when I go on my trip!

Second bottom line: for some of us, it's really important to get a lot of high quality protein, and also to vary our sources. Some of us also have to be very budget-conscious And when we're at home, we can make our own delicious-tasting shakes by combining our own goodies. That's why I tend to buy Now Food's pure pea protein powder, with no other ingredients. I can get 2lbs of it for about $15, which is massively cheaper than anything else. 

Yes, it's bland and chalky, because pea protein is the only ingredient! But that means that you can add it to shakes and also to savory concoctions like dressings and soups: it's more versatile if a little more labor-intensive. And yes, it doesn't have any fiber in it - but it has 28g of protein for a 130 cal serving, which is significantly more than many whey or soy protein powders, even! I never use a full serving of it (nor of the 'Life's Basics') - but maybe I should. Even if I don't, though, I'm getting a significant amount of protein. And I always mix it with some flax meal or chia, to add fiber and omega-3's.

Finally, aside from the fact that it's cheaper to get a basic protein powder and add your own omega-seeds, cacao, maca, green powders and whatever else you love than it is to buy a ready-made shake, it's also much more in keeping with my personal temperament. Just like I never follow recipes, I also rarely use premade shakes as the directions mandate! Have you ever thought that a preformulated shake is kind of like a recipe you have to follow? Yes, it has its place, and I'm extremely grateful that there are some that cater to my extensive list of allergies. But I'm even more grateful that my lifestyle allows me to mix my own potions for the most part!

One Final Note: Congratulations on a whole year of blogging to the Twins at the Pure2Raw blog. They're hosting a giveaway in honor of this anniversary - so generous! Take a look...