While I want to eat a healthy diet and know that I really should take vitamin supplements every day, I finally came to the conclusion that I am not disciplined enough to swallow a big multivitamin horse pill each morning. First of all, the aftertaste is disgusting and I always seem to feel slightly sick to my stomach for a couple of hours. So, I decided to look into adding a vitamin supplement in my morning smoothie. I came upon the Alive! Ultra-Shake Vanilla powder. I'm so happy I found this product and can't recommend it highly enough.
My morning smoothie consists of 1 1/2 cups water, 3/4 cup frozen blueberries, one banana, and approximately 2/3 scoop of Alive! powder. I don't use the full scoop. As a woman of small stature, I don't feel I need the full dose. I then blend these 4 ingredients together and I have my breakfast.
The flavor of the powder itself is not that great. I would never think to drink it by itself. But mixing it with the blueberries and banana makes it very tasty and I actually look forward to this smoothie each morning. I have tasted other powders that are much more flavorful, but the reason for that is they contain a lot of added sugars, which I really wanted to avoid.
Nutritional information (includes powder, blueberries and banana):
Calories: approximately 250
Protein: 12 grams
Dietary Fiber: A whopping 10 grams!
The vitamin content of this powder is very complete, which is the main reason I selected it. Other powders I looked at had the basic vitamins, but were missing many of the lesser known minerals. I wanted a big bang for my buck.
Another reason I selected this powder was due to the natural ingredients. The protein is non-GMO pea protein. This is much more easily digestible than proteins from soy or whey sources. Just look at all the other ingredients in this shake! I won't pretend to know what it all is, but it seems to have many added nutrients:
I purchased my first can at Sprouts for $36.99. It says that it has 26 servings, but with my 2/3 scoop, I can stretch that out to about 35 servings. However, my next order will be through Amazon - they offer this same size for $26.09 AND free shipping. If you subscribe for a regular delivery (say every one or two months), the price drops to $24.79. The problem with that option is you no longer receive the free shipping since the cost isn't a minimum of $25.00.
Here's my smoothie ready to drink! (I had to include a plug for my alma mater - SDSU - haha!) I pour it into my tervis tumbler and sip it while working. At 250 calories, this is a great breakfast and a wonderful way to start my day. I seem to have a lot of energy, although I'm not sure if I attribute it to the smoothie.
I'm not going to pretend that I know a lot about nutrition, so if anyone has any additional information (good or bad) about this product, I'd love to see your comments. Also, if you have tried this shake, please comment and let us know what you think. If you have tried it with other ingredients (my daughter adds peanut butter and banana to hers), please give us your recipe.
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