Things I Eat: Vega Nutritional Shake

Sad Blog Face

I have been having some trouble eating lately because I’m in a lot of physical pain, I’m freezing cold, my rib cage is on fire, my back hurts so much I lay on the floor for relief and I am so fatigued I can’t think straight or walk down the hall without panting – I am also nauseous at my mouth tastes like blood. Well, I have a metallic taste in my mouth, as the professional say, to me it I have a taste of blood. I have been drinking a lot of water, too, which makes me feel full a lot.

But enough about my awesome life with malfunction adrenals!

I picked up two single serve packets of Vega Nutritional Shake at Whole Foods during a few hours of lucidity this week and I was sort of pumped to try them. While I have been sort of grazing at salads and some chicken, I want to get some more nutrition into myself and I know my normal smoothie of berries and spinach is not going to cut it.

I make great smoothies, but, I make them knowing I will be eating again. Since I am not sure and it’s going to be a couple weeks of life like this, I figured I better find ways to get more good stuff into me. Or decently good stuff.

I generally am against these types of products, I think you should eat the actual food and not over-processed powders that attempt to replace actual food. Eat food, people.I think a lot of these "meal replacements" or "shakes" are a little bit of crap. They advertise being weight loss solutions and being jacked with protein – but, really? If you ate normal food you’d probably be a lot better off.

I'm not talking about stuff like Soylent which is a food replacement product powder you re-hydrate to replace ALL of your eating. I think Soylent is a great thing, actually because it can easily be transported to those who don’t have food.

I'm also not talking about Ensure which is a good booster if you are going through medical treatments or something. I use to drink Ensure. I can't drink it now because it has diary in it (I'm assuming) and the mere thought of those cans makes me feel sick.

Just sayin’

Why Vega

It was there. A single serving of Vega Nutritional Shake French Vanilla. Sloth is my favorite sin. Sometimes motivation in life is pretty darn basic.

You can purchase this produce in jars and buckets and stuff. I'm not ready for that type of commitment. I just got two packets.

I do have a truck-load of pyramid-scheme loving friends who have been advertising Shakeology, Isagenix. . and then the normal Pampered Chef or nail polish something or other. .Tupperwear.

OMG, people, I won’t go to your party! Ever. And I'm not buying that crap.

Anyhow, I picked Vega because it’s vegan and I could purchase a sample right there in the store. The product states:

Formulated by Brendan Brazier, professional Ironman triathlete and bestselling author on performance nutrition, Vega One Nutritional Shake is free from dairy, gluten and soy, and contains no added sugar, artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners.

I don’t know who Brendan Brazier is. I thought he might be a chemist, but, he’s not. I bet he got help creating this.

I’m in blinding pain and exhausted but I did look up Shakeology (which claims it's the "The Healthiest Meal Replacement Shake") for a general comparison and saw it contains milk. Yes, Shakeology sellers, I did see they had a Chocolate Vegan – but I don’t like chocolate. I didn't really look into the other stuff because I have to order it or drive around to another store. I don’t have that kind of energy.

Or care.

So, I picked up the Vega "Natural" and the "French Vanilla" flavors. Both have vanilla in it. I don’t know what that means. The powder was green. I also don’t know what that means.

Nutrition
My first concern is always, always, always if the product contains something I can’t have. This produce probably has some wheat in it. But, probably not enough to make much of a difference to me. I did check to see if “beans” were in it and I couldn't identify anything that was bean-y.

According to the fancy-pants myvega.com site, each flavor pouch or serving contains:

• The protein of 2.7 eggs.
• The probiotics of 1 cup of yogurt.
• The omega-3s of 2.3 servings of salmon.
• The fiber of 3.2 slices of bread.
• The greens of 3 servings of vegetables (they have a picture of broccoli).
• The antioxidants of 2.7 cups of blueberries.

(On the French Vanilla packaging it has 15g protein or something highlighted in blue. However, each pouch contains the same nutrition so it's just marketing. I think the only amount that changes between my two selections is the sugar - French Vanilla has more than the Natural. Always check the back of stuff, people.)

What I actually liked about this is, if you think about it, you could eat this all in the course of a day. Sure, it doesn't contain all the calories and benefits of the whole food but you could eat this in a day. I think that’s a lot of where I come from when it comes to nutrition. I don’t drink juice because I normally wouldn't eat 5 oranges in a sitting or 10 apples. I have a juicer and like two apples made enough juice for me.

Anyhow, this seems to be about the same as:

• Breakfast: Veggie omelet with a cup of yogurt and toast 
• Snack: Blueberries for a snack
• Lunch: Salmon with some veggies
• Dinner: Veggie pasta

As I stated, this isn't a whole day meal replacement and, of course, it doesn't contain all the nutrition you would get from eating all that food throughout the day.

However, for me, needing some extra help at getting nutrition, I really don’t feel too bad about adding this green powder to my smoothie.

Taste
Taste is so retaliative - so I will do my best to be honest.

I first tried the French Vanilla and my eyeball did close for a while and I was stuck in the "icky-baby-face" pose for a little while.

I’m not use to drinking sweet vanilla type things, so, that was a little rough. But, I don’t think it’s bad by any stretch – I am just not use to having something like this. I watered it down a little more to dilute the flavor and that helped me. I probably didn't use enough water, in retrospect.

I can’t speak much of aftertaste. Tasted like blood. Oh wait. My mouth just tastes like blood all the time. Yummy, yummy vampire jam.

For comparison, it tasted not unlike a French Vanilla Ensure drink. Maybe a little gritty but not to some shocking level. I did mix it with my normal blend of a about a cup or two of spinach and about a cup of frozen berries and I couldn't taste anything but the French Vanilla. It knocks out taste, that’s for sure.

The Natural flavor was more my speed. Granted, I used about half a pouch but it has a mild vanilla. . .maybe like pancake batter. . .flat taste. The taste of my smoothie came through a little better with this one so less shocking.

I would think most people would like the chocolate but nothing stops you from putting a couple scoops of cocoa powder in this shake.

I normally dislike berry flavored things because I eat a lot of real berries. I don’t know if I want to try it.

Tummy Thoughts
This felt super filling to me.

SUPER FILLING.

After an hour, I was totally full and I still had a good amount

to go. Probably a little less than half of my original jar full. This might be because I'm not hungry and my core is full of pain-demons, but, normally I can throw back my smoothie in a few minutes. Sometimes I sip it or if I don't have time, I down it.

PS: I also love this Ball Jar. It doesn't leak like all those plastic containers I was using. I can’t wait until I drop it and it shatters into thousands of green-laced shards. . .but, I digress.

I don’t feel any worse in the tummy zone. I was drinking it slowly just to be sure, as well as just not wanting to eat anything. All I really notice is it is very sweet and the vanilla flavor it has probably doesn't exist in nature and I feel pretty full.

Final Thoughts
If you are looking for a shake – I would first work on just changing your natural food choices to be better nutritional choices and give that a couple weeks. Everyone wants something that is instant. Just eat things that are close to the earth first.

If you need a little boost or you don’t think you are getting enough good stuff in you – I think this is a reasonable option. If you are vegetarian or vegan or, like me, eat a lot of roughage, the flavor of these things can be a little shocking to the taste. If you are using this for a breakfast or lunch replacement and you normally eat processed stuff, it might be an easier transition. If you hate-hate-hate the taste of the good stuff you would want to put in a smoothie, you could use one of the flavors to mask it, I bet. Or you could just put in extracts of your favorite flavors like mint or vanilla or even a scoop or two of cocoa powder.

I’m hoping this provides a little boost of the good stuff while I lack the desire to eat the good stuff. I miss being feisty.