Natural Workout Supplements for Men

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Just Too Sweet for Me
By T. McKenzie
I have tried MANY protein powders over the years. And before I found out I cannot eat dairy, I favored ON Gold Standard Whey. But alas, I cannot drink that now. So I have been experimenting with plant-based protein powders. I first tried Life's Way (I think thats it, or Life Balance) plant protein. Because of the chia, it definitely had a texture - not one I minded, but some might. I got a packet of this stuff with a vitamin order I placed and figure I would give it a try. Unfortunately, I didnt try it before I just opted to buy a big tub of this stuff because it is FAR TOO SWEET for me. I have tried twice now - thinking maybe it was a smoothie ingredient combo that made it too sweet, but I am now convinced on this second try that it is the powder.It mixes well, dont get me wrong. In a smoothie you cannot tell - texture wise - that its even in the smoothie. But it has this artificially sweet taste. I am probably oversensitive because I dont drink sugared drinks anymore. So sweet - unless its eating a piece of fruit sweet - stands out to me. It does mix well in like protein pancakes. Because then the sweetness works.Overall, I will give it 3 stars. Its good, but not great. It has purposes but not the one I wanted it for.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Good nutrients, not so sure on taste
By Kate
Like the nutrient content. Like that there isn't any "junk" in this powder, and love that it's gluten, dairy, and soy free!Just not sold on the taste, and it seems to be a little chalky when I mix it, (which is in a vitamix). On the other hand, my son, who hasn't liked any gluten/dairy free protein powders we've tried actually really likes this one! So, I think we will give it one more shot. I'll at least buy it for him. It may be back to the drawing board for me if I can't get past the taste.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
decent texture, pretty good flavor, extremely sweet
By Mari Morgan
Most of the vegan* protein powders out there are, in a word, revolting. Gritty and bitter are descriptions that come to mind most frequently when I look at my depressingly-large stack of protein-powder failures. San's Raw Fusion is a nice exception. The powder is very fine, almost talcum-like (and it behaves like talcum, floating everywhere!), and there is hardly any bitterness at all. Nor does it have that, um, "earthy" - to be polite - flavor one often associates with pea protein isolates. It contains both fructose and stevia, and it is very sweet, right on the edge of too sweet, which did cost the product one star. I dislike the stevia aftertaste that some people don't even notice and some people actually like, but I didn't notice much of that in Raw Fusion. I did initially experience some bloating, which may have been from the fructose. The vanilla flavor is quite strong but not bad for most sweet uses; thankfully it doesn't have that cloying "cheap fake vanilla" taste that is so common in protein powders, vegan or not. It would be really great if San made an unflavored/unsweetened version for savory uses, or even sweets when you just don't want the vanilla flavor. This does do quite well in sweet items in which a vanilla flavor is either welcome or overpowered with something else, like chocolate. When added to a generic grocery-store brownie mix with baby-food prunes substituted for half of the oil - seriously, you don't taste "prunes", and they taste much better with chocolate than applesauce - the result was a thin, pleasantly dense, chewy bar closer in texture to the old Little Debbie brownies (but better) than the dry commercial brownie-style protein bars. (In December 2012 San announced that a chocolate flavor would be "coming soon" but no specific release date was given.)I have mixed it using both a blender bottle (the sort with the spherical wire whisk inside, not the chintzy thing with the plastic grid) and a plain cheapo discount-store electric blender, and I recommend using the latter when possible. It mixes acceptably but not wonderfully in the blender bottle, with minimal lumps and gunk stuck to the inside of the bottle and lid, but I don't think the texture is as nice as when it's gone through the blender - not gritty, but what I'd call "powdery" or perhaps starchy on the tongue. Still, miles better than almost all the other vegan protein powders I've had. Buzzed in a blender with fruit, ice, almond (or whatever you like) milk, nut butters and other tasty things like that, much of that powderiness disappears especially when a creamy ingredient is present like nut butter, yogurt, or frozen banana, and it makes a tasty, fairly stable beverage; some of these things separate at a nasty look! Although plain cold water is suggested on the package as a mixer, _I_ really don't recommend it unless you just want something to chug down fast after a workout - while it's not disgusting, and it's certainly less unpleasant than most of the other proteins I've tried in the same unadulterated fashion, it's not what I'd call a real taste sensation either. It has great potential, though.*Note: I cannot include soy protein powders in that assessment, because soy protein and I do not get along very well. I am not vegan, or even vegetarian, but whey bloats me up something fierce (I am not lactose-intolerant though) and the one egg-white protein I've tried so far caused some room-clearing aftereffects!Edit: The above review was based on using single-serving packets. Someone - not San - gave me a jar and it's somewhat different from the packets. (I wonder why this happens - this is the third product that's done it. The only thing I can think of is some ingredients might settle out of the mixture in a jar, while they can't in a packet?) The most noticeable difference is in the texture. While it is still less gritty than the vast majority of its competitors in the veggie-protein arena, it is significantly coarser on the tongue in a beverage even when combined with a creamy substance like nut butter. Smoothies separate more quickly than before, too. I'll still keep it in my selection of protein powders - probably primarily for baking and homemade protein bars/balls/candy - and I still look forward to trying the chocolate version when it hits the shelves, and it IS most definitely well above average.