Sponsored Review: Naturade All Natural Pea Protein 100% Vegan Formula

I am a consumer of protein shakes, so I was excited to be able to review a protein shake that was new to me, the Naturade All Natural Pea Protein 100% Vegan Formula. All three of my samples packets make one shake and are all vanilla flavored. The reasons I was super excited about trying these shakes is because they are:

• Made with a non-GMO pea protein (hence they are vegan)
• Soy-free, dairy-free and egg-free (good to know for those with food allergies)
• Gluten-free (if that is something you are looking for or need)
• Cholesterol free 
• Free of artificial ingredients (so no artificial sweeteners, no artificial colors, and no artificial flavors!)

When I examine the ingredients list, it appears to be sweetened by stevia and xylitol, so it fits better in to a clean eating diet than most shakes on the market.

When I compared it to my current shake mix, it does supply me with more protein and proportionately (compared to the amount of more protein) more calories, although it is still a low calorie shake. Each shake (mixed with 8-10 ounces water or your favorite beverage; I used unsweetened coconut milk) contains 130 calories, 2.5g of fat, 2g soluble fiber and 20g of protein if you made it with water. I was very pleased with everything I read on the package for nutrition and ingredients, except that is contains 270mg of sodium, which is 11% of DV for sodium. I guess I would prefer to see that DV number as a single digit percentage.

I thought it tasted better when I made the shakes with adding a banana and some berries along with the coconut milk in a blender. When I drank it when it was plain, I thought it did taste a bit like I was drinking cold vanilla pea soup, which isn't necessarily bad if you want cold vanilla pea soup. The addition of fruits did change the taste and you couldn't taste as much of the pea flavor. Although, considering it is a pea protein, you do have to expect you will taste pea.

The consistency was very good and shake like when made plain or with the addition of fruits. I thought it wasn't too thin (I did add 10 oz. of coconut milk) or too thick. If I made it with water, I think that 8 oz. of water might get me the right consistency.

You can buy Naturade All Natural Pea Protein Shake Mix and many other Naturade Mixes on their website.

Also, if you are looking for some smoothie ideas, check out the entrants for their Smoothie Recipe Contest. You can also vote for your favorites!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com.  Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I did not receive any monetary compensation.