Shakeology: A review

A while back, the mom of a little girl in my son's daycare asked for my opinion--as a reasonably healthy-eating person--regarding Shakeology, a meal replacement shake. I looked at the website she linked me to. The ingredients sounded interesting, not bad at all, and I told her as much. Another week or so later, I was surprised to learn that she (Ang) is actually a Beachbody Coach who sells Shakeology, and that she'd sent home a few samples for me to try. I asked her permission to review them on here, so that's what this is. I'm not receiving anything for this review, but the samples were free. If Shakeology sounds intriguing to you, check out her site at: http://myshakeology.com/michiganderrdh

So, Shakeology. At first I thought it would be like my typical protein shake, a little extra oomph and flavor for my glass of milk. But the ingredients list contains so much more than protein! The back of the package reads like a "Who's Who of Super Foods." Seriously, when have you ever heard of a single product that contains flax meal, chia meal, goji berry, AND acai berry? I was glad to see that the sweetener in Shakeology is simply fructose, and not some odd artificial junk.

For my chocolate sampling, I decided to try one of the shake recipes on the card Ang included--a recipe for "chocolate covered strawberries." I started by blending milk, water, frozen strawberries, and half of a frozen banana (that wasn't in the list, but I needed the extra fruit!). Then I added the packet of chocolate Shakeology and whizzed it all around in the blender. The end result was darker and thicker than I was picturing. Perhaps that is from the chia seeds? I know I've read about them in Clean Eating Magazine, and they have the ability to sort of "gel" a drink. When I poured the shake into my Shakeology mixing cup (I love this; we have another one from GNC for our regular protein shakes) it poured out in a ribbon like cake batter. Yum. It smelled very sweet.

Since there was too much in the blender to fit into the cup (maybe because I added extra fruit) I ate the rest on a spoon from the blender. It was a lot like ice cream or a melting Frosty. Very thick, creamy, and sweet. The banana definitely came through, which of course wouldn't happen to someone who didn't cheat and add a banana to the strawberry-and-chocolate recipe. I put a straw in it (it was so thick the straw stayed completely upright) and stuck it in the fridge while I went to shower after my run. I was hoping it would thaw just a bit so I could suck it through the straw a bit more easily.

This single serving kept me full from post-afternoon-run until dinner time (and even then I wasn't very hungry). Thanks, Ang, for letting me try it!

(I took some pictures of this experiment, including the upright straw, but they are lost on The H's work laptop for now. Sorry! I'll try to post when I find them.)