Garden of Life Protein Powder, Vegan Protein Powder, BCAA, Probiotics & Digestive Enzymes, Gluten & Lactose Free, Vanilla, 1.5 LB

Can't say enough good things about this protein powder. I've been using the unflavored, unsweetened version for years and will never switch to another. The flavor is so neutral/pleasant that I can even drink it mixed into just water alone. Doesn't require flavor to make it palatable or disguise anything. I put it into a tumbler with a mixer ball and vigorously shake, and it dissolves easily. If you like flavor though it will mix easily into anything you want. I've dissolved it into almond milk and oat milk as well, including adding chocolate syrup for fun. It's versatile. Comes with the scoop as well of course. (figured that would be obvious but apparently there are various powdered supplements that don't provide one. who knew.) It's a high quality product and alleviates hunger and gives me energy every time I drink it. Never had any negative reactions to speak of.

After having tremendous problems with immune system issues, particularly in the gut with IBS, I had a doctor that thought I had gluten issues. I was tested for this during upper GI endoscopy and the test showed negative. The only thing I know for certain is that I cannot digest meat very well. I am not a vegan, but my body has moved me more and more in that direction because I cannot digest meat without massive stomach issues and I felt hungry and tired all the time. On the quest for a protein supplement that doesn't come from animals, I discovered this product. First and foremost, this is not the best tasting thing you ever tried, but the taste will grow on you. Make sure you are mixing it properly and with COLD water. I have the Cuisinart CSB-76BC SmartStick 200-Watt Immersion Hand Blender, Brushed Chrome and this is what I use to mix mine. It's so easy! I add about 8 oz water, instead of the recommended 6 oz and this gives me a better blend. By the way, while people are going on and on about how bad this is. It is not that bad. As I said, the taste will grow on you, but if you're not mixing it fully, it can be quite chalky. BTW, I use the chocolate flavor and if you're mixing right, it DOES taste like a chocolate shake. In the beginning, I didn't mix mine well using a standard blender and it tastes bad if you don't get it fully mixed. I switched to the hand blender, which does a marvelous job and so much easier to clean up afterward. All of that aside, the real question is, does it work? Do you have more protein? Do you feel differently while taking this supplement. The answer to all of those for me is absolutely YES! Not only do I feel more energized (I have two shakes a day now), my IBS is practically a thing of the past. The great thing about this product is that it contains probiotics and these are different than the usual kind you see in pill form. I never noticed any difference with the probiotic pills, but with this, I am more "normal" than I've ever been. Perhaps it's the combination of the raw protein and the probiotics and the amino acids? I have no idea, but it's rare I can say this: It has changed my life! I have never felt this good in my life, no really, never. I noticed it just after two days of use, so I discontinued using it to see if it was just placebo effect. Within 3 days, all my old gut issues came back, so I went back on this supplement and now I'm never going off. Even my mood is so much better and when people notice and say how happy you seem and what are you doing different - then you know you're onto something. It's amazing how much happier I am when I'm not malnourished and sick to my stomach all the time. I never thought I would feel well enough again to live life fully, but I am now. I have been telling everyone that if people knew how much better this stuff could make them feel, they couldn't keep it on the store shelves. Maybe I was just that bad off, but I can't believe this powder has made all that difference, but it has. Even my seasonal allergies have improved since taking this product. What in the world is in this stuff? I don't know, but I hope they never stop making it. I'm on the subscription plan now. I call this my prescription because it works better than all the stomach pills the doctors had me on and this has given me no side effects. If you are having digestion issues, please give this a try. You might be as lucky as me and see a huge difference in the way you feel. I feel awful for people that are suffering, like I was. This might do the trick for you, too.

I purchased this product because of the solid nutrition profile (at least for my diet and sensitive GI system). When I tasted it the first time, I was VERY disappointed, and had to laugh when I came back to write this, and saw the review stating the person would rather eat their own garbage than have another bite of this - I felt the SAME way! (I actually came up with a whole list of things I would rather eat, which I think included a good portion of the contents of my cats' litter box, but had not thought of my own garbage!) It was disgusting, and I had a terrible time getting it to go into solution evenly. However, I stuck it out because it does have a lot of protein for few calories, is full of good stuff I never eat, AND has yet to upset my GI system...which is saying something. I am now halfway through my 2nd can and I love this stuff! For those purchasing the product for the first time though, I would suggest: * Mixing the powder with something with a bit of heft and flavor to it. I still think it's gross with plain milk, but chocolate milk is palatable. Yogurt is better; I really like it in Silk's Fruit & Protein juice/soy milk product and it is great in smoothies. * Stir, stir, stir, and stir some more: it takes some effort to get this to dissolve. I like using a plain spoon (versus one of those special mixing tools, or a shake mixer with a little mixing disc in it), so I can squish any chunks and scrape the sides easily. Shaking doesn't seem to work - the stuff breaks into little tiny chunks and hides in there...until you are eating/drinking along and then have to chew a bite of mostly powdery stuff, which is pretty gross. It dissolved fine in the blender, though. * Letting it sit for a minute or two after it is all stirred in but before you eat it. I think this does wonders for the texture. At the beginning, I could barely stand this stuff, even thoroughly (I thought) stirred into flavored yogurt. I started adding fruit to disguise the texture and flavor, which brought it up to palatable... now I could lick the bowl clean even once I've eaten all the fruit. I'm not sure if it is truly an acquired taste or just applying the techniques listed that make it better, but I genuinely like this and will be sticking with it. I gave it a 4-star review because it is kind of messy...no matter how carefully I scoop I still spill some, which is a little maddening.

Our favorite tasting protein powder! Easily adds to pancakes mixes, smoothies and dissolves really well. High protein is great for my toddler, we add it into a lot of his pancakes and muffin mixes. The quality is fantastic! No crazy ingredients you haven’t heard of!

Update (2023): Nestle is a wicked corporation that bought this Garden of Life brand and ruined it with bad ingredients and filthy marketing lies. This was my go-to protein supplement for many years, but each year they change the formula for the worse and lie by calling it “new and improved". The taste and texture may be improved, but its health benefits certainly are never improved; you just get lower-quality ingredients and cheaper fillers while paying more for it. Here is a list of changes that show why no one should waste their hard-earned money on this trash (refer to my pictures to see the changes on their packaging): 1) This product used to have no pea protein, one of the cheapest and lowest quality of plant-based protein next to soy, but now it is almost 100% pea protein and Nestle is peeing on their customers and calling it “rain”. It’s not even sprouted pea protein, even though they deviously list it under their “sprouted protein blend” heading. 2) This product now contains erythritol as a cheap sweetener. Erythritol causes bloating and gas and is their cheap and inferior substitute for stevia. If it originally had erythritol, I never would have bought this product. 3) This product now contains guar gum as a cheap thickener with no nutritional benefit. This might as well be sawdust, just added weight with no benefit. 4) This product no longer lists what foods their added vitamins and minerals are sourced from, and their mineral profile has been reduced. Most vitamin C that is added to store products is sourced from lab-grown black mold grown cultures and is of poor quality, while this product used to derive most of its added vitamins from more high-quality brewer’s yeast. Since they no longer list the source of the vitamins, it is safe to assume the worst as they wouldn’t hide it if they were proud of it and the FDA does not require them to list it. This product is also no longer a good source of selenium, molybdenum, manganese, and magnesium. 5) This product is no longer a good source of probiotics. To be considered a good probiotic, a supplement should have more than 3 billion CFUs, but it now has less than 250 million. Not only has the quality of their cultures declined, but I also got a Listeria infection (Listeriosis) from eating one of their products. A probiotic supplement should help prevent you from getting life-threatening bacterial infections, not actively give you one. Nestle is opening itself up to a serious lawsuit with a lack of quality control.

I think I've tried all the vegan protein powders out there. This is the first one that I didn't have to "settle" for. There are others that I like, but this is the only one that is truly smooth, and can be mixed with water, almond milk, or whatever without using a blender. I was amazed at that. Other reviewers comment on the taste. It is one you have to get used to. Americans are addicted to sugar, and to food, in general. For this reason our taste buds are compromised. We have been led by the media to believe that sugary cereals and other highly processed "foods" are "healthy." It is my understanding from all the recent research that sprouted beans, nuts and grains are full of life and health, particularly when they are "raw." I was pleasantly surprised by the ingredient list for this product when I found many sprouted foods. This powder is easy to digest, and I believe the nutrients are most likely easily absorbed and utilized because of the digestive enzymes and probiotics. I have trouble with my digestive tract, and I had no problems at all after drinking this shake. I generally like to use unsweetened almond milk and peppermint oil in my shakes. As far as I know the peppermint oil helps with digestion. And I like the taste. I'm glad I found this powder. I plan to take it camping, along with dried foods. The price is great through Amazon, and I always know that Amazon's customer service is unbeatable. They are one of the only companies I know of that allows you to talk to a person who is truly concerned about your satisfaction and will do anything necessary to prove that quickly. Thanks for carrying this product at such a great price. Update: I've tried even more brands since I wrote this review. I always come back to this one. Not for the taste, but for a few other reasons: 1. It's only 1 point on Weight Watchers. 2. I can always digest this, without any bloating or abdominal cramping at all. 3. I add my coffee to it for an iced coffee drink because the acid in coffee hurts my stomach and bladder. This product must be alkaline because it seems to neutralize the coffee acid. No stomach or bladder pain. The taste is not great and it's gritty. I put one packet of stevia in it. It's worth it to feel so good and it's so easy to stick to a Weight Watchers using this. I will keep buying this.

The headline says it all - mostly. I did a lot of research before choosing this protein powder. And was exited to try it as soon as it arrived. I dipped my nose in the container, took a whiff... "Hmm... smells like maple syrup." Checked the label - "Chocolate". I was sure it would *taste* like chocolate. So I added a cup of water and a scoop of the protein to my Vitamix and did a quick blend to test it. It tasted just like it smelled, like mayple syrup! And it wasn't very smooth - a bit gritty, not a lot. So I decided to doctor it up. I added two tablespoons of Cocao powder, 1 date, 5 pieces of frozen banana and some ice into my Vitamix, and gave it a good blending. This new recipe seemed to further enhance the maple taste. I used to exercise a lot at gyms, then at home, and would drink Optimum Nutrition's Bulk protein powder (forgot the name), and that chocolate version was very smooth and tasty. Then I got old, and was exercising less and adopted a Vegan diet. I was making shakes with pea protein addding the Cacao, date, and frozen bananas, when my wife introduced me to a vegan protein powder by Just Ingredients, Roasted Chocolate flavor. That was pretty good, but I still incorporated the other ingredients because dates and bananas are good for you, and I like the dark chocolate flavor. THEN: Just Ingredients decided to change and remove the Roasted Chocolate to just Chocolate and the stevia flavor was overwhelming and I couldn't take it - plus somehow it didn't make as much. So I went searching and decided on Garden of Life. I had been scouring the internet, reading reviews on all vegan offering, but after watching a woman's review on Amazon, how she loves it, and using only water, my descision was made. And here we are. I tried it again a couple of hours ago. I used a cup of almond milk this time and a splash of water. Nope! same results. And I thought, "Do I taste *any* chocolate?" No, I don't. Isn't that weird? How can that be? Why am I singed out, being the only one I've read, who think it tastes like maple syrup? I also has a hint of stevia on the back of my tongue. We all have different sensory experiences ... some think cilantro tastes like soap, while others just don't like it. Some people see a blue and yellow dress, while others see the same dress as black and purple. The ingredients and benefits of this protein is also what sold me. But to experience those benefits one has to drink it, and I'm having a hard time with that. There's no returning it. My wife asked me to try vanilla extract to mask the flavor, or peanut butter, but I'm not keen on those flavors either. Nevertheless, I'll keep trying. There's 20 servings per container. I've got 18 to go!

1. It's tested for heavy metals, unlike other plant-based brands. 2. The powder is smooth and non-gritty. 3. It blends beautifully in coffee. I add 1/2 Tbsp along with Silk Vanilla Creamer and it takes like a milkshake. It quells my hunger until noon. 4. I use this powder to make low-fat protein ice cream in my new Ninja Creami. Delicious.