Vega Performance Protein POWder

I am not a vegetarian
I am not a vegan
nor do I play one on TV

I am, however, an advocate of more veggies in our lives and I am currently trying to bring more nutrient dense, veggie based meals to my table. After watching Forks Over Knives, I ran out and grabbed The China Study (more on this in a later post).
I have always had a great amount of interest in the entire Vega line and this winter purchased the Vega One as a supplement to my diet, so when a tub of Vega Sport Performance Protein came along with the package from GNC, I was pretty excited to give it a try.


Yes! GNC carries Vega ~ Talk about a One Stop Protein Shop. 


I have tried hemp protein in the past and was not a big fan of the taste and texture. The Vega Sport Performance Protein is comprised of proteins from

• yellow pea
• SaviSeed (TM) sacha inchi
• sprouted whole grain brown rice
• hemp 
• alfalfa

but what really impressed me about the Vega is what was NOT in it.

The ingredients list looks like this 

Vanilla:
Natural French vanilla flavor, stevia extract, sodium chloride

From the VegaSport.com website

PERFORMANCE PROTEIN

A complete multi-source, alkaline-forming, plant-based protein blend, featuring 5,500mg of BCAAs and 5,000mg of glutamine per serving, Vega Sport Performance Protein is formulated to:

• Improve strength and exercise performance
• Repair and build muscles
• Reduce recovery time between training

The recent innovation to Vega Sport Performance Protein comes from the addition of SaviSeed (sacha inchi) protein, a rich, plant-based source of the amino acid tryptophan. Tryptophan is a key component of serotonin production⁽¹⁾. Serotonin—the feel good hormone—helps with the mental aspect of recovery, so you’ll keep the drive alive and be motivated to train again. Take Vega Sport Performance Protein within 30 to 90 minutes of your workout or throughout the day to meet your individual protein needs to recharge and repair so you can do it all again, sooner.

 I was actually really, really impressed with this powder. It is, by far, one of the better tasting protein powders I have tried.

The texture was a bit different but it blended very well and there was no sticking to the side of the cup, no caking and no clumps.

I knew right away I had to honor this vegan protein powder with my very favorite berry!
BLUEBERRIES!!
These are Maine high bush blueberries I picked myself and froze.

My very favorite Blueberry Smoothie

A LOT of frozen blueberries 

the more you use, the more it is like ice cream

one scoop of Vega

8-10 oz of coconut milk

whiz away and that's it

BERRYTASTIC!! This has definitely become a breakfast ritual, I also add a half scoop of the Vega One to up the nutrition factor. 


The Good Stuff:

• this is one tasty powder! 
• blends easy
• simple ingredients, clean stuff
• low sugar, low fat and lots of protein

The Could-be-Better Stuff:

• sodium content (520mg/serving) 
• cost, this is rather expensive-just about $70 a tub-but with a GNC Gold Card you can save 20% so that bring the price down to about $55 which is closer to the prices of other quality protein powders

GNC sent me product for review purposes, all opinions are my own.