vegan protein powder

[Diane Pinkers]

Does anyone know of a soy-free, vegan protein powder that mixes well, doesn't have a nasty flavor, and a texture that isn't chalky or otherwise weird? I'm especially interested in rice or hemp powders, as I'm not entirely sure that pea protein agrees with me. I'd like it for daily use, but also for bumping up protein content of meals on the trail.

Thanks!

[BlackHatGuy]

Hi Diane,

I've got 5-6 different vegan protein powders here. PM me your address and I'll send you a single serving of each of them, labeled and identified so you know what's what, and you can try them out and see if anything works for you.

Included:

PlantFusion protein powder
Navitas Hemp Powder (unflavored)
PureGreen Protein (mixed berry)
NutriBiotic Rice Protein (mixed berry)
NutriBiotic Rice Protein (chocolate)
Manitoba Harvest Hemp Protein (dark chocolate)

[Bob Gross]

This may not be exactly what you seek, but it works for me. On days when I eat little animal protein, I augment that with more plant protein.

I get a large can of red kidney beans at the store and drain that. I rinse the beans and put them on the food dehydrator to run overnight. The beans split open and dry, so the darker skin somewhat separates from the lighter bean flesh. If that is totally dry, it will keep without care for a long time. If it is not totally dry, it will grow moldy.

The way I collect this from my dehydrator, the darker skin kind of sorts one way, and the lighter flesh sorts a different way, so I end up with a cup of dark and a cup of light. If I want to, I can further crunch the light pieces into a crunchy powder that is perfect for adding as a thickener to soups. Or, I can use the dark pieces to add color to a soup.

–B.G.–

[Dirk Rabdau]

I had no idea there were vegan, soy-free protein powders out there. Doug, which do you prefer among those listed?

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Have you used any of the Vega brand powders?

[Say Raow]

SunWarrior protein – brown rice
Healthforce warrior protein – hemp and brown rice

also try chlorella and spirulina.

I don't think you'll find a protein powder that tastes good by itself. The flavoured varieties still taste like krap.

What I do is mix any of these with carob powder, and it tastes delicious.
I do this both at home and on the trail.

If you try hemp protein make sure you get the low fiber kinds. Or else you'll never be able to mix it well in the field.

[Diane Pinkers]

Haven't tried too many yet. I have a pea protein/vitamin powder that my naturopath recommended I use, but it sort of sits like a gut bomb. She's recommended that I try rice or hemp powders, and I just grabbed the only rice powder on the shelf at my local (small) health food store. It was the Nutribiotic Chocolate Rice powder, and it made me gag when I tried to mix it with water and choke it down. Hence, the recommendations, as I don't want to run around and try many different ones.

At home, for breakfast I eat steamed veggies topped with a little vegan butter substitute, and chicken sausage, cooked shrimp, or some other protein. This just seems hard to duplicate on the trail; I suppose I could mix freeze-dried veggies and freeze dried chicken with a bouillon cube and seasonings. It just sounds a little odd. On the trail, I usually have oatmeal, but I'm trying to reduce my grains in my diet, and I'm allergic to eggs, so that makes the concept of breakfast hard.

I thought I could at least mix some protein powder into quinoa for more protein. Unless someone else had other suggestions.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Be easier than you think! And honestly you wouldn't need the b. cube either….and if you carry stuff like Earth Balance for "butter", well that is good.
I guess I never see breakfast as just "breakfast foods" if that makes sense. I often eat mashed potatoes for breakfast….lol!!

[Diane Pinkers]

Yeah, I've had to readjust my concept of "breakfast". I guess my problem with the freeze-dried veggies with chicken is that it doesn't seem like much to hike on. Add some olive oil to it, and maybe it would give enough zing. I still equate hiking with carbs, and carbs with rice, potatoes, pasta, etc. However, that is looking like not such a healthy way for my body to eat, at least during normal daily activities. I know that there are athletes eating the Paleo Diet and performing well. I guess I'll just have to get out in the woods, and see how it works for me. It's sad, though, I like a nice bag of oatmeal first thing, it's so warm!

[Ryan Krause]

Hemp protein – dry and chalky, tastes terrible regardless of what you mix it in (water, milk, juice). I haven't tried any of the flavored options – I get the Trader Joes hemp protein (believe unflavored but have hard time believing flavoring it would improve it much)

Brown rice protein – dry and chalky, tastes better than hemp protein and isn't too bad mixed with juice if you get vanilla

Hemp + brown rice (my own concoction) – I like hemp protein but not the taste – makes it more tolerable in my opinion.

Vega – I've tried the berry and the vanilla flavors. Tastes a lot better than hemp or BR but it's very expensive and still, it doesn't taste that good. Berry and Chai flavors seem limited in mixing options – I'd stick with vanilla.

Ultimate Meal – Cheaper than Vega but more expensive than hemp, BR and taste wise falls the same. Doesn't come in flavors.

In short, I find Vega to taste the best – but it's expensive and it still doesn't taste that great. If you want to try Vega, you can get single serving packets to try it out. Hemp and BR can find in bulk bins at whole foods, PCC, other natural markets. Ultimate Meal I think only comes in two sizes of tins.

If your wondering – I usually mix these proteins at home into smoothies – you can do amazing thinks with a blender, a banana and a few other fruits/veggies and you forget about the taste of the protein.

[Ryan Krause]

N/M just realized oatmeal isn't paleo

[Ryan Krause]

"I thought I could at least mix some protein powder into quinoa for more protein. Unless someone else had other suggestions."

Have you tried this though? With vegan protein powders at least I have a hard time believing that would be palatable. However, mixing say dried curry lentils or black bean mix and maybe some hot sauce for zing wouldn't be too bad. Throw in some olive oil too for calories.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

That is so true, the crabs and hiking thing – very hard to break away from ;-)

[Diane Pinkers]

Only when hiking on the beach have I found them to be a problem, and then only at low tide…;-)

Sorry, Sarah, I couldn't resist, I knew what you meant to write.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Lol…OMG, that is too funny. Er…..can I blame it on ol' preggo brain? Hows about carbs. Hahhah!!!!

The worst is hiking on the coast and you get a cove covered in baby crabs and you are trying so hard to not step on any and for every 100 you don't you crush 10. I am sure the Seagulls go crazy behind me……

[Jordan Clymer]

Has anyone tried to hand mill quinoa? It is a nutty flavored complete protein that might make a good powder to mix in with soups, curries, and whatever else you could think of. I have plenty of quinoa, just no mill. =(

[Michael Cockrell]

Not sure if this fits, but I use the Hammer Nutrition line a lot.

http://www.hammernutrition.com/products/hammer-whey-protein.whey.html?navcat=recovery

[Diane Pinkers]

No, sorry Michael, the whey protein won't work. I'm allergic to milk products, that's why I specified vegan.

[Laurie Ann March]

The tropical smoothie from Vega isn't bad.

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