True Protein

Today, I am a happy girl.  It is one of those rare occasions that I get everything I want, and moreover, it's easy to do and doesn't cost me my firstborn child.

I recently began a pretty intense workout regimen (P90X, for those of you who enjoy late-night infomercials), and as most programs like this do, it recommends drinking a recovery drink afterward - both to make the workout as effective and possible, and to prevent some of the ow ow ow the following day.  Problem is, most recovery drinks have amino acids and extracts and supplements that are pretty much taken willy-nilly from whatever source they feel like, and so in no way can they be trusted to be vegan.

At first, I had sort of given up on the recovery drink idea, and was looking online for good balanced vegan protein shake mixes to use instead.  I stumbled upon www.trueprotein.com, and discovered their "Build a Custom Blend" feature.  I played with it for probably close to 2 hours.  True Protein is a new company out of California, and they have a completely genius method for letting athletes control their own nutrition.

Not only can you choose a custom blend of vegan protein sources - they have non-GMO soy, gemma pea, rice, and hemp to choose from - you can also add in supplements, electrolytes, carbohydrates, antioxidants, etc.  You can choose from an enormous variety of flavors, and you can select either to leave them unsweetened or to sweeten them with stevia, to avoid that nasty artificial sweetener taste (say NO to aspartame, people!).

But best of all, in the description of each product, it clearly states whether the product is vegan safe, and they'll even specify whether there are animal products used in the processing of the product.  I called customer service to verify, and these people actually understand what it means to be vegan, recognize its importance to us, are knowledgeable about their own products, and are happy to help figure out the best options for vegans.  You get none of the unhelpful judgmental-ness you encounter at most supplement stores.  Plus, for my custom mix including 3 kinds of vegan proteins, creatine, dextrose, and electrolytes, I paid about half of what I have paid for a jug of plain soy protein mix at certain name-brand health stores, and that includes shipping.  Yowza.

I ordered four different flavors to try: chocolate, tropical blend, fruit punch, and mixed berry.  I'll let you know how well I like each one.  But for now, I am one happy customer.