Being a vegetarian (and someone who likes to be healthy), I try to find ways to get more protein (and other nutrients) into my diet in an unobtrusive way. (For example, without eating a big bowl of soybeans.) Because I make a fruit smoothie every morning for my breakfast, it made sense to get a powder supplement that I could put in it. I had previously purchased some powder vitamins from GNC, but not only did they taste like ass, but the powder flakes invariably stuck to my blender parts and would simply not wash off. The only reason I got them was because the pill form of this vitamin is huge and not at all made to slide easily down a throat.
Then, while at Whole Foods one day, I found Amazing Meal and decided to check it out. It wasn’t cheap – around $40 for one container with 15 servings. But it had some good stuff in it, including 10 grams of protein per serving. It is also organic, raw, vegan, non-GMO, gluten free, soy free and dairy free. I purchased the “Pomegranate Mango Infusion” flavor, and it didn’t taste too bad in my smoothies. Before I started making smoothies, I also tried just mixing it in with orange juice, and it tasted fine that way as well. Besides protein, Amazing Meal also contains a blend of greens, fruits and veggies and digestive enzymes. In looking at the container, it also says that it has “active culture” in the form of acidophilus. However, for the cultures to stay active, you would have to refrigerate it, and it does not say anywhere on the bottle that you should refrigerate it. So, I don’t think that is quite accurate.
As for daily recommended amounts (RDA) of vitamins and minerals, Amazing Meal has 80% of RDA of Vitamin A, 40% of RDA of Vitamin C, 20% of RDA of Vitamin B12, 3% of RDA of Calcium, 10% of RDA of Iron and 3% of RDA of Potassium while only having 3% of your RDA of sodium, zero grams of cholesterol and only 1 gram of total fat.
I was very happy with this mix of ingredients and had been using Amazing Meal for around a year. I went to Whole Foods to buy more last week and, because of its price, decided to see what else was out there that filled my need. I saw a product called Vega, which is to help vegans get the nutrients they need. Although I’m far from a vegan, I figured some of the nutritional issues were the same. The price for a similar container of Vega was around $45, but it said that was only 7 servings! What the what? I took a quick look at the RDA amounts, however, and realized that I could easily use half the serving size.
I brought it home and used it in my smoothie the next morning. Wow! It sure tastes good! I got the berry flavor, and it was really delicious. I think I may have switched brands! Let’s look at the nutritional information. Vega is, of course, vegan. It is also gluten free, sugar free, dairy free and soy free. It contains Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids, a digestive enzyme blend, mixed berries and a probiotic blend. (Again, it says acidophilus… guess somehow it works without refrigeration.) Each HALF SERVING of Vega has 13 grams of protein – more than Amazing Meal’s whole serving. A half serving also contains 50% of your RDA of Vitamin A, 50% of your Vitamin C, 50% of your Vitamin D, 50% of your Vitamin E, 50% of your Vitamin B12, 55% of your Calcium, 50% of your Iron, and 21.5% of your Potassium. It contains zero Sodium, 6 grams of total fat and zero Cholesterol. Hands down it provides way more vitamins and minerals. If I did the full serving every day I wouldn’t need any other vitamins or supplements.
In conclusion, in Amazing Meal vs Vega, Vega wins out over Amazing Meal both for nutrients and for taste. Since they are more or less the same price when only half a serving of Vega is used, the choice is clearly Vega.
I’m not sure how they went about proving this, but on the lid of Vega, it says, “A Vega breakfast is an incredible 38 times better for the planet than a traditional bacon and egg breakfast, and 10 times better than a cereal breakfast. In fact, switching to Vega for 1 year would be equal to turning off a 60 watt light bulb for 12, 500 hours, or 521 consecutive days!” I guess that would depend, in part, on how you prepare the Vega. Does that take into consideration the smoothie I make in my blender? Or just mixing it with juice?
Either way, I’m sure it’s better than the bacon and eggs.
just tried the vega w/ water. didn’t like it at all. way prefer amazing meals w/ soy or almond milk. appreciated your post as i was trying to figure out which is better/healthier. vega didn’t seem less expensive at WF but i didn’t compare servings. (the vega i tried was in the single serving packet which cost about the same as the Amazing Meals). For me Amazing Meals is better b/c i’ll actually drink it! thanks.
I don’t think I would ever do Vega with water. I mix it with orange juice, and it tastes great. I also mixed Amazing Meal with orange juice when I used that. But you’re right – if you don’t use it, it’s not going to benefit you! Thanks so much for your feedback!