Monday, July 28, 2014

Fuel Your Better: Vega Sport Performance Protein Review

Happy Monday! I'm happy to report that I survived my week as a part-time vegan. In fact, I ate lots of yummy food and did NOT have any crazy bacon binges. Although there was a close call with a pear tart.

I liked the whole vegan before dinner thing enough that I'm going to continue it for at least another week. I'll have a full review of my experience and the cookbook up soon, but today I wanted to share one of the secrets to my success at living a mostly plant-based and very active life: Vega Sport Performance Protein.

Disclosure: I was provided this product free of charge for review. I was not compensated for my time. All thoughts and opinions are all my own. Obvs :)

As a Sweat Pink Ambassador, I was super excited to get the chance to join the Vega Sport Fuel Your Better Campaign. We got to pick from a bunch of different Vega products and I chose the Vega Sport Performance Protein for recovery. 

According to the product website, Vega Sport Performance Protein is, "a complete multi-source, alkaline-forming, plant-based protein powder blend" that you take 30-90 minutes post workout or throughout your day. It's formulated to "improve strength and exercise performance, repair and build muscles, and reduce recovery time between training" which all sound like things I definitely need. Plus the fact that it's totally vegan coincided nicely with my foray into part-time veganism. 

So how have I been using it?

I've been going to 6 AM hot yoga as part of my July goal to get in more morning workouts and it's been rough. Not gonna lie, sometimes instead of feeling all zen and awesome after class I feel sore, sleepy and HUNGRY. And since we all know hungry me quickly turns into hangry me, I need some fuel ASAP. Luckily, this Vega protein powder mixes really easily in my blender bottle for a super fast post-workout shake that keeps me satisfied until after I shower and heat up breakfast. And, even better, the vanilla flavor goes great with coffee so I get my post-workout recovery and pre-work caffeine all in one!


The individual serving packs have been really easy to use on the go. I took a pack with me to my first ever California Beach Volleyball Association tournament on Saturday and it was nice to have such a convenient way to get the vegan protein I needed to play 4 matches of beach volleyball. We didn't make it out of our pool, but it definitely wasn't because I ran out of energy. Maybe I need to get my partner on the Vega train next time :)


I also made pancakes using this recipe from Vega for a delicious post-yoga Sunday brunch. It was a great way to recover from a long week of workouts and get ready for another active week ahead.


But how does it taste?

I've tried a few protein powders, and the thing that I hate the most is when it has an overly fake or sweet taste. I'm happy to report that stevia-sweetened 
Vega Sport Performance Protein does NOT have that problem. The vanilla flavor had just the right amount of sweetness and tasted very natural. That said, when mixed with straight water it definitely tastes a little earth-y and plant-y. This didn't really bother me, but if you are used to a more flavored protein powder you'll definitely notice. This taste also totally disappears in a fruit-based smoothie or baked good like the above protein pancakes.

The second most important thing for me in a protein powder is texture and blend-ability and this Vega protein powder blends really well! I didn't get any large clumps even when I just shook it with water in my blender bottle, although it did form some sediment at the bottom. And it's really easy to mix into something like pancake batter without being too lumpy.

So what's the final verdict?

I would highly recommend Vega Sport Performance Protein if you're in the market for a plant-based protein. I love the taste, texture, and that it's made up of ingredients I can feel good about. Definitely a great way to refuel post-workout.


To learn more about all the Vega Sport product line and how you can use it to fuel your training, check out the Fuel Your Better Campaign.

Q: What do you use to fuel your training? How do you speed up your recovery? Rest? Foam rolling? Magic?

4 comments:

  1. My review will also be up this week, but I have to agree that this is one of the best protein powders I've actually tasted, which was great. There's no way I could even put a whole packet of the powder in 16 ounces of liquid though, as it was too strong. I think I'm hooked now though!

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    1. Glad you like it too! I like it ok with about 16 ounces of liquid, especially if it's flavored. Sometimes I do just fill up my blender bottle without thinking though, which is about 20 ounces. Can't wait to read your take! :)

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  2. oooh! willl def try this out, I know nothing about protein powder so this is super helpful!

    Also on NPR this weekend one of the scientists said "the people were hangry" so I believe this is an official word now!

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    1. Glad this was useful for you Lindsay!

      Yea NPR is totally my metric for judging the legit-ness of everything too. Glad too see hangry has "made it" hehe.

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