Everything You Want to Know About Shakeology Superfood Protein Shake

Shakeology Superfood Shake: Your Daily Dose of Dense Nutrition

There is a one protein powder shake that claims to be heads and tails above the rest and it is known as Shakeology or Shakeo by it’s huge following of raving fans. But Shakeology which comes from Beachbody does cost a pretty penny, is it worth it?

So what is in this “daily does of dense nutrition” that makes it worth the high price and thousands of fanatics?

Learn everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Beachbody’s Shakeology. From what amazing ingredients are in it, what flavors it comes in, the cost, the nutritional benefit if any, and more!

**This post probably contains affiliate links to items I own and love and am confident will benefit you immensely. Please read full disclosure here.**

What is Shakeology?

Shakeology is a nutrient dense superfood protein shake. It comes in multiple formulations and flavors but the original is a blend of whey and plant based proteins and there is also a vegan formulation that includes only plant-based protein sources.

Shakeology contains all natural whole food ingredients that are globally sourced. They take pride and care in the selection of ingredients and are often updating their formula to include newly discovered health foods.

This is more than just your typical protein powder in that it contains antioxidants, phytonutrients, prebiotics, probiotics, fiber, enzymes, adaptogens, vitamins, and minerals.

Shakeology is high priced, and high in nutrients. Does it all balance out?

What is in Shakeology?

First let’s break down those additional healthy ingredients that Shakeology mentions in their website and even on their packaging. These additional additives is what really makes Shakeology more than just your typical protein powder.

Phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are chemicals produced naturally by plants that help to keep them healthy. They are found in most plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs, and teas. For humans phytonutrients are antioxidants and are anti-inflammatory. They may even enhance immunity, repair DNA damage from exposure to toxins, and detoxify carcinogens. (source)
Antioxidants. Antioxidants are foods that are known to aid in eliminating free radicals in the body. All types of stress (sun damage, exercise, family responsibilities, finances) can cause your cells to lose an electron, creating a free radical. Cells need to have a balance of electrons and in an attempt to find that balance will then steal an electron from the next cell, creating a new free radical. This process goes on and on of electron theft. Weakening the cells over time. The best visual example I can give of this is rust. Rust is caused by free radicals and grows as electrons continue to be stolen. Imagine that same process happening to the cells in your body on a less drastic level. Antioxidants eliminate free radicals in the body, stopping the negative effects of stress on your cells.
Probiotics. Probiotics are healthy bacteria that improve your gut function and improve your immune system. Since we now know that most of the immune system is located within the gut, we know the even greater importance of probiotics beyond their huge role in optimal digestion. Probiotics are vital to your overall health.
Prebiotics. Prebiotics are essential to the life and function of probiotics. As mentioned previously, probiotics are actually living organisms. These living organisms need food to survive and thrive, and prebiotics is what they eat! Prebiotics come from fiber rich fruits and vegetables and are directly related to the benefits of probiotics.
Fiber. Shakeology is always updating their formulation to be sure that you are getting the absolute best nutrition possible in your daily drink. In their last reformulation, they added in extra fiber. Six grams in a single serving, making this protein shake a viable source for fiber to aid in digestion. This is one of many nutrients lacking in most everyone’s modern diets and most protein shakes don’t contain any at all. If you are replacing a meal with a protein shake, fiber is an important inclusion to be sure you are getting enough in your diet.
Adaptogens. Adaptogens are herbs that are beneficial in aiding the body in dealing with stress. This isn’t just referring to the stress of meeting a deadline at work, though that would cause stress. Stress can come in any number of factors such as not getting enough sleep, vigorous exercise, and caring for your kids. These plants known as adaptogens aid in helping the body to better deal with stress as time goes on. The longer you take adaptogen herbs, the better your body is able to adapt to and deal with stress and adrenal fatigue. Making you better able to handle future stresses. Adaptogens do to your adrenal glands what exercise does to your muscles, strengthening them as time goes on. (source)
Superfoods. Superfoods are not a specific food group, but more of a broad term used to describe nutrient dense foods. Foods that are nutrient dense contain a high level of nutrients in relation to their calorie content. More bang for your buck so to speak. When attempting to create a food like a protein shake which is meant to be kept low in calories, but also packed with whole food nutrition, superfoods are a must! And Shakeology has no shortage of them!
Digestive Enzymes. Many of us have trouble breaking down and absorbing all the nutrients in our foods. Unless prepared properly, much of the nutrients you consume are simply lost and not even absorbed and utilized. Digestive enzymes ensure a better absorption rate of all the vitamins and minerals present in this nutrient dense protein powder. Additionally, Shakeology contains every single digestive enzyme I’ve ever heard of. Since some are better at breaking down and aiding in absorption of minerals from different types of foods, Shakeology’s inclusion of many different types of enzymes in their formulation ensures the greatest levels of mineral absorption possible.

What Superfoods are in Shakeology?

The list of superfoods contained in Shakeology is extensive!

Whey
Pea
Flax seed
Quinoa seed
Pea fiber
Yacon root
Acerola juice powder
Astragulus root
Bilberry juice powder
Blueberry
Camu camu
Chicory fiber
Bacillus coagulans
Organic cordyceps
Lycium juice powder
Ashwagandha
Organic chaga
Organic Maitake
Organic reishi
Spinach
Rose hips
Amalyse
Cellulase
Lactase
Glucoamylayse
Alpha-galactosidase
Invertase
Kale
Pomegranate juice powder
Schisandra
Matcha green tea
Maca
Cinnamon
Luo han guo
Chlorella

What Nutrients are in Shakeology?

If you thought the list of superfoods in only one scoop of “your daily dose of nutrition” as Shakeology is referred to is impressive, check out their nutritional content.

Keep in mind that much of these nutrients are enriched, meaning they are not all naturally occurring in the whole food sources.

But that also means that in addition to being a great source for all the amazing foods we’ve already discussed, these protein shakes are also equal to your multivitamin. Providing all the same nutrients (and probably a lot more unless you buy a very high quality multivitamin).

Shakeology was formulated specifically knowing that even with the best intentions with your diet, there will still most often be nutritional deficits in today’s modern world.

Much of the nutrients are lost in our foods in their processing, production, and even how they are grown, harvested and stored.

Shakeo was created to fill in all the possible nutritional gaps in your diet in a tasty once-daily glass.

Is Shakeology a full meal replacement?

Surprisingly, no. Shakeology is meant to be combined into a smoothie in order to replace an entire meal.

As Shakeology is already rich in protein and fiber, in order to create a full meal it is advised to add in a bit of healthy fat and carbohydrates.

Some delicious examples of how easy it is to create a full meal replacement out of Shakeology is to mix it with either half a banana and a tablespoon of peanut butter or to add in 1/4 of an avocado with a handful of blueberries.

One amazing thing about Shakeology is that it is able to blend fully and taste quite good with just water and a shaker bottle. So for a quick meal on the go, when combined with a handful of almonds, Shakeology can replace a meal easily!

Shakeology is specifically meant to be an all inclusive boost of nutrition to fill all your potential nutritional gaps in one glass.

Source: https://scottiehobbs.com/shakeology-ingredients/

Why is Shakeology better than other protein shakes?

Most protein powders are a total misrepresentation.

They claim to be nutritious health foods and are often laden with fillers and artificial sweeteners. NOT what you want to be fueling your body with and definitely not something you want to replace a potentially nutritious whole food meal with.

There are a few handfuls of great protein shakes on the market. Those that are clean, contain added nutrients like probiotics and greens, are all organic, and are free of anything bad for you!

You have to hunt long and hard to find them, but there are definitely other great protein powders on the market other than Shakeology.

The true question is whether or not Shakeology is “better” than the other delicious and healthy choices for protein powders.

Is it worth the higher price tag?

Considering most CLEAN protein powders retail for around $50 for 30 servings and Shakeology retails for $129?

So first, let’s delve into if Shakeology is worth the price tag, and that will break down directly if it can be construed as “better” than other clean nutritious protein powders.

Is Shakeology Worth the Price?

Here is my personal scenario on how this high priced protein powder actually saved me money!

I WAS buying a delicious clean protein powder that with shipping cost $40 for 20 servings. Being that Shakeology has 30 servings, my previous protein powder would have been costing $60 to really be an equal amount of servings. =$60
Though that protein powder did have 2 servings of greens, I also was adding in Chlorella and Spirulina for MORE greens and the detoxification benefits of chlorella. Those cost around $10 each per month. Shakeology has 9 servings of fruits and vegetables (I don’t really need to add to that!) per scoop and already includes Chlorella, so I eliminated those. =$20
I am still breastfeeding and so still taking my prenatal vitamin which costs $38 a month. The same nutrients, including the naturally sourced folate instead of the synthetic folic acid your see in the cheap vitamins, were already in Shakeology, so I eliminated that. =$38
I was also taking digestive enzymes to aid my sluggish digestion. I didn’t have to take them every day, but pretty frequently and in a really high dosage. The Mega Digestive Enzymes I was using cost $30. I was able to eliminate these from my diet as well due to the highly effective blend of enzymes present in Shakeology! =$30

The total for my nutrition supplements directly replaced by Shakeology was $148 per month, Shakeology costs only $129 per month… and actually even less if you go my discount route.

Learn my 3 tricks to save about $50 a month on Shakeology NOW!

I am already saving money and that is not even taking into account that I have noticed that I am considerably less hungry and snacking less when drinking Shakeology vs. other protein powders.

Which in turn saves a lot of dough too.

Additionally, if you also take probiotics (which retail about $20 a month) you can eliminate that from your diet as well, further saving money. My previous protein powder happened to already include probiotics so I had already cut that extra price out of my budget. But it might be applicable to you.

Because Shakeology lives up to its claim of being a daily dose of dense nutrition in one glass it IS DEFINITELY worth the price.

I mean, c’mon, I just broke down the real-life math for ya.

What About the Sugars in Shakeology?

Shakeology is touted as a health food shake, it has all this nutrition in it, then why the added sugar? Isn’t sugar now known as the “white killer?”

This was my biggest concern when switching to Shakeology. I don’t eat sugar, sugar bloats me and I don’t feel optimal when I eat it. So you can trust and believe that I have done my research on this one!

The next post I am writing will be extensively explaining the sugar in Shakeology, but for now I will summarize it.

There is no white sugar in Shakeology.

You can see that proven when they got their glycemic index tested.

The glycemic index refers to a ranking of the carbohydrates in food in relation to how much it spikes your blood sugars.

You may have thought only diabetics need to be aware of the GI of foods but they in fact affect everyone.

White sugar, cane sugar, and all those other secret names of sugar that the sneaky food companies use all have a medium to extremely high glycemic index rating. Ranging from 65 for sucrose (cane sugar) up to 105 for maltose. Fructose (fruit sourced sugar) on the other hand has a GI rating of only 19.

When tested, Shakeology had a GI rating of only 24. Their sugar is sourced from pure unprocessed sugar cane which retains some of the vital nutrients that sugar has before we process the crap out of it, and fructose from the fruit superfoods in their formulation.

They won’t tell us exactly how much cane sugar vs. fruit sugar is in their secret blend to get the perfect taste, but based on the GI number alone you can tell it is almost all sourced directly from fruit. Meaning most if not all of the sugars will be absorbed and utilized by the liver and not stored as adipose fat.

Originally Shakeology was intended to contain no added sugars, but due to it containing so many greens, fruits, and vegetables, some pure organic cane sugar was compromised to somewhat mask the flavors of all that nutrition to create a still delectable taste.

What flavors does Shakeology come in?

The original whey Shakeology comes in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and cafe latte.

The vegan formulation of Shakeology comes in vanilla, chocolate, tropical strawberry and cafe latte.

If you can’t decide what to try there are always sampler packs that come in Neopolitan: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry OR the Barista with chocolate, vanilla, and cafe latte.

Both the whey and vegan options have variety packs available.

Are There More Benefits to Shakeology?

In addition to the gobs of nutritional content we just discussed, Shakeology has even more benefits.

98% of people who drink Shakeology eat less at their next meal

On average, people consume about 200 calories less when drinking Shakeology. This can be very helpful when trying to lose or even maintain weight.

Shakeology curbs junk food cravings AND sugar cravings! Especially when drank daily long term.

Shakeology is so loaded in nutrition, it begins to retrain your palate towards real whole foods. Many of us have come to love our processed nutrient empty foods and are turned off by flavorful whole foods. Shakeology can help reverse that.

Shakeology boosts your energy, and can help eliminate the afternoon slump.

Wrapping up Everything you Want to Know About the Nutrition of Shakeology

So there you have it!

Due to its high levels of vitamins and minerals, and its inclusion of phytonutrients, adaptogens, probiotics, prebiotics, fiber, digestive enzymes, and more Shakeology is well worth its seemingly high price point.

Even if you break it down directly, nutrient by nutrient as we did.

Shakeology will be your daily dose of nutrition, aid in digestion, and have you feeling better than you ever have!

Can’t wait to get your hands on some now? Check out all the flavors now! And don’t forget, if you can’t choose there are sampler packs too featuring 3 flavors.

And did I mention the empty bag guarantee? If for any reason you don’t like it, you can get a FULL refund within 30 days. Even if the bag is completely empty.

Shakeology: All the Details from Superfoods to Sugar