Almased

I'm an Almased convert, and I consider myself a particularly savvy nutritional/supplements consumer. In fact, I've never tried, or even considered, a meal-replacement supplement my entire life until now. Organic protein/greens shakes, yes, but not a shake for dieting or cleansing. Unfortunately, however, the recent addition of a medication that radically changes my food cravings and has seemingly altered the way my body deals with carbs has caused me to gain weight and just feel generally bloated and icky. So I decided to work harder at changing my metabolism in general. (And yes, the medicine I'm taking is an important and necessary one, so I'm willing to put up with the side effects and change my lifestyle instead. I say this to preempt any overly-easy responses from folks who would advise to just stop taking it. Or at least some of the comments in this thread so far have that kind of knee-jerk quality about them.)

To those for whom Almased has worked, yay! For those of you who haven't had the best experience, that sucks. But as we know, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for anyone. I hope you've found something that does work. And to those who see questions about Almased and simply go look it up in Google and/or on their website and make determinations based solely on 10 minutes of reading (rather than experience or in-depth—and I mean in-depth—research), and then come back here and make a whitewashed answer like: "poppycock!" or "marketing fluff" or naysaying comments like: "how can it be GMO when 90% of soy in America is GMO?!" or "Look at this FDA letter!" (and since when was the FDA all about consumer interests anyway, people... c'mon, give me a break), I would suggest doing your homework before throwing out an ill-informed opinion. Just sayin'.

So why am I an Almased convert? Let me list the reasons so far:

1) The soy in Almased is a fermented soy rather than just straight soy, so that's one thing that makes a difference. It's like comparing tofu with tempeh... they are two entirely different things. Yes, they both originate from soybeans, but the fermentation process changes the protein chains in soy so that the amino acids are far more digestible and much more readily absorbable for humans. However, if you’re allergic or sensitive to soy, I’d say this isn’t your product.

2) When the vast majority of people report good things about a product (even on sprouty, healthy sites who vet their products before selling them or at least whose customers tend to have high expectations for purity and proper sourcing (I'm thinking iHerb.com, for instance), that means something. The claims about not being hungry until the next shake are true. I'm personally amazed by that. My body would be telling me otherwise if there were something drastically lacking.

3) Sad as it is to say, I'm much more likely to trust a company that originated in Germany over an American one any day. Any of us who study food laws know that Europe is generally far stricter when it comes to standards for ingredients and additives (I could go on and on as far as that list goes, but just food coloring alone is one example... the fact that the FDA allows for color additives that have been shown to cause ADD-like effects, among others, in sensitive people while Europe has banned them {and consequently Kellogg's and Mars changed their European recipes for Fruit Loops and M&Ms, but not the American formulation... nope... we still get the crap stuff). And yes, Almased USA is an American company, but as long they adhere to the German standards, I'm ok with that.

4) And then there's the research. (Almased has a brochure that makes the research easy to read, but of course, that’s what the company publishes so that’s not exciting at all.) So I looked up some of the research myself. And much of what I read bodes well. Not all of it no. But one surprising discovery from the research was that Almased can reduce migraines in people with chronic migraine headaches. (I haven't had a migraine since starting the Almased, but it's only been a week. Still... I'm looking forward to success with that. We'll see.) To look up the harder core research yourself, go to http://scholar.google.com to find the citations.

4) Finally, personal experience says everything. All the claims about having more energy, feeling better mood-wise, sleeping better, and not feeling hungry are absolutely true. And I would add the fact of just simply feeling 'cleaner' in my body, though that isn't something I can quantify. But it's a nice feeling. And that's huge for someone who has struggled with my relationship with food and has a hard time restricting food to just 3 shakes a day. I'm a carb-addict (though a picky one), and I'm frankly quite surprised at my nearly complete lack of craving for chips or cookies, which is particularly telling since this medication increases those cravings. Oh, and I also have thyroid issues, and I'm not having any issues with symptoms since using Almased.

If you do go for it, be sure to follow the directions for drinking a LOT of water as fat gets burned and toxins are released. HUGELY IMPORTANT. Do add some kind of oil, whether olive, coconut, or flax seed (as I do for the lignans... Barlean's, the best!) to make sure you're getting enough essential fatty acids. Also, Almased's suggestion to make your own nutritious, low-sodium vegetable broth for snacks bears repeating. Make your own broth, so it's fresh and yummy, rather than buying ready-made broth. But as they say, if you must get store-bought, at least find (and be willing to pay for) the highest quality organic brand with the lowest sodium content. Also, use whatever additions you need to make the shake taste good. I find a lot of cinnamon and vanilla helps (and cardamom, but that's my favorite spice), and once a day I add raw cacao and Barlean's Chocolate Essential Woman Swirl to make a chocolate shake. It's my fave. Like most people, I find that an unsweetened almond milk base makes the best and easiest-to-drink shake.

And last but not least, make sure you aren't allergic to any of the ingredients, of course, and keep track of any side effects. I saw one research article that talked about birch pollen allergy and cross-reactivity to the ingredients in Almased (citation listed below). I also read a review from a women who found that the isoflavones in the soy in Almased, even though fermented, messed with her menstrual cycle too much for comfort. As always, pay attention to your body and do what feels right for you.

I'll come back in a couple months and see how things have panned out, but I simply wanted to extend my support to folks who are game for trying it or for whom it has worked well so far. May the force be with you.

*394 Local and systemic anaphylactic reactions to a soy containing dietary product (almased) in birch pollen allergic subjects: IgE mediated crossreactivity to Bet v 1 and a stress-induced 17-kD soy protein / J Klein-Tebbe, S Franke, A Jahreis, M Rytter, U.-F Haustein, D Haustein, S Vieths / The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology 1 January 2000 (volume 105 issue 1 Page S132 DOI: 10.1016/S0091-6749(00)90823-6)

*Klein-Tebbe, J., et al. "394 Local and sytemic anaphylactic reactions to a soy containing dietary product (almased) in birch pollen allergic subjects: IgE mediated crossreactivity to Bet v 1 and a stress-induced 17-kD soy protein." Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 105.1 (2000): S132.

It's remarkable the number of "users" whose first and last contribution to the community is to pop into a random thread for Diet(R) product X, give it a glowing endorsement, and then disappear.

That's not the least bit strange at all. There is no way that they're paid shills. I am not at all using sarcasm right now. Really. Honest.