Supergreens Powders

KatieDawnWarwickx · January 2017

Over the past year I have lost weight through healthy eating and regular training. Mid-last year I was diagnosed with coeliac disease and I have had many side effects from the malabsorption of nutrients and vitamins. Basically being coeliac and undiagnosed for so long has damaged my gut and I struggle to get nutrients and vitamins from my food, no matter how healthy the diet I have.

I wanted to supplement my healthy eating, twice a week by having a greens smoothie (veg based not fruit before anyone speaks about the sugar content/weight loss issue!) if I do this, what are people's opinions on having supergreens powders in this (such as bioglan brand) 1) is it worth it? 2) which is the best brand to get? Needless to say, mine would have to be gluten free.. any advice?

psuLemon · January 2017

If you are looking to add a bunch of nutrients, I would probably just buy a blender and blend your own. This way, you can ensure there is no cross contamination issues (which isn't uncommon with powders). In fact, several of my protein powders are "gluten free" but still mention the possibility of cross contamination.

Also, what is the issue with sugar? Being coeliac already limits you ability to eat a lot of foods, limiting fruit (which is full of nutrients) based on sugar is a bit off base, unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying.

KatieDawnWarwickx · January 2017

Also, what is the issue with sugar? Being coeliac already limits you ability to eat a lot of foods, limiting fruit (which is full of nutrients) based on sugar is a bit off base, unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying.

Probably should have made this clearer.. it's not that I don't eat natural sugars, I do eat enough fruit daily already. The only reason I added that in, was that someone jumped down my throat before when I said I wanted to blend smoothies with said greens powder, and that I was trying to lose weight. They had said that by adding fruits, blended I was adding unnecessary sugar (due to the amounts you have to put in to get anything out) and taking out the benefits of raw fruits which offset the sugars i.e. fibre, which I already knew. Just wanted to pre-empt any comments like that as I am aware of the benefits of regular fruit intake and also the issues that come with blending these.

Thanks for your comment about the cross-contamination. I had actually not considered this as nowhere on pack have I seen this, and I have seen that they claim to be GF. I admit I would probably do better to blend ingredients myself, I'm just a little swayed by the fact that these greens powders contain 81 different sources of nutrients (e.g. Bioglan claims) and I just feel like doing it from scratch will be limiting, no?

Hornsby · January 2017

Blending fruit doesn't take away the fiber and/or nutrients.

PaulaWallaDingDong · January 2017

katiexwarwickx wrote: »

Also, what is the issue with sugar? Being coeliac already limits you ability to eat a lot of foods, limiting fruit (which is full of nutrients) based on sugar is a bit off base, unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying.

Probably should have made this clearer.. it's not that I don't eat natural sugars, I do eat enough fruit daily already. The only reason I added that in, was that someone jumped down my throat before when I said I wanted to blend smoothies with said greens powder, and that I was trying to lose weight. They had said that by adding fruits, blended I was adding unnecessary sugar (due to the amounts you have to put in to get anything out) and taking out the benefits of raw fruits which offset the sugars i.e. fibre, which I already knew. Just wanted to pre-empt any comments like that as I am aware of the benefits of regular fruit intake and also the issues that come with blending these.

Thanks for your comment about the cross-contamination. I had actually not considered this as nowhere on pack have I seen this, and I have seen that they claim to be GF. I admit I would probably do better to blend ingredients myself, I'm just a little swayed by the fact that these greens powders contain 81 different sources of nutrients (e.g. Bioglan claims) and I just feel like doing it from scratch will be limiting, no?

Are you blending or juicing? Juicing removes fiber, etc. Blending isn't much different from eating the whole fruit.

psuLemon · January 2017

katiexwarwickx wrote: »

Also, what is the issue with sugar? Being coeliac already limits you ability to eat a lot of foods, limiting fruit (which is full of nutrients) based on sugar is a bit off base, unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying.

Probably should have made this clearer.. it's not that I don't eat natural sugars, I do eat enough fruit daily already. The only reason I added that in, was that someone jumped down my throat before when I said I wanted to blend smoothies with said greens powder, and that I was trying to lose weight. They had said that by adding fruits, blended I was adding unnecessary sugar (due to the amounts you have to put in to get anything out) and taking out the benefits of raw fruits which offset the sugars i.e. fibre, which I already knew. Just wanted to pre-empt any comments like that as I am aware of the benefits of regular fruit intake and also the issues that come with blending these.

Thanks for your comment about the cross-contamination. I had actually not considered this as nowhere on pack have I seen this, and I have seen that they claim to be GF. I admit I would probably do better to blend ingredients myself, I'm just a little swayed by the fact that these greens powders contain 81 different sources of nutrients (e.g. Bioglan claims) and I just feel like doing it from scratch will be limiting, no?

The most important thing is dosage and context. If they are claiming some crazy amount of sources of nutrients, the dosages are going to be so low, it's almost immeasurable, otherwise calories would be rather high. As others mentioned, blending doesn't remove the fiber, and I wouldn't worry about sugar. Sugar doesn't cause weight gain or prevent weight loss. Currently, it is the bogeyman though in the diet industry (no different than fat was 10 years ago). Ironically, all carbs (regardless of source) are broken down to glucose and stored as glycogen or fat (albeit, it stores as fat less often as it's more metabolically taxing then storing dietary fat).

I can't say I have much insight into the products. My wife can't have gluten (NCGS), so we tend to stay away from these types of products. Also, I would personally prefer eating than drinking for satiety.

I will note, in previous post, soylent seems to be a good brand.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld · January 2017

Wouldn't you be better with a spray multi vitamin? The type you absorb through your tongue.

The greens powders would be going through the normal digestion route that you have mal absorption issues from.

H_Ock12 · January 2017

I bought two cans of Green Vibrance powder on sale two years ago....they're both still in my cabinet because it was so disgusting I could barely get it down in smoothies or orange juice. If you haven't tried greens powder before, see if you can get a sample size before you spend alot of money on them.

robindina · January 2017

I started adding garden of life green super food to my smoothie just for added nutritional benefits. So far I like it and i get the hubby to have some green veggies without knowing it

Strawblackcat · January 2017

I see costs and benefits to doing it both ways. It's cheaper and more convienet to blend up a green smoothie using your own greens mixes, but it's easier to get a wider assortment of greens into your diet through the use of a powder. That said, you can cram a whole lot more physical greens into your smoothie if you use fresh greens. For example, if you look at the nutrition facts panel for the average greens powder, most vitamin values are in the range of 30-60% DRV, depending on the specific powder. On the other hand, many nutrient-dense lettuces contain well of 90-120% DRV of the same vitamins per cup when fresh. So, you could make a much more nutritious smoothie, at least speaking from a vitamin-containing aspect, by using your own greens to make a smoothie.

In terms of antioxidant variety and getting the most nutrition into your smoothie, I think that you would probably be best off by blending a variety of fruits and vegetables (for example, kale+spinach+dandelion greens/broccoli leaf/young collards+banana+berries) and maybe adding in a few "boosters" like spirulina or chlorella. Both are usually available for much cheaper than most pre-mixed greens powders, and are much more nutrient dense per serving.

Supergreens Powders

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