The old Tropical Strawberry Shakeology review

The vegan Tropical Strawberry Shakeology is supposed to replace one meal a day in order to help you lose weight, feel energized and improve digestion.

This is not based on the 'new and improved' formula. The new and improved formula has more calories (170 calories and 30 calories from fat) and new ingredients. But I drank this stuff and wrote this review many years ago so dangit, I want to share my experience!

Unlike the chocolate Shakeology and greenberry Shakeology reviews, I do not think this will be even close to accurate to the new formula, but maybe commentors can chime in if they feel it hasn't actually changed smell, flavor or texture too much. This is just for posterity.

Nutrition:

Serving size: 1.42 ounces of powder

Calories: 160

Calories from fat: 10

Total fat: 1 g

Sodium: 70 mg

Total Carbohydrate: 20 g

Dietary Fiber: 4 g

Sugars: 10 g

Protein: 15 g

Shakeology touts 70+ healthy ingredients, but what are the Shakeology ingredients exactly?

Ingredients: raw sprouted whole grain brown rice protein, sacha inchi, coconut flower nectar, sprouted chia, sprouted flax, pea fiber, quinoa, amaranth, maca root, astragalus root, ashwagandha root, maitake mushroom, cordyceps, reishi mushroom, holy basil, ginkgo, pomegranate, acerola cherry, bilberry, goji berry, camu-camu, acai, blueberry, citrus bioflavonoid, rose hips, green tea, strawberry, apple pectin, banana, pineapple, papaya, yacon root, lactobacillus sporogenes, spirulina, chlorella, spinach, barley grass, kamut grass, oat grass, wheat grass, protease, amylase, cellulase, MSM, lipase, papain, lactase, bromelain, tapioca, konjac gum, beet juice powder, citric acid, natural sweetener, cinnamon powder, Himalayan salt, Stevia and luo han guo fruit

How I mixed it: 1 cup soy milk, 3 ice cubes, 1 packet tropical strawberry Shakeology powder. Blended thoroughly in the blender.

Review: Upon opening the package you’re hit with the smell of chemicals rather than the 70+ healthy Shakeology ingredients the packaging touts. It’s hard to describe exactly what the smell it, but it’s close to a powdered cleaning product, acrid to the senses and not at all appetizing.

After mixing the Shakeology meal up, it smells like nothing but powdered cinnamon.

Despite being low on the Shakeology ingredients list, cinnamon powder is the most overwhelming flavor of this drink. The cinnamon is incredibly overpowering and leaves the throat feeling dry as parchment paper. And on top of the taste of cinnamon is a chemical-powder taste that would not be blotted out no matter how much soy milk I added to the mixture.

In fact, the cinnamon powder was so overwhelming I couldn’t taste any of the other ingredients at all. There was nothing tropical or strawberry about this drink.

The texture was grainy rather than thick like a meal replacement shake ought to be. It was like the powder just wouldn’t absorb into the milk and I tried up to 14 ounces (2 ounces over the recommended) just to see if that would fix the problem. It didn’t.

Personally, I don’t see this being palatable to anyone except the most die-hard that need additional vitamins and minerals in their diet but can’t drink the chocolate or greenberry flavors due to being vegan. It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever had to drink, but it definitely isn’t something I’d take by choice.