[00:00:00] Jenn Trepeck: Welcome to Salad with a side of Fries. I'm your host, Jenn Trepeck, talking wellness and weight loss for real life. We're here to clear up the myths, misinformation, bad science and marketing to teach you how to eat and how to cheat. Are you ready? I'm having salad with a side of fries. This week we're talking about salad power smoothies.

[00:00:26] So this one came from one of our awesome members of the Happy Healthy Hub. They said, I'm curious about drinking salad power smoothies. They're pure veggies. Are they adequate for getting in greens while on the go? So I love this question for a bunch of reasons. First, I always love when you send in your questions and suggestions, and I also love that you gave me the link so I knew that what I was looking at is exactly the thing that you were asking about.

[00:00:56] And then third, I love this because you shared [00:01:00] how you were thinking about using this product. So you said getting in greens while on the go. Magnificent. We're gonna come back to that. Let's take a look at what we've got. So salad power. Is kind of like a smoothie and a pouch. They have one flavor because they say, we developed the perfect single formula to maximize vegetable nutrition density while minimizing sugar.

[00:01:25] Our formula is geared towards functionality and still tastes great too. So okay so far. I'm on board. It says their mission and I like their mission. It says, make the easiest way on planet Earth to consume organic vegetables every day. We think it's crazy that junk food is always within arm's reach, but humankind's most important food group vegetables.

[00:01:47] Is not. And then in another spot on their site, they say the mission is to be the easiest way on planet Earth to consume organic vegetables daily. And I'm a hell yes on that. [00:02:00] Like I love the mission. I am with you. Their marketing is really all about more veggies, less sugar, all organic. They use an apple for sweetness and then they say the lemon is to mellow the bitterness of spinach and kale.

[00:02:16] Remind me, we're gonna come back to this when we look at the ingredients. So then before we look at the ingredients and the nutrition facts, I wanna highlight the founder, because this guy sounds very impressive, super bright entrepreneur in his mid thirties, very impressive background. And after running a hedge fund here in New York, he blended his passions for economics and healthcare in a new startup that is solid power.

[00:02:43] So I see you, I think. We could potentially do a lot of collaborative work here. So anyway, let's keep digging into salad power. So looking at the product page, they say Salad power's, USDA or Certified Organic Smoothie that delivers two times your [00:03:00] daily vegetable requirement in every pouch. It's amazing.

[00:03:03] Salad power has spinach, kale, carrot, broccoli, apple and lemon. Nothing more, nothing less. The quantity of each ingredient is based on average weights from the most recent harvest. Our smoothies are made from only real whole organic produce. I like that. I'm on board with you. Okay. After that though, I think this is where they lose me.

[00:03:27] So they say you can use them as your number one source of vegetable intake. Every pouch has two times the USDA recommended amount. Skip the spring mix. So I'm on board with skipping the spring mix. I'm all on board for a lot of this. The piece where they lose me is where they say your number one source, and that's where I'm gonna say no.

[00:03:54] Thank you. Especially if you're a long time listener of salad with a side of fries. You know, we need to [00:04:00] chew our food and especially chew our vegetables. Right? It's that fiber piece, so, okay. Let's keep going. The flavor is described as very veggie, so kind of funny. At least they're honest. Okay. Then they showed this graphic of 16 spinach leaves, 12 parts of kale, leaves five carrots, four broccoli florets, one apple, and a wedge of lemon.

[00:04:27] It sounds like that should be like a children's song anyway. Okay. Then when you read the label, the ingredients are in a different order, so the ingredients on the packet, you know, like when you're reading the label, it says organic carrot, organic spinach, organic apple, organic kale, organic broccoli, organic lemon.

[00:04:50] So I don't love. That the two lists are in different orders, but like, I don't know. I'm trying to rationalize and logic my way through this, right? Because, [00:05:00] so on the ingredient list, things are to be listed in order by dry weight, and certainly carrots are gonna be above spinach. Even if there's more spinach than carrots, the piece, then if I follow that same logic, it doesn't necessarily track to like that.

[00:05:17] The apple isn't higher on the list than it is, so just a thought. Now, all in, I'm generally with them, right? The ingredients are solid. And the caveat, and I'm actually shocked by this actually, I am shocked that they are using broccoli because in a smoothie, broccoli is potent. It is very bitter in a smoothie.

[00:05:45] So. Interesting because then, oh, I had said this before, right? Going back to, they said they were using the lemon to cut the bitterness of kale and spinach. In my experience, those two flavors, more or less disappear in a smoothie, and [00:06:00] it's the broccoli. That's giving that very veggie taste profile. And by the way, I think the broccoli is likely the reason for the reviews.

[00:06:09] So I was looking at some of the reviews and some people didn't like the flavor. Some people didn't like the texture they noted. It was kind of like baby food, and I'm guessing the broccoli is why So. Alright, nutrition facts. One pouch, 90 calories, zero grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs, five grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar, of which it's zero, grams of added sugar, and two grams of protein on the micronutrients.

[00:06:34] There's some vitamin C and potassium, and then a little bit of kale and magnesium. So here's the deal. If you were to use our trusty old net carb guideline of single digit net carbs right from a single packaged food, this wouldn't qualify. So 21 grams of total carbs, less five grams of fiber is 16 grams of net carbs.

[00:06:57] Now, with that said. We like [00:07:00] the ingredients, so we may still opt for this and then pair it with quality, fat, and protein, because this doesn't really have any of those. There's zero grams of fat, the two grams of protein, it's negligible, right? So if we're gonna build out a snack, we wanna add those things in here.

[00:07:19] Now, here's my thought process on, again, going back to why I don't love them, saying that this can be your number one source of veggies. So one reason, I have two reasons for this. One reason is the price, depending on how many pouches you buy at a time, and by the way, it's a subscription model, so they're gonna keep showing up at your door.

[00:07:42] But the prices range from six 20 per pouch to 7 65 per pouch, depending on how many you get in a delivery. And this is not inexpensive. I know that was a double negative, but you know, certainly if you were to go to a smoothie place, [00:08:00] you'd probably spend that amount or more. It's just that to say this is your primary source of veggies and it's over $6 per pouch.

[00:08:11] So if you had, you know, multiple people in your home and this was gonna be your source of veggies, like minimum $6 per person per day like that can add up. So price was one thing. The other issue that I have is if we go back to that picture where they had 16 leaves of spinach, 12 pieces of kale leaves five carrots, four broccoli ettes, an apple and a lemon wedge.

[00:08:37] We use that to estimate actually how much of the vegetables we're getting. I did a little guesstimating kind of math, so let me walk through this, because there's a difference between eating the whole food and drinking a smoothie. So the guesstimating that did was in how much fiber [00:09:00] there would be if we ate each of these veggies in those quantities.

[00:09:05] By my rough estimation, we would get about 2.1 to 2.4 grams of fiber from the spinach, about four grams of fiber from the kale, about five grams of fiber from the carrots, 2.4 from the broccoli, four to five from the apple. And then I was sort of like, we can ignore the lemon. Wed right. If we add this up, it comes to 18.4 grams of fiber.

[00:09:32] That's more than three times the amount of fiber that is in this smoothie. And if you're a listener of salad with the side of fries, or you've worked with me as your health coach, or you tune in relatively often, or you've read Uncomplicating Wellness, we all think about the role of veggies. As, yes, our micronutrients and our preferred source of fiber.

[00:09:57] So there's a lot less of that when coming in the [00:10:00] form of a smoothie than if we are eating and chewing the vegetables. So I share this so that we can have some perspective, and then we get to make our own personal choices and what makes sense. So then that brings us to the fantastic question that was submitted in the Happy Healthy Hub.

[00:10:18] Or buy our happy, happy, healthy hub member. Are they adequate for getting in greens while on the go? And to that question, I would say adequate in terms of what? Fiber, yes. You're getting some fiber. We love that there's at least five grams of fiber in there. Sure. We're getting some micronutrients. Sure, we're getting some.

[00:10:42] So. On occasion, especially if you're traveling, these could be super helpful. If I was eating this and only this as a snack, it would not last me very long till I would be hungry again. Like depending on how hungry I was to begin [00:11:00] with for this snack, like this alone, probably wouldn't do the trick. Maybe it would last me an hour.

[00:11:05] And remember, I mean, we could then add protein and quality fat. So thinking about on the go. Or travel scenarios. Maybe this and some walnuts or almonds would be better. For me personally, I think on occasion, yes, on the go, like this might be a great way to, yes, help get in some of the greens. I think salad power could be worth trying again, certain situations, maybe again, pairing with protein.

[00:11:35] Quality fat to help balance out the snack and then of course, certainly taste it first because that broccoli flavor in a smoothie can be polarizing. So there you have it. Friends, my take on the salad power smoothies. As always, everybody. I'm your host, Jenn Trepeck. Connect with me on Instagram or all social media.

[00:11:57] I'm at Jenn Trepeck. [00:12:00] J-E-N-N-T-R-E-P-E-C-K. Website is a salad with a side of fries.com. Pick your platform, send a message. I love hearing from you, your ideas, your takeaways, your questions. This is also the easiest way to learn more about working with me as your health coach, Alison McCune Davis. One more time.

[00:12:15] Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. It's been fun. Good. Good, and friends. If you are not already join us in the Happy Healthy Hub, you'll go to a salad with the side of fries.com/membership. This shows your support for this podcast, this community Above all, though it supports your help.

[00:12:32] On top of this week's episode, in full video with Behind the scenes pieces, your 24 7, ask Me Anything on the community board. You'll get this week's recipe for one skillet coffee, rubbed steak with spring vegetables, and chapter one of Allison's book, our featured guest called. 60 is a good start. Well, friends, that's it for today's episode of Salad with a side of Fries.

[00:12:55] Congratulations for making yourself and your health a priority. Thanks so much for joining [00:13:00] us. Be sure to click subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast platform. Share us with a friend and we'll be back next week. Always remember you deserve it and you are worth it. Happy, healthy.