Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: Optimum Nutrition Platinum Hydrobuilder protein powder

This week, I’ve been tasting testing some yummy new protein powder from Optimum Nutrition (ON), and it’s high time I told you about it. So, here’s my latest “fitness kit I’ve tested this week” post.

Optimum Nutrition Platinum Hydrobuilder (post-training protein powder)

The folk at ON sent me a very generous sample tub of their new Platinum Hydrobuilder protein powder and invited me to trial it. This protein powder is a complex formula, with the protein coming from several sources (fast and slow release) and with extra goodies like creatine and EAAs – everything you need for your post-workout shake. Here’s the blurb:

Platinum Hydrobuilder is an all in one muscle constructor containing 34.5g of protein from multiple protein sources including Hydrolysed Whey Protein, Micellar Casein and Hydrolysed Egg Albumen. It’s enhanced with CreaPep nutrient delivery peptides and 5g of micronised creatine monohydrate. There’s over 13.5 grams of Essential Amino Acids, but only 180 calories per serving. Ideal as a complete post-exercise shake which will help to improve recovery and construct lean muscle.

I have to say, it is truly delicious (I tried the “vanilla bean” flavour, which tastes like custard and smells good enough to elicit a curious remark from The Husband). It also comes in a chocolate flavour. I can’t honestly say whether it’s helped my recovery or muscle-building efforts in just one week but the theory is sound, and it’s certainly good to have a PWO shake with fast and slow release protein, creatine mono and EAAs. This product makes it very quick, easy and convenient to get everything you need into your system as soon as you’ve finished training.

It’s not cheap, but it’s a quality product and does contain added value in the shape of those EAAs and the creatine. And, at the moment, you get free Amino Energy (which I reviewed here) when you order via the ON site.

Oh and I also tried it made into a sort of pudding, just by mixing it with a little hot water and letting it thicken. One word. MORE-ISH!

The ON people also sent me a frankly enormous Platinum Hydrobuilder t-shirt (XXL) – tee hee – along with a very sweet note apologising for the shirt’s voluminous proportions. You know what, it’s actually come in very handy. The Husband is still in a (massive) sling after his shoulder surgery, and has an ongoing need for over-sized t-shirts which can stretch over him, his sling and his bent arm. The Platinum Hydrobuilder tee is being put to great use, so – thank you!

Thanks for the sample, Optimum Nutrition people! You rock.

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: Optimum Nutrition Platinum Hydrobuilder protein powder is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Competition winners! GOOD Hemp with Stevia

Thanks to those of you who left a comment on this post and on GOOD Hemp’s Facebook page in a bid to win one of five tubs of GOOD Hemp’s chocolate protein powder – now sweetened with Stevia.

*drum roll*

The winners, chosen out of a metaphorical hat, are:

ZoeS, Alice, Ildiko, Olivia B and Tara.

Well done! Please email your postal addresses to me (nicola AT nicolajoyce.co.uk) and I’ll pass them on to GOOD Hemp who will ship your tubs of protein out to you directly. I really hope you enjoy them!

If you weren’t one of the five winners, remember you can still use the 25% discount code GOOD Hemp have offered readers of this blog. Put the code GOODN1 in at the checkout and you’ll get a whopping 25% off the new Gym Shake with Stevia (one code per reader).

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Please cross your fingers for my husband who is currently having his shoulder operated on (it was misdiagnosed as a dislocation a few weeks ago….!)

Competition winners! GOOD Hemp with Stevia is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Competition time and discount code: new GOOD Hemp with Stevia

Morning all! My sponsors, GOOD Hemp nutrition, have just reformulated their chocolate protein powder to use Stevia as a sweetener (previously Sucralose). Great news, as Stevia is far preferable (read why in this blog post).

There are all sorts of reasons why GOOD’s hemp protein powder is great for you: as well as helping you reach your protein requirements (regardless of whether or not you’re a bodybuilder, or even “sporty”), it’s full of really “GOOD” stuff (see what I did there?) including omega 3, dietary fibre and all the EAAs (essential amino acids) your body needs. It’s also much less likely (than dairy-based protein powders) to cause any digestive issues or bloating. Plus it’s reallyreallyreally chocolatey and great for baking as well as just in a shake! The new formulation tastes great and it’s good to know that GOOD have pioneered the way in using Stevia as a sweetener. Be gone, Sucralose!

GOOD Hemp giveaway competition and discount code

To celebrate the launch of the new formulation, GOOD have kindly given me five tubs to give away to five of you! And, on top of that, an exclusive discount code for readers of the blog.

Put the code GOODN1 in at the checkout and you’ll get a whopping 25% off the new Gym Shake with Stevia (one code per reader). It’s currently on an introductory offer of £26.99 (1kg) so the code will make it….erm….*gets abacus out*…. £20.25 (?) And you’ll get loyalty points too.

To win one of the five tubs of the new formulation Gym Shake, leave me a comment telling me why you want to try the product, and then head on over to GOOD Hemp’s Facebook page and pop a post on their wall saying you’ve entered thefitwriter blog competition to win one of the five tubs. That’s it! (Make sure you comment here, otherwise I won’t know you’ve entered).

Entries close this Friday night at 8pm UK time and I’ll pick the winners at random over the weekend.

Enjoy!

- follow GOOD Hemp on Facebook (just click the link)
- follow GOOD Hemp on Twitter (click the link)

Competition time and discount code: new GOOD Hemp with Stevia is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: Bare Naked Noodles

Today, thefitwriter blog is mostly imitating a food blog. ie, I have just taken a photograph of my dinner. LOL.

It’s all for a good reason, though. You see, I was sent these noodles in the week, and have just scoffed them for my dinner, and need to tell you about them.

Bare Naked Food have developed noodles/spaghetti which are low carb, low cal, high fibre and contain absolutely no nasties or yukky fake stuff. No gluten, no sugar, just water, konjac flour, soybean fibre and oatmeal flour. “Sauce” notwithstanding, my bowl contained fewer than 30kcals, 1g or so protein, zero fat, fewer than 5g carbs and significant fibre (not surprising, since it’s made of fibre!) *parp*

This is useful for people like me who laugh in the face of traditional noodles and pasta, but sometimes want something noodlesque as a companion for sauces or stirfries. I sometimes use shirataki noodles but, really, they’re not that great. They are absolutely nothing like noodles, in fact. They all stick together and they’re a weird texture and… well, these are just lots better!

Let’s be completely honest, these still neither taste like, nor have the mouthfeel of, actual noodles or spaghetti. But they’re not actual noodles or spaghetti so… you know, what do you expect?

They do have a good texture, a bit like al dente pasta, and no funny taste of their own. In short, I’d much rather eat these than shirataki noodles and I will be buying more of them. This is what they look like, close up.

They take on the taste of whatever you add to them. I tried them with a tuna-type “pasta sauce” but I’d love to try them with stirfry or somehow make them into egg fried noodles? Looks like I need to get some more!

Read about them here (you can get them with a low carb chili sauce) and read another recipe (and decidedly more appealing photos!) in my friend Anna’s blog review of them here. In the meantime, here’s what I did (I can’t believe food bloggers do this kind of thing every day!)

Ingredients
One packet Bare Naked Food noodles
One tin tuna (Mr J West)
1 tbs nutritional yeast
100g quark
Bit of onion and mushroom cooked in coconut oil
Mrs Dash
Black pepper
Fresh parsley

“Recipe”
Mix everything except the noodles in a pan til heated through. Add whatever seasonings you like (I used Mrs Dash extra hot spicy red chili one, and black pepper).
Drain and rinse the noodles. Add the noodles to the sauce, mix and heat through.
Get one of your “special occasion” dishes down from the top cupboard “because this is going on the blog!”, plate up.
Belatedly chop some parsley “because this is going on the blog!” and garnish.
Eat. Feel very full.

Thank you, Bare Naked Food people! Find them online here or on Facebook here.

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: Bare Naked Noodles is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: La Maison du Stevia sweetener tablets

You might have noticed that, all of a sudden, there are lots of adverts on the TV and radio for “Stevia” products. Well, I have, anyway. I don’t do sugar if I can help it. But, like almost everyone, I do have a sweet tooth, and like to sweeten certain things. I really don’t like to use nasty stuff like Sucralose. So, all hail Stevia, a natural sweetener which is 100% plant-based.

Stevia has been widely available in the US, Japan, China and Australia for years, but only recently (November 2011) won EU approval, prompting the flood of products and accompanying adverts.

I was sent a sample of Stevia tablets from Stevia Sweeteners, who stock La Maison du Stevia – a French brand which has been developing Stevia products since 2006 – amongst others.

As you can see, they come in a handy little “clicky box” (<— technical term) which you can carry around in your handbag/manbag/gymbag. In terms of taste, there's no much to say: it's sweet. It's like sugar, but it's not sugar! It tastes really nice, you don't need much and it's very cost-effective (£4.95 for the box of 100 tablets, and I'd be surprised if you need more than one click per cuppa).

So, why choose Stevia over other sugar-free sweeteners? It contains no chemicals, no sucralose, no aspartame. It's completely natural, it leaves no nasty aftertaste and it's very sweet, so you can use less than the equivalent amount of sugar. It's calorie and carb-free and has a glycaemic index of 0.

This from the blurb I was sent:

Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni and its extract Rebaudioside A is the name given to a plant native to South America whose leaves derive a natural sweetener 300 times sweeter than sucrose. Unlike other products on the market which are bonded chemically in China, the extract for La Maison Du Stevia is gently extracted in France using water methods, giving you a high-quality graded sweetness.

The extract offers a sweetness that is calorie-free and with a glycemic index of zero making this the ideal go-to for those with diabetes or those who simply wish to reduce the amount of sugar in their daily diet.

In powder form, you don’t need much (just the tip of the spoon), as it’s 300 times sweeter than sucrose, so a little goes a long way.

You will no doubt start seeing Stevia products all over the place now, but I suggest you take a look at Stevia Sweeteners for a really great range from people who really care about the quality of the products. As well as the tablets I tried, there’s granulated/powdered Stevia (great for “it even looks like sugar” appeal, or for baking), Stevia cubes, liquid Stevia including flavours (I’ve tried this in the past – imported from the States – and it’s great!) and even Stevia chocolate.

Hooray, I no longer have to bribe friends in America to post me Stevia!

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: La Maison du Stevia sweetener tablets is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

“Who doesn’t miss cereal?”

“Who doesn’t miss cereal?” These oh-so-true words were uttered to me at B-Fit at the weekend, after I was asked what I miss most on a bodybuilding prep diet.

One thing led to another, and so it was that I told Anna (of Protein Pow(d)er) of my vague plan to create some kind of protein cereal. “It ought to be easy,” I said. “Surely I could make some kind of batter from… I dunno… egg whites and protein powder and something, spread it thinly on a baking sheet, bake it, take it out, smash it into bits, and maybe bake it again? Then I could have cereal and (dairy-free) milk again! Trouble is, I never seem to find the time.”

Anna does find the time. Day after day, she finds the time to create amazing low(er) carb, high protein, high delicious stuff on her blog

And today, she did it. Today, she created “crunchy protein cereal“.

Here’s a picture (stolen from her blog). Now go and read the recipe. Four ingredients. Five if you include your milk of choice.

I am SO making this.

Thank you, Anna! You might just have transformed my life. Or certainly my diet.

Anna blogs at Protein Pow(d)er and also has a very active Facebook page.

“Who doesn’t miss cereal?” is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: Bio Synergy Skinny Protein Shake, Acai Berry capsules

Hello from a very rainy fitwriter central. The dog is not impressed. Here is the latest Fitness kit I’ve tested this week post.

I was recently sent a couple of items from Bio Synergy. For the past 10 years, the brand has been creating high quality nutritional supplements, ranging from sports performance to slimming products. Their latest range – Body Perfect supplements – use various natural extracts like green tea, resveratrol and acai berry, to boost results.

First up, I tried the Skinny Protein Shake in the strawberry flavour. This whey powder (which also has soya extract) contains extra ingredients to help control appetite and encourage fat loss: green tea, guarana, chromium (which can reduce sugar cravings) and l-carnitine. It also packs a hefty protein punch, as you’d expect. I like the sound of those extra ingredients, and indeed most of them are supplements I already take. What about the taste and mixability of the powder? It mixed very well and was pretty sweet (sweetened with sucralose) and light tasting, quite like a milkshake I guess. I’ve said before that I’m not a huge fan of berry protein shakes, but if you like strawberry milkshakes, then you’ll probably like this.

With that in mind, I gave my sister some of this to try, and this is what she had to say: “The Bio Synergy Skinny Shake is actually really nice, it mixes together with water really quickly and is very smooth (unlike some protein powders that I’ve found I have to blend, and even then they’re still a bit grainy). I only have to mix this one in the flask thingy you gave me and only have to give it a little shake. The flavour is just right, not sickly or heavy. It’s refreshing and easy to drink quickly! Yum yum, I am looking forward to drinking a lot more of this!”

If you’re interested in introducing the chromium, l-carnitine etc into your nutrition regime, this is certainly a convenient way of doing it, particularly if you’re not confident about adding bits and bobs to your water bottle or taking various pills during the day.

Per 40g serving:
162kcals
30.7g protein
3g carbs (from sugar)
3g fat (2.4g from saturates)

I also tried the Acai Berry capsules. You take two caps a day (2x2000mg) of this extract of acai berry, apparently used by Brazilian aboriginal communities for fat-loss and to combat obesity. The extracts of the purple acai berry, they say, containing anti-oxidants, anti-carcinogens and anti-ageing agents, boosting immunity and metabolism. Acai berry contains EFAs (essential fatty acids), amino acids, phytosterols and antioxidants, as well as fibre and digestive enzymes.

Now, the problem here is this: it’s very difficult for me to say whether one supplement or other truly helps me, unless the results are going to be something very obvious. I’m not obese, I exercise regularly, I eat for fat-loss and I already supplement with lots of other things. So it’s very difficult for me to say whether or not these capsules had an effect. I’m sorry, Bio Synergy people! I can say that they were very easy to take, completely tasteless and gave me nothing in the way of side-effects.

Have you taken Acai supplements? What do you think of them?

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: Bio Synergy Skinny Protein Shake, Acai Berry capsules is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Monday baking: dairy-free mocha muffins

Happy Monday, everyone! I’ve been meaning to bake for the blog, but weekends seem to fly by in a blur of training. Mondays are my day off, and also my “eat up!” days. The perfect time for baking.

Apologies as always for iPhone pics – I never said I was a food blogger

I recently got hold of some brown rice protein powder (thanks to Anna at Protein Pow(d)er for the recommendation) and have been wondering how it would bake up alongside some GOOD Hemp Nutrition chocolate hemp protein powder. I used this recipe of Anna’s as a very vague base (OK, so it’s nothing like it, but browsing her amazing recipes got me inspired!)

By the way, GOOD Hemp Nutrition are currently offering a whopping 33% off new online orders, to celebrate the launch of their new website. Go and check the website out and then grab your 33% discount! (Available until 17th January using this link.)

My aim with this recipe was to create a baked thing which would go well with a mid-morning cup of tea/coffee, fit my macros but still be something which a non-bodybuildery type would eat. I love coffee and dark chocolate, so that was the flavour hit of choice. I wanted to use non-whey protein powders.

The resulting muffin was denser, rather than fluffy, but very tasty indeed, ideal with a coffee (even held up to the “dunk test”.)

Next time I might try:
- less egg white/more Kara
- one egg as well as egg whites
- and/or some kind of filling or topping (vanilla protein powder and liquid? Or – if you do dairy – quark/greek yoghurt?)

All in all, two thumbs up. Let me know if you give them a try!

Dairy-free mocha muffins

Assemble your ingredients:

Chocolate brown rice protein powder (I use Growing Naturals currently on offer here)
Chocolate hemp protein powder (I use GOOD Hemp’s)
Liquid egg whites (I use myprotein.com’s)
Non-dairy milk (I love Kara)
Coconut flour (I use Tiana)
Baking powder (I use…er… Tesco’s?)
Not pictured – because I forgot – ground espresso beans (the real stuff not powdered, and dry not ready to drink)

Recipe:
25g chocolate brown rice protein powder
25g chocolate hemp protein powder
150g liquid egg whites
5g coconut flour (a little goes a long way with this stuff)
Splash (aka 25g) non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp espresso grinds (or to taste)

Use a blender or bowl ‘n whisk to mix it all together. I just do it in one go. Add the baking powder last.

Pour into muffin cakes (I use silicone ones). Sprinkle a little extra espresso on top if you like (I do).

Bake at gas 6 for 15-18 minutes.

Allow to cool (at least a little bit). Eat!

Stats per muffin (I got five out of this mix… even though there are only four in the picture… ahem):

Monday baking: dairy-free mocha muffins is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: myprotein Pulse, myprotein Elle True Diet

Here we are with another Fitness kit I’ve tested this week review post, although I really need to rename the series “Fitness kit I reviewed at some point over the past month”. Both products are from myprotein who, incidentally, recently launched a new type of packaging for some of their products which is proving to be really great. MP’s new MP MAX® range of pouches is made from thicker, more durable material and has a good re-sealable opening, both of which mean your protein will stay better protected from light, oxygen, warmth and moisture. Of course, you could get tubs, but (as anyone with lots of supplements will tell you), tubs take up plenty of space. You can roll these pouches down as you use the product, so they end up taking up hardly any space at all (they’ve got stand-up, slim bases).

There are six products available in the new pouches: MAX® True Whey, MAX® Hurricane Evo
, MAX® Total Gainer
, MAX® Total Peptide, MAX® Creastorm and MAX® Recovery Evo.

There’s also MAX® Elle True Diet, which I tested out. I really liked this product, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m trying to stick to non-whey protein powders this year, I’d order it in a flash. Here’s why:

- it tasted great (I tried the chocolate flavour) and mixed up really smoothly. I made it as a kind of pudding, just by adding a little water and mixing thoroughly. It was lovely
- it’s full of extra ingredients which are there to support weight gain and give you a boost in the gym, and which I think would make it a great option for taking before morning cardio (Green Tea extract, Guarana, Chromium, CLA, EFAs)
- it’s also got fibre (something we all need more of) and carbohydrates, from low GI sources
- it really seemed to zap my sweet tooth, even though it was sweet and chocolatey. I guess that’s the fibre and caffeine? Or perhaps the Bioperine®, which helps the absorption of nutrients.

A word of warning: I didn’t do my research, and picked up the sample pack to take with me to a late-night appointment. I then wondered why I had real trouble sleeping that night. Not one to take late in the day, particularly if you’re sensitive to caffeine.

The verdict on MAX® Elle True Diet? All good! It’s just a shame I’m avoiding whey. Sorry, MP! If I change my mind, I’ll be ordering a (foil!) pouch of this.

The other product I tried was MP’s pre-workout, Pulse® . This is full of whizzy things to give you a big boost before you hit the gym, great for days when you’re feeling a bit tired or know you need a lot of focus. Let’s see, it’s got Tyrosine, Glucuronolactone, Guarana and Chocamine® Plus (this stuff is potent! you can buy it by itself from the MP website and a little goes a very long way). There’s also CEE (Creatine Ethyl Ester HCl) in there, and a dose of Beta Alanine: two performance boosting supplements which have been shown to promote power output and ward off fatigue.

I can’t say for sure whether Pulse® gave me a boost, because I tried it whilst training with my new friend Amie, and we were both over-excited to the point of hysteria, but what I can say is that I ought to have been very tired for our training sessions (late nights the night before!) and I wasn’t. And I seem to remember we trained for a very long time, actually! Tastewise – two thumbs up. Berry-ish. (It’s called Berry Blast, so that shouldn’t come as a surprise).

Myprotein recently announced price cuts of up to 50% on over 100 products – these are long term price reductions across some of the most popular products. As most bodybuilders will agree, this can be an expensive sport, so moves like this are appreciated: thanks, MP!

Thanks for the samples, myprotein people!

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: myprotein Pulse, myprotein Elle True Diet is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: Tesco Nutri1st Advanced protein products

Did you know Tesco have launched a range of protein products? No, nor did I, until I was sent some to test. Welcome to this week’s installment of fitness kit I’ve tested this week. I actually tested all of these things some time ago but never mind! Christmas got in the way of this blog post.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t think to head to Tesco (other supermarkets are available ) for a protein hit. Other than, perhaps, rotisserie chicken. Even so, that’s a bit tricky to eat whilst driving out of the carpark.

Obviously it’s best not to be in a position where you need to buy anything from the supermarket on which to snack, but life isn’t perfect. So, Tesco’s Nutri1st Advanced products – a new range of protein shakes and bars – could come in handy.

According to the press release, the Tesco bods have crafted this range with the bamboozled in mind. The products have been designed to make it easier to select a protein product to support your sporting goals. Additionally, the decision was made to have packaging which doesn’t feature muscly models, the idea being that these products might appeal to people who have just started out on their fitness quest.

There are six types of products, all of which are clearly labelled with their intended purpose: muscle definition and strength, lean muscle growth, maximum muscle growth, increasing size and strength, early morning workouts and non workout days and bedtime. I’m not sure there’s a distinct difference between all six, but I can see the value in assisting people new to protein supplementation. The products include only natural colours and flavours across the entire range.

Nutri-Whey Extra – for supporting muscle definition and strength
These high-protein, low-carb shakes and bars contain a triple combination of whey proteins (isolate, concentrate and hydrolysate). I sampled two flavours of the shakes (at around 130 cals, 24g protein, 3g carbs and 2g fat per 34g serving) – strawberries and cream, and chocolate. Both £22 for a 1kg tub. They were perfectly nice tasting, but I’m more interested in what’s in them. As well as the triple hit of wheys, you get amino acids and an enzyme complex, to make the shake more easily digestable. You also get sucralose, unfortunately. In terms of taste, I wasn’t hugely keen on the strawberry (but it’s never my favourite flavour) and thought it was very sweet, but the chocolate was good.

I also tried one of the Nutri-whey extra bars (strawberry again) which was nice, but coated in a chocolate-flavoured layer so, essentially, a protein-rich candy bar. £1.25 for the 60g bar. At 190 cals, 18g protein, 20.3g carbs and 4.7g fat per 60g bar, it’s a decent protein hit for sure, and a better choice than a chocolate bar, but I’d suggest there are better bars out there (or better things to munch on from the supermarket) than a bar covered in sucralose and palm kernel oil. Mind you, I munched my way through it perfectly happily so who am I to tell you what to eat! On the plus side, this bar is bigger than a lot of protein bars out there. In texture, it was chewy rather than crispy or crunchy.

Nutri-Lean Extra – for lean muscle growth
The shakes and bars in this range contain metabolism-boosting ingredients as well as whey protein. I was sent one of the bars in the range, a chocolate/mint concoction. £1.25 for a 40g bar. At 144kcals, 18.7g protein, 11.8g carbs and 3.3g fat per 40g bar, it’s a good chunk of protein but I have to say I wasn’t a fan of the texture. It was a little chalky. The ingredients of note here are good old CLA (1097mg per 100g – the bar is 40g), green tea extract (430mg per 100g), and l-carnitine. To be honest I’m not sure that the thermogenic ingredients would offset the fact that, again, you’re eating the bar’s coating, with ingredients like sugar and glucose syrup. Although the bar is surely a better choice than a Twix or something like that, and undeniably delivers a good hit of protein.

Nutri-Power Complete – help support maximum muscle growth as part of your exercise plan
The shakes and bars in this range are branded as all-rounders, with whey and soya protein, plenty of carbohydrates and supplements including creatine, l-glutamine and HMB. I tried the raspberry and honey flapjack bar which was tasty and carby, but pretty sweet (as you’d expect from something called a honey flapjack). £1.25 for the bar. Per 60g bar (again, it’s a decent size), you’re getting 215kcals, 20.6g protein, 25.8g carbs and 4.7g fat. Not one to choose whilst dieting or trying to having a low-carb day, and I’m not sure that I’d choose a bar with this many sweeteners if there were other options available.

In summary, I think these products are a good entry-level range for people who don’t know about sports supplements and would feel confused or intimidated by some of the existing brands. The packaging does explain in simple terms what the ingredients are useful for. However, for me, the amount of sugar and sweeteners, and vegetable oils, mean I’m unlikely to choose the bars over products from other ranges (in truth I’d rather bake my own!) But I appreciate that a lot of people simply don’t know where to start when it comes to supplementing with quick-grab protein before or after training, and wouldn’t know where to start when it comes to mixing up creatine, l-glutamine, etc for themselves.

The range also includes Nutri-Gain Extra – for increasing size and strength, Nutri1st Advanced Breakfast Shakes – ideal for early morning gym goers and Nutri1st Advanced Staged Release Shake – ideal for non-workout days and bedtime. The range is available in store or from Tesco Direct.

Have you tried anything from Tesco’s Nutri1st Advanced range? What did you think?

Fitness kit I’ve tested this week: Tesco Nutri1st Advanced protein products is a post from The Fit Writer blog.

Nicola Joyce – the Fit Writer – is a freelance copywriter and journalist who writes for the sport and fitness industry. Her main website is here.