Rich Piana was a highly controversial figure that everyone either loved or hated and nothing in between. While my opinion of him was not doubly positive, one thing cannot be denied about him and his 5% team - they were creating supplements that had a head and a heel.
And one of them is Real Food Carbs + Protein, which I decided to put to the test for you. How did I like it? Is the taste of meat noticeable? Who is it suitable for? That's what we'll look at in today's review.
Content of the review
To start with, Real Carbs + Protein is available in three variants, you can choose from Chocolate, Banana Nut Bread and Blueberry Cobbler. We chose the first two, so you can also look forward to a comparison of the two variants in today's review.
A sensible but unconventional formula
Most of the complex products we get our hands on for review are identical to some degree. The base is usually some kind of whey or multi-ingredient protein, while the complex carbohydrate is usually made up of flakes only. Real Carbs + Protein is made up of diametrically different ingredients that are definitely worth a more detailed introduction:
- Whole grain oats, which is one of several carbohydrate sources you'll find in this product. Oats are of course a very appropriate raw material, containing complex carbohydrates, a large amount of fiber and healthful beta-glucans
- Rice powder is certainly a very familiar food for all bodybuilders because riceAs such, it is one of the most basic and best sources of carbohydrates.
- Sweet potatoes have recently become a very popular raw material, which, compared to the classic potatopotatoes have slightly more simple sugars, which complements the other raw materials used quite effectively.
- Hydrolysed beef protein isolate, which is a highly absorbable source of protein that has a good spectrum of amino acids, a high iron content and a rich representation of peptides and nucleotide fractions. In terms of availability, it is a more slowly absorbed protein than whey.
- Whole egg powder is another popular bodybuilding food in instant form. It is a great source of protein and healthy fats.
- Chickpea protein is a really good source of protein with moderately fast absorption and high fiber content.
- Organic chicken powder is a food that is very rich in protein while containing only a small amount of fat.
- Coconut oil blend: (coconut oil, glucose polymer, modified food starch), which is a great source of MCT fats, which can have a very pleasant effect on the intestinal microflora after training.
The product also contains natural and artificial flavours, a mixture of gums (cellulosexanthan and carrageenan), which in my opinion are not suitable ingredients. After mixing, the product is really thick, but I do not think that the use of thickeners is strictly necessary. Sucralose was used for sweetening, which is the best possible artificial sweetener as it is not harmful to health.
Preparation without the slightest problem
I used 350ml of plain water to prepare it, and I have to freely admit that in terms of consistency, it was one of the thickest drinks I've ever prepared. I poured only one aligned (not heaped) scoop into the water and shook it a few times in the shaker.
The drink dissolved absolutely seamlessly, not a single lump left in it, and absolutely no foaming at all. The only problem came when drinking the drink, as some of the ingredients tended to sediment, leaving sediment at the bottom, which also needed to be stirred.
How does the combination of meat and chocolate taste?
- Chocolate option (9 out of 10) - When you smell the unmixedpowder, you get a mostly full-bodied chocolate flavor. However, when stirred in water, the characteristic smell of oatmeal begins to dominate. Most of all, though, it's the taste that you're sure to be interested in. And to be completely honest, I was quite scared of Real Carbs+Protein at first, because let's face it, the ingredients used are not exactly typical of sports nutrition. At least not in instant form and flavored with cocoa powder. But I was pleasantly surprised because the products do not show any beef or chicken protein, which are clearly the least common ingredients used. Instead, you are treated to a rather intense cocoa flavour, which has one drawback. It's so sweet that its flavour overpowers all the other ingredients, and even ingredients as prominent as oatmeal are not very noticeable. In any case, there is no point in telling you that this would be the best possible chocolate protein on the market, but it masks the taste of the other ingredients quite reliably, and given that the product contains what it contains, the taste is more than acceptable.
- The Banana Nut Bread variant (8.5 out of 10) is slightly worse in my opinion, as you can taste the other ingredients that the chocolate masked quite well. For example, you can recognise the oatmeal without a doubt. The taste is definitely not bad, but when you drink this supplement, it's clear that it's not just a regular banana protein. Although you should be able to smell the nuts in addition to the bananas, you definitely won't notice them. In terms of consistency, again, this is a very dense protein that drinks quite well and is easy to prepare.
One of the most expensive supplements on the market
As I mentioned in today's review, I tried the chocolate variant, which differs from the others mainly in dosage. Instead of 65g you have to use 70g, but the packaging is proportionally bigger. So all flavours contain roughly the same number of doses, namely 22. This is the first problem from my point of view, because 22 doses in the case of protein, for example, corresponds to a 660g bag, which is perhaps the smallest possible package. But even if we ignore the small quantity, one dose comes out to , which makes Real Food + Protein undoubtedly one of the most expensive supplements on the market.
For example, such Pentha Pro Complete, which we would definitely put in the same category, costs only , which is already a much lower price. On the other hand, it is necessary to emphasize the quality and price of the raw materials, because whenThe ingredients include beef, chicken, sweet potatoes and other key ingredients.
Final evaluation
The Real Carbs+Protein product contains really high quality ingredients, but the question definitely remains whether it is better to take these ingredients rathere from food rather than from instant powder, which (thank God and unfortunately at the same time) definitely does not taste like a proper piece of quality meat.
So in my opinion, this product is not essential for most people, but a specific group of athletes may appreciate it - for example, those of you who don't have time for post-workout food. Likewise, it's a very good option for those of you who can't consume solid food at work, for example.
Other expert reviews
- GymBeam [review]: low quality protein True Whey, Just Whey
- Biotech Iso Whey Zero [review]: the best isolate on the market?
- Scitec 100% Whey Professional [review]: one of the most popular proteins
- Nutrend Protein [review]: just another lure for money?
- Vilgain Grass Fed Whey Protein: Can it compete with the best isolates? [review]