Complete Protein & Vitamin Shake Mix by Nature's Bounty Optimal Solutions, Contains Vitamin C for Immune Health, Decadent Chocolate Flavor, 1 lb

Well, I like to use protein, meal replacement shakes to help supplement my eating. I always have to be mindful of my weight because of genetics and also age (I'm 46, and the weight doesn't come off as easy as it used to). Anyway, I am currently going to the gym 5-6 days a week and am eating a clean diet. I have had a lot of issues with GERD, so I have had to adopt a diet to ensure that no foods or drinks trigger my condition. I also have issues with bladder irritation here and there. When looking for a shake like this, I wanted a shake that was plant protein based and also was healthy...low sugars, probiotics, vitamins, minerals, etc. I have tried Slim Fast, Herbalife, Vemma Bode, GNC Total Lean 25 and always questioned what I was really putting into my body. Most of these shakes tasted like a guilty-pleasure, very sweet but left an after taste. To be truthful, I only lost weight on one...SlimFast. I gained weight with GNC Total Lean 25 and was even watching what I ate and was exercising at the time. Anyway, I did a lot of research on shakes and found that the majority of the people liked Shakeology because of its healthy ingredients. I took a look at the price and had sticker-shock! After doing more research, I found Nature's Bounty Protein Shake Mix. I read that it was very comparable to Shakeology and that it also had helped someone with their GERD issues. I just ordered this flavor and the vanilla for a one-time order to try it out. The canisters are smaller than that of its competitors; however, you can't beat the price and the quality of the product. I know that this review may be premature as I have only had three shakes, since receiving the shipment yesterday morning. However, I have to say that I am already loving this product! I mix it with almond milk and also add some berries, but I have also had the shake without fruit. It tastes great, and there is no chemical after taste. It isn't too sweet either. I have a NutriBullet RX and mix everything in there. Shake comes out great! But that is not what I am so impressed about...I have also been feeling under the weather the past few days. After drinking the shakes, I am actually feeling better and have energy. My stomach is good with regard to the GERD...no complaints there, except for being a little gassy, but this happens when I first start on a product like this until my system adjusts. I just feel better, and it has only been a couple of days. I look forward to seeing if I lose weight with the shake. I am also adding it to my 21 Day Fix Program instead of using Shakeology. So far, I think this product is great! I am not hungry, I feel great, the quality is there and the price is right! I will update this review as I notice any additional benefits or negatives with the product. So far, I recommend it!

I originally bought this because, like many here, I was seeking a replacement for Shakeology. I'm a big fan of the Vegan Chocolate Shake-o (for taste, not Vegan designation), but I'd rather not get a second job or take out a second mortgage to afford it. I bought a gaggle of protein shakes in an attempt to find a suitable replacement. Vega One Chocolate was okay, but not the robust chocolate flavor I was looking for, and it had a green tint and got sorta chunky if didn't drink it right away. Yuck. Orgain Organic Meal has a good taste...again, not as chocolate-y as I'd hoped, and still pricey at $60+ for a month's supply. Enter the winner: Nature's Bounty Chocolate. People will ask about the price? It's right in my budget. If you watch for deals, you can get this at $8/tub (2 tubs covers a month). Stock up. Nutritionally, it's pretty solid. Less sugar than Shake-o, missing some of the other magic ingredients (ashwaganda, anyone?), but a solid meal replacement that doesn't leave me starving an hour later. The taste? The closest thing I can liken it to is powdered Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix. If I spoon it from a travel container into my shaker cup, I lick the spoon. I've even made it warm...and it tastes pretty good. In my opinion, this stuff doesn't need a bunch of fruit and fancy stuff to make it taste good. I just toss it in with almond milk in my shaker cup and some ice, and I'm golden. It blends well, doesn't leave chunks, all the magic things you're seeking. I've also tried it with spinach, frozen fruit, ginger, all the other awesome smoothie ingredients and it's still pretty bomb.

Update: The not terrible but not very exciting chocolate taste to this protein powder had me avoiding it for several days. I starting looking for another protein powder that would get me excited to drink in the morning. The one I was looking at is roughly $20 something with shipping adding up to almost $30 something. I was thinking so hard on how much I didn’t want to spend this much money on another possible fail of a protein powder that cost $40 or more. I looked at my hardly touched nature’s bounty complete protein & vitamin shake mix and thought “how can you make this more exciting and taste worthy for you to crave it in the morning without the sugars of tons of fruit?” I didn’t need to be overly sweet. The sweetness was completely fine which is why I didn’t want to ruin it with sugary fruits. I just wanted a deeper chocolate taste. With the nature’s bounty powder I included around 1-2 teaspoons of raw cacao powder and maybe 2 teaspoons or more (I eyeballed it😂) of cinnamon. Blended it with almond milk, no sea moss gel this time and WOW! This was so good and something I can definitely look forward to drinking every morning. I got a deeper chocolate taste without extreme amounts of added sugar. Some may say fruit has good natural sugar but I just didn’t want it nor did I want to have ANY fruit taste I just wanted straight chocolate taste. It still has a ever so slight chalky texture but as I said before it’s tolerable compared to most. I felt like this compo kept me fuller a little longer. Now I know for sure I’ll be a returning customer of this product as long as the price and ingredients stay the same. Original review: I mean...the taste is pretty good compared to what other protein powders taste like! Not going to lie, it has a very slight grainy/chalky texture but it’s not terrible at all. It could blend better. The taste is very similar to the chocolate Slimfast shake, which I love but I felt like the Slimfast didn’t offer enough or any at all dietary/nutritional benefits. I must say that the slimfast taste better though, but it could be cause it has added sugar. Though the nature’s bounty protein powder isn’t terrible tasting it’s a bit boring and I can tell it might not be a powder that I look forward to or get excited about every morning. The chocolate taste is just kinda faint and bland. I’m trying to lose weight and this brand and protein shake was the only one I found that was beneficial, decently tasty, VERY affordable, low in sugar, low in calories! I wish it was vegan but oh well. I had this shake with almond milk and some sea moss gel. I know it’s not a vegan option nor is it the most clean and organic but you can’t beat the price and the reviews seem pretty consistent on being good. I’m not sure if it’s considered or qualified to be a meal replacement but it’ll do. I’d like to mention I’m hypoglycemic and this shake was a great pick me up! It gave me a fast boost until I could make a full meal. It smells delicious. I’ll be buying again! Please keep the price low. I’m tired of seeing a beneficial protein powder come out to be $40 plus. Only for it to not taste that good.

I absolutely love this stuff! I'm on my 4th week of having this as a breakfast replacement and I've notice so much of a difference in my energy and even lost 5 pounds (not currently doing any exercise to aid). I was never much of a breakfast eater to begin with, but I wanted to boost my metabolism and researched that it's best to start with having breakfast everyday; I was also not getting my daily source of vitamins in the food I was consuming since I don't have the best eating habits. My skin has cleared up so much more and my nails are growing a lot faster and stronger (I've always had very brittle nails and can barely get them to grow w/o breaking). I love that this has all of my daily vitamins needed and many other benefits, such as probiotics, as I've had digestion issues the past several months. My breakfast combo for this is: 2 scoops of the protein/vitamin powder, 1 scoop of PB2 (powdered peanut butter); a handful or so of crushed ice and 8oz. of organic 1% milk; I shake it all up in my Blender Bottle and it's like having a delicious chocolate milk for breakfast; keeps me full for several hours and the taste is great! The only downfall from ordering this from Nature's Bounty is that it has a purchase limit of 1 per order and you can't order more after a certain amount of time. If you have this everyday as a meal supplement as I do, this technically is only about a 2 week supply. I've signed up for the subscribe and save since I plan to continue using this, but the only option is monthly (1mo, 2mo,3mo+), which doesn't help when I need 2 of these a month. You can't beat the price, though, from it being sold by Nature's Bounty, so separate orders are what I suppose I'll have to do. GREAT product!

When I first went looking for a protein drink, my main goal was to find a protein powder that was filling, tasted good, and also provided a bit of nutrition. I did quite a bit of research - comparing Slim Fast, ViSalus, and Premier Protein among others. One of my colleagues was nice enough to let me try one of her chocolate Premier protein shakes. After trying it (it had 30 grams of protein - tasted pretty good) I was still hungry after a couple of hours, which was disappointing to me, considering how much protein was in the shake. When I ran across this shake, I was intrigued that it had not only protein, but vitamins and digestive enzymes as well. I was definitely hooked, also when I saw the various reviews stating how delicious and filling the shakes were. I decided to take a chance on these shakes and ordered the decadent chocolate. A week and a half later, I have been consistently replacing one to two meals a day with two scoops of the protein powder, mixed with two tablespoons of PB2 powdered peanut butter and 8oz - 12 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I mix this together in a blender bottle and it tastes just like a more liquidy peanut butter chocolate milkshake. Mixing the almond milk, PB2, and protein powder, I stay consistently full at work from breakfast until lunch hour - around 4 hours without any hunger pains. I highly recommend purchasing this shake. I just recently purchased my second container of this powder a couple days ago. Due to the addition of the digestive enzymes and the vitamins, I store the powder in the refrigerator, along with the almond milk. It doesn't say anywhere on the container that you need to do that, but I do it anyway as an added precaution. Also: the powder does come with a scoop in the container. I had to literally dig around in the container to find it, as the powder had buried it, but I eventually found it. If you order this powder, you will not be disappointed. It's definitely a protein powder, but it doesn't taste like one - it is very palatable. You can't go wrong.

I bought this because it has sooo many things in it! Vitamins, protein, AND probiotics! Most powders I've seen don't come with probiotics, so I was very impressed! Plus, it's really cheap! (You'd have to buy two to last most of the month. Two jars will get you about 26 servings, but that still ends up being cheaper than a lot of the competitors.) The taste....I hate the taste, but I didn't think I'd like it because I hate the taste of stevia, which is what this is sweetened with. I found a way around the taste, though. I just added two tablespoons of erythritol to it, and now it tastes wonderful because it masks the nasty stevia taste! BUUUUT, there's the clumping issue! It clumps up so badly and I don't know how to fix it. But that comes with the territory. I just put it through a mini strainer and it helped. All in all, for the price and all the nutrients it comes with, I WILL buy this again!

After spending countless dollars trying countless protein shake mixes on the market, the Optimal Solutions Protein & Vitamin Mix best represents what I've been looking for all along - Tasty shake mix with a hearty amount of protein, and essential vitamins rather than athletic compounds that the average person may or may not really need. Nature's Bounty has a good reputation for quality vitamins and supplements, so I was tickled to learn that they had formulated the Optimal Solutions powdered mix. My favorite is the Decadent Chocolate, but I like the lighter flavor of the Vanilla on occasion and keep both on hand. I have several health conditions that fare better when I consume more protein, but it's often hard to get the ratio I want without eating lots of meat. And I don't eat beans, either. Optimal Solutions is indeed the optimal solution for me! I mix it with protein nut milk, a little bit of yogurt, or lactose free milk for swigging a cup throughout the day to get the protein levels I want. The mix blends okay manually, but makes a frothy smooth shake in a heartbeat with a simple blender. Tastes okay if mixed with water and ice, but is really good with milk, yogurt, or fruit. I go through a canister each month, and price-wise I find it an economical, treat-like option to swallowing vitamin pills. I can wholeheartedly recommend Nature's Bounty Optimal Solutions and the Nature's Bounty product line in general.

First of all, Shakeology is expensive as heck! I was looking for a cheaper alternative and this is by far the best protein shake alternative I've ever had. No side effects, and it did take some getting used to. Now, since seriously overweight, my doctor recommended me to do protein shakes for breakfast/lunch, three snacks, and a portion controlled dinner. This protein shake only offers 15g of protein, and my doctor recommends that I have at least 60g of protein per day. So what I do is double up. I drink two shakes in the morning, two at lunch, and then dinner! When I first started using, I was STARVING. 15g is not going to curb appetite at all! So once I started doubling up, that is when I actually when I saw results. By lunch, I had to force myself to drink the shakes because I was not hungry at all! Amazon actually accidentally sent me Vanilla when I ordered chocolate, so I can't tell you on the taste. They sell the chocolate flavor at my local Walgreens, so I may just stop there and pick up. I already have another on the way to me and this is so affordable, I'm going to go ahead and stockpile. I mixed with 2% milk and a banana every time. It is so tasty. Next round I'm going to add some ice, as this shake is super tasty when ice cold. Weightloss: Because this shake actually curbs my appetite so well, I'm losing 2-4 pounds per week, which I think is great! Some weeks I lose 8 or more pounds, but my loss varies depending on my diet and portion control at dinner. On weekends, I do have a cheat day where I order takeout. I also have a ton of energy from this. I follow this regime with 5 bottles of water and a One Daily women's mult-vitamin. Side effects: There was some minor gas/bloating the first week, but that has subsided. This is by far the best weight loss product I've had.