Are there any "healthy" dietary supplement drinks?

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Ihurt

Joined
Mar 16, 2012
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I am having such horrid issues with my intestines with awful pain. I want to go on a liquid type diet for awhile. I mean I would like to supplement with a dietary drink like ensure or boost, but I will NOT drink those as they are Full of Sugar and chemicals.. I am very chemcial sensitive and would like a drink that is more healthy and possibly organic in nature...

I would appreciate any responses. I am also Gluten Free. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated....
 
For drinks I only know a few types.

-Ensure, Boost, Fortimel = garbage, these tend to be way too heavily formulated and have binding agents, casein protein and complex carbs that make them extremely heavy to digest
-EN with dried glucose syrup / fructose / whey / hydrolised protein = I like it
-Protein drinks, they're drinks where a company has premixed protein for you and put it inside a drink.

I wouldn't shy away from carbs too fast though, Ensure, Boost and Fortimel use carbs that make the drink very heavy and hard to digest but EN formulations tend to use carbs that are easy to digest, they tend to use things like dried glucose syrup and some fructose, very low on complex carbs. I don't mind carbs in EN, I hate it in Fortimel and those other drinks.
 
There are some interesting ones by Vega. They taste like crap, personally I couldn't stomach the taste, but didn't find them too bad on digestion.

You have to be careful with protein powders as sometimes they are artificially sweetened so if you have chem sensitivities, read the labels.

I saw a dietician before Christmas (I have a B.Sc in Nutrition, so this was actually really silly), she seemed to be a big fan of Modulen, but I have never tried it.
 
Vega runs high in fiber for most of their products. Be careful if you are inflamed.

I like Orgain, it's the organic Ensure minus most of the junk and it is gluten free.
 
Thanks for the tips, I am going to look into these. I never heard of Modulen, can you get this online or from a store?

I am going to have to really look at all ingrediants though a I need to be careful, I am senstive to so many things. I dont like the idea of fructose in drinks, I think it is not good for the body.

Alliruns, yes, I definitely do not want ANY artificial sweetners, those totally mess up my gut.

Thanks for the tips everyone, I really appreciate it!
 
Nogutsnoglory: where do you buy your Orgain?? Is is available in stores or do you have to order it online?? I like the idea that it is organic. I am going to look into it more..






nogutsnoglory said:
Vega runs high in fiber for most of their products. Be careful if you are inflamed.

I like Orgain, it's the organic Ensure minus most of the junk and it is gluten free.
Click to expand...
 
I googled the Orgain. Darn, it looks great except for that is has tomatoes in it and I cannot eat tomatoes at all, what a bummer!! :(. I mean everything else seemed ok in it. Darn, this is going to be hard with all my sensitivities it seems. I really like the Orgain because it is organic. I dont know if there are even any other organic products out there. I am going to have to search. I also frequent the whole foods over here where I live. I am going to see if they have anything esle. From what I googled, the Orgain only comes in vanilla and chocolate. I could Not do the chocolate, I cant eat anything with cocoa in it either. This is gonna be rough!









=nogutsnoglory;598960]I buy Orgain at Whole Foods.

Here is a list of their retail locations: http://www.drinkorgain.com/orgain_html/buy-retailer.html[/QUOTE]
 
I searched the Orgain and it has great reviews on Amazon - except for most of the new reviews. Apparently they changed the formula and now the taste is not nearly as good. I've never tried it and am hoping there is a way I can still order the old formula! Just to let you all know :)
 
I don't really like to think about the flavour of any of the supplement drinks, they all taste awful to me :p

Modulen is a good one that will put weight on you, but it is fairly difficult to drink compared to ensure and the others suggested here. I'd look to modulen last really as a supplement.
 
Orgain also comes in Mocha. It's all liquid so the tomato might not bother you if you want to give it a try.

It's really impossible to find everything unless you make your own shake. I don't like that Orgain has carrageenan but I also need to gain weight.
 
kiik said:
I searched the Orgain and it has great reviews on Amazon - except for most of the new reviews. Apparently they changed the formula and now the taste is not nearly as good. I've never tried it and am hoping there is a way I can still order the old formula! Just to let you all know :)
Click to expand...

The formula change happened around August 2012. What they did was take the soy out and replaced it with some other suspension stuff. I was living off Orgain pretty regularly at the time and the formula change was really annoying but I emailed the company and they were great. Once they got the kinks ironed out with the flavor and suspension, they shipped me out two free cases.

I'm happy to report that the flavor is back to what it was before they changed the formula.

They've also come out with a strawberry flavor that I have not tried yet.

If you have rite aid near you, they periodically have great discounts on Orgain. You just need to have a rite aid card. If you are a fan of them on Facebook they usually give everyone a heads up when these discounts are going on.
 
Thanks ctrl z, I might have to check it out! All of the older reviews are really great for it :)
 
It really is a great drink (aside from the carrageenan). They just hit a little bump in the road :smile:
 
ctrl z said:
It really is a great drink (aside from the carrageenan). They just hit a little bump in the road :smile:
Click to expand...

I think it would be great if members who care email them asking they remove the carrageenan. I have requested it but maybe if there is momentum they will do it.
 
I've asked them to before. Maybe next time I can gather more sources and send another email that is hopefully more convincing.
 
Well I went to whole foods today and they were out of the Orgain! Well I found another Organic product called Amazing meal it is made by Amazing Grass. It had 10 grams of protein which is good, I did not want one that was super high( some of the other brands have 20grams plus!). That is too much protein for me. This one I found has No sugar added which is also good. It has a lot of vitamins and contains Organic Acai,Oganic carrot,Organic bluberry,Organic Goji, Organic Rose hips, Organic Maca and organic banana. It also has some enzymes and probitoics in it. As far as greens it has: Organic Wheat grass( it says Gluten free so I guess wheat grass has no gluten in it),Organic Kale,Organic Barley Grass and Organic alflafa.
The protein is made from Rice protein and hemp protein. I was not to thrilled with the rice protein, but it is better than Soy. The hemp is suppose to be a natural anti-inflammatory for the gut so we will see.

I only bought a couple of the small single serve packets to see how it goes..

I still want to try the orgain when the get it in, but I am a bit worried about the whole tomato thing. The reason I cant really do the tomato is because tomatoes flare my IC bladder awful. But I will have to see just how much tomato is in it. I mean I might be ok with it.

Thanks again for all the suggestions, I appreciate it a lot!!
 
Ihurt,

I wish I knew more about these, but I don't. I do know you have to be very careful of making major changes in your diet though, and a lot of liquid diets can start the "detox" process, which can clean out your system, but that process can also be painful. So please be careful.
 
Ya noy said:
Ihurt,

I wish I knew more about these, but I don't. I do know you have to be very careful of making major changes in your diet though, and a lot of liquid diets can start the "detox" process, which can clean out your system, but that process can also be painful. So please be careful.
Click to expand...

I was going to say this too. It's can be hard to get enough energy from a liquid diet, and sudden weight loss is probably not what you need right now. You can shock your body if you suddenly change your diet (even if it's just temporary) and your digestive system may react to it unpredicably too - it could well cause constipation or diarrhoea (which doesn't mean it's not helping, just that you could bring on additional problems as well).

It might be better to find a dietician to help you with this, if it's something you want to try. Make sure it's someone you can trust and not someone who claims they can cure you or recommends really extreme diets.
 
Fiber is not inherently bad, on the contrary it's very good for most people. Those of us with inflammation need to be careful with fiber because it can irritate the wound and if one is narrow cause an obstruction. Insoluble fiber is the bigger problem (think sandpaper rubbing a cut). If you aren't inflamed or stricturing there is no reason to avoid fiber.
 
Hmm, good to know. That is just it, I have no clue if I am inflammed or not. I am still undiagnosed. I have had some tests( CT, MRE, blood, stool) which did not show much. I was just going to try this supplement to see if it would help. I would of course go real slow with it...

Unxmas, and Ya noy: Thanks for the tips. Oh I was just going to start out real slow. I start slow with everything I do since I am so sensitive as it is. I mean I may try half of the serving of the stuff first just to see how I react to it..

I am just trying to find a way to maybe give my guts a rest, but yeah, I do not want to lose anymore weight really. I am still ok, I am at 111.5 lbs. I am
5'2" tall. I have lost weight since all my gut issues started two years ago. Probably because I cut a lot out of my diet and do not eat as much as I use to. I weighed like 135 to 138 lbs before I got sick..







nogutsnoglory said:
Fiber is not inherently bad, on the contrary it's very good for most people. Those of us with inflammation need to be careful with fiber because it can irritate the wound and if one is narrow cause an obstruction. Insoluble fiber is the bigger problem (think sandpaper rubbing a cut). If you aren't inflamed or stricturing there is no reason to avoid fiber.
Click to expand...
 
A CT scan and MRI of the small intestine and/or colon would show if you were inflamed. It's probably safe to proceed cautiously but always best to consult your doctor if unsure.
 
Coconut water might be helpful to you on a liquid trial diet. I've found it surprisingly to be very refreshing and decently soothing to my stomach.
 
You may want to look into Absorb Plus. My son usted it for a while. It's a powder that you mix with water and a fat source (we used flax oil or coconut oil). We also used Orgain for a while but did not like the idea of carrageenan and we got that from Amazon.
 
I want to second Absorb Plus, the chocolate flavor tastes pretty good and it has lots of good ingredients. It's specifically designed for those with GI problems. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's extremely expensive and I have to order online where I am.
 
Where do you get absorb plus? Can you get this at like Whole foods? Do they have any other flavors besides chocolate, I cannot eat Any cocoa. I unfortunately do not tolerate coconut very well for some reason, it makes me feel sick. I think I may have a slight allergy to it. Too bad because I love cooking with coconut oil as it is the healthiest oil out there. When you say you have to mix the absorb plus with a fat source, what else can I use that would tasts ok. I also do not tolerate flax oil to well either.. Would olive oil work?
 
You can only get Absorb from their website i think (www.absorbplus.com). I think you could use olive oil, but I'm not sure how it would taste!! They do have other flavors...vanilla, berry, and I believe they have an unsweetened version also. You will be able to look up the ingredients to see if there is anything there you do not tolerate (ie, I think they sweeten it in part with stevia). I do hope it works for you!
 
Wow, I like the absorb plus. I checked out their website. The only bad thing is that they are super expensive! It is over $60 for 10 servings! That is a lot. I think it would good and worth it to use this as a supplement though. I mean I dont think I could afford to drink it alone for any amount of time as it would be very costly it seems.

I am guessing this is typically meant to replace like one meal a day or something?? I mean otherwise how could anyone afford to use this as their only source of food??

Any ideas on how the unsweetend absorb plus tastes?? I like the idea of no sugar added but just wanted to know how it tastes???
 
I know, I wish I could use it purely as a liquid diet for a couple days but as is I only drink one every few days when I'm not feeling well. If you actually used it as TPN it would be over $30/day!

I haven't tried the unsweetened flavour, sorry!
 
Wow, it really stinks that it has to be that expensive. But I may give it a go, I mean like you said, on days I am feeling really bad I can use it instead of food.

Hmm, have you tried the sweetend vanilla one?? If so is that one good? I mean I hate the idea of the added fructose, but again if the plain tastes like crap maybe the sweetend vanilla would be better.... Damn I wish I could eat chocolate as that one looks very appealing:yfrown: I cant have any form of cocoa :(





kiik said:
I know, I wish I could use it purely as a liquid diet for a couple days but as is I only drink one every few days when I'm not feeling well. If you actually used it as TPN it would be over $30/day!

I haven't tried the unsweetened flavour, sorry!
Click to expand...
 
I did try a sample of the vanilla but I don't remember much about it other than me preferring the chocolate. I think it was pretty good!
 
ctrl z said:
The formula change happened around August 2012. What they did was take the soy out and replaced it with some other suspension stuff. I was living off Orgain pretty regularly at the time and the formula change was really annoying but I emailed the company and they were great. Once they got the kinks ironed out with the flavor and suspension, they shipped me out two free cases.

I'm happy to report that the flavor is back to what it was before they changed the formula.

They've also come out with a strawberry flavor that I have not tried yet.

If you have rite aid near you, they periodically have great discounts on Orgain. You just need to have a rite aid card. If you are a fan of them on Facebook they usually give everyone a heads up when these discounts are going on.
Click to expand...

Tried the strawberry. Don't waste your money. It's water with a hint of strawberry. Gross.
 
In the Absorb I tried the vanilla and it was pretty good, but I have not tried the unsweetened. One thing to remember is that one serving (4 scoops) plus the tablespoon of oil you are supposed to add is going to give you 450 calories approximately in the Absorb Plus, while the Orgain and Boost are about 250 per container and the Boost Plus 360 calories per container. My son had a hard time drinking it with the 4 scoops so we just used 3 or 2 and spread it throoghout the day. I Think you can order samples, but I remember them being pricey.
 

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