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DISCLAIMER: I received free products for this review. All thoughts, experiences & opinions are my own.

Eating Healthy in College Vegan Style

So, you’re interested in eating healthy in college? Specifically a vegan, plant based diet?

It can seem like it’s SO much easier said than done…

Here’s the dilemma:

As a struggling college student you’re on a budget, like a really tight budget. Eating a vegan diet CAN be relatively cheap, since there’s no need to buy any meat.

BUT, because of this:

Getting enough protein as a vegan or vegetarian can be difficult. That’s why lots of people choose to use a supplement, like protein powder, to meet dietary needs.

Vegan supplements can be PRICEY, though!

This is a big problem for college students who don’t have a lot of money to spend.

That’s why I wanted to explore vegan protein and workout supplement options that are budget friendly. Just because you’re low on funds, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to work towards your health goals.

In today’s post, I’m going to be reviewing some Naked Nutrition products.

I’ve found them to be affordable, without sacrificing on effectiveness or value. 

Naked Nutrition was kind enough to provide me with free samples for two vegan supplements: Pea Protein Powder and their Naked Energy Natural Pre-Workout.

Before they had reached out to me, I had never tried or even heard of this brand.

So:

Let’s start with my first impression of Naked Nutrition:

Already, I’m digging what this company is about: pure ingredients, transparency about those ingredients and no added bullshit.

As someone who is particularly aware of my health, I think it’s important to know WHAT you’re putting into your body.

And I’d like to avoid as many of those mystery filler ingredients as I can. I like that they value high quality ingredients and honesty.

Now let’s see how well these au naturel ingredients hold up.

Non-Dairy Protein Powder

An important little bit of background on me:

I don’t follow a vegan diet myself, but I do avoid eating dairy and gluten for health reasons.

Knowing that, the typical whey based protein powders just don’t cut it for me. Whey comes from milk and is a by-product of making cheese.

That’s why I was excited when I saw that Naked Nutrition has plant based protein powder options.

One of those non-dairy options being Pea Protein Powder, and it’s the best protein option they have in my opinion. In terms of value that is.

Naked Nutrition Pea Protein Powder Review 

First, I tried the protein by mixing it with water and found the taste to be pretty typical of protein powders. (This is what I use to mix my supplement drinks)

The Naked Nutrition Pea Protein Powder has just one ingredient: yellow pea protein. No fillers, no artificial sweeteners or coloring.

So far, so good.

I’ve mixed the pea protein powder with two things separately: water and Silk chocolate protein nut milk.

With water it was tolerable, not good but not bad. There was also a mild chalkiness at the end.

The best way I know how to describe it:

Plain and simple, it tasted like protein powder. It is what it is, and that’s exactly how I would expect a quality protein powder to taste.

I’ve tried some plant based protein powders before that I thought were totally AWFUL (Vega protein powder for one). So, it’s safe to say that I have some other experiences to compare the flavor to.

The pea protein powder mixed well, which is a plus. No clumping or sticking together.

The end protein shake wasn’t too thick – another positive.

This is an issue I’ve had in the past with other brands. If the shake it too thick, it’s hard to get down and the consistency is gross to me.

Sure you can always add more water (or other liquid of your choice), but I liked that the recommended amount of water was accurate.

What I found improves the flavor, is mixing it with Silk chocolate nut milk. It was no surprise that the chocolateness over took the natural protein powder taste.

I enjoyed it much better with this and it’s become my go-to way of preparing it.

Now I’m not much of a fruit smoothie type girl.

But:

I’m confident that the powder would go well with something like a banana and strawberries blended in. There’s not much taste that needs to be masked, so it takes on other flavors easily.

My final test for the pea protein powder was to see how I felt once it hit my stomach. I can have a finicky intestinal track sometimes.

I’m pleased to report that I had no ill effects from it! It didn’t upset my stomach, didn’t cause bloating and generally just sat well with me. 

Nowwww, let’t talk about price:

How affordable is the Naked Nutrition Pea Protein Powder?

For starters, if you’ve shopped around for plant based protein powders before you’ll notice they can be pretty EXPENSIVE.

A lot more spendy than whey powders.

So, for a comparison I’ll give the price point for two popular plant based brands:

• Orgain Organic Protein Powder, 20 servings container = $24.99
  That boils down to $1.25 per serving.
• Vega Clean Protein Powder, 45 servings container = $69.99
  That comes out to $1.56 per serving

Now let’s take a look at Naked Nutrion’s prices…

Naked Nutrition sells their products in two sizes: 5lbs containers with 76 servings and 1lb containers (this size is on Amazon.com only) with 15 servings.

They also have sample packs with 3 – 6 one servings packets.

A 5lb tub of their pea protein will cost you $54.99 (unless you see it for less, in that case grab it!). That sounds like a lot of cash to fork over, however:

That works out to just 72¢ per serving.

Already, it is significantly cheaper than the other two brands we looked at.

To make it even better:

A Naked Nutrition serving of pea protein powder has 27 grams of protein. The Vega protein powder has 25 grams and the Orgain powder has 21 grams.

Not only is it cheaper, but you’re also getting slightly MORE protein. Yay!

And:

I want to bring up the fact that some people aren’t looking to get THAT much protein per shake. A serving of the Naked Nutrition powder is two scoops.

So if you’re someone who wants or needs less protein, you can simply use one scoop to get 13.5 grams.

That could essentially double the amount of “servings” you have, too. It comes out to just 36¢ per scoop.

Whether you choose to use one or two scoops at a time, the price point is affordable.

Now if you want to opt for a smaller container of pea protein, the 15 serving container is $15. That breaks down to $1.00 per serving, which is still cheaper than the brands we compared Naked Nutrition, too.

But:

Obviously, if you buy in bulk it’s more cost effective. However, for broke college students…

…buying in bulk can be a problem.

The upfront cost can take a BIG chunk out of a limited budget.

One solution to this problem is to pool money with a roommate or a friend to make the purchase. If you each pay for half, you can then split the protein powder.

It won’t be as steep of a buy and both of you will be able to reap the benefits of getting the bulk price discount. Win, win!

And:

One extra little neat thing about this protein powder, is that you can bake with it. I really like the cute graphic they use to illustrate this, it’s a reference to one of my favorite movies. ?

Overall, I really like the Naked Nutrition Pea Protein Powder.

It has a lot of positives; the only drawback I can see is having to buy a lot at once to get a better price.

I’ll sum up the key points here:

• Hardly any taste, good for mixing with other flavors
• Blends well
• Vegan
• Made with one ingredient
• High in protein 27g
• 2 scoops = 1 serving
• Bulk cost is 72¢ per serving or 36¢ per scoop

Where to find Naked Pea Protein Powder:

Naked Pea Protein Powder is available here. And remember, you can get Naked Pea Protein Powder in 1lb containers on Amazon.

Now let’s talk about what I thought of the pre-workout…

Naked Nutrition Naked Energy Natural Pre-Workout Review

For starters, what’s in it?

What I like about this Naked Enery pre-workout is that ALL of the ingredients are listed. Some companies hide exactly what is in their pre-workout by labeling some of it as a “proprietary blend”.

This can be a problem if you’re trying to avoid certain ingredients – like dairy or gluten.

No proprietary blends here, though! Check out the label in the picture.

The fact that it clearly has no gluten or dairy is a BIG plus for me. As you can expect from this brand, there are no preservatives or artificial ingredients as well.

And:

It’s suitable for vegetarians and vegans!

The Natural pre-workout has 200 mg of caffeine per serving and a serving is two scoops.

If you’re like me, you may be a bit sensitive to caffeine…

…One scoop gave me QUITE enough energy to power through my workout.

Now to talk about the test run:

It is an unflavored powder and when mixed, I detected no taste. I mixed the pre-workout with cold water in my shaker bottle.

The drink gave me a nice skin tingle as I’ve come to expect from pre-workout supplements. It wasn’t overpowering, but the feeling was definitely there.

As an avid gym-goer, I’ve tried my fair share of pre-work supplements. Beta-alanine is the ingredient that gives some people a tingly feeling.

I tested the product for both cardio and strength training sessions.

What I found is:

That it gave me ample energy no matter what type of workout I used it for.

I feel like the Naked Nutrion pre-workout powder provided me with all the same benefits that other high quality brands do, just without all the extra junk I prefer to pass on. 

Ok, so how much does it cost?

The price for a container of the unflavored Naked Energy pre-workout is $39.99. It has 50 servings in it.

The cost is 80¢ per serving.

But:

Remember that a serving is TWO scoops. So people who want/need less caffeine, can get DOUBLE the servings out of the container.

With that in mind, it is only 40¢ per scoop.

How does that compare against other brands?

Let’s take a look at the price per serving for two popular brands:

• Cellucor C4 Orginal, 60 Servings container = $49.99
  That equals 83¢ per serving
• Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Pre-Workout, 60 servings = $48.69
  That comes to 81¢ per serving 

Ok, so the price per serving is a tiny bit less than competitors.

I want to point out that in a serving the Cellucor has 150 mg of caffeine and the Optimum Nutrition has 175 mg of caffeine. So again like the protein powder, Naked Nutrition gives you just a little bit more.

The price of the pre-workout I find to be competitive and affordable. For vegans and non-vegans alike who are trying to be healthy in college.

Are there cheaper pre-workout supplements out there? Yes, without a doubt there are cheaper options out there.

But are there cheaper options that offer the same high quality ingredients and transparency on those ingredients?

You’d be hard pressed to find a pre-workout that has all that for less. At least I don’t know of any others brands like that.

My finals thoughts for the Naked Nutrition Naked Energy pre-workout:

I like it, I like it a lot. It delivers the desired effects without having unnecessary additives.

This is going to be a repeat buy from me.

Here’s a quick recap of the key points:

• Tastes like nothing
• Blends well
• 200 mg of caffeine per serving
• 2 scoops = 1 serving
• 80¢ per serving or 40¢ per scoop
• Gives you good tingles
• Vegan
• All the ingredients are listed

Where to find Naked Energy Pre-Workout:

Naked Energy Pre-Workout is available here.

Note: The unflavored version gets you 50 servings, the flavored one only has 30 servings for the same price. 

In summary:

I’m impressed by what Naked Nutrition supplements have to offer. I like how simple and effective they are.

They have all the stuff you need, without out all the extra junk.

And to top it all off:

It’s not overly expensive like some other, premium natural supplement products.

I consider it to be affordable and a great value. I REALLY like that they make it easy to cut servings in half to suit your own personal needs, too.

Soooooooo….

Have you tried Naked Nutrion products before? What did you think of them?

I’d love to hear about YOUR experience in a comment. 

Also Read: The College Guide to Eating Healthy on a Budget