Product Review: Ultra Whey by Sci-Mx

In a previous post, we already tested 2 products from Sci-Mx Nutrition and were very happy about them, so we got extra excited to receive a tub of their improved Ultra Whey protein!

What's Ultra Whey?

Ultra Whey is a blend of cold filtered whey isolate and hydrolysate, and in the new formula, they wanted to cover 2 objectives:

1) Increase the amount of rapid acting whey protein
2) Improve flavour & texture

To quote: "As a result, we successfully managed to increase the whey protein availability by 10% and also improve the customer experience by delivering a daity-like milkshake taste that isn't too heavy on sweetness"
They also removed glutamine peptides (source of wheat), making the product 100% gluten free.

The test

Since we haven't had the Ultra Whey before, we can't really judge on the improvement of the taste & texture, but upon blending and tasting it, we can only say that this is an amazing tasting protein shake.
The flavour tested was chocolate and it tasted smooth, creamy and not too sweet indeed, truly one of the best proteins we've tasted (and we've tasted many)

Macros & Protein Ratio

The macros are looking good, perhaps it's a bit higher in sugar than most whey proteins.
The protein per gram ratio is on par with most leading brands, so no complaints there.














To conclude

This is an excellent whey protein, we love it! The price range is perhaps a bit above standard, but in return you get both high quality and great taste.

Ultra Whey comes in 4 flavours: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry & banana, and is available in 2 sizes: 907 grams & 2.28 kg.
Get 30% off your first order with code NEW30

Sweet Potato Protein Pancakes

This is a quick and simple recipe, and uses sweet potato powder, but you could also substitute with about 100 grams cooked sweet potato.
The advantage of sweet potato powder is that it's highly concentrated, so it's a great source of potassium & vitamin A.



Ingredients: (about 3 pancakes)

40 grams of sweet potato powder
26 grams of whey protein (we used unflavored)
1 egg
100 ml liquid egg-whites

Blend all the ingredients well together with a handblender until it forms a batter.
Heat oil in a pan and scoop the mixture in and cook on both sides until browned.

Top with butter, syrups or even with Hognuts Salted Caramel PB!

Check out the re-post of this recipe on the Hognuts Butters website:
https://hognutsbutters.com/2016/10/01/sweet-potato-pb-protein-pancakes/

Product Review: MusclePharm Combat Crunch

Finally, the long awaited review on the MusclePharm Combat Crunch bars is here!
The minute they arrived, we dug in and tried both flavors straight away.

Why the excitement?

Well, from a macro point of view, these bars are very promising. With Quest bar sort of dominating the field of low carb protein bars, the arrival of a chocolate coated protein bar with similar macros is a huge change in our opinion.

So let's start with those macros first:

The macros are excellent, in particular the fact that you are holding a bar that's only 210 calories and packs 20 grams of protein.
Most bars that look like these bars are in the 300+ calorie range, so this is a welcome change!

Choc Peanut butter Cup

Ingredients

The prebiotic fiber is what makes it of course, high in fiber, but also lower in carbohydrates. Isomalto-Oligosaccharide tastes sweet, but doesn't raise blood sugar levels. More on prebiotics here.
However, the bars also contain maltitol, technically not a sugar, but it's known to raise blood sugar in some people.

Another bonus: it's gluten-free (although not certified)

Cookie Dough

Taste

The important part: the taste! Because great macros are nice, but if the taste stays behind, you might as well quit.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup
Both bars have a chocolate coating on the outside and crunchy bit infused in the coating. The chocolate tastes excellent, no weird aftertaste at all.
The peanut butter inside is a bit chewy and dry, but defenitely tastes like peanut butter.

Score: 4 out of 5



Cookie Dough
The cookie dough is a bit softer, and really tastes like cookie dough, with small bit of choclate chips. This is the favorite out of the 2!

Score: 5 out of 5

To conclude

These bars are a welcome change, since they cover an important field in a few ways:
- around the 200 calorie range
- low carb/high protein ratio
- great tase

Product Review: Go Nutrition Whey 80

GoNutrition started about a year ago and was found by the the same guy that started MyProtein back in 2004, Oliver Cookson.

The company offers a wide variety of sports supplements, from whey to nut butters and beyond. Of course we were keen to try some of the products out, in particular their whey protein.

This time, we got our hands on 2 flavors:

- Strawberries & Whipped Cream
- Maple Syrup & Pancake

Especially the latter sounds really interesting, since this is a flavor we haven't seen before.


Macros

First, let's have a look at the macros of the Whey 80:

The protein/per gram ratio is pretty good at 0,816, which is higher than some of the top brands out there.







Ingredients

The amount of ingredients comes down to 4-5, which is a very acceptable amount, all ingredients are clearly explained and logic.



Mixability and Taste

The protein mixes excellent, both in a shaker cup or blender, no lumps at all.
The taste of the Maple Syrup & Pancake really resembles the description, you can clearly distinguish the maple, a really nice flavor!

The same goes for the Strawberries & Whipped Cream, really creamy texture, and the strawberry is not too overpowering and tastes really natural.

To conclude

The Whey 80 protein is an excellent whey protein, has a high amount of protein, tastes great and contains few ingredients. On top of that, it's available in 4 sizes:
- 500 grams
- 1 kg
- 2 kg
- 4,5 kg

So you can try out all the flavors without having to buy large quantities straight away!

Oat Flour Protein Waffles

Most of us will have a protein powder in their cupboard that you don't dislike, but it's not really your first choice either. After trying many flavors over the years, we just concluded that chocolate and peanut butter are our own personal favorites and we should just stick to those.
So what to do with those poor powders that are always on the bench? Get them back in the game with protein waffles!

In our case it's the Cellucor Cor-Fetti Whey, we like it, but it's just not the all-time favorite. But it's perfect for this recipe, making 4 waffles total.


Ingredients:

1/2 cup (100 ml) liquid egg-whites
1 whole egg
40 grams of whey protein (do not use casein or a blend!)
30 grams of oat flour

Mix all the ingredients into a batter, and to make things easy, use a squeeze bottle to pour the batter in the waffle maker. Heat up the waffle maker, pour the batter in and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Top with some Walden Farms Pancake Syrup (this one actually tastes good)

But wait, what about heating whey?? Check this article to answer your question.

Home-Made Quest Bar: Natural Chocolate

After the successful first round, this time we decided to perfect the procedure a bit and at the same time also make a bar with more natural ingredients.

When using a protein powder with a flavor, you still end up with extra ingredients of the protein powder you might not want.
Many whey proteins often use a sweetener called sucralose, a binder derived from soy (soy lecithin) just to name a few.

Since the Vita Fiber is already sweet, you don't really need any extra sweeteners.
So let's try a bar with only 3 ingredients:

40 grams of Vita Fiber
25 grams of unflavored whey protein - we used Protein 17, but you can use any type of unflavored whey.
8 grams (1 tbsp) of cocoa powder

First, mix up the whey and cocoa powder together in a bowl. You could skip this to create more of a swirl in the bar, but in this case we want an even color throughout the bar.
Again, heat the Vita Fiber in a small saucepan until it starts to bubble.



Pour the Vita Fiber into the bowl and stir this through the mixture
until you get a crumbly consistency.
Transfer it over onto a piece of plastic wrap and squeeze it together well, you should end up with a Play-Doh type of chunk.

Now transfer it over to a new piece of plastic wrap if needed, and knead it into a bar. Wrap it up, cut off any excess plastic, and cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

One of the things we wondered about, was if this bar keeps well outside the fridge? Once it's kept in the fridge overnight, it becomes quite hard, and after leaving it out for about 6 hours or so, it became a little softer, but was still quite solid.

Reason for this is the heating of the Vita Fiber, you can also make a bar without heating it, but the bar is significantly softer and stickier.

Want the awesome macros? Here you go:

Home-Made Quest Bar: Chocolate-Peanut

We (almost) all love Quest Bars, the protein bar with the insane macros and the widest variety of flavors, but we also know that they are quite pricy, especially when you live outside of the United States.

What if we told you you could make your own Quest Bars? With perhaps even better macros? In your own flavor of choice?

Korean Oligodang

The key part of the Quest Bar is the fact that it's low in carbohydrates. This is because of an ingredient called IMO fiber, also known as Isomalto-Oligosaccharide. It's what binds the bar basically together. And the binding part is where most home-made protein bars fail to be low carb, since dried fruits are often used instead, and they are loaded with sugar.

But luckily, there are products on the market to help us out, like this and another one called Vita Fiber. Sometimes you'll also find it under the name oligodang or mulyeot.
In our recipe, we're using Vita Fiber.

Ingredients:

50 grams of Vita Fiber
35 grams of protein powder - we used GN Triple Chocolate, but you can use any brand/flavor you like.
30 grams of Nuts 'n More Chocolate Peanut
(for Europe, check here)


In a small sauce-pan, heat the Vita Fiber until it starts to bubble a bit.
Take it off the heat, and add in the other ingredients and mix it into a crumbly dough.
The easiest way is to place it all on a piece of plastic wrap and knead it into a ball.

Macros (1 small bar)

Now form it into 2 small bars (or 1 big bar, like we did) You can use a small loaf pan to shape it a bit better. Put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes to harden a bit. Done! Eat!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Prudding

Looks weird? Yes. Taste good? Yes!!

It was decided to call this a prudding, because it's a combination of proats and pudding, and it seemed like the most logical name. It's filling, high protein, fluffy and tastes awesome.

Ingredients:

40 grams of chocolate whey protein powder
30 grams of rolled oats
2,5 sheets of gelatin (or 4,5 grams of gelatin powder) *
1 tbsp of powdered peanut butter
200 ml of almond milk


Directions:

Blend the protein powder, peanut butter powder and almond milk together.

*If you use gelatin sheets, let them soak in a bit of cold water until they get soft. Heat a bit of water and dissolve the gelatin by stirring it quickly.
*If you use gelatin powder, heat a small amount of water and let the gelatin dissolve by stirring quickly.

Add the gelatin to the protein mix and stir well (again). Next, add in the rolled oats and stir (again).
Now pour the mixture into a bowl and let it set in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This recipe uses chocolate protein powder, but of course it can be made with any flavor, and since we're on the topic, we've seen some very interesting new flavors popping up that we'd like to share with you:

- Ice-Cream Sandwich
- Salted Caramel

- Maple Syrup & Pancake

- Toffee Popcorn
- Turkish Delight

- Granola Crunch

Cracked Nut Butter, Brownie Batter - $14.99 12 grams of protein per serving!

Disclaimer: If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product or service, I will be paid a small commission, however your cost will be the same (and quite possibly less if I’m highlighting a promotion)