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Reviews > Food > Energy Bars and Drinks > Luna Sports Recovery Smoothie > Test Report by Jo Ann MoffiPhoto Courtesy of LUNAbar Website
Product Information Manufacturer: Clif Bar & Co. Year of Manufacture: 2007 Made In: U.S.A. URL: https://www.lunabar.com/ MSRP: $19.99 per per 440 g (0.98 lb) canister or single serve packets Flavours: Strawberry Banana and Dark Chocolate Listed Weight: 36 g (1.28 oz) for one single serve packet Actual Weight: 40 g (1.41 oz) for one single serve packet INITIAL REPORT Date: January 20, 2008 Item Received: January 16, 2008 I received four single serving packages of the LUNA Sport Recovery Smoothie, two of each flavour. The packaging opens at the top left hand corner via a small cut line. The LUNA Sport literature enclosed with the package and the packaging outlines the following features for the Recovery Smoothie:
The LUNA Sport Recovery Smoothie is designed to provide protein for recovery post exercise and the vitamins and minerals required for energy production and muscle repair. It can be mixed with either water or milk. No specific method is mentioned on the packaging as to how to mix the Smoothie, however the LUNA Sport portion of the website does not recommend stirring the product. The Strawberry Banana flavour contains 56% organic ingredients and the Dark Chocolate flavour contains 58% organic ingredients. I plan on consuming the Recovery Smoothie as recommended by the manufacture after a workout. Activities I would consume this after will be hiking, running, snowshoeing, snowboarding and gym based workouts. I will be checking on the taste, texture, ease of use, and appropriateness to the activity while consuming the Recovery Smoothie. Since there is such a limited amount of product to test, I didn't taste test the Recovery Smoothie for the initial report. I will be saving them to use in my upcoming activities over the next few weeks. FIELD REPORT Date: March 18, 2008 About 2 weeks after the first batch of Luna Sport Recovery Smoothies arrived, another package came from the manufacturer with an additional 4 Strawberry Banana and 3 Dark Chocolate individual serving packages. Yay! The first time I used the Recovery Smoothie was after a particularly grueling session in the gym. I had worked out for about an hour; most of that time was spent on a circuit of exercises and the remainder I did some other miscellaneous exercises to fill out the time I had available. I was pretty spent when done. My usual routine involves jumping into the shower post workout, but I took the time to mix up and consume a Recovery Smoothie before doing so. The next few times I consumed a Smoothie it was after a run around my neighbourhood and through a riverside park along snow covered trails. These were runs ranging from 4-7 km (2.5-4.4 mi) about twice a week. I also consumed the Smoothies after a couple of snowshoeing afternoons on the weekends. Each package contains enough Smoothie powder to mix with 234 ml (8 oz) of a beverage. The manufacturer recommends water, milk, or soy milk. The package has a convenient tear tab at the top of the package that makes opening the package simple. I didn't have a blender or anything I could shake the Smoothie in at the gym, so I resorted to mixing with a spoon. I see why the manufacturer does not recommend preparing it this way. It took me a long time to get it to mix and I was crushing little Styrofoam ball sized pieces of floating powder for quite a while. It eventually did mix, but it was time consuming. After running or snowshoeing, I came home where I had access to my blender or a glass with a lid that I could shake the Smoothies in to prepare them. Mixing up the Smoothies with a blender was by far the best way to make sure it was all mixed together with whatever liquid I was using. The next best was the glass with a lid, but this took more effort: a few minutes of shaking to get a consistency similar to that which I could achieve with a blender in less than a minute. I work in a fitness center with a bunch of very well educated personal trainers and other individuals who are very knowledgeable about physical fitness, nutrition, and conditioning for sports. From my experiences with them and my personal knowledge, I know that whey protein is the better absorbed of the available protein powders on the market. The down side of whey protein is that it doesn't generally mix up very well and it isn't the greatest tasting stuff, at least from my personal experiences. I prefer soy protein for its taste and mixability. The Recovery Smoothie is made from whey protein. I am happy to say that the LUNA Sport Recovery Smoothie doesn't taste too bad. It is definitely more palatable than many other products I have tried. I tried mixing the Smoothie with a variety of liquids: Strawberry Banana with water Strawberry Banana with pineapple juice (this is what I use with another protein shake mix) Strawberry Banana with 1% milk Dark Chocolate with water Dark Chocolate with 1% milk The pineapple juice combination was much too sweet. The Strawberry Banana I found to be sweet enough on its own. Both the flavours mixed with water produced a rather unappetizing looking gelatinous liquid. It didn't taste too bad, but it certainly looked strange. Mixing with water also produced the most unstable liquid of the three; after a few minutes the Smoothie would start to separate. The best method of preparing the Smoothies was with the 1% milk. Doing this in a blender would produce a nice smooth consistency with a 'head' of froth on it. Mmmm! Good stuff! As for how I felt after consuming the Smoothie: I had plenty of oomph and didn't experience any adverse intestinal issues. In fact, I felt energized and ready to tackle the next task of the day. The days I consumed the Smoothie after a run were always in the morning after I had eaten a light breakfast prior to running. The Smoothie would hold me over until I could get the opportunity to have lunch. Summary: I would definitely consider buying the Dark Chocolate flavour on a regular basis as a recovery protein drink. The Strawberry Banana I would consider on occasion as variety from the Dark Chocolate. LUNA has done an excellent job in producing a palatable, relatively easy mixing product for women! Things I Liked: Frothy beverage produced with milk in the blender The taste of the Dark Chocolate flavour Things I Didn't Like: Either flavour mixed with water This concludes my Field Report. Thank you to BackpackGearTest and Clif Bar & Co. for the opportunity to test the LUNA Sport Recovery Smoothie. Read more gear reviews by Jo Ann Moffi Reviews > Food > Energy Bars and Drinks > Luna Sports Recovery Smoothie > Test Report by Jo Ann Moffi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
