Sponsored by 310 Nutrition
Sponsored by 310 Nutrition
Le-Vel is a premium lifestyle company that focuses on creating a high quality brand rather than a niche product. They feature numerous products, all which fit into this “premium lifestyle” that the brand encompasses. One particular product is Thrive Mix, a protein shake.
To clarify, Thrive Mix isn’t referred to as a meal replacement shake, so we can’t be sure if that’s its intention. However, looking at the ingredients and nutritional value, we want to point out the first two ingredients listed on their label is “maltodextrin followed by “soy” protein. Not the best start in our opinion. Maltodextrin is an artificial sugar (also known as a polysaccharide) that that is commonly used food additive. It has a mild, sweet taste and is usually created from corn and wheat but can also made from rice, potatoes and tapioca. Soy, on the other hand, has become controversial over the last few years and is listed second after maltodextrin. Most of the soy that arrives in the US is genetically modified which is why all the fuss. Genetically modified plants such as soy have captured a ton of negative press because of potential side effects. We encourage you to be aware of the “soy” debate before you make any decisions on a daily shake.
That being said 15 grams of protein is a good amount. 5 grams of fiber is good as well, so we were happy to see both of these numbers in this shake.
Thrive Mix shakes also contain garcinia fruit extract. Garcinia cambogia is a South American fruit that is well known as a supplement that suppresses appetite and helps you lose weight. Thrive Mix is actually one of the few shakes that we’ve seen that actually contains it.
With only 2 grams of sugar, this shake is luckily low on the controversial sugar topic. We were surprised to see sucralose included in the ingredients list though, especially because it also contains stevia. Stevia is a wonderful natural sweetener where sucralose is an artificial sweetener. Sucralose (more popularly known as Splenda) has encountered a lot of controversy due to its potential side effects. For this reason some large retailers, including Whole Foods, have recently banned sucralose in their stores.
This shake provides 16 servings per box. We recommend that those who use meal replacement shakes as part of a weight loss plan drink two a day – which would result in Thrive Mix lasting just over a week. These shakes may seem impressively inexpensive at first, but the price tag adds up quickly.
This shake is split pretty evenly between pros and cons. There are some high quality ingredients mixed with some controversial ones. We’ll let you be the judge.
These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual results may vary.
Healthy weight loss is approx. 1-2 pounds per week. Check with your physician before beginning a supplement program.
I tried the vanilla shakes. I blended them with and without ice. Consistency was terrible. It was gritty, and had the feel of blended oatmeal. The taste of the product was great, if you could get past the chalky shake.
My husband and started with the “8 week experience” using this shake, along with their pills and DFT’s last spring. We LOVED the product, but HATED the price! It’s too expensive to keep up with, for us anyway. They try to sell you on, get two others signed up on auto ship and yours will be free. We don’t like feeling like we need to “push” a product on anyone and really just wanted to be able to use the product ourselves without having to sell it to family and/or friends to make it affordable. We also didn’t like the fact that the shake only comes 16 packs per box, so you really need to buy two boxes per person for a full month.