New Year & Working With Feed

It’s been a little while since I’ve last personally written a blog post. I guess it’s related to just how busy things are these days! In this post I’m going to talk about what I’ve been up to, as well as my findings from my latest collaboration, this time with Feed. 

Firstly happy new year to you all! I really hope it has started well and you’ve set yourself up with some achievable, exciting goals for the year ahead. 

For me, my first goal for 2020 actually came about late December after watching the Netflix documentary, ‘The Game Changers’ directed by James Cameron. It discusses the vegan diet from a health perspective and, to me, made perfect sense to try this out and challenge myself from the better of my future self. 

I’ll go into more detail on how I’ve turned my kitchen and lifestyle into being meat, egg and dairy-free, in another blog post. In short, it’s been eye-opening, challenging and exceptionally rewarding at the same time. I’ve cooked some of the tastiest dishes since going vegan, as well as obtaining plenty of protein and feeling fuller for longer. Now, the whole plate is the highlight, and no longer the animal. 

A month before watching the documentary I was approached by a company called Feed. They wanted me to try out their product range and report back to my readership on what I thought, and how it may fit into a busy lifestyle. At this stage I wasn’t vegan but was certainly thinking about eating less meat, so I was open to their concept. 

So what actually is Feed? 

Feed was built around a concept of loving food but often having to skip meals due to a busy lifestyle. Feed created numerous practical product solutions that allow you to attain all of the necessary nutritional components in a more convenient format such as shakes and bars. Their goal isn’t to replace every single one of your meals, but instead allow you to attain the necessary nutrition in another form, rather than skipping a meal entirely. 

I was sent numerous products at the turn of December to see what I thought and maybe introduce them to you guys. My first reaction when they arrived was how impressed I was with the variety of product choice. From meal replacement shakes, to powders, bars and crunchy snacks. There was a wide variety of options open to you, not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ shake. 

According to their website ‘Feed. uses only the best ingredients, with a very low glycaemic index. Feed. products are designed to ensure a slow assimilation of nutrients, without triggering an insulin peak.’ 

The first products I tried were known as ‘Crunchy’. They were these small chocolate balls with a crunchy centre and I’d tuck into them between clients at work to keep me going between heavier meals. They were delicious, with a dark chocolate coating that satisfied my hunger and cravings until it was time for my lunch. I wanted more! 

Crunchy was packed with protein, a reduction in sugar, as well as plenty of fibre. They also included a large portion of vitamins and minerals, so there was difficulty to find anything negative about them! 

I go to the gym regularly and afterwards I always try to have a protein shake so that my muscles have the ability to recover as quickly and efficiently as possible. 

As good as these intentions are, I often don’t have time in the morning to prepare my lunches, let alone an additional protein shake for a gym session straight from work. That’s where the ready-made bottles came in so handy.

I had the chocolate and vanilla flavours, both of which were exceptional in taste, and included enough protein and carbohydrates to keep me going long before I was sitting down for my evening dinner. 

As they’re made in France the first set of directions and ingredients were usually in French first. This was fine where there was an English translation, however on a few products I couldn’t find this, which made it harder to figure out exactly what I was consuming. All of their nutritional information is on their website, with plenty of detail though.

I decided this year I’d return to my original half-marathon that I ran almost exactly 2 years ago. 5 days into January with limited training over the December/Xmas period was certainly not ideal, however I do feel that the vegan diet that I’d adopted the day after Boxing Day, as well as Feed’s products, helped me get through it. In fact, my post-run shake was Feed, which helped me to recover my lost calories and help aid the first stage of my overall recovery. 

Overall I was very satisfied with the diverse range of products on offer. The shakes did act as a replacement meal (or an additional one!) and as I’m currently in the process of building, I’m trying to find additional calories wherever possible, and this is an excellent solution in-between main meals. 

Whether it was as a snack, a meal, a protein solution after the gym, I found Feed to be extremely convenient, nutritional and very tasty with well-thought out products that certainly matches the concept they wanted to create. I’d highly recommend them! 

Adam Warren