Ambronite…A Whole Food Drinkable Supermeal?

A few weeks ago I was at an event where I had struck up a conversation with a guy in commercial real estate. In typical “getting to know you” conversation, he asked me what I did, and I told him I am a dietitian. The first thing out of his mouth, surprisingly, was not “I need your help” or “Can you make me a meal plan”…instead it was, “Have you heard of Ambronite?” Needless to say, I had not, but I made a mental note to myself to look it up on Google when I got home later that evening.

 

Ambronite is essentially a drinkable supermeal. What makes it so super is that 3-4 servings of this nutritional drink is intended to supply all of the body’s daily needs. Each drink is 500 calories and is considered a full meal. The drink is made with 20 ingredients, all organic, including everything from the ever popular spinach, almonds, walnuts and coconuts to the less known supplements spirulina, chlorella, maca and sea buckthorn berry. I agree that all of the ingredients in this drink are high in plant based protein, fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

Ambronite is based off of the Greek word “Ambrosia”, which means “food of the Gods.”

So food of the Gods, eh? The ingredient list would make one think so. This is probably one of the best meal replacement ingredient lists I have seen in a long time. All pronounceable ingredients. All real foods.

Well, after reading up a bit on this product, my curiosity got the best of me and I emailed the company at their Facebook page. They agreed to send me a sample, but since they are based in Europe, it would take a couple weeks. I waited patiently.

My sample arrived today and I was more than pleased. I had initially thought when I asked for a sample, they would send me an envelope with one serving of Ambronite to try. I was shocked to open the box and find 10 samples and a shaker, plus the nutrition facts sheet (which I did expect to be in the package). Each of these drinks is worth 10 dollars, so that is a pretty generous sampling if you ask me. Bonus points there.

The point of this drinkable super meal is to be able to have a meal on the go that leaves you feeling energized and satisfied for several hours without the hassle of having to sit down and take the time to eat. The guy in real estate I had met told me he had these drinks on hand for days when he had a ton of work to do and eating “got in the way” of other things he needed to get done.

Today was a busy day for me so I figured I would have one of these meal replacements for lunch. I filled the bottle with cold water as directed and poured the powder in and headed out on my way. There is a lot of powder in each container (so many minerals take up a lot of room!) So be mindful of that when you are filling the shaker and be sure to shake it well.

So…again, the point of these meal replacement shakes is to replace a meal and make you feel satisfied. If you can focus on that point, you are good to go. They definitely do make your body feel satisfied. I had mine at 2pm and I was satisfied until about 5pm. Some people might be satisfied longer, but I had worked out a few hours prior, so that is another thing to keep in mind…if you are an active person, it is not going to tide you over more than 3 hours.

I know, I know…you want to know about the taste. Well…sigh…

There is spinach and almonds and walnuts in there, it should taste pretty good, right? Right?

I have to be honest…the taste is like…licking a wood chip shaving. I am sorry Ambronite. Functional, you are…delicious…no.

I had a very hard time finishing this supplement and think it might actually taste more palatable if you added a little stevia, or honey, or some kind of sweetener. While I totally get that this is meant to just be functional, most people don’t want to put 500 calories of “meh” down their throat.

I also noticed on their Instagram page that people use the powder in recipes, so that might be another good idea to use some of the powder in something else.

So, for 10 packets for $99, would I suggest you go out and buy Ambronite? If you are a person who can look at food as strictly functional and need to just put something down your pie hole at a given time to quiet hunger pangs, then yes. If food “gets in the way” of your every day life, this might also do the trick for you. But if you actually like the taste of real food and think you would feel cheated with a tasteless, high caloric drink as a meal and would end up binging later, this is not going to be an option for you.

UPDATE

After I wrote this blog, I contacted the customer service at Ambronite and gave them my honest thoughts on the product. They were content with my honesty and told me that they were concerned people would prefer a sweet or salty taste so they wanted to keep the flavor as neutral as possible and give the customers of Ambronite the chance to decide how they want the drink to taste by adding their favorite milk or juice or creating their own recipes, a few of which can be found here. They also welcome people to come up with their own recipes to share with the company, so that may be my next challenge!!