Tag: veganfriendly

Nutrition and Food, Product Reviews

Vitalura Labs Pre-Workout Review

Sarah Miller, RD

Pre-workout is a supplement that I had never tried. Vitalura Labs sent me their new strawberry sorbetto and limoncello flavored pre-workout supplement. I’m an affiliate with Vitalura Labs, however my thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. If you’re new here, I’m a Registered Dietitian with a passion for nutrition and wellness.

What is Pre-Workout?

Pre-workout supplements are used with the intent of maximizing your performance during your chosen activity. They generally contain caffeine and electrolytes to give you a boost of energy, enhance performance and improve your focus. Some pre-workout supplements have ingredients like creatine added to them to also jump start your recovery process.

The Details

  1. First timers: This was my first time trying a pre-workout supplement. I’ve always had coffee in the morning before my workouts so I never felt the need. My schedule has been a little all over the place lately so I went ahead and tried the pre-workout. Don’t make the same mistakes I did the first time I tried them. I’ll explain as we go.
  2. Flavors and ingredients: There are two flavors, strawberry sorbetto and limoncello. Both have a bit of a salty taste but are overwhelmingly the flavors of strawberry or lemon, respectively. Ingredients include vitamin C and B12, sodium, potassium, caffeine, l-theanine, rhodiola extract, theacrine and l-methylfolate calcium. This supplement is vegetarian and vegan friendly.
  3. Caffeine: There is 150mg of caffeine per serving. If you are caffeine sensitive you’ll definitely want to pay attention to your total caffeine intake for the rest of the day. I’m someone who is caffeine sensitive and gets very jittery if I consume too much. The days I drank pre-workout I only had 1 coffee that day instead of my usual 2.
  4. Suggested use: 1 scoop of pre-workout mixed with 4 oz water about 30 minutes before your workout/activity.
  5. NSF: like all of their other products, the pre-workout is NSF certified so you can rest assured that you’re consuming what’s listed on the label and nothing more or less. 

Drink Up

If this is your first time taking pre-workout pay attention: don’t plan on savoring and sipping this like you would your morning coffee. I mean, I guess you could if you really want to, but I mistakenly made a tall glass and savored mine the first time.  I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I failed so hard on my first taste test, but if you’ve never taken pre-workout it’s an easy mistake to make! I thought maybe this product isn’t for me. Not every product or experience is for everyone, right? I’m so glad that when the Vitalura Labs Dietitian, Kylie, reached out to me that I wrote back and asked for some tips. She definitely delivered. I followed her advice and it made for an awesome experience and changed my mind about the product.

Know that you really only need 4 oz of water and not a full glass. I suggest using cold water, mixing 1 scoop well and then start drinking, don’t savor. The flavor on your tongue ends up being mostly the sweet tasting strawberry or lemon instead of the salt added for electrolytes. Treat it more like you would a shot of alcohol and drink up.

My Experience

Each time I’ve consumed the pre-workout was first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. I was a little nervous about drinking 150mg caffeine on an empty stomach but 30 minutes prior to when you plan to workout is perfect. Each time that I’ve used the pre-workout I definitely noticed a nice perk-up effect starting about 20 minutes after drinking. 

1 serving of pre-workout

The best part is that I never felt regret for my empty stomach- I haven’t experienced any jitters, nausea, or other unwanted side-effects. No crash, either! I felt energized and awake, ready for my workout. I even noticed that my focus was improved and I felt better connected to my muscles and attention on the muscle(s) I was exercising. My mind had that same focus I get from drinking coffee! And since I only needed to drink 4oz I didn’t have a bunch of liquid sloshing around in my stomach; an unpleasant experience I’m sure many of us have had after drinking too much fluid before a workout.

Strawberry or Limoncello?

I prefer the strawberry sorbetto flavor to the limoncello. Both are perfectly named and taste like you would expect, but the strawberry one has a sort of energizing taste and smell that I like more than the limoncello. It’s difficult to describe but after having both I feel like the strawberry one just tastes better to me. If you’re not sure I recommend you try both to start; they’re of the same quality and ingredients and once you chose a favorite you can add that to your supplement subscription so that you never run out.

Final Thoughts- Is Pre-Workout Essential?

Is pre-workout for everyone? No, it’s likely not. If you’re pregnant definitely check with your Doctor before taking any supplements to make sure it’s safe for you and your pregnancy. Pre-workout is definitely a nice to have supplement and not something that is required to achieve better results. If I had to choose only 1 supplement to take I would likely take creatine daily and skip pre-workout.

You can read my other Vitalura Lab supplement reviews including creatine and protein (whey and plant-based) to help you decide your optimal supplement routine. You can shop through my links or go directly to the Vitalura Labs website. Make sure to use code “SARAHMILLER” to get free shipping on your order!

Need help deciding what supplements to use or skip? Consider working with a Registered Dietitian to optimize your nutrition and wellness plan! Start here if you’re not sure why a Registered Dietitian is an expert in all things nutrition.

Nutrition and Food, Product Reviews

Is Creatine Worth Supplementing?

Sarah Miller, RD

I’ve always been very choosy with my supplements both for safety and quality reasons but also for financial. There are many supplements on the market that can be overkill when someone is eating a balanced diet that result in creating expensive urine.

Why would I spend extra money on something that I’m already getting plenty of in my dietary habits? Additionally being picky has meant that many supplements just didn’t appeal to me since they didn’t have the third- party certifications I look for.

Except that I’m probably not getting plenty of creatine because of my choice of diet. I follow a vegan diet, and as I’ll explain later this means I would likely benefit from supplementation of creatine. It’s also worth noting here that creatine monohydrate is vegan-friendly. If you follow a vegetarian diet of any type you’ll also want to keep reading.

If you’re new to supplements or don’t really know the quality/safety specifics I recommend checking out my previous post Let’s Chat: Supplements to learn more.

Some Science

Creatine is a naturally occurring substance. Your body makes creatine in the liver, kidneys and pancreas and converts it into creatine phosphate (or phosphocreatine) and stored in your muscles where it can be used for energy. When you engage in short duration, high intensity bursts of activity (think HIIT, sprinting, weight lifting) phosphocreatine is used in your body.

Despite there being numerous studies looking at creatine’s ability to improve athletic performance, not all bodies are the same and therefore not everyone’s body responds to creatine the same way. Dietary intake of creatine can also influence your body’s response to supplementation. Some individuals may have more naturally occurring creatine in their body from their diet and therefore not see the same benefit from supplementation as someone who has a lower storage amount.

Vegans and vegetarians are a population who tend to have lower overall creatine stores; likely because of the omission of meat and fish from their diets. It has been demonstrated that increasing creatine through supplementation may be more beneficial for vegetarians (all types who avoid meat and fish) when compared to non-vegetarians.

Some studies have demonstrated that creatine supplementation can be helpful for people with muscle weakness due to illness. However, the majority of people interested in taking creatine are here because they want to improve their athletic performance.

It’s important to reiterate that creatine has been demonstrated to improve exercise associated with high bursts of energy in short durations and not necessarily in endurance based exercise. Study results looking into its ability to improve endurance based activity performance has been mixed.

My Experience

My first time trying creatine was honestly because Vitalura Labs released one. I immediately bought theirs to try, one because I practice what I preach and I want to support this amazing company, but two because I knew it would be top quality. Every product in their product line has been top notch with NSF certification so I knew their creatine would be no different.

Scoop size next to a coffee cup for reference.

I started taking it about 7 weeks ago. Honestly, at first I didn’t notice much. It was easy to mix into just about anything since it’s a small amount of powder.

But like any change it takes time to notice anything, good or bad. I kept with it and have now been taking it regularly for a little over a month. By about week 5 of taking 5g creatine daily I noticed a significant development that kept me going on the creatine train.

What I Found

While doing my usual lower body routine one day I decided to try increasing the weight stack, just to see if I could complete a rep or 2 at the higher weight. To my surprise, not only was I able to complete 2 reps, I was able to do my entire planned set at that higher weight. The weight isn’t a lot when compared to body builders and hardcore weight lifters, but it was a weight level that I have never successfully been able to lift for more than 1 set of 3 reps. Let me tell you, I was so excited that I immediately checked the weight stack again just to be sure that I wasn’t hallucinating.

Of course there’s a bit to unpack here. Obviously I’ve been very consistently working out and working toward a specific goal. I’m not belittling the effect that consistent strength work can have on your ability to lift more weight. What I think is important to share here is that I didn’t experience the expected and usual fatigue that would set in so quickly whenever I had previously tried to lift the same amount of weight. That ability to push more is where I give the creatine credit.

Another side effect that I did notice was a slight increase in my body weight, very likely due to water retention. This is a known creatine side effect and not one to fear. Water weight gain isn’t real mass and will leave when you stop using it. My own experience of stopping creatine to see if the water retention disappeared worked and I was at my “normal” weight within a week.

It’s important to note that the amount of water retention someone experiences is also relative and different for everyone. The water retention level that someone experiences will depend on their muscle mass and the type of muscle. The majority of creatine is found in your type II (aka fast twitch) muscle. Logically this makes sense as creatine has been found to improve athletic performance for shorter bursts of power. So if you’re someone who is powerful for shorter bursts of time you may find that you also retain a little more water.

As always I want to disclose that I’m an affiliate with Vitalura Labs. I was super excited to find that they sent me my own bag of creatine to try about a week after I bought mine. Thank you to everyone who shops through my links; if you missed it this post might help you understand how important you are.

Are you ready to try creatine with me? You can shop all things Vitalura Labs and even set up subscriptions of their products so you never run out. Use code “SARAHMILLER” for free shipping.