Now, this is something different. Kylea Health & Energy has produced an unusual hybrid supplement: Total Living Drinks Green is both a greens powder and a protein shake.
That means the calories and serving size are a lot higher than your standard greens powder. One serving weighs in at 40 grams, a lot larger than your standard scoop of whey protein, and it clocks in at 120 calories. With 11 grams of protein and 10 grams of carbs in 40 grams of product, there’s more volume here than other green superfood powders but Kylea doesn’t waste the space. With all that extra volume, the company has been able to add in the volume and variety of nutrients that you don’t often see in their competitors.
Kylea Health & Energy Total Living Drink Greens Ingredients
One scoop contains 120 calories, 11 grams of vegan protein (made from pea, rice, and pumpkin seed), 10 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, and 2.5 grams of fat.
When looking at these ingredients, the first thing I noticed it that it actually has vitamins and minerals added to it. You might find that to be a pro or a con; a lot of people like green superfood powders because they’re meant to be nutritious in and of themselves, but I appreciated the added nutrition because a lot of these kinds of products are actually pretty low in vitamins. Instead of piling in powdered plants and assuming that I’ll assume that confers nutrition, Kylea quantifies the micronutrients I’m looking for.
Non-GMO, and without any artificial ingredients, this vegan protein is well priced and has added digestive enzymes to help with nutrient absorption.
There ares Vitamins A, B1, B2, B12, C, D3, E, K, and a lot of important minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, and manganese. All of these are in such high doses that they meet or exceed the recommended daily intake, sometimes by a lot — there’s 1,166 percent of the RDI of Vitamin C and 8,334 percent of your daily B12.
In other words, even if you want to save some calories and take half or a quarter of a scoop, you’re still likely to be exceeding your recommended intake of most of these nutrients. That might make the price easier to swallow as well.
(We tried 47 brands: check out our best green superfood powder picks!)
After the vitamin and mineral mix there are the amino acids glutamine and taurine, which may help with energy levels and workout recovery; there’s an antioxidant blend; and a blend of digestive enzymes and probiotic bacteria. And then fifteen grams per serving — about a third of the supplement by weight — is a fruit and vegetable formula of alfalfa juice powder, spirulina juice powder, fenugreek, barley juice powder, broccoli juice powder, chlorella, wheat grass juice powder, apple juice powder, pineapple, dulse, luo han guo fruit concentrate, and a few others.
In addition to all that there’s a blend of several kinds of adaptogenic herbs, a term that refers to compounds that may improve the way the body reacts to stress. Kylea’s greens product includes effective dosages of rhodiola rosea and astragalus, which are linked to cognitive benefits.
Kylea Health & Energy Total Living Drink Greens Taste
It’s surprisingly pleasant, and the taste, like the product itself, is like a protein shake combined with a greens supplement. The predominant flavor is blueberry, but there’s also an earthy green tea flavor with somewhat nutty undertones. All in all, it’s quite similar to açai berry.
Kylea Health & Energy Total Living Drink Greens Effectiveness
Total Living Greens Drink provides a large amount of nutrition. As I said above, one serving contains almost 1,200 percent of your RDI of Vitamin C. There’s also over 8000 percent of your B12 and 100 percent of your calcium (which is good news for folks who eat more of a plant-based diet) and a lot zinc, selenium, and manganese, minerals that often get overlooked. It contains far more nutrition than any other greens powder I’ve seen. (Strangely, there’s no information about its iron content.)
I know this sounds nitpicky, but there’s an argument to be made that it’s a little too nutritious. For example, one scoop contains 1,000 milligrams of calcium, but people can only really absorb 500 milligrams at a time, so you’re likely to lose half that amount in your urine anyway.
But most greens powders exaggerate their ability to substitute for fruits and vegetables (“one scoop is the equivalent of five servings!) and this is one of the very few that might actually be overshooting its mark. It’s hard to be too upset with Kylea for that.
Another good thing about this product is that it contains five types of digestive enzymes and four kinds of probiotic bacteria, which should provide benefits for digestive health. However, it doesn’t state how many probiotics are actually present in a dose, which is information I would have found very useful.
But Kylea does an admirable job of offering the best of multivitamins, greens powders, and a protein shake: it’s actually very high in most vitamins and minerals, and it contains a good 15 grams of a “Natural Vegetable & Fruit Formula” that includes industry stalwarts like spirulina, alfalfa, barley, and chlorella. With the vitamins, the grasses, the probiotics, the protein, and the herbal formula, this ticks almost every box.
Really, it’s just missing more detailed information about its probiotic count and its antioxidant content. Some greens powders mention their ORAC score, a method of measuring a product’s antioxidant potency — with an ORAC you can compare this aspect to, say, a cup of blueberries. Kylea hasn’t included that, but to be fair there are very few greens powders that go this far.
Price
At about $100 for thirty servings, or $3.33 per scoop, it’s one of the most expensive greens supplements I’ve seen. Most greens powders cost between $1 and $2 per serving.
Since even half a serving is several times more nutritious than most of its competitors, I would just halve the servings to save the cash. It’s worth pointing out that the product itself suggests that you only consume half servings for the first few weeks of usage in order to accustom your body to its “high level of nutrients.”
Compare that with Onnit’s Earth Grown Nutrients ($2.30/serving), Patriot Power Greens ($1.96/serving) AI Sports Nutrition Red & Greens XT ($1.33/serving), Green Vibrance ($1.08/serving), ORAC-Energy Greens ($1/serving), PharmaFreak Greens Freak ($1/serving), Sun Warrior’s Supergreens ($0.55/serving), and Amazing Grass’s Green Superfood ($0.52/serving).
The Takeaway
It’s expensive and I was a little frustrated by the lack of information regarding the amount of probiotic bacteria it contains, but those issues aside, this is among the more nutritious greens powders I’ve tried.
A lot of its competitors claim they can replace a multivitamin but don’t deliver on that promise. Kylea’s Total Living Drink Green very well could.
Buy Direct for the the best deal on Total Living Drink Greens
Kylea Health & Energy Total Living Drink Greens
Per Serving - $3.33
Pros
- Extremely high in vitamins and minerals
- Transparent labeling
- Source of probiotics and bacteria
Cons
- Expensive
- Needs more information about probiotic and antioxidant content
