If you don’t mind us saying so, we think our IsaLean™ Shake Dairy Free flavours, Rich Chocolate and Vanilla Chai, taste pretty amazing!
How good? Enough that we know many of you have had questions about their individual ingredients, how they’re flavoured and how we managed to keep them nutritious for you. Here we reveal all, in an ingredient-by-ingredient breakdown.
Plant-Based Protein
Displayed prominently on the labels of each shake is Phyto-IsaLean Complex™. The complex is made up of a blend of whole-grain rice protein and pea protein isolate crafted specifically to create a complete amino acid profile designed to support muscle maintenance or growth during weight loss or weight maintenance.
The breakdown of plant-based protein sources are:
- Whole-grain brown rice protein: The smooth-tasting hypoallergenic protein source extracted from whole-grain brown rice supplies key amino acids including arginine, cysteine and methionine
- Pea protein isolate: The protein concentrate from peas offers a high concentration of branched-chain amino acids and lysine for a complete amino acid profile. It’s also a slow-digesting protein that helps increase satiety
Plant-Based Protein Extraction Methods
In addition, Isagenix™ avoids the use of potentially unhealthy chemicals such as hexane during the extraction process of the protein from raw ingredients. The brown rice protein is produced using low-heat methods that meet organic standards and to ensure integrity of the final product.
The rice protein is extracted from multiple layers of the whole grain, not the more typical rice protein process that uses hexane to chemically extract the protein from the bran layer only. The chemical-free extraction process using enzymes produces a hexane-free protein.
Our pea protein is extracted through physical separation. The peas go through a process of screening, soaking, crushing, separating and drying. Along the way, the product passes through several phases of sterilisation and analytic testing to bring you the safest and most natural product.
Similar to the process of producing our brown rice protein, the process for pea protein doesn’t use a chemical extraction process or hexane. The low-heat process ensures the pea protein is not altered, preventing any denaturation of the product.
Carbohydrates
A good meal replacement would not be complete without carbohydrates, preferably in a profile that provides just enough sweetness. These carbohydrates provide the essential energy to fuel your muscles, brain, and nervous system. The combination of carbohydrates includes molasses powder, evaporated cane juice and whole-grain rice milk powder, which helps to give the product a creamy texture.
Good Fats
Supporting your body with the right kinds of fat every day is an essential part of a healthy diet. The new IsaLean Shake Dairy Free delivers 8 grams of fat. Fats are crucial for many functions in the body, in addition to their role in aiding digestion and absorption of essential nutrients and vitamins. The sources of fats in the dairy-free shake are sunflower oil powder, olive oil powder and medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs).
Dietary Fibre
Generally, most people do not consume enough fibre in their diet. The new flavours of dairy-free IsaLean Shake provide 8 grams of dietary fibre to help close this gap, promote digestive regularity and help enhance post-meal satiety. Some of these ingredients also act as soluble prebiotic fibre. Sources of fibre in the shake include isomaltooligosaccharide powder, chia seed powder, flax seed powder and xanthan gum.
Fruits and Vegetable Blend
Dairy-free IsaLean shakes also offer a blend of fruit and vegetables selected to supply a combination of natural nutrients that belong in a healthy diet. This whole food blend is made up of acai berry, apple, banana, beet, butternut squash, carrot, kale, pomegranate, pumpkin, sweet potato and spinach.
Natural Flavours
No artificial sweeteners or colours are used in any Isagenix products. Dairy-free IsaLean shakes are no exception to this rule. It’s for this reason that natural flavouring agents are so important. We use:
- Natural Dutch cocoa powder: An extract from the beans of the cacao plant used as the main flavouring agent in the Rich Chocolate IsaLean Shake Dairy-Free
- Natural flavours: ‘Natural flavours’ is a regulated industry term used to define flavourings that are created using only components found in nature. They are generally made up of essential oils, essences or extracts, fruit juices and spices
- Sea salt: Produced from the evaporation of seawater, sea salt is used to enhance the flavour of the IsaLean shakes
- Stevia leaf extract: South American herb that is naturally sweeter than sugar and has no calories
- Cinnamon: A common spice used in many styles of cooking
- Nutmeg: A household spice that adds to the shake flavour
- Cardamom: The spice from the seed pods of various plants in the ginger family, which has a strong pungent flavour
Other Ingredients
Most plant-based shakes are known for their gritty and chalky texture. To improve mouthfeel, special ingredients were needed to create a plant-based shake that stacked up to the smooth, creamy texture of the dairy-based IsaLean shakes. These ingredients include:
- Sunflower lecithin: A natural emulsifier that helps keep fats and water from separating to produce smoothness
- Potassium citrate: Potassium salt of citric acid that is used to regulate acidity
- Silicon dioxide: A naturally occurring mineral that is used as an anticaking agent that helps maintain the shake’s proper texture
- Magnesium stearate: A vegetable-derived salt used during the manufacturing of the shake
- Tricalcium phosphate
A Bonus For Healthy Tummies
A growing body of research supports the importance of daily sources of probiotics for good gut health (1). The addition of Lactobacillus acidophilus in the dairy-free shake can help to contribute to your daily probiotic requirements. There have been some questions around whether this probiotic is suitable for those following a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. The answer is yes – the culture is grown on a dairy-free medium and is lyophilised (a form of freeze-drying) to maintain its integrity, making our dairy-free IsaLean Shake suitable for those wishing to maintain a vegan lifestyle.
A No-Compromise Quality Shake
As always when it comes to creating each product, we follow the Isagenix no-compromise Ingredient Policy. These stringent quality standards start with the rigorous testing of each individual raw material. It’s an extensive and thorough process, set up to ensure our commitment to the highest standards of manufacturing and quality assurance.
- Hemarajata P, Versalovic J. Effects of probiotics on gut microbiota: mechanisms of intestinal immunomodulation and neuromodulation. Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology. 2013;6(1):39-51. doi:10.1177/1756283X12459294.
