As you know (because I keep banging on about it), I’m on somewhat of a health kick this year. I’m eating clean and lean so my body is clean and lean. I’ve just this week hit my goal weight so it must be working, but it’s not the easiest thing I’ve ever done, particularly when you’re busy and you need to grab something and go. This is clearly where Clean Shakes have got their business idea from. In line with companies like The Naked Deli (which I LOVE), it’s clear local businesses in the North East are getting more on track with the fact that not everyone wants to snack on sausage rolls and stotties. Luckily, I was given the chance to check out the latest Clean Shakes and jumped at the chance.
First things first, what are Clean Shakes? Well the business was set up by three local students from Newcastle Business School’s Entrepreneurial Business Management (EBM) Programme, who saw a gap in the market for a nutritious, tasty product that could easily slot into people’s lifestyles. As the name suggests, the shakes are full of clean products – and it’s fair to say there are no nasties here.
All the shakes are vegan friendly and free from dairy, gluten and artificial flavourings.
This Goodness shake only contains fruit, almond milk, vanilla extract and natural sweetener, agave syrup. Perfect to fit in with my diet on my moderate carb days, I like to drink one down fresh from the fridge on the days when I train.
I was given three flavours to try: Goodness, Berralicious and the National Vision Week special.
Berralicious
Berralicious, as you might have guessed, is full of berry goodness and packed with antioxidants. It’s tasty, but I wasn’t so keen on the slightly more grainy texture from the berries.
National Vision Week Special
From what I understand, this isn’t a standard flavour, but one that has been specially produced in partnership with National Vision Week and has passion fruit and mango in it. Mango is rich in Vitamin A, which helps to promote healthy ye sight, fight dry eyes and help avoid night blindness.
Goodness
Packed full of vitamin A, which is good for vision and skin, the Goodness smoothie was probably my favourite of the three. It’s a beautiful red colour because of the beetroot in it and it had a nice texture.
My one criticism of the product would be that the label makes it a little bit difficult to distinguish what’s in there properly as it kind of merges with the background. I’m sure this is something that they’ll work on as they develop the brand, and I’m keen to see how it progresses!
If you want to find out more, check out the lovely ladies from Clean Shakes on Facebook and Twitter.
♥ JH