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Super Greens tub from above

Are Green Powders A Waste Of Money? Or, Are They A Great Investment?

Green powders are potent supplements that provide nutritional insurance for consumers, as well as provide an array of specific health benefits.

The benefits of greens powders have been extensively researched and proven (as long as you are consuming a sufficiently dosed formula), but many people tend to believe that greens powders are a waste of money. These people are losing out on ever experiencing the benefits that come from a really great green formula!

In this article I’m going to be taking a look at whether green powders are a waste of money or a great investment, so you can make sure you’re making the right choice with your money.

Are Green Powders Expensive?

The price of green supplements really varies depending on the brand that you choose to buy from and the quality of the formula that you purchase.

Typically, most green powders that are made from proprietary blends are cheaper, and brands that sell a wide range of supplements usually price their super greens formulas cheaper too, due to the fact that they can make their money up elsewhere.

You can be looking anywhere between $20 – $100 for a greens supplement, so there’s a lot of options depending on what your personal budget is.

If you want to look at and compare the cost per serving of several greens supplements, all you need to do is take the cost of the product and divide it by the number of servings in the tub or pouch.

By looking at the cost per serving rather than the overall price of a formula, it can help you see which formula gives you more bang for your buck!

Best tasting greens powders

Which Green Powders Are A Waste Of Money?

Now you know that there’s such a wide range of pricing associated with green supplements, it’s time to actually get into it and answer the question, “are green powders a waste of money?”.

The honest answer is – some green powders are definitely a waste of money.

If you choose the wrong greens powder, you are pretty much-throwing money down the drain. So, which are the green powders you shouldn’t buy?

The bottom line is that you should never purchase a greens supplement that leaves you guessing the ingredient amounts, therefore leaving you in the dark to wonder whether it will actually work or not.

Green Powders Made Using Proprietary Blends

So, you need to avoid buying green powders made using proprietary blends. Unfortunately, a lot of the time, brands think that it’s acceptable to not provide a fully disclosed list of ingredients, so they use proprietary blends.

Proprietary blends are blends of various ingredients, and the amount of each ingredient is never shown, leaving the consumer guessing how much of each ingredient actually exists in the formula.

Unfortunately, most of the time, green powders that are made from proprietary blends do not have sufficiently weighted ingredients and therefore will not provide the consumer with the essential nutrients or health benefits that the brand claims it will.

Supplement proprietary formulas

Green Gummies and Capsules

Green gummies and capsules have really risen to popularity in recent years, with producers of these products claiming that you receive all the same nutrition as you would with a greens powder, but you don’t have to suffer the grassy, natural taste, and they’re easier to consume!

However, there’s a big problem with green gummies and green capsules – they’re massively underdosed.

Most of these ingredients have a recommended serving size of between 1-3g, so there’s absolutely no way you’re receiving a sufficient amount of each ingredient.

Let’s take a look at 8 Green Gummies as an example.

The serving size recommended is 2 gummies per day, and each gummy contains only 686mg of a super greens proprietary blend!

Even if you’re taking 2 gummies per day, this means you’re only receiving 1.37g of a proprietary blend that contains 11 ingredients.

Most of these ingredients have a recommended serving size of between 1-3g, so there’s absolutely no way you’re receiving a sufficient amount of each ingredient.

Gummies also contain high amounts of sugar.

For example, one 8Greens gummy contains 5g of sugar, meaning every day you will be consuming 10g of sugar if you’re taking the recommended serving – this is nearly half of your daily recommended sugar intake.

The same applies to capsules (apart from the huge amounts of sugar) – they’re underdosed and therefore won’t provide you with a sufficient amount of each ingredient (check out my Balance of Nature review where I discuss this in more detail).

Most green gummies and capsules are also not any cheaper than greens powders. In fact, in a lot of cases, they’re more expensive, meaning you would be 100% wasting your money.

Green capsules on table

How Can You Choose A Great Greens Powder To Ensure It’s An Investment?

However, greens powders do not have to be a waste of money. In fact, they can be the best investment in yourself that you ever make! All you need to do is make sure that you purchase the right formula!

To help you out on this quest, I have already written a round-up of the 9 best greens powders and superfood supplements for this year.

Although you should still know how to choose a great greens powder, I’m going to share what you should be looking for.

Greens Powders With Fully Disclosed Labelling

One of the most important things you need to look for when shopping around for a greens supplement that’s going to be a good investment is a fully disclosed ingredients label.

When you choose a greens powder with a fully disclosed label, you know exactly how much of each ingredient you’re consuming, and you have the ability to make sure the formula contains sufficient amounts of each ingredient.

With a fully disclosed label, you can work out if the formula will actually work or not, and 99.9% of the time, brands with fully disclosed labels will make sure that they’ve added sufficient amounts of each ingredient.

Supergreen Tonik full disclosure label

SuperGreen Tonik transparent labeling with all the ingredient weights revealed on the tub.

Greens Powders Packed With The Most Potent Ingredients

If you want to find a greens powder that’s a good investment for you, make sure you’re looking for ones that have a wide range of potent ingredients.

You should make sure that the formula you choose has the most powerful super greens ingredients such as spinach, kale, wheatgrass, barley grass, chlorella, spirulina, and moringa.

As long as a formula contains these super greens ingredients, pretty much anything else is an added bonus!

Greens Powders That Taste Good

You want to make sure that the greens powder you choose tastes good. If it doesn’t, you might have a very difficult time actually consuming it and you might not consume it as often as you should.

So, choose to purchase a greens powder from a brand that has put the utmost effort into making it taste great. In addition, look for positive reviews about taste. You can check out my article on the best tasting greens powders as a guide.

Guy drinking SuperGreen TONIK

The Bottom Line

Green powders are not a waste of money, as long as you choose to purchase the right one!

As long as you go for a green supplement that has a fully disclosed label, tastes good, and contains a wide range of the most potent super greens ingredients, you’re making an investment in your own health.

Adam Author

About the LifeHacker Guy

Hi, I'm Adam the founder of the LifeHacker Guy.

I have a First Class Honours degree in Sports Science from Brighton University, specialising in exercise physiology and nutrition. In my youth I was a competitive Triathlete and long-distance runner placing top 10 in most triathlon races I completed.

Since suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I moved into web development, after a couple of years I then moved onto developing a number of online businesses. I've recently taken a sabbatical and I'm now looking to make big changes in my life, hopefully this may resonate with you - join me in my journey!

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