Bulk Complete Greens is a refreshingly simple, affordable greens powder made by Bulk, an established British brand.
According to Bulk, greens powder can fill critical gaps in your daily nutrition. Can it really, though?
Let’s look closely at Complete Greens’s pros, cons, customer reviews, and more.
Why Are Greens Products So Important?
Something is lacking in most people’s diets today: greens.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that just 10% of Americans are getting adequate fruits and vegetables. (Source)
Greens powders aren’t a perfect 1:1 substitute for fresh fruits and veggies — they lack fiber and may be lower in several types of antioxidants than their fresh counterparts.
But these powders can help you bridge the gap between nutrient deficiency and sufficiency.
While greens powders aren’t a direct substitute nor an excuse to push whole vegetables off your plate, they can help bridge the gap.
Greens powders are thought to be rich enough in B vitamins, minerals, and amino acids to help the body detox from environmental toxins.
Greens powders containing cruciferous vegetables may help your body produce something called glutathione, an internal antioxidant promoting detoxification. (Source)
Greens powders are commonly made in one of two ways. The first method involves dehydrating whole fruits and/or vegetables, then pulverizing them into powder form.
The second method involves juicing fruits and/or veggies, drying out their juice, and then pulverizing it into powder.
A third type of greens powder features some combination of both methods.
Why?
Because some veggies lend themselves to whole dehydration less than others.
On the other hand, the juice from veggies (and fruits) tends to be slightly sweeter and less bitter.
Other supplements I have reviewed you may be interested in:
Bulk Complete Greens: The Brand Behind
“We're committed to creating world-class nutrition for every step of your journey,” Bulk explains on their About Page.
How’d Bulk get started?
Like so many other now-mainstream companies, Bulk has humble beginnings.
They got their start in 2006 with a spare bedroom and a £3,000 credit card loan from parents, and they’ve been dedicated to empowering “every athlete and every person” ever since then. And the brand’s goals go even bigger than that; they hope to “transform sports nutrition and wellbeing.”
The stats show that Bulk is well on its way there.
In 2021 they delivered over 20 million products to customers from around the globe.
They aim to provide:
- The best ingredients
- The best formulations
- The best taste
- The best choice
- The best service
- The best brand experience
Lots of superlatives here, that’s for sure!
Let’s objectively examine whether or not Bulk’s Greens Powder lives up to these ideals.
Bulk Complete Greens’ Ingredients List
Complete Greens is a surprisingly simple product, at least as far as greens powders are concerned.
Those familiar with this micro-industry will know it’s not uncommon to see products with 50-100+ ingredients!
So it’s almost refreshing to see that Complete Greens has only 8.
Here are the details.
Bulk Complete Greens Unflavoured/Flavoured Ingredients
In addition to the 8 active ingredients featured in both varieties of Complete Greens, the flavored version gets its taste from an additional 3 inactive ingredients.
- Natural Flavouring (inactive)
- Citric Acid (inactive)
- Steviol Glycosides (inactive)
And below are Bulk Complete Greens’ nutrition stats.
Per 9-gram serving, Complete Greens contains:
- 28 calories
- 0.2 grams of fat
- 0.1 grams of sat. fat
- 1.5 grams of carbohydrates
- 0.7 grams of sugar
- 2.3 grams of fiber
- 3.7 grams of protein
- 0.13 grams of salt
Here are the Bulk Complete Greens supplement facts:
Complete Greens’ Top Benefits
Complete Greens has been one of the Bulk brand’s most popular products since it launched in 2012.
They’ve modified the product several times since its inception, bringing its ingredients list down from 25 ingredients to just 8 currently.
“We now have the ethos of ‘less is more', Bulk explains.
The 8 ingredients that remain in Complete Greens are “fully established in sports nutrition”.
I like that Bulk is bucking industry trends and going with larger amounts of the ingredients that matter.
Complete Greens Benefits List
- Rich in superfoods. Complete Greens contains both spirulina and chlorella, two powdered plant products that are incredibly high in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory agents, chlorophyll, and more.
- High in fiber. Complete Greens retains much of the fiber found in its original, unprocessed ingredients. Each serving packs in 2.3 grams of fiber. This fiber may help improve bowel motility and regularity. Fiber may also bind to and remove toxins from the digestive tract. (Source)
- The convenience factor. Complete Greens allows you to load up on 8 different greens with no prepping, chopping, cooking, or chewing required!
- The versatility. Complete Greens can be added to drinks, smoothies, soups, and whole foods. I also like that customers can choose between flavored and unflavored options.
There’s only one problem with Complete Greens’ potential health benefits: we have no way of knowing if any of them are, well, real.
That’s because none of the eight active ingredients in Complete Greens have their quantity listed anywhere!
I don’t know how much spirulina, chlorella, broccoli, pumpkin seed protein, etc. are in this product.
While we know that each serving of Complete Greens weighs 9 grams, there's absolutely no way of knowing how much each ingredient contributes to that total weight.
It’s not even that Complete Greens overuse those dreaded proprietary blends — it’s just that the product’s ingredients label is incomplete.
How To Use Complete Greens
Using Complete Greens is simple.
Just mix 3.5 scoops (total weight: 9 grams) with ~250 milliliters of water in a shaker bottle.
Consume one or two servings a day.
Bulk says that Complete Greens goes well with some of their other top products, including their Complete Multivitamin Complex and Pro Culture.
It also pairs well with a fruit + Vegan Protein Powder smoothie.
Does Complete Greens Have Side Effects?
It doesn’t seem to have any.
The fact that Complete Greens only has 8 ingredients means that undesirable compound-compound interactions are unlikely.
We didn’t see any customers complaining about side effects, either.
Does Complete Greens Have Positive Customer Reviews?
Complete Greens has well over 1,000 reviews on Bulk’s website.
The average review is 4.5/5 stars.
Considering that under 10% of purchasers typically review a product, over 10,000 people have probably tried Complete Greens at one point or another.
Suffice to say it’s a well-established product.
Complete Greens has a large European customer base.
Here’s a positive review translated from Italian:
“Completely tasteless, it is perfect to add to a fruit smoothie. Although a dose of 3 tsp is recommended, I always put in only one [heaping tsp] and I am fine!”
And here’s another good review, this one translated from Swedish:
“This blend has exactly all the goodness I want in a green drink. I appreciate that it's not sweetened or flavored, I think it just gets weird then. I take a teaspoon in water along with some lemon juice or similar. Tastes perfectly fine then, you get used to it. Will buy bigger packages next time!”
Negative reviews, on the other hand, usually complain about the taste:
“It’s pretty gross, to be honest. Way too heavy on the sweeteners yet still doesn’t manage to mask some of the pretty troubling aftertastes.”
…or the inconsistent customer service:
“For the second time in a row, I've waited well over a month for Bulk to deliver to Ireland. Still don't seem to have any plan in place post-Brexit. Shouldn't have an Irish site live if you can't service the market. Burnt twice, won't be trying again.”
Complete Greens Pricing
Each Complete Greens package costs £34.99, or £0.64 per serving.
That’s reasonable and under what you’d normally see from a greens powder.
However, there’s no chance to save by buying in bulk because the Bulk brand’s whole concept is to offer bulk pricing on everything.
Where To Buy Complete Greens
You can buy complete Greens on the brand’s website here.
As of August 2022, I didn’t see the product on Amazon.
Complete Greens: My Verdict
Complete Greens is a simple, affordable product that’s produced by a brand with a noble mission.
But this product really misses the mark when it comes to transparency.
The only thing I know about Complete Greens is the identity of its 8 active ingredients!
I have no way of knowing how much of any of these ingredients the product contains — nor does anything else.
Add to this lack of transparency Complete Greens’ lackluster taste, and it’s clear better options are available. We cover many such options in our round-up of recommended greens here.
LifeHacker Guy Greens Recommendation
Some Call This An "Extreme" Step...
Most super greens supplements are disappointing.
I learned this the hard way. After creating this blog in 2018, I spent months buying and testing all the most popular brands.
I wasn’t happy with the results so I did something you might call "extreme"....
In 2019 I created my own brand that ticks every single box of what I look for in a super greens product:
- No hidden ingredient amounts - we have full disclosure labelling, so you know EXACTLY whats inside
- Ingredient amounts that make a difference - we include the minimum effective amounts supported by research, and most of the time, MORE
- Ingredients that help immunity, boost mental clarity and shake off brain fog - making for a much more productive and happy lifestyle
No more worrying about ineffective ingredients or too low dosages. I finally have a product I KNOW does the job it’s made to do.
I use it every day and, after years of battling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), I now have my energy (and my life!) back.
The good news? I made my brand available to the public so you can see and feel the difference for yourself.