Flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate, Unflavored, Coffee
Garden of Life Raw Organic Fit is one of the few vegan protein powders with all organic and raw ingredients, and has a pretty good reputation.
Naturally, I needed to try and test it.
I’ve broken down the results into the 4 main properties of vegan protein powders.
Table of Contents
Garden of Life Protein Powders
For many years, Garden of Life has been a company with a great reputation. They use ingredients that are Certified USDA Organic and are even Green-e® Energy Certified (i.e. good use of renewable energy).
Unfortunately it seems that Garden of Life is being acquired by Nestlé, which is just an awful company.
Tangent aside, while Garden of Life sells several protein powders (both vegan and whey), this review will focus specially on the Organic Raw Fit powder.
I tested the chocolate version, but there’s also vanilla, original, and coffee flavors.
As the name suggests, it’s a line of protein powders with only raw ingredients. This can be handy on a raw diet since there aren’t too many great vegan sources of raw protein.
Protein Content and Nutrition
The most important aspect of nutrition for a protein shake is protein content, that’s why you drink it.
I developed a simple formula that compares the calories that come from protein to the total number of calories per serving that gives you a score from 0 to 25. This is based on my testing of over 30 vegan powders.
A score near 25 means that relative to other protein powders, a powder has a high protein content.
Looking at the nutritional label, we can see that there’s 28 grams of protein and 170 calories in a serving.
That gives us a nutrition score of 18.
That turns out to be right about average, so not good, but not bad.
Nutrients in Raw Fit
If you’re particularly interested in this powder because of the ingredients, let’s take a quick look:
- Organic Pea Protein, Organic Sprouted Brown Rice Protein, Organic Tapioca Fiber, Organic Chia Seed & Sprout, Organic Flax Seed & Sprout, Organic Cracked-Wall Chlorella, Organic Amaranth Sprout, Organic Quinoa Sprout, Organic Millet Sprout, Organic Buckwheat Sprout, Organic Garbanzo Bean Sprout, Organic Lentil Sprout, Organic Adzuki Bean Sprout, Organic Sunflower Seed Sprout, Organic Pumpkin Seed Sprout, Organic Sesame Sprout, Organic Svetol, Organic Ashwagandha, Raw Probiotic & Enzyme Blend
It’s a complete protein blend made mainly of organic pea and brown rice protein, but the mixture gives it a solid profile of essential amino acids. It also has a probiotic and protein enzyme blend, which may help improve digestibility of the raw ingredients.
On top of the protein, a serving also has significant amounts of:
- Vitamin A – 30% DV
- Vitamin D – 250% DV
- Vitamin E – 100% DV
- Vitamin K – 100% DV
- Calcium – 20% DV
- Iron – 15% DV
Very few protein powders offer both a lot of protein and that level of vitamins and minerals, which is impressive. It’s the strongest selling point of this powder in my opinion.
Pricing Compared to Other Vegan Protein Powder
Raw Fit comes in 2 main sizes:
- 461 g / 1 lb
- 922 g / 2 lb
In order to compare prices as fairly as possible across all the vegan protein powders I’ve reviewed, I look at the price of the most common size, which is 1 kg (2.2 lb).
I take the price per 100 grams of that size and plug it into this formula:
The formula gives us a score out of 25, where 25 is very cheap, and 0 is very expensive.
Plugging in the appropriate value, we get a price score of 16.1.
Again, this is right around the average. It’s a reasonable price unless price is your #1 concern by far.
How Well Does Garden of Life Raw Fit Mix?
Here’s an are where the product struggled.
I test mixability to see how thoroughly each protein powder mixes in a realistic situation.
Here are the steps to test this:
- Put 450 mL of almond milk into a shaker bottle
- Add 35 grams of protein powder
- Shake for 45 seconds
- Strain out the remnants (clumps) and weigh them.
Next, I take that number and plug it into the following formula that I derived:
A score close to 25 is great, while a score close to 0 means there was a ton of clumping.
In this case, there were 6 grams of remnants, which you can see below, which is quite a lot.
Plugging that into the formula means that Garden of Life Raw Fit gets a mixability score of 6.25.
Unless you’re using a good blender every time, expect to have to suffer through a lot of clumps.
Taste Test Results
The last aspect of a protein powder is a subjective one – taste.
I try to be as unbiased as possible and explain my reasoning. In order to stay consistent, I use this taste table:
| Taste Score | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 25 | Amazing, would drink for enjoyment alone. |
| 20 | Very good. |
| 15 | Drinkable, not really good or bad. |
| 10 | A bit of a struggle to get down |
| 5 | Quite bad |
In this case, the shake:
- Had a frothy texture
- Had a good flavor
- Was very chalky, and leaves a strong chalky aftertaste
I’m fine with a small amount of chalkiness in vegan protein powders, as I’ve said before in my other reviews, but this was too much and really affects the overall taste.
Because of that, I assigned a rating of 15 to this protein powder.
If you’re one of the few people that doesn’t mind a chalky texture, I think you’ll really enjoy the taste of this.
Overall Impressions
Garden of Life Raw Fit has a great nutritional profile and price, right around the average of the ~20 protein powders I’ve reviewed so far. You can see how it matches up on my page of the top vegan protein powder supplements.
However, it mixes very poorly, and while it’s drinkable, it has an extremely strong chalky texture and aftertaste.
If it’s your only option for some reason, it’s certainly not a terrible one, but I can’t think of many situations where I’d recommend it above the best ones I’ve tried so far.
Alternatives to Garden of Life Raw Fit
There are a few other organic vegan protein powders that you might want to consider trying:
- Sunwarrior Warrior Blend – The most similar to Garden of Life, this protein powder is both organic and raw. It has a blend of different protein sources for a balanced amino acid profile. The taste is pretty good, but it’s fairly pricy. See my full Sunwarrior Raw Vegan Protein Powder Review here.
- Orgain – While not raw, Orgain sells an organic vegan protein powder that tastes pretty good. If you’re interested in learning more, see my Orgain organic protein powder review.
Questions You Might Have
Is Garden of Life Trustworthy?
Garden of Life was founded in 2000 and has a good reputation overall. However, there was a salmonella outbreak in 2016 in their “raw meal shakes” that led to a recall.
Is Raw Protein Powder Good for You?
Certain nutrients are more available in foods that are raw, while others are more available after being cooked. When it comes to protein, raw protein is less digestible than cooked protein (source).
Does Garden of Life Protein Powder Have Heavy Metals?
Heavy metals are often found in plant-based protein powders after leaching into the soil that the plants are grown in – especially rice. Garden of Life raw fit does contain brown rice protein, and a past study found that their products do contain detectable levels of heavy metals. However, these are still very small levels that are within safe limits.
