MacroLife Naturals Macro Greens Powder, 30oz

DON'T CONFUSE PLANT DERIVED MINERALS WITH ELEMENTAL MINERALS!!! Should I be worried about the arsenic, lead, aluminum, mercury, or other "heavy metals" in the products? Answer:No - this is one of the benefits of taking Plant-Derived Minerals. We know that all of these minerals are naturally occuring in the human body and that there are at least 60 essential minerals, including lead and mercury (one of which is used in RNA & DNA replication - cell growth/repair- the other for proper kidney function). Typically the "heavy metals" are dangerous in the metallic form where they are not water soluble, and the Plant-Derived minerals are all water soluble. This means that if you get more than your body can use, it's easy to eliminate, flush out the rest so there is no build-up. In fact, the Plant-Derived minerals have the potential to help your body eliminate many potentially harmful, inorganic metal build ups. For example many people worry about ingesting too much aluminum. It has associated with Alzheimer's Disease. Yet what many people do not realize is that 12% of the earth's crust consists of aluminum bound typically to either oxygen or silica. No one can buy a fruit, grain, nut, vegetable, etc. at any market that does not contain trace amounts of organically bound aluminum. Another interesting fact is that due to the electro magnetic charge of organically bound minerals they cannot be stored in the body for longer than about 6 to 8 hours, thus they never create any sort of toxic overload. Minerals that come from inorganic sources such as rocks, clays and sea water can accumulate in the soft tissue of the body. Some plant-sourced minerals have been found to actually remove their heavy metal counterparts. For example, going back to aluminum, aluminum is very effective in not only cleansing the body at the cellular level but also in assisting it to remove any metallic aluminum that might be present. [...] How did minerals get into the plant back then? Of course, they came from soil and rock. But they became part of the plant through the process of photosynthesis. And that made them "colloidal", which is our key word for today. Comparing plant derived colloidal minerals to rock and shell based minerals is like comparing filet mignon to gristle. Colloidal minerals have a negative electrical charge, and each particle is hundreds of times smaller than a metallic mineral. The colloidals stay suspended in water rather than going into solution because of the negative charge and their size/ weight ratio. Expert chemists say the reason colloidals are non-toxic is because of their plant or vegetable source, and their negative electrical charge. For example, iodine in colloidal form is one of the elements essential for human cells. But, if you drank even 2-3 grains of free iodine, it would surely kill you. In colloidal form, it is not only harmless, it is beneficial. The same is true for arsenic, lead, aluminum, and other minerals considered toxic. Plant Colloidals are the smallest particles that matter can be divided into while still keeping its individual characteristics. The particles range from 0.01 millionths of an inch to 10 millionths of an inch in size. The smaller ones cannot be seen with any microscope. Their small size gives colloidal minerals enormous surface area, and special properties of absorption for your body, as opposed to rock and shell based minerals. One teaspoon of colloidals can have a total surface area of over 127 acres. With billions of tiny electrically-charged minerals. Soil with a similar amount of minerals, but metallic, have particles which are hundreds or thousands of times larger, and positively-charged, which makes a big difference. You can't absorb them. If you're starving and you eat soil, you would get no nourishment. Your body just cant absorb inorganic minerals efficiently, nor can it convert them. Only a plant can take soil out of the earth, and make live material that your body can use. [...] Go on YOUTUBE and search....Trace Minerals Research: Light Bulb Demonstration-Segment 2

I don't write too many reviews but upon looking through images of this product & reading the accompaning horse-headed negative comments, I had to throw in my 2 cents: 1. California Lead Warning - Any animal or plant from the ocean contains lead, mercury or a variety of heavy metals. This has been part of the overall decline of the environment going back years. For anyone who has written a negative review with complete surprise of the California warning label on the Macro Greens product - you are part of the problem why this decline is continuing to happen. Google 'lead in ocean fish' &/or Google 'ocean pharmaceutical contaminants'. What is surprising is the complete ignorance of these reviewers to the reality we live in now. My guess for this warning label is that Macro Greens contains chlorella which is harvested from the ocean & because of this, the warning label must be attached legally. Chlorella harvested off American shores is much better than anything harvested in China or Southeast Asia so calm down. 2. Half Filled Cannister - This product is a powder. As such, powder is constituted of 2 things. Solids & air. When an item that is powder is packaged, it is filled to the brim of the container at the packaging facility. This is because it is 'fluffed' at time of packaging. When the containers are shipped, settling occurs. The solids settle closer together & the air congregates to the top of the container. This is why you have to sift ('fluff') any powdered ingredient (flour, confectioners sugar, corn starch, etc) in every recipe - & im talking about millions upon millions of recipes. Macro Greens & Miracle Reds along with previously mentioned items are sold by weight not volume. For a reviewer to take multiple photos of this product with a measuring tape, at different angles to show the empty space inside the container & to say that they were short changed because of this is a blunder that boggles the mind! This is a common concept. 3. Color Change - To discount the Miracle Greens product because it isnt bright green is folly. Macro greens & Miracle reds are about rare macro nutrients that are not in our normal daily diet. That being said, some of the most valuable plants do not use green chlorophyll! For example - brown algae. The term "greens" is a cultural catch-all term for veggies - not the actual real-life color of all plant chlorophyll. No matter what your biology 101 textbook says, chlorophyll can be green, yellow, orange, brown, red, or blue. In my opinion, it would be more beneficial to consume brown algae (brown chlorophyll) than the majority of plants that photosynthesis using green chlorophyll. Upon noticing the color change, I would have assumed the product got better! My straightforward review: OVERALL Ive purchased both the Macro Greens & Miracle Reds product for years. They contain more macros than any other product out there. Macrolife INVENTED the macro nutrient powder industry, which is why all others are "copycats'. Take the Pepsi challenge. Pull up any other product & look at the difference in types of macro's, the quality of the macros & the level of detail in description. No other copycat contains Bromelain or Acerola. Good luck finding any other with Glucan, Dulce or Amylan. You can also bank on the fact that copycats dont have the same amount & variety of probiotics as this product does. For example, in the Macro Greens powder there are 5 different kinds of live active cultures in the amount of 18 BILLION per tablespoon! Repeat: PER TABLESPOON! People always complain of the taste & that seems to be a big point to talk about. I'm picky & I hate lettuce - but that never stopped me from grinning & eating a 'big salad' at the dinner table with my in-laws everytime we eat. In other words, the nutritional value of this is so high - just grin & bare it. In all honesty, the taste of these powders arent horrible & don't expect them to taste like fruity pebbles either. The label suggest mixing with apple juice which is great. Others mentioned other juices which works. All I do is pour a scoop of both Greens & Reds in a half filled water bottle, shake & just drink it. It's not that bad. POSITIVE This is the oldest, family owned product & inventor of this concept. I appreciate the exceutiating effort put into describing every ingredient that goes into these products. Immitators try to trick you listing items like buckwheat, oat bran or strawberry powder. Sure, Macro Greens has a buckweat product in it called Rutin - but buckwheat only becomes Rutin after the cell walls are broken down so your body can receive the benefits of its falvonoids. It's these little tricks & processing shortcuts the other products don't want you to know about. They might seem cheaper but in reality you're buying powdered cheerios with them. NEGATIVE The price of this product was steadily going up over the years (inflation) until 2019 when the large container jumped by $20! Also, when I received my newest container I noted the difference in color (like so many reviewers have been blathering on about). For that reason coupled with the price increase i can only assume the company had to instill an extra step in the processing. Maybe for stricter laws or a problem in supply chain. This extra step was probably expensive, which is why the price jumped & the color change. FINAL I've had nothing but great results with my health (auto-immune & an auto-inflammatory disorders) directly from this product so I can't quibble to much about price at the moment. If I notice a change in the health benefits, then I will make an addendum to this review which is on both the Macro Greens & Miracle Reds Amazon page. If you don't see any addendum then this product is still the best out there. Your body really changes for the positive with these products. cAVEAT I am a nobody consumer. I havn't researched every similar product ever made & I dont hold any special degree in biology or food processing. I have not been paid &/or given free product from Macrolife or Amazon for my review. I took the time to write all this down for the benefit of any reader out there looking for a real honest opinion of this product. Also to slug all the ignorant negative reviews. Huzzah

The benefit you will get from this well balanced formula-- packed with antioxidants, protbiotics, enzymes, superfoods and adaptogenic herbs far outweighs the risk from any trace amounts of lead found naturally--- in ALL greens grown in today's world. (California basically will have to label all powdered greens products as having trace levels of lead-- but unfortunately the State selectively enforces its labeling meaning that only a fraction of greens companies are harassed...) I have chronic Lyme disease and this product helps to give me energy, reduces my arthritis, and is an excellent substitute for the days when I cannot juice 10 pounds of fresh greens. The barley grass powder helps to alkalize the blood, and will remedy blood rouleaux (stickiness of red blood cells) within the hour . This product contains an excellent mix of probiotics also. I also like the added adaptogenic herbs which I feel reduce the effects of Lyme disease, especially licorice root, apple pectin and chlorella-- all of which absorb endotoxins and heavy metals. The aloe vera, carrot and Nopal powder are also excellent for people with arthritis and or any parasitic bacteria issues. Overall a well though out formula--- and it tastes great too-- especially when made with ice, half a banana and kefir. Thanks!

I actually enjoy the taste of this in a blended smoothie. I like all the nutrients and vitamins within it however the fact that it has soy in it upsets me. Why does it have soy!! I had to cancel my subscription and hope that I can find another.

Been using it for over a year. It does everything advertised.

As nutritional mix-ins go, this one is pretty good. (I like the nutrition better than the taste, although the taste is not overpowering if you mix this in with other things.) I added it to my smoothie this morning (along with almond milk, hemp protein, cacao, and frozen berries). It blended well and it didn't conflict with any of the flavors (i.e., my smoothie didn't taste "green"). One thing I like about this is that you can get the micronutrients and antioxidants from all the different ingredients (see the product images for the full list) without going and buying each of those individually. (Many of the ingredients are unusual, expensive, or otherwise hard to obtain.) This also has plant enzymes (e.g., protease, amylase, lipase, cellulase) and probiotics, as well as a couple of other superfood supplements. One thing I would caution you about would be not to consume too much of this -- it has 790% of your daily vitamin C. Although it is difficult to overdose on vitamin C, it *is* possible, and it would be very easy to take a lot of this powder, on top of a multivitamin, on top of any fruits or vegetables you consumed, and get too much (especially if you do this over a sustained period of time). For those who are concerned, this is raw, vegan, non-GMO, and gluten free. Because of the probiotics, this is best as a drink add-in. (If you baked with it, you would kill the probiotic bacteria.) But as a drink add-in, this is quite good. I love all the plant based ingredients and the formula is easy to work with.

I have been buying this product routinely for a few years and the latest batch we got is a big thumbs down. The coloration is much darker than previous batches. Its not as water soluble as previous batches and ends up more like slime that you really have to stir in. The previous batches you had to stir in and it would clump a little. I'm not talking about that. The latest batch straight up becomes a viscous slime like snot. The flavor is off as well. It tastes more like dirt, almost as if the manufacturer is cutting corners on the ingredients either in terms of quality or outright doing the chinese manufacturing go to of cutting in god knows what to bulk up less of the stuff we think we are buying. I cant recommend this product any more which is a bummer becuase this was my go to if I had had a few drinks and wanted to know 75% off the hangover. A few other people had commented on this as well. The same thing is going on with the miracle reds we routinely buy, unfortunately I'm seriously considering just throwing it away with is crazy because its like $160 worth of product between the 2 but small price to pay if there's some unknown chemical being cut in by the manufacturer.

I have been taking this supplement for almost two weeks and while I don't have the energy boost as some other multivitamins have given, I do find myself sleeping better and have less inflamation outbreaks. I rarely eat my green vegetables and it's so nice to know I can mix this in a very good tasting drink! (1/2 water 1/2 apple juice with no added sweetners). Green vegetables are very important for our immune systems and when we neglect to put them in our diet all sorts of illnesses are bound to show up. This is the most affordable green vegetable supplement on Amazon and I'll be a client for life unless something better comes along. It only boils down to $12 a month for me to take this (19 days a month as one week I eat salad every day). I was drinking Beyond Tangy Tangerine and liked the taste and energy boost I got from it, but it was almost $50 a month and just could not afford it. Plus I think they add too much of certain vitamins and in the long run can be bad for your liver. Update 2/12/16: I'm about to order my 3rd container of this and since I have stopped taking it, I noticed my skin started breaking out again on my chest, back, and face. I remember I had this problem before but just didn't realize that these problems went away because I was so impressed as to how well it made my digestive system work better (thanks aloe juice!) and the weight loss. Weight loss wasn't even a goal here. I have inflammatory disease in my sinuses and it is much better while I am on it. For clear skin, weight loss, and regular toilet visits I'm hooked for life!