Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

A friend of mine recovering from cancer started using this and her health really turned around. She swears by it and got her energy back and in addition to now being lean and fit, seems bursting with health and energy. I don't have cancer, but I have fibromyalgia and degenerative arthritis as well as a weight problem. She encouraged me to give it a try and I'm glad she did. Let's start with the elephant in the room.. which is that this, undoctored, is about the worst tasting thing that might pass as a food substance. However, there is a very simple, very fixable reason for that, and that is stevia. I have no idea who got the idea that stevia was a good sweetener as it tastes like sugar with grapefruit peel mixed in. The bitter aftertaste is the only problem with the flavor but it is a big one and if I hadn't known a trick I learned from a vegan chef, I honestly couldn't have choked this down. The fix for this is 2 teaspoons of real maple syrup. Not pancake syrup which won't work, but real organic maple syrup. It only takes a small amount to turn this from completely unpalatable, to DELICIOUS. How I make it: 1 3/4 cup of cold Silk original soymilk (any non dairy milk would work) 193 calories, 2 teaspoons real organic maple syrup 25 calories, 1 scoop of meal replacer 120 calories. Blend on high for 1 min. Total 338 calories. Absolutely delicious like a chocolate milkshake. Very barely after I drink the whole thing I can detect a faint lingering of the stevia bitterness but it is very mild and I have a sensitive palate. Also, I tried adding a bit of strong coffee to the mix and it tasted like a mocha latte. It is well worth 25 calories extra to add the maple syrup. It's too soon for me to know about weightloss benefits but I will update later. What I can say is that about 5-10 minutes after drinking this I feel a huge energy spike. It feels like the cells of my body are popping awake. Fibromyalgia drags you down until just performing simple task drains you down to nothing. In the short time I've used the product, I actually am starting to feel hope of being able to return to some kind of regular activity program. For that reason alone I would without hesitation recommend this to someone as a meal replacement or add on if you need more calories. My appetite is pretty aggressive and this keeps me from thinking about eating for 4 solid hours. 5 stars for the beneficial nutritional effect. But I have to take off a star for the stevia. I doubt the manufacturer reads reviews but listen.. forget the stevia bandwagon. We all know it tastes awful and it has no nutritional value. Instead, consider something like coconut sugar that has good glycemic index as well as having some phytonutrients and gut positive value.