Thursday, October 29, 2009

Manitoba Harvest October 2009 Newsletter - Check it out!


I'm a huge fan of hemp food products and one of my most favorite hemp companies is Manitoba Harvest. This company is based out of Winterpeg (I mean Winnipeg... only the Canadians will understand that one... :) ), Manitoba and produces some of the most yummy and nutritious hemp food products inlcuding:


  • Hemp Pro 70 - the first high protein hemp protein concentrate

  • Hemp Butter - just as tasty, but even more nutritious as any other nut butter

  • Hemp Bliss - certified hemp beverage

  • Hemp Seed Oil - a terrific fatty acid composition for health

  • Shelled Hemp Seeds - delicious and easy to digest

This month, the company has published a very cool and interesting newsletter to celebrate the Halloween festivities. Check out their recipe for Gruesome Guacamole, which includes the healthy fat-containing hemp oil and hemp seeds.


To read more, click the link here: Manitoba Harvest October Newsletter

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Cassandra,

The only time I have ever tried a hemp product was when I purchased some hemp powder from Navitas naturals. Now I always try to give foods a chance, but this stuff was vile and left me wishing I had chosen to drink chalk instead.

Is the Manitoba Harvest Hemp Concentrate actually tasty (or at the very least tolerable/not vile)? I recognize that this is somewhat subjective, but I was about to write off hemp protein. But if this is even mildly palatable, I may be willing to give it another shot and reap the benefits of hemp.

Likewise, the company claims their hemp butter is tasty, but this could easily be marketing hyperbole, since nobody would purchase something billed as vile. Do you regularly use the hemp butter, and if so, is it genuinely on par with favorites like peanut and almond butter? (again, I realize this is subjective, but for some reason all hemp products make me wary right now).

Lastly, I wanted to ask if the hemp concentrate is a viable pre and/or post-workout protein option for those try to avoid all dairy (including whey)? If the hemp is a go, would 3-5 g of leucine be of added benefit or extraneous?

NOTE: the only dairy-based powder I seem to tolerate well is "Whey Cool" from Designs for Health, which is a whey concentrate from grass-fed cows. But this stuff is pricey compared to most whey. My trainer tells me that all I was paying for was hype, and that I was grossly overpaying and should just use any whey powder if going with the whey option.

Basically I am trying to determine if the grass-fed whey is indeed worth it, but having an additional option like hemp would be great, so that I could periodically rotate.

Now I hate to press my luck and ask one more question, since I have already gone on far too long, but is there any test you can recommend for testing if I have an imbalance between omega 3 and GLA intake? (I take about 4 g combined EPA and DHA daily but don't use any borage, evening primrose, or black currant seed oil supplements, nor do I even get the small bit of GLA in hemp oil)

After I linked you to the AA/EPA ratio in a prior post, you told me the omega 3 index was better. I had previously consulted the Metametrix Laboratories websites to see what various tests they offer, but your revelation about the omega 3 index got me questioning which of their tests might be useful and which were possibly "behind the times."

Metametrix offers an erythrocyte fatty acids test that can assess the EPA/DGLA ratio

http://www.metametrix.com/content/DirectoryOfServices/0041FattyAcids-Erythrocytes

And just for the heck of it, I will post a link to their list of all the tests offered. That will enable you to get an idea of where that lab may be on the cutting edge and where it may be lagging.

http://www.metametrix.com/content/DirectoryofServices/Main

I do apologize for going on and on, but for some reason even your brief blog posts get me thinking a lot.

As always, thank you for your time and help!

Cassandra Forsythe said...

Hi Uof M,

I've never tried that product, so can't comment, but I do really enjoy the Manitoba Harvest products a lot. You have to mix it with juice or put in into a blender with berries and water or almond milk though to make a great shake.

For Hemp Butter: I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I don't tolerate any other nut butters, but this seed butter is amazing and so incredibly tasty. You should really give it a try.

Hemp Pro 70 contains ~1400 mg of leucine per serving. It's less than whey, but still a decent amount. You would therefore need extra leucine unless you were consuming a higher dose of hemp. Other than that, I love it as a post-workout protein choice.

For whey cool: I contacted two prolific whey researchers and they both felt the product was a waste of money due to the amount of processing whey has to go through anyways.

Unknown said...

Cassandra,

Thanks so much for the reply. I will definitely be giving that hemp butter a shot!