Kate Farms Nutrition Shake Review, By a Dietitian
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Kate Farms is a brand of organic plant-based nutrition shakes and formulas for everyday health, medical needs, kids, and specific conditions like diabetes.
One popular product in the Kate Farms lineup is their Nutrition Shake.
This article explains everything you need to know about the Kate Farms Nutrition Shake, including its benefits, downsides, taste, price, and where to buy.
What is the Kate Farms Nutrition Shake?
Kate Farms Nutrition Shake is formulated for overall health.
One carton of Kate Farms Nutrition Shake provides:
- Calories: 330
- Fat: 12 grams
- Carbs: 38 grams
- Fiber: 5 grams
- Protein: 16 grams
Being plant-based, Kate Farms Nutrition Shake contains no lactose or animal products.
Its protein comes from peas and it’s free of soy and gluten, making it hypoallergenic.
Each carton is also an excellent source of 25 vitamins and minerals and provides various phytochemicals from fruits, vegetables, and herbs that offer powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.
Kate Farms Nutrition Shake comes in three flavors — Vanilla, Chocolate, and Coffee.
The cartons are resealable but must be refrigerated and consumed within four days after opening.
Other products in the Kate Farms lineup include:
- Kate Farms Peptide
- Kate Farms Standard
- Kate Farms Glucose Support
- Kate Farms Renal Support
Summary
Kate Farms Nutrition Shake is formulated for overall health. It’s plant-based and free of common allergens, including soy and gluten. Each carton is an excellent source of 25 vitamins and minerals and provides various phytochemicals.
Benefits
Packed with nutrition, the Kate Farms Nutrition Shake has much to offer.
Here are a few benefits of drinking the shake:
It can support muscle building
Weight training drives muscle building while good nutrition fuels it.
Current evidence suggests that it’s best to consume 20–30 grams of protein at each meal and around your workout to optimally support muscle growth (1, 2, 3).
While each Kate Farms Nutrition Shake provides an amount close to the lower end of this range, the 16 grams of protein comes from high-quality pea protein.
Plant-based proteins provide the amino acids necessary for building muscle but not in the amounts that animal-based proteins like milk provide (4).
This makes animal proteins superior to plant-based proteins for building muscle.
However, pea protein provides a similar amino acid composition to that of whey protein and may even offer similar muscle-building effects (5, 6).
It can help you gain weight
Whether to combat unintentional weight loss, treat malnutrition, or perform better at a sport, there are various reasons gaining weight can be beneficial.
Ideally, you should aim to consume three high-calorie meals that provide 500–800 calories separated by 2–3 high-calorie snacks that provide at least 300 calories daily to ensure you’re getting enough calories to gain weight (calorie surplus).
Providing 330 calories per carton, Kate Farms Nutrition Shake is the perfect choice for a high-calorie snack to gain weight.
It’s also good for weight loss since the calories are in liquid rather than solid form.
Liquid calories tend to fill you up less than solid calories, making it easier to consume the calories you need.
Being reclosable, Kate Farms Nutrition Shake is also convenient as a grab-and-go snack.
It can serve as a meal replacement
Kate Farms Nutrition Shake can help you gain weight when used as a snack between meals but it can help you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight when used to replace a meal.
There is no standard definition for the term meal replacement, but they usually provide a balanced ratio of protein, carbohydrates, and fats, similar to what a typical meal would provide.
Kate Farms Nutrition Shake fits this description while also being an excellent source of 25 vitamins and minerals and providing plant compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
Each carton of Kate Farms Nutrition Shake also provides 5 grams of fiber to promote bowel health, ease constipation, and support healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
So whether to lose weight, maintain a healthy weight, or simply for convenience, Kate Farms Nutrition Shake is a good meal replacement choice.
Summary
You can drink Kate Farms Nutrition Shake to support muscle building and weight gain or conveniently replace a meal to lose or maintain weight.
Downsides
Despite the benefits, there are downsides to Kate Farms Nutrition Shake to consider in determining whether it’s right for you.
Cost and availability
Kate Farms uses only plant-based and organic ingredients — which aren’t cheap.
Consequently, Kate Farms Nutrition Shake costs significantly more than some of its competitors, including Ensure and Boost Plus.
However, if you have certain food allergies or intolerance, follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, or value organic ingredients, the higher price of Kate Farms Nutrition Shake may be well worth it.
Availability is another downside of Kate Farms Nutrition Shake, with few, if any, of the major online or big box retailers stocking the product.
You can, however, purchase Kate Farms Nutrition Shake directly from their website.
High in added sugars
Added sugars are added during the manufacturing process.
When consumed as excess calories, added sugars can increase your risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and fatty liver disease (7).
Kate Farms Nutrition Shake provides 18–20 grams of added sugars — depending on the flavor — representing 36–40% of the daily value (DV) for added sugars.
However, Kate Farms Nutrition Shake provides fewer grams of added sugar than Ensure Plus and Boost Plus and doesn’t contain any of the artificial sweeteners some of its competitors contain.
Despite the added sugar content, assuming you limit other sources of added sugars like soda, desserts, and certain breakfast cereals and condiments, Kate Farms Nutrition Shake can still fit within a healthy diet.
Summary
The high cost and low availability of Kate Farms Nutrition Shake relative to its competitors as well as its added sugar content are potential downsides to consider.
Taste review
Taste is an important quality of any nutrition shake.
Having tried various plant-based protein powders in the past, I had an idea of what Kate Farms Nutrition Shake might taste like.
Masking the often earthy, grassy, bitter, and chalky taste of plant-based protein isn’t easy — especially without the use of artificial sweeteners — but I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of Kate Farms Nutrition Shakes.
The Chocolate shake had a natural cocoa aroma and a chocolate pudding taste. The finish or aftertaste was slightly grassy but still pleasant.
The Vanilla shake had a butterscotch aroma and a vanilla bean taste with a stronger grassy aftertaste than the chocolate.
Both flavors had the same smooth texture.
Of the two, Chocolate was my favorite since the aftertaste was milder than the Vanilla.
However, taste is highly subjective and you may find that the opposite is true.
I did not try the Coffee flavor.
Summary
Plant-based nutrition drinks aren’t particularly favored for their taste, but Kate Farms Nutrition Shakes had a pleasant smell and taste. I favored Chocolate since the Vanilla had a more prominent grassy aftertaste.
Price, where to buy, and alternatives
Many home medical suppliers carry Kate Farms Nutrition Shakes, but the best place to purchase them is through the Kate Farms website.
The shakes come in a case of 12 and cost $51 or $4.25 per carton.
You can save 10% if you subscribe to receive recurring shipments, of which you can set the frequency.
Kate Farms offers free 2-day shipping.
Based on calories and macronutrients — fats, carbs, and proteins — Ensure Plus and Boost Plus are the closest alternatives to Kate Farms Nutrition Shake.
Here’s a quick look at how Kate Farms Nutrition Shakes stack up with Ensure and Boost Plus:
| Kate Farms | Ensure Plus | Boost Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 330 | 350 | 360 |
| Fats (grams) | 12 | 11 | 14 |
| Carbs (grams) | 38 | 47–48 | 45 |
| Added sugars (grams) | 18–20 | 19–22 | 22–24 |
| Fiber (grams) | 5 | 0–1 | 1 |
| Protein (grams) | 16 | 16 | 14 |
Keep in mind that this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison since Kate Farms Nutrition Shake uses only organic plant-based ingredients while Ensure and Boost rely on animal- and plant-based ingredients.
Kate Farms Nutrition Shakes are also hypoallergenic while Ensure and Boost contain milk and soy ingredients.
Summary
You can purchase Kate Farms Nutrition Shakes directly from the Kate Farms website. They provide similar calories and macronutrients — fats, carbs, and protein — to Ensure Plus and Boost Plus.
The bottom line
Kate Farms Nutrition Shake is a popular product in the Kate Farms brand of nutrition drinks and formulas.
Each Kate Farms Nutrition Shake provides high-quality organic plant-based ingredients that can support muscle building and weight gain or serve as a convenient meal replacement.
These benefits may outweigh the higher costs and poorer availability of the shakes compared with its competitors.
Despite being plant-based, Kate Farms Nutrition Shakes have a pleasant taste with the Chocolate having less of a grassy aftertaste than the Vanilla.
