I was contacted by another paleo prepper blogger, Bug Out Nutrition, a while back about a new product he was reviewing. The product was SurvvAmino and it was designed to be a light weight long term storage of protein. Since good sources of protein of hard to store it is often lacking in most preppers food storage plan. I for one do not plan on living on bean and rice during a disaster so protein and fat are big parts of my food storage. I never like to review things without really evaluating them and would have liked to do a few more tests with this but I am finally ready to share my thoughts on this product.
Whats in it
SurviivAmino is technically not protein but protein precursors. It is made up of the eight essential amino acids that are the building blocks for making protein. That is all that is in there, no added fillers or junk tossed in to bulk them out. I like that there is nothing added especially no GMO, wheat, soy, sugar or dairy. That means that more or less these are compatible for paleo preppers.
How Much Protein
SurvivAmino claim to contain as much protein as four servings of pemmican and twenty times that of canned meats. That’s a little vague for me so I’ll assume a bit here. A can of tuna fish usually has 19 grams of protein so does that mean that each serving of SurvivAmino has 380 grams of protein. I just tried calling them to get some clarification and was sent to voice mail. Serving size on these pills are five pills per serving and recommended three times a day. That’s 15 pills a day with bottle sizes of 100, meaning roughly six days per bottle, four bottles per month. It would take 12 bottles to make a 90 day supply which costs $495. Doing a little math and using the body builder motto of consuming 1gram of protein per pound of weight per day and using an average weight of 200 pounds I get 11 cans of tuna per day. I use tuna for it’s cheapness and compact protein. Tuna being the cheapest canned meat you can get comes out to $990 for three months if you get them for a dollar a can and it also means storing 990 cans of tuna. In that way one box of SurvivAmino wins out.
Performance
I set about testing how well it compared to other protein sources. It excels at body recovery. After some strenuous hikes and work outs I took the SurvivAmino and noticed a faster recovery. The amino acids in the pills speed along muscle rebuilding. I had no doubts that it would excel at this since amino acids are an important part of any serious body builders regime. Next I tested for proteins hunger satiating ability. On several morning I woke up and took one serving with water and that was it. I noticed no measurable reduction in hunger. TIm Ferris recommends immediately taking 30 grams of protein upon waking. Maybe I should have taken two or 1 and 1/2 servings since my rough math says each serving should be about ~19 grams. If I had a blood glucose meter I would have takes a few servings and seen if the amino’s would convert, through gluconeogenisis, to glucose.
Final thoughts
I would not recommend this for daily use for it’s muscle recovery due to cheaper and more readily available amino acid blends on the market. For a relatively cheap long term store of protein though I think it shines. If your food stores consist of rice and beans and no protein grab a case of this and store it away. For it’s small size I think it is great for preppers in short term disasters. Anything long term you need to be thinking of sustainable protein sources, you need to be thinking of homesteading. I turned down an affiliate opportunity from them so this is an unbiased review. If you guys are interested I will wrangle a discount from them.
How do you store protein? Are you interested in this product? Want a discount? Let me know in the comments
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I am not a huge fan of reducing foods down to their individual components. I believe that different components of food are required to be consumed together to be of benefit. I use sardines, kipper snacks and herring steaks all in cans for long term protein storage. These come with not just meat but skin, organs and spines. Sounds gross but you don’t even notice them. I can also rotate these into everyday snacks to keep them fresh. I eat them on a regular basis. So as Jack Spirko says, they are good if times get rough or even if they don’t. The only way that these would be of benefit is if disaster does strike or if you are a serious weightlifter.
I’m also not a fan of breaking things down. I think food is better the closer to whole it is. I also think that protein is better absorbed with the presence fats and minerals.
Dennis,
Thanks for the feedback. Totally agree with whole foods being best but I think the Punk hit the nail on the head when he said it’s best for storage for short term needs. If you’re preparing a bug out bag for 2 weeks as FEMA recommends you could be replacing ~440 cans of tuna in the review example. Obviously this sounds a bit ridiculous but when you say it out loud but it brings up a good point, if you have to consider mobility you have to either encumber yourself a lot more with whole protein or risk not getting enough.
Also wanted to note this is good for more than bodybuilders. If you do any sort of physical preparing it’s great for recovery which is key to any physical skill. Health/fitness is one of the ultimate preps.
Cheers,
Jan
You should look into BCAA’s (branched chain amino acids) also. They supply protein but also aid in muscle recovery from injury an recovery from infections. Been on them about six months.
BCAAs are great for work outs and hunger suppression.
Gary – we actually have a large part of the formula consisting of amino acids. Check out leucine, isoleucine and valine on the label.
Cheers,
Jan
I think it may be a bit premature to throw this out. I’m not big on “pills”, but this may be something that people could consider, once they have their “proper stores” in order. This might end up making a great supplement when food begins to run low, or as a way to extend your food stores if you realize that the disaster may be longer than you think.
For right now, though, I will be sticking to building my preps. Thanks for the info.
While not Paleo, beans have lots of protein… I stock them.
From the Idaho Bean Commision, and USDA at http://bean.idaho.gov/nutrition.html
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“Each half-cup serving of dry beans provides six to seven grams of protein, meets at least 10% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein, yet costs about 20 cents per serving.”
“A single half-cup serving of cooked dry beans counts as one, one-ounce serving of lean meat in the USDA Food Pyramid Meat and Beans group, and as a full serving of vegetables in the Vegetables group.”
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I also stock rabbits and quail “on the hoof” as a protein source…and if moving around, we have water every three steps here in FLorida, and all of it has some sort of fish, amphibian, or shellfish in it. Protein abounds, if you know how to harvest it…
Db,
One of the important things to take into consideration with protein is that what you see on the label is not necessarily what you get in your body. Any protein that you digest is converted into usable amino acids or carbohydrates + nitrogen gas. Beans have one of the lowest conversion ratio which leads to them being digested as carbohydrate + nitrogen gas. While this has fed decades of bean/fart jokes on playgrounds around the country, it’s not necessarily the best for your survival.
Homesteading and protein on the go are great option if you have them available. If you have the skills to dependably hunt or trap this probably isn’t for you. During an extended disruption of the food supply infrastructure, it is possible that areas close to population centers will get cleared out of wildlife pretty quickly – this comes up in a number of disaster novels like ‘One Second After’.
Jan
db,
If you like beans, look into Weston A. Price. They advocate traditional cooking and use ways to make beans more edible like soaking and sprouting. Bowel problems and survival do not go hand in hand. I personally cannot tolerate them untreated but I am looking into these methods as they are very convenient when it comes to strorage.
Dennis,
Great point. Beans can be highly irritating to the gut for many people. This is due to inflammatory particles such as lectins and phytates that are necessary for the bean to sprout.
An aside: phytates are known to bind to several important minerals in the body including calcium, iron and magnesium. Many people in the US are already deficient in these without a disaster so it’s important to hold on to whatever minerals you can get!
Cheers,
Jan
Hey everybody,
I just got off the phone with Survival Punk, had a bit of a communication error but we’re sorting things out! I’ll be answering any questions you might have in the comments.
Jan
I have been taking SurvivAmino for a few months now. I am not an athlete, just a person looking for high quality protein in a world of poorly- fed cattle, fish and poultry. I do understand that there is a lot of amino acid out there but chose to go with a slightly more expensive product which is pharmaceutical grade, the same way I chose to eat Belgian chocolate rather than coffee crisp.
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