About a year and a half ago, I was experiencing some pretty intense hormonal changes and imbalances. I went to see a holistic doctor who immediately identified some changes that needed to be made to my diet and supplements that she believed would alleviate a lot of the symptoms I was experiencing. 

One of the recommendations that she made to me was to switch from using a whey protein powder to a beef protein powder. Specifically, my doctor recommended that I try Equip’s Prime protein powder. Equip was a new-to-me brand, and I’ll be honest, I was very skeptical about trying a beef protein. That said, I was also eager to resolve my gut and hormonal health issues and am always excited to find clean, natural products that have minimal ingredients.

Today, I want to share with you my experience using Equip Prime protein powder and why I’ve been recommending it to the women in my training app, Simply Strong, ever since. 

My Experience With Equip Prime Protein

As soon as my doctor recommended this protein powder, I went ahead and ordered it. There were a few flavors to choose from, including chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, salted caramel, peanut butter, iced coffee, and cinnamon roll. I ordered chocolate as I figured it would be a safe bet and chocolate is usually my go-to for protein powder. 

I noticed that there were two options: no-sugar or low-sugar. The no-sugar option is sweetened with Stevia, which is generally considered safe and gentle, so I went with that. The no-sugar option keeps the calories and carbs lower than the option with sugar, so that’s something to keep in mind, too, but both options have 21 grams of protein per serving. 

The ingredients are what I initially liked best about Equip’s protein powder. The chocolate flavor contains just grass-fed beef protein, coconut milk powder, sea salt, natural flavors, Acacia Fiber, beet juice (for color), and Stevia leaf extract. Basically, this is one of the shortest ingredients lists I’ve seen on protein powder, which I love to see. Most protein powders are full of junk and additives. Equip is also free from gluten, dairy, whey, soy, hormones, antibiotics, fillers, artificial sweeteners, and preservatives - after reading all of this, it was abundantly clear why my doctor had recommended it.

Price-wise, I found Equip to be pretty competitive with the other premium protein powders I was used to buying (mostly Clean Simple Eats and 1st Phorm). At $63.99 for a one-time purchase, it’s not a cheap protein powder by a long shot, but it’s definitely worth the money to get a high-quality product with integral ingredients and sourcing. Equip also offers a subscription service where you can get a bag of protein powder to your door each month for $54.39, a 15% savings off the original cost. The one thing I didn’t love about ordering from Equip was that they only offer free shipping on orders over $98, so that means I would have to order multiple bags or another product in order to skip the shipping cost. 

Taste and Texture Feedback

Once I received my first bag of Equip’s Prime Protein, I immediately wanted to give it a try. I decided to just mix up a scoop with some unsweetened almond milk using my shaker cup. My first impression when I opened the bag was that the color and odor were rich and chocolatey, which seemed promising. 

I added a scoop to my shaker bottle and gave it a shake. It become clear pretty quickly that I would need to shake it pretty vigorously in order to fully mix the powder into the milk. Honestly, I expected this as I know that the extra fillers and additives that most protein powders contain actually make them easier to mix into liquids, so knowing that Equip doesn’t have those meant mixability might suffer a bit. 

After a good, hard shake, I popped the top and noticed that there was still some slight residue speckled in, but not in big chunks or anything, so I went ahead and took a sip. I was truly surprised by how chocolatey it was. The thought of beef protein sounds a bit weird, but I promise you, it doesn’t taste anything like beef. In fact, it’s actually a really rich and creamy chocolate flavor. The texture was also better than I had envisioned. It was creamy with just a little bit of what I would call “specks” of powder that didn’t fully incorporate. But it’s hardly noticeable.

See the video below of me mixing equip prime protein powder:

Health Improvements Since Using Equip

I want to be really honest here, prior to using Equip protein, I was using a whey protein powder and never thought it was giving me any issues whatsoever. Some people complain about gas and bloating when using whey protein, but I have never had that issue. I only switched because my doctor suggested I do it. So this was not a change that was on my radar. 

That being said, I did notice some gut health improvements when I stopped the whey protein and switched to beef protein. My digestion was more regular, and I was feeling really good. I had also started some supplements that my doctor recommended around this time, too, so who knows what all contributed. 

Wrapping Up

Although I was nervous to switch to a beef protein powder for fear of sacrificing flavor and texture, Equip Prime Protein proved to me that the transition isn’t a hard one in the least. The protein powder is rich and flavorful, but the most important thing is that the ingredients are high-quality and clean. After doing some research on Equip as a brand, I was really impressed with their sourcing and mission. It feels good knowing that I am putting whole, natural foods into my body, not a bunch of stuff that I don’t understand or need.

I have made a few protein recipes with Equip and, for the most part, they have come out ok. There are definitely some cases in which I still prefer to use whey protein, but that’s to be expected. I still keep my whey protein powder stocked alongside my Equip protein powder, and I pick and choose when I want to use each of them. My husband is actually a really big fan of Equip and seems to go for that protein powder more often than any other one, which is great because he tends to supplement with protein shakes a lot, and Equip’s simple, natural ingredients make it a good choice for him.

To date, I have only tried their chocolate and vanilla flavors, so I can’t speak on the others, but I’m sure they are good, too. I recommend Equip to my ladies in the Simply Strong App all the time as a way to help them hit their protein goal and avoid any of the bloating that so often accompanies increasing your daily protein intake. If you decide to order from Equip, you can use my code “FHM” to save money on your order!