So there I was sitting on the sofa, watching The Big Bang Theory, I'd finished a large glass of wine and the adverts came on.

The bald chap that used to play rugby and now captains on A Question of Sport popped onto my screen and told me about this fantastic new powder - Bioglan Super Foods Supergreens. What he actually said is a bit of a haze but he was obviously convincing, because I got out my phone and added a tub of it to my online grocery order.

In the cold light of day, no longer under the influence of said large glass of wine, I wondered what on earth had possessed me to spend £9.99 on 70g of green powder!

Anyway it was too late to change my order, I'd bought it and so I thought I might as well find out what it actually was.

The powder itself seems too good to be true, with 81 vital ingredients it claims to have more than your 5-a-day per serving. Reviews on the Holland and Barrett website seem to rave about how energised people feel, how lovely their skin looks, and, erm, how 'regular' they are.

It suggests adding 10g (two teaspoons) to water or milk or smoothies. 10g, that's only seven servings from my 70g pot. That means my pot will last seven days. Seven days for £9.99. That's £1.43 per day.

After watching Eat Well For Less? for the first time recently, I've become obsessed with working out how much food costs over a year. To have a serving of this everyday would work out at £519.48. Yikes!

I am rubbish at eating my 5-a-day, so something as simple as adding two teaspoons of powder to water, and getting them all in one hit, seems very tempting.

But £519.48.

Never-the-less I decided to give it a go. I'd purchased a tub, I might as well see if it's all it's cracked up to be. I wondered if I'd feel any of the health benefits after one week?


I was disappointed to find that the tub is less than half full. It does state that it's 70g on the tub and that's what I got, but when you get a tub this size you do expect it to be almost full. I imagine that they made the tub larger than actually needed so the perceived value would be greater.

It smelled nice, sort of tropical and a little chocolaty. So far so good (if you ignore the meager amount).

I carefully measured out two teaspoons (I didn't want to waste a grain of it at that price) and added water, I stirred vigorously but it still looked grainy. The advert made it look clear and a beautiful emerald green, in reality it looked sludgy.

It was grainy to drink, you know how sometimes the last mouthful of a hot chocolate can be when you've added 'just one more' heaped spoonful of powder to your cup? it was just like that. It was tasty though, sort of fruity but I also got a chocolaty hit (although I could've just been smelling the chocolate 'taste').

It was nice. Sadly there was no Popeye-eats-spinach-reaction (disappointing), but I did feel ever so slightly smug at cheating my way to my 5-a-day, and then I immediately doubted that it would do me any good at all.

Never-the-less the next day I added the powder over two glasses of water, but they were still grainy to the point of making me cough a little and needing a drink of water to clear my throat.


The day after I added it to yogurt (or Alpro Simply Plain, which is a pretend yogurt) and it was really rather tasty.

On day four though I admitted to myself that I'd been duped. If something seems to good to be true, it probably is.

I tweeted @SR_Nutrition asking if it would have any real health benefits and they said - "I imagine not. It may provide a chunk of vitamins etc but REAL food works synergistically to enhance absorption & health. Sorry @HazelxJoy"

I stirred it into my yogurt anyway - it's tasty after all - and I then disappeared down a Google rabbit hole trying to find an answer on food supplements in general. Don't even get me started, there is so much conflicting information out there I wouldn't known were to begin.

If I've learned anything it's this - beware online shopping when under the influence of alcohol.

I'll save my money and eat more fruit.

(Day 24 of blogging everyday for 40 days)