Primal Plants is a greens powder supplement manufactured by Gundry MD, which is a supplement company created by none other than Dr. Steven Gundry himself. If the product was created by a doctor with 30 years of practice, it must be good right?
Wrong! In this Gundry MD Primal Plants review, we will explain where Dr. Gundry went wrong when he was formulating this greens supplement.
Gundry MD has a lot of great products, and we certainly don’t mean to bash the company, but it’s fair to say Primal Plants is not their best achievement, and we certainly do NOT recommend it. Read on to learn why it failed to rank on our list of the TOP GREENS SUPPLEMENTS.
Gundry MD Primal Plants review by a Certified Nutrition Coach: Is Primal Plants any good?
Dr. Steven Gundry MD has a great reputation and Gundry MD makes great supplements, but there’s a major problem with Primal Plants in particular. Each serving only provides about 3,000 milligrams worth of superfoods. This is a major issue. The superfood content and potency level is what makes or breaks a greens supplement, and this superfood blend is incredibly weak compared to higher end competing products.
To put it into perspective, our top ranked green powder supplement is called TOTAL LIVING DRINK. That product provides 15,000 milligrams of superfoods per serving…that means the Total Living Drink contains 5 times more superfoods than Primal Plants contains. Need I say more?
I may not need to say any more to get you to realize how bad this green powder is, but I’m going to anyways. Here is a list of things the Total Living Drink contains that Primal Plants does not contain: 10 servings of fruits and vegetables in every scoop, 11 grams of vegan protein powder, amino acids, and a complete vitamin and mineral blend.
What does Primal Plants do?
What does Primal Plants do for you? Primal Plants contains a blend of various superfoods that is ultimately designed to help boost immunity, increase energy levels, function as anti inflammatory, help with weight management, and improve digestion. Superfoods are excellent for general health as a whole.
Many of the most popular superfoods are extremely rich in antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients that can help improve your digestive health, gut health, immune health, brain health, liver health, and more. If you consume sufficient dosages of these superfoods daily, the benefits can truly be tremendous.
However, that’s just it…the dosages need to be sufficient. In the case of Primal Plants, the dosages are way too low, and the blend lacks potency. Therefore, the answer to the question “what does it do?” is: probably nothing. I’m a Certified Nutrition Coach, and if any of my clients ever asked me if Primal Plants is worth it, I would tell them to steer clear at all costs. I’m hesitant to use the word “scam,” but I’m tempted to use it here.
Gundry MD Primal Plants ingredients list
Here are the primary ingredients in the Primal Plants formula:
- Citrus pectin
- Bitter melon fruit extract
- Turmeric root extract
- Ginger root
- Green tea leaf extract
- Spinach
- Broccoli
- Kale
- Cinnamon bark
- Fennel seed
- Mulberry leaf extract
- Pine bark extract
- Rhodiola rosea root extract
- Green tea leaf
- Probiotics
- Lactobacillus acidophilus
Superfood Greens Blend
This is the largest blend in the whole formula at 2,000 milligrams per serving. Compared to other greens powders, this is a very weak superfood blend as I mentioned before.
With that said, this superfood supplement contains 11 very high quality ingredients including citrus pectin, spinach, broccoli, kale, cinnamon bark, fennel seed, mulberry leaf, pine bark, diindolylmethane, and berberine HCL. This would have been a great blend if it was about 3-5 times as potent.
Metabolic Enhancing Blend
With only 415 milligrams per serving, this is a pretty weak blend, which is unfortunate because the ingredients are high quality. Gundry MD selected great ingredients, but come on guys…we need bigger dosages!
The blend has 6 total ingredients including green tea leaf, white tea leaf, ginger root, bitter melon fruit extract, turmeric root extract, and black pepper. Here’s the problem with listing a bunch of high quality ingredients on your supplement facts panel…it looks great, but when the dosages are this small, it means the product simply can not work.
Digestive Support Blend
Typically we would see a wide range of digestive enzymes in a support blend such as this one, but in this case, there are only two ingredients. Those ingredients are chicory root fructo-oligosaccharides and bromelain. Ideally a more comprehensive digestive support blend would be used since they are absolutely critical when it comes to ensuring your body can properly digest and absorb the greens and superfoods.
Probiotic Blend
In every serving, you get 3 billion CFU of various probiotics, which is very average. 3 billion CFU may sound really impressive if you’re not familiar with probiotics, but in reality, this is a pretty standard dosage. If anything, it’s a bit low. In terms of a superfood supplement formula, containing this low of a dosage of probiotics is borderline criminal in my opinion. Probiotics make a HUGE difference in your gut.
Your gut microbiome is very important, and the way to make sure your gut is in good shape is by consuming enough healthy gut bacteria such as probiotics in order to flush out the unhealthy gut bacteria. Detoxifying the unhealthy bacteria and replacing it with healthy bacteria is ultimately what leads to a healthy gut microbiome, which is exactly why probiotics are so important.
Primal Plants dosage: How much Primal Plants should you take & when?
According to the directions on the label, users are supposed to take one serving per day mixed in with 8 ounces of water. We do not recommend exceeding the recommended dosage. Then again, we don’t recommend taking this product at all, so there’s not much we can say other than to follow the directions on the supplement facts label.
However, we do recommend mixing it with juice or a smoothie because it doesn’t taste very good when mixed with water. We also generally recommend taking greens supplements in the morning to boost energy throughout the day. I personally take my Total Living Drink every morning mixed in with some juice and organic fruits.
The reason I recommend drinking it in the morning as part of a smoothie is because this way, it can serve as a meal replacement supplement. If weight loss is your goal, then choosing a greens powder that can function as a meal replacement supplement is the key. Allow me to explain how this works…
The green drink I consume (the Total Living Drink) contains 11 grams of vegan protein powder and has a very high fiber content. Therefore, after I take my serving, I feel completely full due to the high protein and high fiber. Primal Plants does not contain these ingredients, so it is not likely to make you feel full, but this strategy works really well with the Total Living Drink. I’m able to reduce my calorie intake as a result, which has helped me with weight loss.
Gundry MD Primal Plants pros and cons
Here are the health benefits and side effects of Primal Plants.
Primal Plants Benefits
Superfoods can produce tremendous health benefits when consumed daily and properly. However, part of consuming them properly is making sure you’re taking enough. Primal Plants under provides, meaning the benefits may not be as significant. You can’t expect to get significant benefits when you are consuming insignificant dosages…that’s the bottom line.
With that being said, if you were to choose a more potent superfood powder, the list of benefits is endless including better gut health, digestive health, immune health, brain health, liver support, reduced cholesterol levels, weight management, elevated energy levels, anti inflammatory benefits, and enhanced immune system function. Again, you need a more potent supplement to really experience these health benefits, but it is for sure worth the money once you find the right green powder for you.
Primal Plants Side Effects
Primal Plants contains nothing but organic non gmo greens, herbs, and vitamins and minerals. Therefore, it’s highly unlikely for users to experience any sort of significant side effects. These nutrients simply aren’t known to cause side effects unless you have allergies to anything in the formula, in which case you should probably avoid the supplement and consult your primary care physician.
The only side effect some people report is stomach cramps with the first few servings, which is likely just your body getting used to the supplement. Stomach cramps are pretty common and wouldn’t be something that concerns me unless they were persistent, in which case I would stop taking the supplement and talk to a doctor immediately.
Other Primal Plants Cons
Despite the fact that there are no real side effects to be worried about here, there are still some major cons in my opinion, which we will address in this section. Out of all the cons of Primal Plants, the biggest one is the simple lack of potency. Our top recommended greens supplements provide literally 5 times more superfoods than this product provides, which is extremely important to consider.
If its greens and superfoods you’re searching for, you need to look somewhere else. As a Nutrition Coach, I have to say this is one of the weakest superfood powder formulas I have ever seen, and I’d never recommend this product to any of my clients or readers based on the sheer lack of potency. Steer clear! There are so many other better options out there.
The only other major con here is that the price is far too high for what you’re getting. Gundry MD charges $99 for a one month supply. For that price, you should be getting a way more potent product. Our top ranked option is actually cheaper, and again, it’s literally 5 times as potent. Bottom line: Gundry MD Primal Plants is a very bad supplement, and the cons far outweigh the pros.
Primal Plants complaints & praise (info from real Primal Plants customer reviews)
There are over 100 total Gundry MD Primal Plants reviews posted on Amazon by verified buyers of the product. This isn’t the biggest sample size, but it’s enough for us to learn some things about customer experiences.
Primal Plants received an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars across these 100 customer reviews, which is pretty impressive. In fact, there are almost no negative reviews whatsoever. Usually when there are no negative reviews, I actually start to get kind of suspicious, especially when the supplement is as bad as this one is.
The main praise seems to be about the effect it has on users’ energy levels, which makes sense based on the formula. But remember, you can get literally 5 times the amount of benefits from the top shelf options. I tend to take testimonials with a grain of salt because you never know who is writing them, and the supplement facts are far more important anyways.
In other words, a few positive customer reviews are not gonna make me overlook the crucial fact that I’m only getting 3,000 milligrams worth of superfoods in every serving. Don’t let reviews cloud your judgment…stick to the facts. That’s the best advice I can give you. The product is just so ridiculously weak…it’s really inexcusable.
Is Gundry MD Primal Plants good or bad? Our conclusion
Bottom Line: At the end of the day, Primal Plants is simply not worth it due to a severe lack of overall potency. The formula is way too weak for us to even consider recommending it. To make matters worse, the price is far too high based on what you’re getting. For the same price point, you can get a supplement that is literally 5 times more potent and additionally contains a bunch of other beneficial nutrients that Primal Plants does NOT contain. It’s a no brainer…my advice is to stay away from this product.
We don’t like this product and don’t recommend it. However, you can find several superior greens supplements that we do recommend on our Top 10 page. Be sure to check it out! My personal favorite is the Total Living Drink, which is 5 times more potent than this supplement and has the added benefits of vegan protein, high fiber content, strong probiotics, digestive enzymes, added vitamins and minerals, and more!
References
I’m not just a supplement analyst. I’m an extremely qualified one! I am a Certified Nutrition Coach (CNC) and actually received my certification directly from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. I am also a Nutrition & Wellness Consultant, certified by the American Fitness Professionals Association (AFPA).
