Rich Piana’s REAL CARBS – Finally, a REAL Food-Based Carb Supplement!

Rich Piana’s REAL CARBS: A healthy, real food-based carb supplement in powder form! Click here for PricePlow’s best deal.

Updated May 11, 2018: This post nosww reflects the updated formula, the change to the name “REAL CARBS”, and our review of the new formula.

You may already be familiar with Rich Piana and his supplement brand, 5% Nutrition. If not, a quick introduction is in order:

Do you Live the 5% Lifestyle?

Rich was basically a bodybuilder, nutrition expert, and motivational speaker / life coach rolled into one. He preached the 5% philosophy, which is basically that about 95% of people will quit whatever they start, and your goal in life is to be part of the 5% that finishes and does whatever it takes!

We’re definitely fans of this message and appreciate the spirit of committing 100% and following through, especially when it comes to fitness and body composition!

Another interesting thing about Rich is that for someone who runs a supplement company, he was very suspicious about the efficacy of supplements — and hated “fake” carbohydrates like maltodextrin.

It shouldn’t have taken this long for someone to come out with a REAL CARBS supplement. But in 2015, Rich and Team 5% finally did it!

Even though his company sells a pre-workout (Kill It and the upgraded Kill It RELOADED), a ten-component creatine supplement (Crea-Ten), and a recovery product (ALLDAYYOUMAY), Rich preaches getting nutrients from real food as much as possible. He’s particularly harsh on protein powders, vowing to never use them and to never sell one — but he does have some egg white powder!

But carbs from real food? That’s a different story, as we’ll see here:

Real Food in Powder Form

His 5% Nutrition’s upgraded carb supplement, REAL CARBS, is in line with those founding “Piana principles”. It’s a carb replacement/addition product that’s made up entirely of low-glycemic carbs: sweet potato, oats, pounded yam, and even blueberries, ground into a fine powder and designed to incorporate easily in a shaker bottle.

Before we get into the details, compare prices using PricePlow, and sign up for price alerts on Rich’s supplements so that you never miss a hot deal:

Rich Piana’s Real Carbs Ingredients

The 5% Nutrition Real Carbs Ingredient Label / Supplement Facts

A look at the label reveals that REAL CARBS really is just real-deal food, other than some of the typical stabilizers like cellulose and xanthan gum as well as sweeteners to bring the flavor over the top. With no synthetic vitamins or minerals added, it’s comparatively “low” on the vitamin and fiber count, but is intended pretty much exclusively to deliver you a life-like dose of real carbs.

Each scoop contains 110 calories with 22g of slow-digesting carbs and not much of anything else.

Aside from the blast of quality carbohydrates, each of these foods has their own unique health benefits as well.

• Sweet Potato (18g)

  

  Sweet potato … good and good FOR you!

  Sweet potato is where most of the nutrients and fiber in the mix come from. Despite being rich in sugars for a tuber, they’re a great source of complex carbs that aren’t as readily stored as fat. They also help what would otherwise be a pretty dry flavor profile, and are rich in antioxidants.^[1]

  The “dosage” of sweet potato has been bumped in the 2018 re-release. We allow 5% Nutrition to explain why later on in this post, but it’s a decision that makes sense on all fronts, from both the cost and quality standpoints.

  Unlike grains, which provide so much food sensitivity problems, sweet potatoes are often incredibly safe for those who have a gluten intolerance or other such problems with cheaper sources of carbs.

• Oats (10g)

  

  Even if you’re not a “5-Percenter”, it’s tough to disagree with something so convenient.

  Aside from being a good source of fiber and minerals, oats are thought to be very beneficial in regulating cholesterol in the body. Some studies have indicated they may also protect cardiovascular health through the action of “avenanthramides”, a compound only found in oats. They protect against oxidation in the cardiovascular system that can be induced by the presence of copper.^[3]

• Pounded Yam (1g)

  “Pounded yam” is actually a type of dish in Nigerian cuisine, usually using white yam. We’re not sure if the listing here is a reference to the dish or just a reference to being mashed into a fine powder, but either way, any type of yam is another rich source of antioxidants. They’re not as nutrient-rich as sweet potatoes but they do contribute a good dose of vitamins C and B6 and some essential minerals like copper and manganese.^[2]

• Blueberry Fruit Powder (500 mg)

  The main role of blueberries here is to sweeten the pot, but they’re also the most antioxidant-rich food in the world and are a good source of vitamin C.^[4]

This is about what a 30g serving should look like on the epic Real Carbs shovel. A bit heaping! Click the image to read our final review!!

While the REAL CARBS formula is mostly just a way to get healthy convenience carbs when you can’t prep a proper meal, Rich has also put together a very heart-healthy blend with this formula!

If you notice the difference between cheap carbs like maltodextrin and actual food, but you still want the easiness of those powdered carb supplements, then this is the one worth trying.

Shake It Up: Our review is here!

We reviewed the new 2018 formula on the PricePlow YouTube channel, and debated over whether or not this was worth it:

Mike loves this product, especially since all three of these carb sources are allergen-free for him and don’t egregiously spike blood sugar levels! Comment in the channel if you agree!

See our Previous Review with Pics

Our previous Rich Piana Real Carbs REVIEW has been up, and is PricePlow Approved! Click the link to read more and see tons of pics!!

Our biggest question was how well it incorporates in a shaker – and it passes with flying colors! That’s really important for this product, since a big selling point is supposed to be convenience. If anyone out there has given it a shot, by all means tell us about it in the Comments section below … also be sure to sign up for updates and keep an eye on this space, as we’ll have more info when our test tub arrives!

2018 Updates: 5% Nutrition Explains some of the changes

For those of you who followed this product over the years, you know that it was very difficult to find in stock at times. 5% Nutrition addressed this, along with other issues, in a post they made on social media and emailed to us:

Why did 5% change REAL FOOD to REAL CARBS?

When Rich came up with the name REAL FOOD, we did our search online to see if that name was already taken. In our initial lookup, we did not find any products with the name REAL FOOD. However, there was an existing trademark for REAL FOOD that we were not aware of at that time. The owners of that trademark reached out to us a year ago and notified us of the infringement. They allowed us to sell through our current inventory before we would re-release it under a new name. Rich chose REAL CARBS as its new name.

Internally, our RF Bars were originally named REAL FOOD BARS. However, with the existing trademark issue, Rich decided to rename them RF BARS.

Why the change to the formula?

Here at 5% we run all of our ingredients through strict testing. As of recently, our original yam supplier has not been able to produce yams that have passed our testing. We have been forced to look for a new yam source and have chosen to move forward with ‘Wild Yams’, as it has a great nutritional profile, tastes great and passes our testing.

However, Wild Yams are considerably more expensive then our previous yams. For us to be able to keep REAL CARBS at the same price, we had to adjust the quantities of each of the ingredients.

For years the feedback we have been receiving from our customers on REAL ROOD is that they loved the sweet potato. This is why we decided to bump up the sweet potato from 10 grams to 18 grams and increase the oats from 7 grams to 10 grams. We also lowered the yams from 10 grams to 1 gram. With sweet potatoes naturally having a better tasting flavor profile then yams, the overall taste of REAL CARBS has also improved.

— 5% Nutrition

We appreciate 5% Nutrition keeping it real, open, and honest — in true Rich Piana fashion. The retired — but never truly gone — legend would approve of that statement.