I’ve reviewed products from Naked Nutrition before, including the Naked Lean Creatine, their unflavored Casein Protein, and their Naked Goat Chocolate Protein Powder, but I haven’t tried Naked Chocolate Casein Protein Powder before. As someone who gets questioned about brands and products frequently, I try to give most variants a try so I can share an informed response for those who reach out. Here’s a review to see if their chocolate version exceeded the high standard set by unflavored.
What is “casein”? Simply put, casein is a slow digesting protein. If there’s one supplement I’ve taken most in my life it is casein. While you can get it naturally from things like cottage cheese, there are also additional calories and carbs that come with that. Due to this, I’ve taken casein before bed almost every night for the last 20 years. It’s helped me recover not only from strength training used for Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) or things like hybrid training but some of the most extreme endurance events in the OCR world (see video at the bottom of the article).
Should I take casein? Yes. You don’t get better in the gym, on the road or on the trail, you get better while sleeping/recovering. Casein helps with that by providing protein to rebuild muscle while you sleep. Casein is either my number one or number two supplement (the other one is caffeine, another proven performance enhancing product with safe long-term usage). The 27g per serving for this is spot on what you need if you are training regularly to maximize recovery and improve performance.
How is chocolate different? I’m not going to rewrite the article I wrote on Naked Casein, you can read that here. Rather let’s highlight what makes chocolate unique. Simply put it is the improvement in flavor without additional garbage or artificial flavors. There are 5g of sugar in this product coming from Organic Coconut. This is still a very low sugar content compared to most brands. It isn’t 0g like their unflavored but it is low.
Flavor: The unflavored version might be too bland for some people. The chocolate fixes this. I always test things in water, because if it tastes good in water it will taste good in whatever else you mix it with (ex. milk, almond milk, coffee etc.). The chocolate tasted excellent. It was not overbearing like a processed candy bar but more like cacao, which makes sense since that is where they get the flavoring from.
OCR/Hybrid Use: You may be thinking, “I don’t need protein, I’m not a bodybuilder.” Protein is about recovery. If you are training, you need protein to rebuild muscle. Furthermore, through personal experience, I found that taking casein at night reduces hunger the following day which makes it easier to stick to a healthier diet. So not only are you recovering better but it helps with maintaining a leaner body composition by reducing hunger.
Additional Choices: There are two size options, 2 pounds or 5 pounds. My recommendation is to go big. You’re going to love the flavor and it is more cost effective to buy the larger one.
Overall Review: Another home run for Naked Nutrition. Their products continue to amaze me with all active ingredients without additional fillers. Regardless of what supplement you are adding to your nutrition plan, start with Naked Nutrition. They have a full lineup of products. Naked has a version of every supplement that I know to be effective to help you crush your goals, whatever those may be.
