A Protein Powder to Beat Them All

What is your favorite thing about protein powders? If taste wasn’t your number one answer, keep reading. And if taste was your number one answer, still keep reading! It’s our pleasure to introduce you to hi! (Human Improvement) — the better way to protein. With innovative ingredients and a commitment to sustainability, hi! is disrupting the protein powder industry by providing functional health products that make feeling good fun.

Human Improvement, known more simply as hi!, the next CPG innovation from Derek McCarty and Josh Campbell who propelled Dosist to canna-wellness fame. Josh, who started out as the first employee in Dosist Canada, and Derek, who was the first ever Dosist employee, have put the best of their experience behind hi!. They’re launching a functional health brand using a highly innovative protein powder formulation composed of an all-organic base of pumpkin, brown rice, and pea proteins — all supercharged with organic cricket powder. In short, hi! is more sustainable than dairy, more nutritious than plants, and more delicious than anything else on the market with dark chocolate and vanilla flavors.  

Beyond the irrefutable health + nutrient benefits this untraditional protein offers, crickets are exponentially better for the environment versus traditional protein sources like poultry, pork, or beef. Crickets have a minimal impact on the environment with 99% less greenhouse gasses than cattle, 95% less water consumption than livestock, require 8.3x less feed than animals, produce 7.7x less CO2 than conventional animal farming, and are 20x more efficient than cows to produce protein.

In fact, Western Cultures are late to the bug-eating bandwagon. On par with lobster, who was formerly stigmatized as ‘the cockroach the sea’, many countries have been eating insects for decades as a balanced diet staple. One of the biggest factors is because crickets require far less water than cattle. Beef protein requires between 1,700 and 2,500 gallons of water, while its buggy counterpart requires JUST one gallon.

What’s Inside?

This is quite possibly the most important question when it pertains to food, and understandably so. Fortunately, hi! is 100% transparent about what goes into their protein-packed powders. One notable point is that they’ve ditched the infamous (and inconvenient) giant tubs for single-serve recyclable packages, resulting in less mess and 90% less plastic waste. Made with 13 sustainably sourced ingredients, every serving of hi! is packed with 22g of protein, no added sugars, and no artificial ingredients. More sustainable than dairy, more nutritious than plants, and more delicious than anything else.

Hero Ingredients

Looking for specifics? Look no further. Read the key points below directly from hi! themselves: 

• “Organic Brown Rice Protein boasts 90% digestibility and has shown to be as effective as whey! Ours is sourced from a specialized state of the art facility that puts a large emphasis on social programs in their community and commits millions of their R&D budget into improving their eco-footprint. (China)

• We get our Organic Pea Protein from Canadian-grown split yellow peas that are allergen free, and easier to digest because of their fermentation process that increases prebiotics, helping with digestion and absorption of protein…. And unlike some pea proteins, these dissolve easily and have a smooth creamy taste. (China)

• We decided to use a US grown Organic Pumpkin Seed Protein because it is allergen free, mixes smooth, and actually tastes amazing! Due to it’s cold pressed processing there is no need for enzymes, solvents or carriers… just 100% natural pumpkin! (USA)

   

• Organic Cricket Protein Powder is the magic in our formula, and that’s why you see them as the first ingredient. They are a high protein whole food, jam packed with nutrients like B12 which is usually only found in meat. Our crickets are raised on a family run farm that has been an industry leader for 15 years and happens to be the only organic cricket provider. (Canada)”

Flavors 

Chocolate Ingredients: 

Organic Cricket Powder, Organic Pumpkin Protein Powder, Organic Brown Rice Protein Powder, Organic Pea Protein Powder, Cocoa Powder, Psyllium Husk Powder, Natural Dark Chocolate Flavor, Coconut Milk (Dairy Free), Organic Flaxseed, Organic Stevia, Pink Himalayan Salt, Monk Fruit Extract, MCT Powder (Medium Chain Triglycerides)

Vanilla Ingredients: 

Organic Cricket Powder, Organic Pumpkin Protein Powder, Organic Brown Rice Protein Powder, Organic Pea Protein Powder, Natural Vanilla Flavor, Psyllium Husk Powder, Coconut Milk (Dairy Free), Organic Flaxseed, Pink Himalayan Salt, Organic Stevia, Monk Fruit Extract, MCT Powder (Medium Chain Triglycerides)

A Quick Q&A with Derek & Josh

Q: What would each of you say is the biggest lesson you learned from your time growing Dosist, and how have you been able to apply what you learned to hi!?

Derek:  If you have an effective product with the right messaging you can transform convention. When we launched dosist, we set an ambitious goal of getting mainstream media to write about cannabis as a health tool – the product team’s ingenuity around the dose control enabled that (6 weeks after launch, Time Magazine named dosist one of the best inventions of 2016 using the headline “Cannabis that could replace pills.” 

Josh: The value of community and a commitment to the customer. There’s no shortcut to success, but it’s hard to go wrong if you know your customer and put them at the center of every decision you make. That’s ultimately what led us to get rid of the plastic tub – it’s a horrible experience (plus hi! uses 90% less plastic). We also guarantee you’ll love hi! 

Q: The typical American is not easily sold on consuming bugs. What would you say to convince someone who isn’t quite ready to divulge based on the beneficial nutritional aspects alone?

Derek: Food habits change. Lobster was once considered a disgraceful, embarrassing food fit only for those without means and fed to servants. Salmon was once considered unfit for sushi.  Crickets are a superfood, plain and simple – they’re 60-70% protein, nutrient rich – packed with fiber and prebiotics, omegas, B12 and iron and their environmental footprint is a fraction of traditional protein sources.

Cricket is not a steak or chicken. We look at cricket similar to how you’d look at a grain, nut or a seed. Harvested and processed correctly, the final delivery doesn’t resemble its original format.

Q: What are your dreams for where you’d like to take hi! in the next year or two? Do those dreams include new flavors or new snacks? Maybe new bugs?! 

Derek: The nutrition space all looks the same – the brands talk the same, they use the same ingredients and they all look the same. We’re taking an unconventional approach. First, we don’t look, or act, like any other brand on the market – we’re  not here to tell you what’s wrong with you or that you need to be some ideal version of yourself.  We believe feeling good should feel fun – we want to create a thoughtful way of encouraging/making it easy for you to take care of yourself. Second, we are looking at what ingredients are best for you, based on science not convention. That’s what led us to cricket protein powder as an essential source for nutrition.  We’ve got a robust product pipeline – beginning with supplements and moving into other categories in the near future.

Q: Some people use soda as an ingredient when baking cakes. Does hi! make a good additional ingredient, or replacement for other ingredients? (For example, almond milk vs. cow’s milk.) 

Derek: Oh my gosh, yes! We’ve had so many fun reports from our pre-launch users. Our top recommendation is as a coffee booster. People are dropping their creamer and using hi! The coconut milk in hi! makes it a great substitute and you get a massive nutrient boost at the same time.

Q: What about ways to enjoy the protein-filled snack? Do you have any secret recipes that our readers should try when enjoying hi!?

Derek: Do we! We were so inspired by how early users were using our hi! We made the Museum of Smoothies. It’s hi!’s way of doing a recipe page. We collected 20 of the best recipes to date  and have everyone from friends of the family, to nutritionists to artists like rising hip hop artist 24K Golden and fashion designer JC Obando.

Q: Quick! Chocolate or Vanilla?!

 Derek: Oh man! I love our chocolate. It’s a darker cocoa forward chocolate complemented with pink himalyan salt. So it has a slight bitterness that is perfectly balanced by the salt.

And there you have it. All the reason you needed to let go of your doubts, and give hi! a try! It’s easy to forget about the fact that crickets are part of the mix, as Derek says, “Cricket is not a steak or chicken. We look at cricket similar to how you’d look at a grain, nut or a seed. Harvested and processed correctly, the final delivery doesn’t resemble its original format.”  Be sure to checkout the Museum of Smoothies for not only ideas to make hi!’s protein powders even more enticing, but even if you have to convince yourself just how totally “normal” this product is. The reality is while the rest of the world has been enjoying the benefits of crickets for awhile now, the West is pretty late to the party. You can find hi!’s protein powder here, in packs of 3, 10, or 20 for $11.99, $34.99, and $59.99, respectively. You can also give them a follow and stay up to date with their innovations here.