Introduction
Leading a healthy life with a lithe body that lets you shine wherever you step in, well, that’s a dream we all dream all the time, isn’t it? Meal replacement solutions are ruling the landscape of health and diet supplements for that very reason. The internet is full of information resources on the subject, health experts go gaga on their favorite diet supplement, and social circles act as a catalyst to fuel this never-ending quest with their well-meaning advise and tireless opinions on the products they support.
Most of these products follow a multi-level-marketing strategy, which means, those well-meaning colleagues or friends might be actually selling the product to you when they tirelessly count the benefits of their endorsed product, without you even realizing it.
Now, where does that leave the end user – “You!” a completely disoriented thing amidst a plethora of meal replacement solutions with their bold claims?
With this article, I am trying to cover two of the leading brands – Shakeology and 18 Shake and give you a quick comparison on the key elements that matter the most when it comes to weight-loss and superior health so that you could decide it for yourself, what works for you.
Basic Information
Shakeology, a product line by Beachbody, is much talked about and relatively well established meal replacement shake that has already been making rounds in fitness enthusiasts households. It first made an appearance in 2011 and ever since has been insanely promoted over the web and by other means. Today, it is widely available across many nations.
18Shake is a relatively newer product in the markets, by the company called 18Nutrition, and has been rated as the “best meal replacement product of 2017” by certain health websites. It is developed and marketed by the USA and has been garnering the quite encouraging response from the users as far as the weight-loss part is concerned.
Appetite Control
Shakeology offers a rich blend of dense nutrients to provide the needed nutrition for your body to keep going and at the same time curbing the cravings while you go fasting with their shakes.
A look at the key elements that Shakeology contents – whey protein, antioxidants, super-green/ phytonutrient blend, adaptogen, pre/probiotics.
However, reviews by customers point to still craving to snack in between meals.
On the other hand, 18Shake has Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Isolate, Digestive Resistant Fibersol-2 (Maltodextrin), a blend of vitamins and minerals as key ingredients.
One of the lead ingredients is the patented fibersol-2, which is a manmade digestive resistant fiber that keeps the consumer feel fuller for 2-3 hours after they had 18Shake. A lot of customer reviews have resonated the same.
Taste
Shakeology is available in a variety of flavors, that’s certainly a plus for the product. It is available in - chocolate, green berry, vegan chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla.
18Shake is only available in basic vanilla and chocolate flavors, though the official website provides a number of interesting recipes, along with their nutritional values that add to taste and nutrition. But customer reviews suggest that the taste is not the favorable element of the product.
Texture
Beachbody Shakeology comes in vegan and non-vegan variants both. The texture in non-vegan shake mix tends to be grainy, as reported by few customers. The trick is to blend it well with almond or coconut milk.
In case of 18Shake, there are not many complaints about the texture as such. Their 18 Meal plan book covers a lot interesting recipes to blend it with variety of ingredients to get the desired taste and consistency to suit the individual palette.
Ease of Use
Both the shakes are easy to prepare, on the go. Does not demand much of a hassle to add or measure the number of other ingredients, they could be easily mixed with either milk or water and be consumed.
Nutrition
To give a more holistic view of the nutritional value of both the shakes, I am going to list down in tabular format the nutritional value for both the meal replacement shakes. Both the nutritional facts are for the chocolate flavor, to be unbiased.
Well, this seems self-explanatory.
Value
Another big differentiator here is the value. Shakeology is the way to higher from the price point of view. And for that reason many customers are switching to other alternates mainly for the product is unreasonably expensive.
However, 18Shake is considerably low priced in comparison to Shakeology and other alternatives available in the market. And seem to be garnering pretty much fair reviews about customers getting value for their money.
Conclusion
Both the weight-loss products have positioned them well in the market, for various different reasons, but after doing this point to point analysis of both the products on key parameters, it seems that Shakeology is certainly not a “value for money” product. I have looked at the ingredients and nutritional facts thoroughly, and there is nothing that grabs my attention to justify it being highly priced in comparison to its alternates. To my mind, the high price only seems to be another marketing strategy, to position itself as a truly premium product in the market.
On the other hand, 18Shake does seem to have a right mix of the ingredients that are actually working for its consumers to serve the primary purpose of weight loss. And the nutritional fact supports that fact. From the price point of view as well, it is fairly placed.
However, with these big pluses, one will have to agree that 18Shake is not as versatile as Shakeology, in terms of taste, variations and overall packaging of the stuff.
But those aspects could be overlooked by a sincere customer, whose primary objective is to set the weighing scale on desired numbers, without compromising on the day to day health. So, after this analysis, my vote will certainly go to 18Shake, period.