Shake Reviews

Yoli Essential Shake is a low calorie meal replacement made to help maintain and make muscle, while providing support for weight loss. It’s made up of 2-patented ingredients the company claims separates this product from the competition.

Added are probiotics, greens, antioxidants, and several vitamins and minerals. It’s currently available in 6 different flavors. This shake made it to the #2 spot in our reviews of the top meal replacements.

Yoli Essential Shake Review

This shake is made with two patented ingredients, LeanImmune for healthier digestion and fat metabolism, and PuraWhey, a form of whey protein made from 100% grass fed cows.

Grass fed whey protein is much more expensive than regular whey, and it shows in the price for Yoli Essential Shake. One 30 serving canister costs $80 for all regular customers. Members who want to enroll in an auto shipment plan pay less, but this method is a way to enroll people into a month-to-month contract.

Grass fed whey also isn’t necessary; Whey protein is processed in a way that strips most of its fats. The benefit of grass fed milk is that it’s supposed to have more healthy fats, therefore there’s no need to pay for this extra cost, since the benefits aren’t seen in the final product.

The company also fails to provide any information on whether or nor their whey is concentrate or isolate. Both serve a different purpose as to when they’re best taken. For example:

• Whey Protein Isolate: Rapidly absorbed by the body, and better after exercise when the body needs quick protein. It contains more protein by weight, but also has some of its nutrients removed.
• Whey Protein Concentrate: Slow digested protein the body can use during times of rest.

Without knowing if PuraWhey uses both or just one forms of protein, it’s unknown if the quality of the protein is good enough. They also fail to add the total amino acid profile, which is also important in determining quality.

Also added to this mixture is LeanImmune, a 500 mg proprietary blend consisting of healthy foods such as broccoli, spinach, grapes seed extract, alfalfa, carrot, pomegranate, and much more. One important thing to consider about this is that these foods nutrients don’t reflect in the supplements facts nutrition.

One full scoop of Yoli Essential Shake has less than 1% vitamin A, and it’s missing key B-vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, and several other nutrients.

	Yoli	18Shake	GNC Lean	Herbalife	Isagenix
Soy free protein
Helps with hunger
Low sugar
No artificial flavors or colors
Good taste
Money back guarantee

Web MD suggests taking a meal replacement that is:

“Fortified with a third of daily vitamins and minerals”

Yoli Essential Shake is completely missing several of these important nutrients.

Deficiencies in these vitamins can lead to the following:

• Vitamin A: Dry and scaly skin, respiratory infections, GI and urinary tract infections, damage to the mucus membranes, and increased eye infection risk.
• B-Vitamins: Fatigue and confusion, anemia, skin rashes, weakened immune system, skin disorders, depression, and increased risk for infections.
• Vitamin C: Weakened immune system, quicker bruising, bleeding gums, dry skin, and decreased healing rate.
• Vitamin D: Brittle and weak bones, muscle weakness, impaired mental function, increased risk for death and cancer.
• Vitamin E: Reduced nerve function, blindness, lower absorption of dietary fats, anemia, and loss of fertility.
• Vitamin K: Increased risk for bleeding, quicker bruising, less healthy gut bacteria, loss of proper blood coagulation, hardened arteries, and reduced absorption of calcium.

At a 500 mg mixture there’s not much nutritional value to this proprietary formula. This is potentially troublesome since when replacing meals you need to make sure you get the right nutrients. Otherwise, you might experience a nutritional deficiency. No clinical studies are provided to show if LeanImmune is effective at promoting fat metabolism and better digestion, so it adds cost without any proven benefits.

The company does claim this blend is scientifically formulated, but no evidence is ever provided.

Hunger Blocking

There’s a lack of quality hunger blockers found in their fiber. The form of fiber used is called Inulin, and it can lead to side effects that include:

• Diarrhea
• Gas
• Bloating
• Stomach cramping
• Allergic reaction that leads to anaphylactic shock.

Since it’s often extracted from common allergens, it’s possible for it to promote the listed side effects. Although there’s a good amount at 4 grams of fiber added, it’s also important to consider the quality, as not all fibers are created equal.

Sweeteners

Added to this mixture are two healthy alternative sweeteners, stevia extract and xylitol. This allows for there to still be a sweet taste without excess calories and blood sugar raising effects other sweeteners can have. There’s a total of 2 grams of sugar per serving, which is considerably low.

Taking in fewer sweeteners is important for weight loss, since it can cause metabolism disorders and increase hunger.

Claims of it Being Effective

A video is provided which has Dr. Mike Okouchi explaining how effective this brand is. However, he is a chiropractor, this means he’s not certified to give nutrition or weight loss advice.

He claims that in his practice he refers to this shake as “the happy shake”, since the amino acids promote healthy neurotransmitters that create more serotonin. While this effect is possible, this can come from any high quality protein drink. It’s not unique to just Yoli Essential Shake.

Conclusion:

This brand does have a quality whey protein and its ingredients are all-natural, but it’s very pricy and not well rounded enough to provide sufficient quality. In fact, the nutrients it does have is low and not enough to be a satisfying meal replacement.

Though its 2 patented ingredients sound impressive, they’re flawed since one is not proven to be effective, and the other is unnecessarily expensive.

The expensive price tag doesn’t reflect the overall quality, as its hunger blocking value is low. There is other more affordable and better quality alternatives available now.