Jimmy Joy Review

Jimmy Joy Ready To Drink​ Nutrition

Calories: ​400 kcal
Carbs: 43 grams
Fat: 15 grams
Protein: 20 grams
Fibers: 8 grams

Sugar: 3.2 grams

Made with soy protein for a complete BCAA profile and Vegan friendly.

Jimmy Joy Meal Replacement Shakes

Jimmy Joy Plenny meal replacement shakes were formally known as Joylent. Many people were confused or uncomfortable about how close the brand name was to one of its leading competitors, 'Soylent', so a name change was put on the cards to differentiate the two products better and avoid confusion about them being produced by the same company.

They're currently on version 3.0 of the Jimmy Joy Plenny Shakes and they've made great progress in the last couple of years, with the latest versions addressing some of the major issues that they'd had in the past. This seems to be pretty par for the course when it comes to meal replacement shakes. 

These shakes are one of our favourites that we've come across so far, and a a feature on our best dairy free meal replacements list.

Jimmy Joy's mixabilitiy was one of the first things we liked about them. The Jimmy Joy Plenny shake is that it comes in a smooth powder form that is super easy to prepare. Each meal replacement drink is made using 96g of powder mixed with 300ml of water, then shake until well mixed, it didn't need a blender ball let alone running through a blender. 

Although we don't recommend hanging around when you drink a Jimmy Joy, it tends to settle quite quickly if left to sit for too long. 

It's main weakness is it's not the most filling of meal replacement shakes meaning that we can't recommend it as a meal replacement shake for weight loss. For the most part we're going to be pretty positive in our Jimmy Joy review, it's just best as a bulking shake, or a day to day. 

Pros

  • Full Amino Acid Profile
  • Completely Balanced Meal
  • Vegan
  • Tastes Good

Cons

  • Expensive
  • Not The Most Filling Shakes
  • Weak Flavor

Best Jimmy Joy Flavours

Like other popular meal replacement shakes, the Plenny Shake also comes in a range of flavours that most people will like, including traditional favourites vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.    

For those looking for something different to tickle their tastebuds, they also come in passionfruit, apple & cinnamon, pistachio, caramel sea salt, coconut as well as banana and mango and offer a flavour-free neutral variety that you can use as a base for your own shake creations.    

Neutral falvours are always a plus, assuming that you want to kick off your morning without eating breakfast but love the energy lift of a cup of coffee. In that case, blending up a freshly brewed coffee with a serving of neutral Jimmy Joy powder gives you a perfect option to get through a busy morning at work while staying alert without hunger. But, we're not going to include the plain flavor Jimmy Joy in our review. There does seemt to be a little varience between the USA and EU flavours. But, our rankings won't change too much.

The Passionfruit and Caramel Sea Salt are awesome. The traditional flavours, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry are good as was the pistachio, avoid the cocunut. 

That all said, the main let down when it comes to taste wasn't the flavour itself, it was that it was very mild tasting. This could be subjective, but we found ourselves thinking that it would be better if it was stronger. It was more like softly flavored milk, rather than a "milkshake". 

Who Should Use Jimmy JoY

  • Vegans who need more protein
  • People wanting a huel alternative
  • People looking for a known quantity meal replacer

New Jimmy Joy Formula

Checking out the ingredients list, the most significant change we noticed was the swap from using isomaltose to allulose to sweeten the drink range.   While this is a considerable reduction in added sugar from 9g to 1g per serving, allulose is a monosaccharide, or simple sugar, absorbed by the body but not fully metabolised. 70-84% of it is disposed of in urine, providing the same sweet taste as sugar but without the added calories.    

Allulose is also found in tiny amounts in nature in certain foods, including wheat, raisins and figs, which leads us nicely to something we like about this reformulation. The manufacturers have moved to only using natural flavours in their range of drinks.    

We fully support their decision to move away from artificial flavours, but this move has altered the flavour profile of some of the original drinks. We think this is why many hardcore fans of Soylent products are unhappy with the changes.    

There has been overwhelming support for these changes from most of their customers, but both sides are busy voicing their opinions right now.

Jimmy Joy Plenny Ingredients

Many people think that all meal replacement meals are basically the same. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. The founder of the Plenny Meal Replacement Shake products,  Joey van Koningsbruggen, set out from day one to create a shake that would leave you as full and satiated as eating a real meal, but in an easy to drink formula that only needed to be mixed with water, this we're inclined to agree with, the other claims they make about keeping you full are less accurate.    

The one criticism we can throw its way is that the formulation isn't gluten-free. This means it is a no-no for anyone with gluten intolerance. The same goes for the soy flour it contains. It's not a good choice for anyone wanting to avoid consuming soy products or lectins from the flaxseed.    

However, for those without food intolerances, the nutrient-balanced formulation is based on scientific research from the European Union's Reference Daily Intake of nutrients (RDI), the European Food and Safety Authority and the World Health Organization, which all sounds very impressive.  

According to the ingredient list, the meal replacement contains an ideal balance of proteins, carbs, fibre, fats, vitamins and minerals with 400 calories, 15 grams of protein and 7 grams of fibre per serving.    

The sweetness of the shake comes from added sucralose and maltodextrin. While this reduces the overall sugar content per serving to 5.6g, it does cause some concern for those looking for the cleanest ingredients in their meal replacement shakes or wanting to avoid added sweeteners.   

We are using the Vanilla flavour Plenny Shake for this breakdown. The ingredients are the same across the board for the powder shake range but will contain added ingredients depending on the flavour. For example, added dried fruit powder, cocoa powder, beetroot powder, beta-carotene, and aromas.    

Ingredients in Vanilla Plenny Shake:    

Bacillus Coagulans
Ground golden flax seeds
Inulin
Oat flour
Rice flour
Soy flour
Soy protein isolate
Sunflower oil
Sweetener: sucralose
Vitamin and mineral mix

Nutritional breakdown per serving (meal) of Vanilla Plenny Shake:    

Energy: 400 kcal/1674 KJ
Fat 15 grams, of which saturated fats 2.3 grams, monounsaturated fats 5.6 grams, polyunsaturated fats 6.7 grams
Carbohydrate 43 grams, of which sugar 3.2 grams
Fibre 8.2 grams
Protein 20 grams
Salt 0.30 grams

Can I Use Jimmy Joy For Weight Loss

Any meal replacement drink can aid weight loss when consumed as part of a sensible diet. However, it depends on what type of weight-loss diet you are following.     

If you follow a calorie-controlled diet, then the Plenny Meal Replacement Shake has 419 calories per 100g. This seems like a lot of calories if you aim to keep your calorie consumption low. However, the drink claims to give you a good level of satiety, but our experience and customer reviews seem to disagree.     

Plenny’s pretty good on the sugar front, and contains only 5.6g of sugar per 100g.   But, their shakes also contains a whopping 43g of carbohydrate per 100g, so those following a low-carbohydrate or keto diet won't consider it low enough in carbohydrate to be considered suitable.  

In short, it's probably a better option as a weight gainer shake than one for weight loss. The pre made shakes are a great example for weight gainer shakes, they're very, very (yes the two very's were necessary) small. Giving 400Kcal at just 330ml/12oz that's incredibly small so easy to add onto an existing meal.

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