OWYN Meal Replacement Reviews

Embarking on the journey to a healthier lifestyle can be a daunting task, especially when you are faced with an overwhelming number of options. One such option is the OWYN Complete Nutrition Shake, which has been making waves in the health and wellness sector.

OWYN, an acronym for “Only What You Need,” is a brand focused on delivering complete nutrition through its range of products, including protein shakes and meal replacements. Founded in 2017 by Kathryn Moos and Jeff Mroz, OWYN prides itself on its allergy-conscious approach, with products free from the top eight allergens – dairy, gluten, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish.

We do respect this approach and can see there was definitely a niche in the market that they’ve filled, but why do we even bother with a meal replacement shake to begin with? Of course we all have our individual reasons, but the most common reason is that it’s a convenient way to lose weight, and OWYN are aware of this, labelling the product on their website under “weight management”.

Another interesting quirk to their marketing is that they really don’t want you to think there’s any sugar included. To give them their dues it’s a fair distinction to make, as many manufacturers claim to use no artificial sweeteners that may be using sugar alcohols or polyols so it’s a worthwhile thing to look out for. If you’re wondering what polyols are, it’s used as a reduced calorie sweetener and the difference is that sugar alcohol actually has about 2.6 calories where an artificial sweetener contains zero.

Quick Summary

There’s going to be a deep dive in but right off the bat we’re going to say that we only recommend this product to people with very serious allergens who really don’t have another option.

However for anyone else we just can’t see why you’d go for this over other options on the market such as Instant Knockout Complete, which is a far more effective (and delicious) way to get a boost on your weight loss journey. The main difference is that you actually stay full due to the ingredients in it breaking down more slowly.

It topped out best meal replacements for weight loss list here.

With that out of the way let’s dig in and see what makes this nutrition shake tick.

Highlighted Features

• 250 Calories
• 8g Total fat
• 1g Saturated fat
• 30g Carbohydrates
• 4g Fiber
• 4g Added sugar
• 20g Protein
• Allergen Friendly (Gluten free, dairy free)

The Science Behind OWYN

The first thing we want to tackle here is the calories, as 250 is extremely low for a meal replacement shake. It may come across as a smart choice to include a low amount of calories but the reality is that if you don’t eat enough calories, you’re going to feel hungry and the more hungry you feel the more likely you are to give in to the food cravings and snack, or worse yet over portion your next meal to make up for it. For a weight loss product this low calorie count is genuinely a major detractor.

Let’s talk about this macro profile. 20g of plant based protein is decent, can’t complain very much but it’s certainly not the highest we’ve seen. It’s made up from the OWYN Pea Protein Blend (consisting of pea protein, organic flaxseed oil, oat powder, and organic pumpkin seed powder) and they claim this has a complete amino acid profile. We’ve got absolutely no problem with this claim, and in our eyes you can see they started in the protein shake business as this is a fantastic, high quality blend of protein.

Where we’re left scratching our heads a bit is the carbohydrates. 30g isn’t huge or anything, it’s a reasonable amount, but you start to see the limitations of their hypo-allergenic approach here as what a lot of the greatest meal replacement products do is contain a large amount of low GI/complex carbs. These low GI carbs provide the body with sustained energy throughout the day, helping to fend off food cravings by keeping us feeling fuller for longer.

One of the ways you can identify if a product likely has a high GI score is to check the carbs and see how much of them is made up of fibre and compare it to how much of them is made up of sugars. Looking at OWYNs nutrition you can see that there’s a very low amount of fibre in this, and the ingredients confirm this. It doesn’t matter how organic your organic cane sugar is, it’s still just sugar, and there’s not a more simple carbohydrate than sugar.

The fat content is definitely a plus, containing 535mg of Omega-3 is fairly staggering considering it’s all from plant based sources is a great achievement, as this is one of the biggest nutritional hurdles vegans and vegetarians face.

What’s It Like To Drink? – We tried Chocolate milk

A notable aspect of OWYN is that it’s only available ready to drink. It’s an interesting choice that not many make, as it costs more to actually manufacture and bottle the drinks yourself. It’s far cheaper to send out the mix so it doesn’t make much sense. Perhaps they thought a pre-made drink would be more appealing to the allergen demographic?

In terms of flavor, it’s actually enjoyable. It’s maybe a bit sweeter than we prefer and that’s likely due to the inclusion of Monk Fruit Extract helping to sweeten the drink despite its 4g of added sugar. The chocolate milk flavor did taste nice however, so we’d be interested in trying their other flavors such as chai or vanilla flavor. They manage to stave off the unfortunately common synthetic aftertastes of many meal replacement brands which is a definite plus, though this is likely due to the added sugar which ofcourse provides empty calories and maybe isn’t the best choice for a weight management product.

The texture leaves a lot to be desired, being surprisingly watery. One thing we did find though is this texture makes it a good candidate when adding cold brew coffee, as someone in the office found one day. This wasn’t much of a saving grace for those who don’t like mochas, but we thought it’d be worth mentioning. Thankfully again they’ve managed to avoid some of this industries common issues in texture and though it’s watery it is smooth, having no hint of the usual grainy/powdery tongue feel that unfortunately permeates this industry.

All in all definitely not the best we’ve tried but it’s not too far behind the competition in terms of drinkability. If they could just make it a bit thicker and cut back on the sweetness we’d have nothing bad to say about it. It manages to circumvent typical issues whilst providing an enjoyable enough taste and texture that, although isn’t very appealing, is far from off-putting.

Pricing and Value

Being a ready to drink meal replacement shake, it’s a bit on the costly side. On OWYN’s official product page you can see there’s two options: One time purchase or subscribe for 20% off. The one time purchase costs $36.99 which provides a value of $3.08 per meal, which isn’t too bad but doesn’t quite cover a month. To cover the month you’d have to buy the 36 cartons pack at $105.42 for single time purchase or the far more reasonable $88.78.

In terms of value this is fine, though we think you can get better deals from other offerings for similar pricing.

Verdict

All in all it’s definitely not a bad meal replacement but it does have some flaws to address. The nutritional value here doesn’t seem particularly geared towards weight loss and instead offers very low calories with very simple carbs meaning you’ll just end up hungry again very quickly. they could have rectified this by including less sugar overall, more fiber and more of that OWYN protein that is genuinely high quality, plant based protein.

This is why we recommend Instant Knockout Complete instead. It’s similar in it’s approach that there’s absolutely nasty ingredients but Instant Knockout Complete real food formula seems to have spent a bit more time in the oven. It’s got a fantastic macro profile, with a lot more protein as well as a complete amino acid profile thanks to its similarly clever protein sources and thankfully actually comes with 400 calories.

The nutrition is better but the flavors are just on another level. Everything we picked up OWYN for is absolutely perfect here, from the massively indulgent and thick, creamy texture to the subtle yet sweet taste profile that just keeps you wanting more, and unlike OWYN which included sugar cane,

FAQ

Is it safe?

Being one fo the most allergen friendly products on the market today, this meal replacement shake should be safe for human consumption

Any side effects?

There are currently no known side effects associated with OWYN complete nutrition, though we advise you drink it slowly as downing 250 calories is going to make anyone feel bloated.

Where can I purchase OWYN?

You can purchase OWYN directly by clicking this link.