Without a doubt, it's easy to find sustainable and nutritionally complete meal replacement options in 2020. There are plenty of manufacturers – including Huel, Soylent, Nuut (opens in new tab) and Jimmy Joy (opens in new tab) – and many different products: meal replacement powders, ready-to-drink bottles as well as bars, just to name a few.
• Buy Mana meal replacement products at Amazon UK (opens in new tab)
• Buy the Mark 6 directly from Mana (opens in new tab)
How does a company stand out on the very crowded meal replacement market? Mana went with offering what they call the 'world's most powerful food': the Mana Powder Mark 6 (opens in new tab) contains protein from six different sources, six sources of fibre and just as many sources of fat, as well being nutritionally complete and 100% plant based.
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Each serving of the Mana Powder Mark 6 delivers 400 calories of energy and contains 21 grams of plant protein from six different sources, which are: isolated soy protein, isolated pea protein, oat protein, hemp protein, rice protein and algae protein.
It also contains a nutritious, 19-gram mixture of fats from canola oil, algae oil (rich in DHA and EPA omega-3s), coconut oil, sunflower oil, flaxseed oil, and oat oil, as well as phospholipids from soy lecithin.
This provides important fat-soluble vitamins and valuable phytonutrients such as vitamin E, phytosterols, and lutein. The seven grams of fibre in each serving comes partially from the hemp, pea, and algae protein, and partially from carrots, oat beta-glucans, and inulin from chicory.
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Why should you try Mana meal replacement products
Both the Mana Powder Mk6 and the Mana RTD has a subtle, earthy taste; don't let the names of the flavours deceive you, they are all subtle which for some might require some acquired taste to get used to.
But at the same time, this leaves ample amount of room for experimentation with flavours and also makes the Mana Powder Mark 6 an ideal candidate for cooking and baking, as a super healthy and fibrous flour alternative.
• Buy Mana meal replacement products at Amazon UK (opens in new tab)
• Buy the Mark 6 directly from Mana (opens in new tab)
Protein pancakes? Low-sugar brownies? High-protein smoothies and shakes? Make them all with the Mana Powder Mark 6. Two scoops of Mana Mk6 – the texture slightly reminded me of kinetic sand – contains 400 calories but you can try having just one and a half scoop, add some frozen blueberries, a dollop of peanut butter and some cocoa powder and BOOM: you have a choco-nut-butter-blueberry shake.
As for the RTD, you might have to get used to the slightly bitter aftertaste there but saying that, if you ever tried meal replacement RTDs, the Mana RTD won't taste all that different from those. And in return, you will get all the plant-based goodness packed into each bottle.
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