Huel vs. Joylent: Which One Is the Right Shake for You?

Looking for a rundown of Huel vs Joylent compared? I’ve got you covered. At first glance, they seem pretty similar, but Huel and Joylent (Jimmy Joy) have some distinct differences.

Topic Contents

About Joylent/Jimmy Joy

If you’re looking for Huel vs Joylent, you may also find Huel compared to a product called Jimmy Joy, which is Joylent’s new name. Joylent, or Jimmy Joy, has the wider variety of shakes: Original, Vegan, Sport, and Wake Up. They also have the Twenny Bar, a bar version of the shake that’s available in vanilla or chocolate.

Jimmy Joy Plenny Drink Vanilla | Amazon

Vegan Meal Replacement Shake - Complete Meal - Liquid Food - Drinking Meal - 330 ml 8 pack.

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Options and Ingredients

jimmy joy shakes

First, the options:

  • Original (available in Vanilla, Chocolate, Mango, Banana, and Strawberry)
  • Vegan (available in Vanilla, Banana, Chocolate, Unflavored & Unsweetened, and Strawberry)
  • Sport (available in Banana)
  • Wake Up (available in Cappuccino flavor)
  • There’s also the option to create your own personalized shake.

Here are the ingredients in the original vanilla:

  • Oat Flour
  • Soy flour
  • Whey protein concentrate
  • Ground flaxseed
  • Maltodextrin
  • Freeze dried fruit
  • Guar gum
  • Sucralose
  • Vanilla flavor
  • Vanilla powder
  • Custom Jimmy Joy vitamin and mineral mix

How the shakes differ:

plenny

  • The Vegan Plenny Shake has a mix of soy and rice proteins instead of whey.
  • The Sport Plenny Shake has a perfect carb-to-protein ratio for use around workouts and contains creatine monohydrate, beta-alanine, acetyl L-carnitine, and glucosamine sulfate.
  • The Wake Up Plenny Shake has caffeine and beta-alanine to wake you up.
  • There are slight differences in ingredients based on which flavor you choose, too.

Pros

  • There’s a lot of variety in flavors and formulations, so you can make it work for you as a meal replacement, support for an athletic lifestyle, or a way to combine nutrition and caffeine first thing in the morning. If they don’t have you covered with their pre-made shakes, you can work with them to make something that’s perfect for you.
  • You can purchase one time or set up a subscription (every one to eight weeks) at a discounted price.
  • If you’re trying to cut calories, this shake option’s only about 400 kcal per recommended but filling.
  • The website is mostly clean and easy to read.
  • Joylent/Jimmy Joy tries to minimize their effect on the environment. They have plans to become CO2 neutral in the future and have planted trees in Bolivia.

Cons

  • Uses animal products in the majority of the shakes (this isn’t a con for everyone, but worth mentioning).
  • If you don’t like bananas, you’re probably not going to be able to use the Sport Shake.
  • It’s only 390 kcals, so you may need to supplement your meal with something extra depending on your caloric needs. That said, you can use more or less. Joylent/Jimmy Joy recommends about half of a serving (200 kcal) for a snack, 400 kcal for a meal, 700 kcal for a big meal, and 2000 kcal for an “are-you-sure-you-want-to-do-this meal.”
  • Trying to navigate the nutritional information can be tricky if you live in the United States (daily values are based on the European recommendations). The ingredients and nutrition page was also difficult to read and process because of the layout and way the information was presented.

About Huel

huel shakes

Huel is a nutrient-rich plant-based shake designed to take the place of a meal. It’s designed to provide affordable nutrition without harming the planet or animals. Julian Hearn created it in response to the obesity epidemic as a way for people to get inexpensive, convenient, tasty, nutritious food.

Huel Vanilla Flavor Nutritionally Complete Food Powder | Amazon
$95.49 ($0.78 / Ounce)

Made from real food. It contains a carefully chosen blend of pea and rice protein, oats, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, and coconut.

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04/30/2023 12:00 pm GMT

Ingredients

I’ll just list the ingredients for the vanilla one here since they’re not that different from one flavor to the next:

  • Oats
  • Pea protein
  • Flaxseed
  • Brown rice protein
  • Vitamin and mineral blend
  • Medium chain triglycerides from coconut
  • Sunflower oil powder
  • Vanilla flavor system (includes artificial vanilla flavoring, stevia, and sucralose)
  • Acacia gum
  • Guar gum
  • Xanthan gum

Each one-cup serving has 500 calories, so it’s enough to be considered a substantial meal. To make it, you mix five parts cold water, one part Huel, and three ice cubes. Shake or blend it. You may find that you prefer a different consistency, so feel free to tweak the ratio after you make your first serving.

Flavor Boost options are available in Chocolate, Chocolate Mint, Strawberry, Banana, and Cappuccino. They’re around $9.00 for 75 servings.

Pros

huel shakes

There are quite a few pros with this one.

  • You can get it for as little as $1.95 per meal if you take advantage of bulk orders and other discounts. Even without those, you can get it for $2.35 per meal. That’s competitive with any fast food temptation.
  • All ingredients are vegan and ethically sourced.
  • Lasts approximately 1 year
  • It produces very little waste (food or packaging).
  • It was formulated by a nutritionist and got a Registered Dietician’s seal of approval, too.
  • A portion of the profits goes to Vitamin Angels to help women and children in places where there’s a lot of malnourishment.
  • The subscription service is flexible and easy to manage in your account. There are tons of options for frequency of shipments and additional products, plus you don’t have to choose all the same flavor unless you just want to.
  • Their website is clean and easy to navigate.

Cons

Other than potentially being boring after a while, there were only a couple of cons.

  • They only have two flavors: Vanilla and Unflavored & Unsweetened. I could see myself getting burnt out on those two flavors and don’t think I’d want to come up with my own flavor creations all the time.
  • If you have to add flavor boosts to them (either their packets or stuff you have on hand at home), it quickly becomes more expensive and less convenient. It’s still not excessively pricey or inconvenient, though.
  • I don’t like that sucralose is in the vanilla version, but that’s not an issue for everyone and the unsweetened one is still an option.
  • Sucralose is the sweetener.

Huel vs Joylent Compared Side-by-Side (Vanilla)

vanilla shakes

  Huel (127 g) Joylent (100 g)
Flavors/Formulations Vanilla or Unsweetened & Unflavored, plus a gluten-free option (same flavors) Banana, Strawberry, Mango, Chocolate, Unsweetened & Unflavored, and Cappuccino
Vegan? All Vegan comes in Vanilla, Banana, Chocolate, Unflavored & Unsweetened, and Strawberry
Price As low as $1.95 per meal As low as $1.22 per meal
Subscription Options Every one to 10 weeks Every one to eight weeks
Calories/Kcals 500 per serving About 400 per serving
Protein 37 g 26 g
Carbohydrates 47 g 48 g
Fat 16 g 9 g
Sodium 410 mg 0.8 g
Fiber 9 g 7.6 g
Vitamin and Mineral Profile Generally in the 25% to 30% recommended daily value range, but in some cases it’s over 100% (manganese and molybdenum). Generally 18% to 60% daily recommended value, varies by vitamin or mineral (European standards)

Is Huel or Joylent Better?

milkshakes

My personal choice would be Huel if I were forced to choose. That said, there are things I like and dislike about both brands. In some cases, it’s the same thing for each one, like the use of sucralose as a sweetener (dislike) or offering a vegan option (like).

If you like meals that are higher in calories and prefer not to snack a lot, Huel may be right for you. If you require fewer calories than the average adult, you may like Jolyent, aka Jimmy Joy, better.

Flavors are an important thing to factor in, too. If you don’t like it, you won’t drink it. Huel, honestly, sounds boring to me. However, the Flavor Boost option may save the day. They’re inexpensive and I like Chocolate Mint and Cappuccino flavored drinks. The extra product and extra step might get annoying after a while, though. If you want everything you need, down to a flavor that isn’t vanilla, in your shake, you’ll want to see if Joylent can meet all of your other needs.

I do appreciate the variety from Joylent, too. I like that there are options to replace coffee and breakfast as well as shakes to use when you have a hard workout. That would make me consider Joylent/Jimmy Joy over Huel.

I don’t think there’s really a “better” option here. It just depends on your lifestyle and flavor preferences more than anything. The nutrition will shake out to be close enough for the average person, so unless there’s a specific vitamin or mineral that you’re specifically trying to find a supplement for or avoid, I feel like either one will work.

Huel Vanilla Flavor Nutritionally Complete Food Powder | Amazon
$95.49 ($0.78 / Ounce)

Made from real food. It contains a carefully chosen blend of pea and rice protein, oats, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, and coconut.

Buy at Amazon.com
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
04/30/2023 12:00 pm GMT

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Last updated: December 16, 2019

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