Ka’chava Review
In this Ka’Chava review, we will be taking a close look at one of the most interesting meal replacements out there. But where does Ka’Chava rank in terms of our top 5 meal replacements? Does it even deserve a mention? Check out our list of the best meal replacement shakes for weight loss, muscle gain, and health to find out.
Meal replacement powders are a great way to get the nutrition you need to stay strong and healthy while you’re on the go or trying to lose weight. Today, we’re going to look at Ka’Chava, a meal replacer that positions itself as one of the most natural, clean, and nutritionally balanced on the market.
This Ka’Chava review will take into account the nutritional value of the meal replacement shake, the quality of the ingredients, and the manufacturing standards. What we want to know is, is Ka’Chava worth it? Let’s find out.
Ka’Chava Review Summary
As you will see from this Ka’Chava review, Ka’chava is a really good meal replacement that can be part of a healthy diet. If you want to eat super healthy, have a low sugar diet, that is certified organic, and has a high nutrient value, then this shake could be just right for you.
Ka’Chava is a ready to go meal that contains all the essential nutrients needed by the human body.
However, as with so many other drinks, Ka’Chava has a few drawbacks that you should consider before buying.
Ka’Chava contains a lower amount of protein than other shakes per serving. If you want to build or maintain muscle mass while using a shake to lose weight, then Ka’Chava might not be the best options available. Other shakes with higher protein contents will work better.
Additionally, the low fibre content in Ka’Chava suggests using this shake will leave you hungry as the energy it provides is burned up too quickly by the body.
A shakes needs a reasonable about of fibre in order to ensure a slow breakdown of the components giving your body the chance to put the nutritional value contains to good use rather than hurriedly storing it away as fat.
Pros
- 70+ Ingredients
- High in vitamins and minerals
- Multiple flavours
- No artificial sweeteners
- No artificial colouring
- Plant based protein
- Gluten free
- Soy free
- Uses just plant based foods
Cons
- Expensive
- Low protein content
- Could be improved with more fibre
Ka’Chava Review: Ingredients
Of all the meal replacers we’ve looked at, Ka’Chava is, without doubt, the most ingredient stacked shake we’ve come across.
There are more than 70 ingredients crammed into every packet of Ka’Chava and, what’s more, all of those ingredients are taken from plant based foods and are gluten free.
Meal Replacement Ingredient Blends
Ka’Chava’s ingredients are divided into four main blends of proteins, fibres, vegetables, and fruits, along with a digestive enzyme blend, a probiotics blend, a vitamins blend, and a minerals blend.
In addition, there are eight more ingredients that do not fit into any of the blends are and included on their own.
The four main blends included in the Ka’Chava meal replacer are a plant based protein blend, a fibre blend, an adaptogen blend, an antioxidant super fruits blend, and a super greens vegetable blend.
Plant-Based Protein Blend
The amount of protein powder included in a meal replacement shake is always important. If you’re using a shake to lose weight you want to be burning off fat, not muscle.
Having enough protein will ensure your muscles get the fuel they need even while you’re burning fat.
Most meal replacers use whey protein, but Ka’Chava relies on other protein powder types.
The Ka’Chava meal replacement shake relies on plant based protein powders. Plant proteins have been popular in recent years with the explosion of vegan athletes and the recognition that plant proteins are capable of delivering the same results as proteins derived from meat and dairy.
Ka’Chava’s plant protein blend includes five sources of plant protein: sacha inchi protein, yellow pea protein, whole grain brown rice protein, amaranth, and quinoa.
Combined, the protein powder included in Ka’Chava provides you with 25g of protein per serving. Compared to other meal replacement shakes this is a healthy amount.
However, it does fall short of meal replacement powders designed for athletes, like Instant Knockout Complete, which contains a whopping 35g of protein per serving.
Adaptogens Blend
The adaptogen blend includes organic maca root, several mushrooms, and ginger.
Adaptogens are thought to reduce stress by helping the body to, as the name suggests, adapt to situations that cause physical, chemical, or biological stress.
While more research is needed to verify the benefits of adaptogens, a review of previous studies exploring the properties of adaptogens conducted in 2018 suggests the stress-reducing claims are supported by science [1].
Fibre Blend
Containing chia seeds, flaxseed, whole grain oats, and organic acacia gum, the Ka’Chava fibre blend amounts to a total of 6g of fibre per serving, along with all the essential amino acids these ingredients contain.
While this amount of fibre is comparable with many run-of-the-mill meal replacement options, it is, again, a little on the low side when viewed objectively.
The role of fibre in a shake is important. The nutrients you are absorbing are already broken down, as opposed to whole foods where nutrients must still be broken down by the body.
This means the nutrients can be absorbed very quickly and that risks these nutrients, carbohydrates in particular, being turned into sugars by the body.
Fibre slows down the process, allowing the body to take full advantage of the nutrients it is being presented with. Therefore, high fibre intake is important if you are trying to lose weight or just avoid being hungry while only consuming a meal replacement shake.
In our opinion, this shake could be improved by upping the total amount of fibre per serving to around 10g.
Super Fruits and Super Greens Blend
Ka’Chava’s super fruits and super greens blend are comprised of a veritable smorgasbord of ingredients.
There are nine superfruits, including delicacies such as organic coconut flower nectar and organic maqui berry and organic blueberry, and a total of 17 vegetables.
The collection of vegetables includes nothing exotic, each one is a common household name: broccoli, kale, asparagus, garlic, spinach, carrot and so on. Yet few meal replacers include the variety Ka’Chava offers.
Each of the fruits and vegetables contributes an array of healthy macro and micronutrients ensuring your body wants for nothing. The nutritional value of the ingredients is extremely high and diverse.
Dietary diversity is important. You shouldn’t eat the same things over and over again. Humans have evolved to consume a wide variety of ingredients and we need all the micronutrients that diversity can offer. In this regard, Ka’Chava’s meal replacement powder packs quite the punch.
Digestive Enzymes Blend
Including digestive enzymes in a meal replacement can have beneficial effects.
Ordinarily, digestive enzymes are triggered by chewing. The saliva produced by chewing contains three important enzymes: amylase, protease, and lipase.
Ka’Chava’s digestive enzyme mix contains exactly these three enzymes, along with cellulase and lactase.
As the people behind Ka’Chava put it themselves, “In an ideal world, we’d enjoy meals slowly and mindfully…In reality, we often scarf down our meals, catching our bodies by surprise.”
Using an on-the-go meal replacement shake is perhaps the ultimate form of “scarfing”, but the Ka’Chava shake compensates for this by including the digestive enzyme blend.
The presence of the enzymes in the shake helps the body to carry out its digestive functions smoothly and makes up for the lack of natural enzymes which, of course, are not released when you use a meal replacement shake as no chewing is necessary.
Vitamins and Minerals
As if all the naturally occurring vitamins and minerals included in the numerous fruits and vegetables weren’t enough, Ka’Chava packs further punches by adding additional blends of vitamins and minerals.
Ka’Chava’s vitamin blend consists of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamins B1, B2, B6 and B12, all of which are essential for maintaining a healthy body.
The mineral blend is also chock full of essential minerals, including magnesium, zinc, selenium, potassium, calcium, biotin, and manganese.
These vitamins and minerals are needed for countless bodily functions and processes and offer numerous health benefits.
They contribute to a healthy immune system, support muscle growth, assist with weight management, boost natural hormone production, regulate blood sugar, prevent heart disease, and support cognitive functioning.
Biotin, for example, plays an essential role in converting food into energy. It also keeps your hair, skin, and nails healthy, regulates blood sugar, and supports effective nervous system functioning. Ka’Chava contains 75mcg of biotin, which is 250% of your daily recommended intake.
Other essential vitamins and minerals are not included in such high amounts. For instance, Ka’Chava contains only 5mcg of vitamin D per serving, which is 25% of the daily recommended dosage.
We advise you to check the nutritional information yourself to make certain you are getting the necessary amounts of all the vitamins and minerals you need each day while using Ka’Chava as a meal replacement.
That said, if you choose Ka’Chava as your replacement shake then you can be sure you are taking a good step towards reaching your daily necessary vitamin and mineral intake with each serving you consume.
Probiotics Blend
Finally, let’s take a look at the Ka’Chava probiotics blend. It includes three components: inulin, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, and Lactobacillus acidophilus.
Inulin is a prebiotic fibre that fuels probiotic bacteria in the gut, while L. acidophilus and L. rhamnosus are both strains of probiotic bacteria.
For those who don’t know, we should say that probiotics are beneficial microorganisms that live inside the body and provide health benefits to the host.
It is a symbiotic relationship, whereby the bacteria get a place to live in return for doing something useful. In this case, the bacteria ensure a healthy gut, allowing food to be processed properly.
Probiotics also help to reduce cholesterol, prevent diarrhoea, reduce symptoms of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), increase weight loss, and prevent colds, allergies, and infections. So, as you can see, probiotics are pretty important.
That said, the research on probiotics is not yet definitive. Debates about the exact functioning of probiotics are ongoing among scientists.
What’s more, the probiotic strains included in Ka’Chava are not clearly defined and multiple sub-strains are included under the umbrella of each name.
These sub-strains have different effects on the body and it is unclear which are included in this meal replacement [2].
The Extra Eight
As mentioned earlier, alongside the blends of ingredients, Ka’Chava contains eight extra ingredients. These are cocoa, coconut milk, vegetable fibre, vanilla, xanthan gum, lo han fruit extract, guar gum, and cinnamon.
The various gums are used to bind the ingredients together, while the vanilla flavor is used only to flavour the meal replacements.
The chocolate powder and cinnamon are only included in the chocolate flavored version of Ka’Chava products, providing the shake’s flavour but also adding the health benefits of both ingredients.
Cocoa is known to lower blood pressure, reduce inflammation, and reduce the symptoms of IBS.
Cinnamon, on top of tasting great, increases your metabolism and, as a result of this particular property, has been linked to weight loss [3]. What’s more, cinnamon is anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral, thus helping to protect you from various forms of illness.
If you want to make the most of the benefits attributable to cocoa and cinnamon, then opt for the chocolate flavor offered by Ka’Chava.
Ka’Chava Meal Replacement Powder Pros and Cons
Having reviewed Ka’Chava’s extensive list of ingredients, the blends and the extras, it is clear that some health benefits are on offer here.
Ka’Chava claims their meal replacement will boost your immunity, increase your energy, improve your mood and productivity, help with weight loss, increase muscle mass, and fight signs of ageing. Bold claims indeed.
Given the ingredients we’ve reviewed today, it is clear that Ka’Chava is a healthy, high-quality meal replacement shake that will notdoubt deliver on some of those claims.
However, we feel that Ka’Chava falls short of other meal replacements in a couple of ways: not enough protein and not enough fibre.
Protein Powder
For anyone looking to build muscle while using a meal replacement shake, or even just hoping to maintain their muscle mass while entering a period of caloric deficit, Ka’Chava just doesn’t cut it.
The protein powder levels in Ka’Chava are suitable for someone leading a busy, on-the-go life, but not an athlete.
If you don’t have time to cook a healthy meal between finishing your workday and picking up the kids from school, then perhaps Ka’Chava is the right meal replacement shake for you.
But if you’re in the gym, out on the track, at the oar, or climbing rock faces, you’ll want more protein in your diet than Ka’Chava offers.
Fibre
The second issue we have with Ka’Chava is the amount of fibre per serving, and here we have to get a bit nit-picky. The dietary information on the packet does not correspond to the claims made on the website. Perhaps it’s an honest mistake but it’s misleading nonetheless.
Here’s why.
The nutritional information states that each serving contains just 6g of fibre, while elsewhere on their website they claim it contains 9g. We’re inclined to trust what it says on the packet, assuming the manufacturers got it right and that the website marketing intern probably made a mistake.
For us, 6g of fibre is not enough. Fibre is an important part of any meal replacement shake because it ensures that sugars and carbs contained in the shake are converted into energy slowly by the body, this way they are properly used rather than turned into fats.
In addition, because the fibre causes energy to be used slowly you will also feel full for longer when you use a meal replacement shake with more fibre.
Top shakes will contain at least 10g of fibre. For example, Instant Knockout Complete, a top-of-the-shelf shake designed for athletes, contains 13g of fibre per serving.
Price Tag
Given that Ka’Chava is also one of the most expensive meal replacement shakes you can buy, think twice before deciding its’ the right one for you. If you’re an athlete or want to gain muscle, other options might be more suitable and more cost effective.
Ka’Chava’s Feel Good Extra
To end on a positive note, it’s worth noting that the higher price tag doesn’t just pay for the wholesome ingredients, Ka’Chava offers a little extra feel good in the form of a donation to the Rainforest Trust every time you buy a packet of their meal replacement powder.
Ka’Chava Review Conclusion
There are shakes out there with really iffy nutritional value, but while Ka’Chava has a few flaws, it is still a quality shake and a decent replacement for a nutritious meal. If you lead a busy life but want to stay healthy without spending hours in the kitchen preparing a wide variety of ingredients each day, then Ka’Chava could be a good option.
However, if you’re an athlete, or looking for a shake to assist with weight management, then there are other meal replacement powders you should consider. Check out our review of the best 5 meal replacement shakes to find your perfect match.
References
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6240259/
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16875422/
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5469078/
