Ample

What is Ample?

Ample is a meal replacement shake, designed to provide all of the ingredients one needs to lead a healthy, active life. Its goal according to founder Connor Young is to provide balanced nutrition, regulate insulin and inflammation, and improve gut health all in one convenient bottle made with exclusively whole foods.  One of the newer meal replacement options available, Ample is certainly unique in its packaging and content. Especially when compared with highly processed “health” foods such as commercial protein bars and shakes, Ample comes out head and shoulders above the competition. But how closely does it succeed in its mission to fully replace the requirements for a meal? Let’s look at the numbers to find out.

 

Ample Nutrition

When evaluating the nutrition of a product, it’s always best to break it down by category. The 5 most important categories that go into a healthy meal are: Starches, Proteins, Lipids (fat), Micronutrients, and Fiber. In this article I am going to break down Ample’s ingredients into these 5 categories and see how it stacks up against your standard meal.

Starches/Fiber: Tapioca, Banana (resistant), Sweet Potato, Psyllium Husk, Acacia Fiber, Chicory Root Inulin

Ample boasts an impressive 7 grams of fiber per 26 grams of Carbohydrate. The American Heart Association recommends at least 25 grams of fiber per day*, with ideally 1 gram of fiber per 5 grams of Carbohydrate. Ample not only hits this benchmark, but well surpasses it in terms of Carb/Fiber ratio. But while the addition of banana resistant starch and chicory root fiber make this a digestive powerhouse, the most abundant starch found in the shake is tapioca starch which generally speaking is not considered to be the most nutritious. However, Ample makes up for this in multiple other areas with an overall positive micronutrient distribution and enough slow and fast digesting fibers to meet its goal of minimizing insulin response.

Lipids: Macadamia Nut Oil, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Lecithin, Chia Seed Oil, High-DHA Algae-Oil

Ample is not a low-fat food, but this is by no means a bad thing. Make no mistake, having a proper amount of dietary fat is critical to maintain good health, particularly foods abundant in Omega-3’s and mono/polyunsaturated fats. Ample hits the mark here by including over 11 grams of mono/polyunsaturated fats, as well as having a robust Omega-3 profile. This is primarily due to the High-DHA algae oil, which is not only beneficial for its phytonutrients, but boosts brain health while reducing inflammation. The only concern here is the inclusion of coconut oil, which accounts for the 11 grams of saturated fat present in an Ample shake. And while there is some debate over whether the fat from coconut oil is as harmful as other saturated fats from animal products, the research as of yet has not been able to establish a meaningful difference*.

Proteins: Grass-Fed Whey Protein Concentrate, Organic Pumpkin Protein, Organic Pea Protein, Grass-Fed Collagen Protein

For a product not marketed as a protein shake, Ample has managed to include an impressive amount of healthy proteins from a wide variety of sources. The only potential negative is that the inclusion of Whey protein makes this product unsuitable for anyone who is lactose intolerant. However, if this is not a problem for you, the blend of Whey protein, plant proteins, and even the vital protein collagen (a huge contributor to skin health and famed for its anti-aging effects) will serve as a worthy addition to any diet.

Micronutrients: Calcium Citrate, Potassium Carbonate, Magnesium Citrate, Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3)

Aside from the nutrients found in the whole foods Ample is sourced from, the product is surprisingly sparce in its use of micronutrient supplements. While major vitamins such Vitamin A are notably missing, the creators of Ample were very clever in terms of what they did choose to include. Magnesium, Calcium, and Vitamin D are the 3 nutrients that account for the vast majority of nutrient deficiencies and deficiency-related diseases (i.e. accelerated osteoporosis due to calcium deficiency). By comparison, barring a rare medical condition, Vitamin A deficiencies are extremely uncommon in developed countries as the nutrient is widely available. What’s more, is the makers of Ample wisely selected highly absorptive forms of these nutrients, making it nutritionally superior to your typical supplement.