The Feel Great System is a supplement bundle sold by Unicity International that pairs two products, Unimate and Balance, to support intermittent fasting, blood sugar management, and appetite control. A one-month supply costs $235 and includes 60 stick packs of Unimate and 30 stick packs of Balance. The idea behind the system is simple: drink Unimate in the morning to extend your fasting window without feeling deprived, and drink Balance before your meals to blunt blood sugar spikes and keep you full longer.
What’s in the Two Products
Unimate is a concentrated yerba mate extract in powder form. Yerba mate naturally contains caffeine, but the product is marketed as delivering steady energy without the jitters or crashes associated with coffee. Beyond caffeine, it contains chlorogenic acids (the same antioxidant compounds found in green coffee beans), theobromine (the mild stimulant also found in dark chocolate), and mate saponins, which are unique to the yerba mate plant. These compounds collectively support mood, mental focus, and appetite suppression. The product is sugar-free and sweetened with stevia. You mix one stick pack into water and drink it in the morning, typically as a replacement for breakfast or alongside your usual coffee routine.
Balance is a pre-meal fiber drink. Its core is a patented blend of five soluble fibers: guar gum, locust bean gum, citrus pectin, oat fiber, and beta-glucans. It also contains a secondary fiber blend of plant-derived polysaccharides and gum arabic, plus a vitamin and mineral complex that includes vitamins A, C, E, several B vitamins, calcium, chromium, and zinc. A separate plant extract and phytosterol blend targets cholesterol absorption. You mix one stick pack into water and drink it about 10 to 15 minutes before a meal.
How the Fiber in Balance Works
When you mix Balance with water, the soluble fibers form a thick gel. That gel doesn’t break down quickly in your stomach. Instead, it slows gastric emptying, meaning food sits in your stomach longer and you feel full for an extended period. As the gel moves into your small intestine, it thickens the intestinal contents, which reduces how quickly nutrients come into contact with digestive enzymes. The practical result is that carbohydrates from your meal convert to blood glucose more slowly, producing a flatter, more gradual rise in blood sugar rather than a sharp spike.
A systematic review of randomized clinical trials found that this type of viscous soluble fiber reduces both peak blood glucose and overall post-meal glucose response. This mechanism also helps with cholesterol. The fiber matrix can interfere with cholesterol absorption during digestion, and the phytosterols in Balance support that same process through a different pathway. One study published on Unicity’s research page showed that healthy adults who drank Balance 15 minutes before a high-carb breakfast had lower peak glucose and a lower total two-hour blood sugar response compared to eating the same meal without it.
How Yerba Mate Supports Appetite Control
Yerba mate has a long research history as a satiety aid. Animal studies have shown that yerba mate can increase levels of GLP-1, a gut hormone that signals fullness to your brain. GLP-1 is the same hormone targeted by popular weight-loss medications. In mice fed a high-fat diet, yerba mate administration produced significant increases in both GLP-1 and leptin (another satiety hormone), generating what researchers described as “anorexic effects by direct induction of satiety.” Unicity claims Unimate promotes the body’s natural GLP-1 production, though the company does not publish specific concentration data for the chlorogenic acids or caffeine in each stick pack.
The chlorogenic acids in yerba mate also play a role in glucose and fat metabolism. These compounds have documented effects on blood sugar regulation and lipid processing, which is why they show up in both yerba mate and green coffee bean extracts. Theobromine provides a gentler, longer-lasting stimulant effect than caffeine alone, which contributes to the “no crash” energy profile the product advertises.
The Intermittent Fasting Connection
The Feel Great System is designed around a time-restricted eating pattern. The recommended routine is to drink Unimate first thing in the morning to suppress appetite and provide energy during your fasting window, then drink Balance before your first and possibly second meal of the day. The system doesn’t prescribe a rigid fasting schedule, but the goal is to help you push your first meal later into the day and avoid snacking between meals or late at night.
This approach works because the two products target different parts of the hunger cycle. Unimate addresses the mental and hormonal side of appetite, keeping you focused and reducing the urge to eat through GLP-1 stimulation and steady caffeine delivery. Balance addresses the physical side by slowing digestion and keeping blood sugar stable once you do eat, which prevents the energy crashes that trigger cravings a few hours after a meal. Together, they’re meant to make intermittent fasting feel less like willpower and more like a natural rhythm.
Side Effects to Expect
The most common side effects come from the fiber in Balance. If your diet is currently low in fiber, adding a concentrated fiber supplement can cause gas, bloating, and digestive discomfort during the first couple of weeks. This happens because bacteria in your lower digestive tract ferment the new fiber, producing gas as a byproduct. It’s a normal adjustment period, not a sign that something is wrong. These symptoms typically fade within two to three weeks as your gut bacteria adapt. Starting with half a stick pack of Balance for the first week or two can ease the transition.
Because Unimate contains caffeine from yerba mate, people who are sensitive to stimulants may notice increased heart rate, restlessness, or difficulty sleeping if they drink it too late in the day. The product doesn’t list a specific caffeine amount per serving on its public materials, so if you’re caffeine-sensitive, starting with half a pack is a reasonable approach.
How the System Is Sold
Unicity International uses a direct sales model, sometimes called network marketing or multi-level marketing. The company started as a conventional retail brand in the early 1990s but found that its products needed more explanation than a store shelf could provide, so it shifted to a person-to-person sales approach. This means you’ll typically encounter the Feel Great System through an independent distributor rather than in a retail store. You can also purchase it directly from Unicity’s website.
At $235 per month, the system is a significant ongoing expense. That price covers 60 Unimate stick packs (two per day) and 30 Balance stick packs (one per day, taken before your largest meal). Subscription and one-time purchase prices are currently the same. There’s no discount for subscribing, though distributor pricing or promotions may vary.
What the Evidence Actually Shows
The individual ingredients in the Feel Great System have genuine scientific backing. Viscous soluble fiber reliably lowers post-meal blood sugar and supports cholesterol management across multiple clinical trials. Yerba mate has documented effects on satiety hormones, fat metabolism, and sustained energy. The specific combination and concentrations in Unicity’s products have less independent research behind them, though the company maintains a research page with several studies, including glucose monitoring data showing Balance reduces blood sugar spikes after high-carb meals in healthy adults.
A 90-day lifestyle intervention study that included Unicity supplements (alongside coaching and meal planning) showed what the researchers called “remarkable and rapid benefits,” but that study bundled multiple interventions together, making it difficult to isolate the effect of the supplements alone. The system is not a pharmaceutical product and carries the standard limitations of any dietary supplement: it’s not FDA-approved to treat or cure any condition, and individual results vary based on diet, activity level, and metabolic health.