Weight Loss Shakes...Food or Fad?

The term 'meal replacement' is often disparingingly used for weight loss shakes, which for us is a bit of a misnomer - a cheeseburger, fries and a cola is a meal replacement!

Modern meal replacement drinks used as part of a weight loss program are a million miles removed from the milky, sugary, fatty drinks of the 70s and 80s.

Many of the leading brands could now justifiably be labelled as at the cutting edge of nutritional science, giving the body the ideal balance of macro- and micronutrients to aid weight loss and optimal health.

So Do They Work...?

Meal replacement based diets are still dismissed as 'fads', despite them having been around for decades and millions of people having used them to successfully lose weight.

They're not right for everyone but they are safe and many people do get great results.

Meal replacements are in a sense the lazy persons way to lose weight. They're great for busy people, too, due to their convenience.

Make up a shake, drink it and get on with your life. There's no meal planning or cooking and you know exactly how many calories you're taking in.

Many of our clients have used and swear by weight loss shakes and smoothies and have successfully reached their target weights on two shakes, a main meal and a few snacks during the day.

However, their simplicity and convenience is probably their biggest drawback.

It could be argued that a dietary regime based on shakes does little to retrain the palate and learn the new food shopping, preparation and cooking skills essential to maintaining weight loss.

Particularly if the main meal is little different to what was being eaten prior to the diet, eg "drink two shakes and eat whatever you like in the evening" - a often used selling point for liquid diets.

However, many studies have proved their effectiveness, particularly in men.

The Clinical Director of the BBC Diet Trials reported at the UK's National Obesity Conference in 2004 that the meal replacement program that some of the participants had used had produced favourable results when compared to other weight loss programs and was particularly popular with men.

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition in 1994 focussed on over 300 participants drinking two protein shakes a day and a main meal, which totalled 1,200 calories a day. It demonstrated an average weight loss in the men of 24 lbs over 12 weeks and 12 lbs in the women over the same period.

Now, sticking to two weight loss shakes a day for more than a few months isn't easy, so many programs are based on a "quick start" period of two shakes a day, followed by one shake and two meals a day.

What Should You Look For...?

The taste varies as do the levels of protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals.

As with most things, you get what you pay for so pick one with around 10-15 grams of protein, around 15 gms of carbs and less than 5 gms of fat. 200-350 calories in a shake made up with milk or soya milk is about right.

Getting enough protein in the shake is important to fill you up and curb your hunger for a few hours. Soy and/or whey protein is the easiest to digest.

Weight loss shakes are not just for weight loss, though. We have a shake or smoothie for breakfast made up in a blender with some fresh fruit and another before or after a workout.

Athletes have long known about the value of meal replacements and use them to supplement their diet with easy to digest healthy nutrition.

The Bottom Line...

Choose a good brand and they give you a convenient, well balanced and cost-effective source of healthy nutrition.

The downside is that they can get boring, you can miss chewing solid food, you may feel deprived of 'real food' and they may not result in the behaviour change and attitude to food and eating required for long term weight loss and maintenance.

They also tend to reinforce the "I'm on a diet" mentality, and you know our views on diets!

Weight loss shakes can provide a great addition to any weight loss or exercise program. We've more on this site on smoothies and weight loss shakes with some tasty recipes to sample, so click here for more information - why not give them a try?

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