Reasons for Using Meal Replacement Shakes

Although people enjoy meal replacement shakes for several reasons, the primary purpose is to provide the body with essential nutrition.

In today’s world, missing well-balanced meals is a common occurrence for one reason or another, which means that millions of people are not providing the body with proper nourishment to function optimally.

Time Restrictions

For the most part, meals are missed due to a lack of time. This could be connected with busy schedules for work or school, time spent shuffling children back and forth to different functions and activities, taking care of small children or aging parents, and the list goes on. Unfortunately, in place of a nutritionally sound meal, most people grab something from a fast food drive-in or simply do not eat at all.

The body cannot function for long periods without being provided necessary vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other nutrients. Initially, some of the things a person would experience include fatigue, low energy, headaches, and dizziness but over time, the body suffers. Obviously, a proper diet would be ideal but for people with limited time, meal replacement shakes make an excellent nutritional supplement.

It is important to understand that meal replacement shakes are not intended to replace every meal of the day. However, for one missed meal, these shakes would provide a person with proper nourishment. For someone who wants to be healthy but is always on the go, meal replacement shakes provide the right balance of nutrients, fiber, and calories until the next conventional meal.

Weight Loss and Weight Management

Another reason that people use meal replacement shakes is to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. As part of a weight loss plan, medical experts recommend that no more than two meals a day be replaced with shakes to ensure proper nutrition. Meal replacement shakes are made in a number of formulas, which includes different flavors, nutrients, and calories. If using the shakes for weight loss, it would be imperative to choose a product with no more than 300 calories per shake and a good product made with low sugar content.

When looking at all the meal replacement shakes sold, a person would see many different formulas. Trying to decipher all the information can be confusing, which is why someone interested in weight loss should become familiar with good versus bad ingredients. In addition, for someone planning to use meal replacement shakes to lose 50 pounds or more, it would be advised to first meet with a medical doctor to ensure the right product is chosen.

Proper Nutritional Balance

Typically, for both weight loss and a meal on the go, the following would be considered a great balanced formula for meal replacement shakes.

• 250 to 300 calories per serving
• 24 grams of protein
• 5 to 6 grams of dietary fiber
• 26 vitamins and minerals
• 50% of the Daily Recommended Value for calcium
• Low fat and low sodium content
• Ratio of proteins to carbohydrates at 1:1

While many people use meal replacement shakes as a means of dropping unwanted pounds and even maintaining an achieved weight level, these products have also been beneficial to people recovering from gastric bypass surgery. With the stomach becoming extremely small from surgery stapling, it becomes impossible to consume large portions of food or even solid foods for a period. As a solution, people turn to meal replacement shakes that are nutritional, light, and easy to digest.

Summary of Benefits

To conclude, meal replacement shakes offer complete nutrition needed by the body but in a delicious, convenient, and light meal. Because popularity has grown dramatically, along with formulas being improved for nutritional value, new exciting flavors have been introduced. In addition to standard flavors of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, meal replacement shakes also come in pistachio, fudge, banana, chocolate caramel, strawberry, café latté, cookies and cream, coffee, and others.

It is recommended to mix meal replacement shakes with soy opposed to cow’s milk to enhance nutrition. There are even products made in support of the vegan and vegetarian lifestyle. With everything that meal replacement shakes offer, nutrition, flavor, convenience, affordability, and ease of use, it is easy to see why this has become the best way for busy people to get proper nutrition and people carrying extra weight to achieve a healthy goal.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 4:01 pm and is filed under How To. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.