Best Meal Replacement Shakes For Men & Women!
Meal Replacement Shakes - Your Shortest Route to Weight Loss
This year, your resolution was to lose a few weight and look slim on the very special valentine's day, but you never managed to maintain a diet or do regular exercising. So, now you are considering varied options that can help you lose weight easily and in no time. Do you think meal replacement shake is the ticket to the slimmer and sensuous you? Possibly.
Do not mix between a protein shake and meal replacement shakes because both are way different than each other.
While protein shakes can provide your body with just protein, meal replacement shake can offer the nutrition of an entire meal. Some of these shakes are available ready made in a bottle or a can, while others are found in the powdered form that you need to mix in water or milk. Most of these shakes come with 200 to 400 calories and enough amount of minerals, vitamins, fiber and protein.
Well, the composition of nutrients and other ingredients may vary considerably with a mixed proportion of fat, carbs and proteins. Let’s take a look if these shakes really help in weight loss or not.
Benefits of Meal Replacement Shakes:
Helps You Keep Away from Unhealthy Meals: The best thing about these meal replacements shakes is that they are convenient and easy to carry and thus, can help you resist your desire of having unhealthy and junk foods. Preparing healthy food for you separately is also troubling and thus, becomes one of the greatest barrier in your weight loss regimen.
Fast food or junk food is easily available and is also a convenient option if you are hungry or in a hurry. They mostly contain refined carbs, sugar and artificial ingredients. To add more, processed fat that contains a higher level of fat, salt and sugar can actually activate your brain’s pleasure centers which might make you overeat. Basically, processed or junk food can easily derail you from your weight loss resolution. Even when the healthy meals are a better option for losing weight, it isn’t a practical option for people experiencing a hectic schedule.
Hence, meal replacement alternative shakes are an appropriate option because they are portable, easy going and also a great alternative to fast foods.
Helps You Get Proper Nutrition: Meal replacement shakes are formulated to supply all the nutrients that one should imbibe in a complete meal. But most often, a complete diet meal doesn’t contain all the nutrients that your body might need. When you are cutting down some calories, you are also cutting down some nutrients that were important for your body.
But with replacement shakes, you can fulfill these gaps because they are usually fortified with nutrients. The best meal replacement shake would include minerals, vitamins, proteins and fibers. Some commercial shakes also contain vitamin D, iron, potassium and calcium, which often seems lacks in a normal diet meal.
Ensures Quicker Effects of Your Body: Reducing the intake of calories in your body is the only way to lose weight. However, continuing life a low-calorie is also a challenging task, especially when you feel hungry quite often. In such situations, meal replacement drinks come in handy. It can fulfill your hunger without enhancing the calorie intake. Studies also conclude that replacing one or even two meals a day with meal replacement shakes can speed up your weight loss regimen.
Researchers have proved that volunteers who were on a “partial meal replacement diet plan” lost almost 5.6 pounds more i.e., 2.4kg in just three months than those who followed the traditional diet. Research also say that liquid diet can enhance your weight loss by 1-2% percent. These shakes can also help you maintain your weight after you have successfully lost it.
High Protein Shakes Helps in Weight Loss: As already mentioned earlier, not every replacement shake is similar and thus, some are specifically higher in protein. Well, protein is one of the most important nutrients in weight loss because diets with higher protein ensure greater satisfaction, which also helps you consume fewer calories. Studies have reported that men on higher protein diet had less food craving. Apart from this, high protein diet can offer you better weight maintenance, reduced belly fat, less body fat and a lean body.
Drawbacks of Meal Replacement Shakes
Even when meal replacement shakes offer a plethora of benefits and has eventually proved to be one of the most convenient alternatives, it has also got some drawbacks.
Unhealthy Ingredients: Most of the replacement shake include wholesome ingredients, while others contain unhealthy stuff like chemical preservatives, artificial flavors, hydrogenated vegetable oils, corn syrup and added sugar.
There are even shakes that contain more of sugar and less of protein, even when it is marketed as a weight loss protein shake. So, always check the label of the shake while buying. Always look for replacement shakes that are rich in protein and includes other ingredients that you can at least pronounce.
A short-Term Solution : Meal replacement shakes might not prove to be a long-term solution especially when it comes to weight management. While most brands try to offer almost every possible nutrient, there is always something that can only be received from a healthy diet.
The Final Words
Including meal replacement shakes with at least one whole meal can really bring lots of changes in your body, especially when you take it along with dietary supplements.
But be sure to choose a meal replacement shake wisely. Choose one that contains:
Minimum 33% of regular minerals and vitamins- No hydrogenated vegetable oils
- At least 15 grams of protein
- Less than 10 grams of sugar
- No corn syrup
Well, you can also choose to make a replacement shake at your home. But make sure that there are approximately 30 grams of carb, 30 grams of protein and 400 calories.