6 Reasons To Avoid Meal Replacement Shakes

In an ideal world, we’d all have the time to dedicate to preparing homemade healthy meals, in addition to sitting down to eat them mindfully. But given how busy many people are today, it’s not surprising that meal replacement shakes, bars and snacks have grown in popularity exponentially over the past several decades. Although there’s no doubt they offer convenience, the vast majority of meal replacement shakes (or bars, frozen meals, etc.) also have some serious drawbacks.

Just because a product is advertised to look healthy and claims to provide “essential vitamins and minerals” doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a good choice. Case in point: Some popular meal replacement shakes have dozens of different ingredients, many of which are ultra-processed foods and difficult to break down, plus over 20 grams of added sugar per small bottle.

What are some better meal replacement alternatives that help ensure you stay satisfied and get enough fuel throughout the day? If you prefer a liquid meal, I recommend homemade smoothies — made with things like plant-based protein powders and filling healthy fats, especially coconut oil. In addition, you can easily add more superfoods to your diet like grass-fed yogurt, pureed veggies, fresh greens, nuts and seeds by preparing recipes like homemade green juice, soups or stews made with bone broth.

And keep in mind that if weight loss is your primary goal, it’s always best to avoid “shortcuts” and focus on developing lifelong habits like exercising, reducing stress, sleeping well and sticking with a healthy diet. What Is a Meal Replacement Shake? Meal replacement shakes are usually processed, bottled products that you drink in place of eating one of your main meals (breakfast, lunch or dinner). In some instances, convenient premade snacks (such as bars or juices) can be useful for helping keep you satisfied between meals, keeping your blood sugar from dropping and preventing overeating at the next meal.

But because these products need to remain on store shelves for long periods of time, and therefore cannot be very perishable or fresh, for the most part the ingredients used are processed and not ideal. Ensure Ingredients: Are They Actually Healthy? The company Ensure® produces some of the most popular meal replacement shakes on the market. The types of inflammatory, chemical ingredients they use. 25 percent to 30 percent of most essential vitamins and minerals (B vitamins, iron, etc.) although these are added/synthetic.

As you can tell from glancing above at the ingredients found in Ensure’s meal replacement shakes, any nutrients that might be included do not come from real, whole foods. Although some meal replacement shakes advertise that they supply 20 or more “essential vitamins and minerals,” they’re synthetically made and not derived from food, making them tough to properly absorb. Get essential nutrients from unprocessed foods — like a mix of veggies and fruit, quality proteins (for a range of amino acids), and healthy fats (especially those with anti-inflammatory omega-3s or medium-chained fatty acids).

You’ll notice that meal replacement products usually come in a range of tempting, dessert-sounding flavors like “dark chocolate” or “butter pecan.” This might make them sound extra appealing, especially if they’re “low calorie,” but it doesn’t come without a price. These shakes often contain lots of added sugar (sugar is the third listed ingredient in Ensure’s shakes), artificial sweeteners or a combination of both. Regardless of whether you’re trying to lose weight or gain weight, added sugar is still a source of empty calories.

Consuming too much added sugar can lead to moodiness, dips in energy levels, stomach queasiness and worsened overall health due to inflammation. Refined vegetable oils, such as canola or corn oil, which promote inflammation. These types of oils tend to become rancid easily over time but are often used in processed products because they’re very cheap to produce. Shelf stabilizers, such as cellulose gel or carrageenan.

Studies have found conflicting results, but some show that carrageenan might cause digestive upset or even symptoms of toxicity, especially when consumed frequently. Thickeners and preservatives, like maltodextrin, which has a very high glycemic index and causes blood sugar spikes. Color and flavor enhancers, often including artificial sweeteners like aspartame or sucralose, which have been linked to problems like weight gain and headaches. Quality protein, as well as enough dietary fiber, are key components in any healthy, well-rounded diet.

Both help to make you feel satisfied, improve gut health/digestion, support cognitive health, and are important for overall hormonal balance and immunity. Because most commercial shakes don’t contain any real high-fiber foods (like fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds or other sources of fiber), they might not make you feel very full for long, even when they do provide lots of calories.

And the protein they do provide usually comes from conventional dairy milk or processed protein powders like soy isolate. Eat real food with a mix of the macronutrients you need for satiety and well-being. Furthermore, a lack of fiber, probiotics and antioxidants can increase free radical damage and accelerate the effects of aging. None of these synthetic products are beneficial for gut health and can lead to a cascade of inflammatory symptoms that affect the whole body.

If you’re hoping to make the pounds come off, it might sound tempting to skip real food and sip on a portion-controlled, low-calorie shake instead. But this strategy is very unlikely to work long term and actually may backfire. Some studies actually suggest that you might be able to drop some weight initially when drastically cutting meals or calories, but other evidence shows that it’s likely to return.

Consuming prepackaged meals or bars doesn’t teach you any useful long-term strategies related to healthy meal preparation, watching portions, managing cravings or listening to your body’s hunger/fullness signals through mindful eating. It’s not uncommon for dieters to skip meals during the day, only to become very hungry at night, causing them to go overboard and eat even more. If you’re going to consume meal replacement products from time to time, try to find those that don’t contain a very long list of man-made chemical ingredients.

Products like these might be helpful every now and then when you’re in a bind, very short on time or traveling, but it’s not very healthy to make them a habit. Homemade Green Smoothies: A very convenient way to get more antioxidant-rich fruits and veggies into your diet within minutes.

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