March 7, 2021: Meal Replacement Shakes

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You’ve probably heard hundreds of meal replacement shake advertisements in the past. Have you wondered if they really work? The answer is yes...but not like you’d think. This week, we’re going to talk about the real deal on meal replacement shakes.

There are hundreds of meal replacement shakes out there “designed” for weight loss. The quotes are because the way they get you to weight loss are not great. The most prominent two companies’ products contain: rancid vegetable oils, gluten, soy, isolated fructose, countless additives, synthetic vitamins and minerals that are not bioavailable, and so on.

So why, then, do so many people use these products? Because they work! How? Glad you asked. Malnutrition.

What.

Yep.

When you don’t receive the nutrition you need, over time, your body begins to eat itself to survive. But nobody in their right mind say to themselves, “I think that sounds like a healthy diet plan.” That’s exactly what people are doing to their bodies though when they take these popular meal replacement shakes.

First off, there is absolutely no nutritional value in these weight loss products. They’re filled with chemicals and additives that are simply empty calories. When you’re using a meal replacement, you’re typically replacing a meal. So, to put this in simple terms, you’re removing calories you would be getting from real food that contains the building blocks for a healthy body and replacing them with empty calories. If you have a crappy diet to begin with, then your calories are dropping drastically, which is going to do what? Cause you to lose weight. Sure, you’re going to lose 10, 20, 50 lbs, depending on how heavy you are to begin with, but what happens after that?

The malnutrition you’ve put your body through for several months is going to wreak havoc on your hormones. During times of starvation, the body slows metabolism, eats away at muscle tissue, and stores fat. That’s right, most of that weight loss on meal replacement programs is healthy muscle tissue. When that becomes depleted, and only then, does the body start to go after the fat. Fat burns very slowly when calories are limited. So at first, the pounds may begin to melt away, but then weight loss comes to a standstill. Since your body begins to prepare for a long slow death of starvation, everything you consume is going to go straight to fat to keep you warm and alive.

Meal replacement shakes will definitely help you lose weight, but that’s it. And you can’t stay on replacement shakes forever. When you go back to eating real food, you’ll instantly see an increase in body fat. That’s part of the gimmick. When you gain all your weight back and then some, what are you going to do? Well of course start back up on the replacement shakes because they helped you lose 20 lbs before. It’s a vicious, unhealthy cycle.

Bottom line: eat healthy, balanced meals for sustained weight loss. There’s no magic bullet.

Next Sunday, we’ll talk about trainers and coaches and why semantics can matter.

Want some expert help with reaching your health goals painlessly? Check out my programs! We’ll get everything taken care of in a way that fits into your current lifestyle so you never have to think about your health again.

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I hope you have a wonderful week,

Kelly

Kelly Morgan, Ph.D.

Tsirona - www.tsirona.com

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