Weight Management Products
Protein shakes and prepackaged meals have advantages and disadvantages. Meal replacement shakes and prepackaged meals can have their pros and their cons.
On the one hand they are convenient, and you don’t have to make decisions about what you eat each day. Their calories are also calculated for you in an easy-to-access balanced package. However, both are classified as VLCD (Very low calorie diets) options. While this may sound like a great way to lose weight fast, it has it’s drawbacks. Firstly your body may respond to a VLC diet by triggering starvation mode and holding onto fat and may also choose to use your muscle for energy, causing muscle loss.
If your budget is a concern, many of these options are quite expensive and the cost needs to be factored into your household budget.
Some of these options especially the shakes can be very monotonous and food boredom could set in. This could lead to failure to stay on them and affect your weight management. Sustainability should be considered with any plan.
There are potential health issues related to such diets including fatigue and digestive issues, and gallstone development. The use of these foods as back-ups could be an option for use at work or as an emergency meal when you’re not sure what to eat and are trying to avoid takeout.
There is a temptation to rely on these products as it may result in more rapid weight loss, however these products are probably best used in support of your program rather than as a full-time option.
Pros
- An easy option that can suit if you suffer from decision fatigue
- A better convenient option than takeaway
- Generally, a well balanced option with your food groups and macro and micro nutrients included
- Can result in quick weight loss which can motivate
CONS
- expensive
- not sustainable in the long run
- Can result in health issues if the options result in rapid weight loss
- Can become boring
Are shakes a good option?
Shakes designed for weight management can be an issue nutritionally. They can lack in antioxidants, fibre and the full requirement of nutrients that benefit us that we would normally get from a balanced whole food diet. Add to that issues with feeling full and boredom, you can see how it isn’t a particularly sustainable long term option. It can however be worked in as part of a plan such as the CSIRO Total Wellbeing diet
Recommendations
If desirable, use as part of your weight loss plan:
- easy meal option when you’re not sure what to eat
- A meal to take to work
- in situations where rapid weight loss is desirable to improve health issues as soon as possible
- To get ideas for meals you can make yourself
Evaluating health claims on products
Beware of marketing hype. Weight loss products are not a magic pill. We should be as critical with prepackaged foods and their claims as we would a box of cereal. Many prepackaged meals may make claims in regard to health. An example is:
Fibre is great for digestive health.
or
diets rich in dietary fiber may reduce the risk of developing colon cancer
Products with health claims must meet specified criteria in order to make those claims. Which makes them reliable. They also need to not be high in fat, sugar or salt or they cannot carry health claims.
It’s important to factor in the whole product and where it fits into your diet. You should assess products to meet your circumstances and how many calories or how much fibre you need in your diet as opposed to what the box says.