Changing consumer lifestyles have been behind the recent growth of the meal replacement market. Health conscious people have gravitated towards healthier convenient foods. Things they can eat when out of home which aren’t full of additives and added sugar. Foods which can help to control weight, increase vitamin and mineral levels and help to target nutritional shortfalls in order to stay healthy.
Meal replacement shakes are increasingly chosen by those interested in losing weight, as they play a significant role in managing appetite and aiding weight loss, contributing to proven weight loss strategies by helping to overcome hunger.
What’s the difference between meal replacements for weight control, a meal replacement shake for weight loss and a diet shake? Those delicious flavours like salted caramel and chocolate mint have a load of added sugars don’t they? How do you choose the best meal replacement option for you?
Article Summary
In this article we’re going to take a look at what meal replacement shakes are, how meal replacement shakes work, health claims meal replacement shakes can make, and give you an brief rundown of common ingredients you should get familiar with.
- What are meal replacement shakes
- The benefits of meal replacement shakes
- Losing weight with meal replacement shakes
- Meal replacements for weight control
- Using meal replacements as part of a healthy lifestyle
- How to choose (and use) meal replacement shakes
- The Rebalancing Meal Replacement For Weight Control
What are meal replacement shakes?
A meal replacement shake needs to conform to nutritional guidelines regarding protein, essential vitamins and minerals, fibre, and fat, ensuring a balanced nutrient profile. The nutrients they provide means if a person were to replace meals with real food with a meal replacement shake they would get their nutritional needs met.
How do meal replacements work?
A meal replacement shake works by helping you to burn more calories than you consume to support weight loss by restricting calories while delivering all the key nutrients you need. Most meal replacements are used to replace breakfast, lunch or dinner, generally for a maximum of two meals a day.
Meal replacement shakes are designed to replace a full meal and contain quality balanced nutrition, ensuring a proper macronutrient balance with a blend of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals in a drinkable format.
Protein shakes are a protein supplement and are used to supplement a diet for the purpose of building and repairing muscles. Protein shakes are used to support an active or athletic lifestyle. They don’t provide essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients found in a meal replacement shake.
Ready-to-drink meal replacement shakes
Typically come in a plastic bottle and don't need any liquid added before you drink them. Examples of these include plant based Y Food shake and Huel. Shelf life on these varies from 8 -12 months. Opened bottles up to 12 hours.
Powder based meal replacements
Powder based replacements are usually sold in tubs or pouches and need to be blended or shaken with liquid before consuming. Simply mix with water or milk, ensuring good mixability for a smooth texture.
Usually within 3 hours to consume them at their best. The powder itself can last between 12 and 18 months on average depending on manufacturer.
Taste, texture and calorie content of meal replacement shakes
Flavours and taste also vary hugely when it comes to meal replacements shakes. There is a great choice of tasty flavours with old favourites like vanilla, banana shake, strawberry shake and chocolate shake to much more adventurous flavours like salted caramel, chocolate peanut butter, coconut and white chocolate shakes.
Most meal replacements have the same creamy drinkable format, like a milkshake. This means you drink them more slowly - they're a meal not a drink! -and they fill you up.
Calories in a meal replacement can vary from a low calorie meal replacement 'for weight control', ( under 250 calories) to meal replacements with 400+ calories which aren't specifically formulated to support fat loss.
TDR - Low-energy Total Diet Replacement (TDR) programmes
This is where you replace all your meals with a number of formula products such as soups, shakes, and bars, providing a controlled caloric intake between 800 and 1200kcal per day. They provide all the key nutrients you need.
The goal is weight reduction. TDR programmes can be followed for periods up to three months UNDER SUPERVISION. TDR programmes require regular, qualified counselling individually or in groups while on the diet.
Vegan meal replacement shakes
You may be a person who chooses not to eat animal based produce or you may react to dairy. Vegan meal replacement shakes are plant based, made with protein such as pea protein isolate, brown rice or hemp protein instead of whey protein or animal based protein.
Diet shakes and weight loss meal replacement shakes
Diet meal replacement shakes are calorie controlled meal replacement shakes. These formula foods are nutritionally balanced with minerals, high quality protein, essential vitamins, fats, fibre and other nutrients. They are formulated to replace meals to facilitate optimal weight loss as part of a calorie controlled diet.
Ingredients can vary - there are no set guidelines regarding energy content, fat content and composition, amino acid profile, nutrient content or protein content/composition.
In saying that, if you know how much weight you want or need to lose, how to balance your macros and know which ingredients work for you, they can help you reduce your calorie intake.
What are the benefits of meal replacements?
Meal Replacements from responsible manufacturers are safe, deliver on nutritional value, cost-effective, comply with applicable legislation, and have a proven track record of helping people lose excess pounds/kilos and maintain the loss so they remain in a healthy range.
There is increasing evidence regarding the efficacy meal replacements for controlling weight and as a consequence managing the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In some cases helping to reverse diabetes.
- Convenient - can be mixed and ready to drink in seconds - so making bad food choices when hungry can be avoided
- Fat loss - safe weight loss can range between 1lb and 4lbs per week (depending on size) and there is evidence that a meal replacement diet plan is more successful at doing this compared to a calorie restricted food-based diet plan.
- Cost Effective - range between £2.50- £4.00 per meal.
- Portable - prep and drink them anywhere.
- Meal replacement programs have also shown improvements in blood glucose and insulin levels in participants as well as body weight reduction.
- Easy to stick to - meal replacement programs can fit into most daily routines.
Can you lose weight with meal replacement shakes?
Yes, meal replacement shakes can be an effective tool for losing weight when used as part of an energy-restricted diet which keeps you in a calorie deficit.
If the sum of your calories from the meal replacement shake and your other meals still equate to more calories than you are burning for energy per day, you won’t be successful in losing weight.
How to use meal replacements as part of a healthy lifestyle
It’s recommended that you do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of intense exercise per week. Moderate exercise would be brisk walking or gentle cycling. Intense exercise is when you get out of breath like swimming or running.
How much a person should weigh isn’t an exact science. There is no sure measurement, that includes body mass index (BMI), or others that can tell us what each person needs to weigh to be healthy, only references.
Based on NICE 2022 guidelines, to be a healthy, an adults waist measurement should be less than half of their height. You could use this recommendation and set a goal to drop your waist size. Alternatively use some online calculators like NHS BMI Calculator or the BUPA BMI Calculator
Once you have your starting point you can work out what your daily calorie intake should be based on your activity level and your weight loss goal.
According to the NHS, One pound of fat contains 3,500 calories so cutting your calorie intake by 500 calories per day on average, should see a healthy weight loss of 1 pound per week.
What Are Meal Replacements For Weight Control?
These shakes have been scientifically evaluated and found support weight loss
Governed by European Legislation
Meal replacements for weight control are formulated to comply with specific requirements regarding energy content, fat content and composition, amino acid content, nutrients content and protein content/composition.
The guidelines for meal replacements are governed by European legislation and relevant international and national regulatory standards. Meal replacement products are regulated under general food law and are also regulated by EU provisions.
Meal replacements for weight control intended for partial replacement of the diet’ are products presented as a replacement for one or two of the main meals of the daily diet. The legal name under which the product is sold should be: ‘Meal replacement for weight control’.
Can make permitted health claims
They are defined within the framework of the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation as published in Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/1413 establishing a list of permitted health benefits and claims made on foods.
Only the products meeting the criteria defined by the EU regulation can:
- Make a weight loss and/or weight maintenance claim
- Use the term Meal replacement for weight control as legal name
Cause and effect relationship with weight loss
The European Food Safety Authority found that clinical studies have established a cause and effect relationship between meal replacements used in substitution of regular meals and a reduction in body weight.
Meal Replacements For Weight Control Summary
A meal replacement shake for weight control has strict nutritional guidelines it has to adhere to so they can make the claim for weight loss or weight maintenance. This is because it has been accepted by the EFSA that taking them as part of an energy restricted diet produces those results.
How to choose (and use) meal replacement shakes
When it comes to choosing the right meal replacement for you, that depends on your personal goals, the macronutrient balance, and the ingredient profile.
Personal Goals
If your goal is weight management by using a meal replacement program then meal replacements for weight control, diet shakes, and weight loss shakes are the obvious category for a weight loss journey.
These types of replacements tend to have a calorie limit of 250 calories per meal and can help you to maintain a balanced diet while watching calories. If your goal is convenience, time saving or a more balanced nutritional intake, then 400+ calories are an option.
A meal replacement shake can be fortified with additional ingredients to support health goals as well as fat loss, dealing up key vitamins and minerals, fibre, adaptogens, plants and herbs.
Macronutrient Balance
Your body requires macronutrients in large amounts for development and normal growth, ensuring a proper nutritional balance. These are carbohydrates, fats, and proteins - the basic components of every diet. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals.
Common ingredients found in meal replacement shakes
Top Tip - When you read the ingredient list in UK/EU, they are listed in the order from the most dominant ingredient first to the ingredient with the smallest amount listed last. Often this will be protein.
Allergens will always be in BOLD and can include Gluten, Soy, Sesame, Dairy, Whey, Eggs, Nuts, Fish.
The amounts of some ingredients per 100g dictate whether they can be identified as ‘low sugar’ ‘high protein’ or ‘high fibre’ so if you know you need specifics to balance your diet this can help narrow down your choices.
The flavour profiles of meal replacement shakes have improved a lot over the last few years. While they rarely taste like real chocolate or strawberries do, they tend to taste pretty good!
Common ingredients you’ll see which give a meal replacement shake that delightful creamy drink like constancy - otherwise known as ‘mouth feel’ and fire up your energy and satisfaction factors.
- Whey protein is a byproduct of cheese production. It is the protein made from from whey, the watery portion of animal milk that separates from the curds when making cheese. It’s used in all kinds of protein supplements, shakes and meal replacements.
- Tapioca Flour - popular in meal replacements and shakes. Derived from cassava roots, gluten free, a very pure form of starch and often used to thicken shakes.
- Maltodextrin - a white, starchy powder some meal replacements and shakes have which can help to improve their flavour, thickness, or shelf life.
- Caffeine - often included to stimulate brain function and increase alertness and concentration - like a coffee high.
- Sucralose - a zero-calorie sweetener used to provide a satisfying sweet taste.
- Dextrose - the name of a simple sugar made from corn or wheat that’s chemically identical to blood sugar or glucose.
The ingredients profile of Eve Biology meal replacements has been chosen to work around the needs of women with lower levels of oestrogen which has ruled out some of the more common ingredients found in other shakes like tapioca flour, caffeine, and maltodextrin.
This is also the reason why the meal replacements are allergen free. Some women in menopause can develop food allergies and intolerances for a short time which includes dairy.
Eve Biology Meal Replacement For Weight Control
Eve Biology meal replacement shakes for weight control are not your average meal replacement. Formulated specifically for women over 40, they also provide targeted nutrition to address menopause symptoms of brain fog, anxiety, fatigue, bloating, constipation, and sleep disruption.
They do this by helping to restore the balance between the gut, the hormones, and the metabolism. 3 flavours, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.
Made to EFSA specifications, low calorie and 100% plant based, the addition of herbal adaptogens Ashwagandha and Ginkgo Biloba, and a prebiotic fibre help to target low oestrogen symptoms.
The specialised fibre has been clinically proven to increase good gut bacteria which in turn supports hormone regulation and boosts immunity. Another benefit of this fibre is that it won’t spike blood sugar which is deliberate because higher blood sugar is a challenge in menopausal women.
Eve Biology have been formulated to be taken for breakfast and lunch with over 100% NRV levels of vitamin K, C, folic acid, iron and zinc based on two shakes per day as well as calcium, vitamin D, vitamins B6 an B12.
Each meal replacement shake is 209 calories which leaves a healthy daily calorie allowance for dinner and snacks.
Article Summary
When it comes to choosing the meal replacement for you, you are spoilt for choice with a lot of options on the market. At the end of the day, you need to have some clear benchmarks regarding your weight loss goals and nutritional needs.
Your selection also depends on your personal preferences when it comes to ingredients and let’s be honest - something you quite enjoy the taste of.
FAQ
Do meal replacement shakes help lose belly fat?
Low calorie meal replacement shakes when used as part of an energy restricted diet can help you to lose fat, including belly fat.
Can I just drink meal replacement shakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
You should replace up to 2 of your 3 main meals a day with a meal replacement shake as part of a healthy balanced diet.
Do all meal replacement shakes have the same vitamins and minerals?
No, the vitamins and minerals in meal replacement shakes differ. Be sure to review ingredients and make sure you're getting everything you need to stay healthy.
