Why it is insane to call a liquid food.

I have a client who I recommended drinking a shake in the morning. My idea was a protein shake, but he opted for a meal replacement shake. At the time, we wanted it to be quick and easy and it was important that he had a regular breakfast. We achieved that.

I have a very good friend who took a Meal Replacement Shake to work for a while. I imagine he wanted to be more efficient with it. At the time, what I'm writing about today wasn't a big issue or problem. I also think he just thought it was great to be able to eat like in science fiction. So that's not a criticism of his decision at the time.

What you will learn in this Blog Post:

Should you replace a meal with a Meal Replacement Shake?
Is this a good idea?
Is it a healthy decision?
Also: What is the difference between a protein shake and a meal replacement shake and why can I recommend one and not the other?

I regularly recommend that my clients include protein shakes in their diet to achieve their protein goals. Whether someone wants to lose weight, build muscle or be more physically fit, most people don't eat enough protein to achieve their goals.

Let's find out how much protein you should be eating.

Protein content in Meal Replacement Shakes (MRS).

An outdated recommendation for the amount of daily protein intake is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight (0.8g/kg bw) (at least in Germany). This recommendation is considered the lower limit of what is healthy. The minimum requirement, so to speak, to avoid malnutrition. Most of us manage to reach this value without any problems, so you don't need to worry about this.

People for whom an active lifestyle and muscle building* are important will not be able to get by with this. Even if your goal is to lose weight, 0.8g/kg bw is not enough. The recommended range these days is 1.2g-2.2g/kg bw. This means 1.2 grams for people who sometimes get up from the couch and office chair, 2.2 grams for certain competitive athletes and also people who want to lose weight.

If losing weight is important to you, here is an important note: Do not calculate with your body weight, but with either your desired weight or your lean mass. Otherwise the protein amounts are absurdly unrealistic to achieve.

*Who needs more muscle building and probably more protein in their diet? Tip: It's not the left Shiba.

For our example, let's take the middle of 1.6 grams - also the rough recommendation I give my customers.

As an example product, we take shakes from the HUEL brand. The protein content per shake here is 20 grams.

Is 20 grams enough?

With three meals a day, at 102kg (yes, 102kg. Problem with that?) I get roughly 54g per meal. If I add 2 snacks - so I eat 5 times - that's still 33g of protein per meal.

To be clear: unless you weigh less than 62kg, 20g of protein is clearly too little (for 5 meals).

What's more, animal proteins are not usually used in these products. I don't want to make a fuzz about it now, but of course you can meet your protein requirements purely from plants. The only problem in this case is that you will need significantly more of it in order to get enough of the amino acid leucine, which is crucial for muscle building.

In short: 20 grams of protein is too little... for most people.

So-called meal replacement shakes are a problem.

Why?

For one thing, the ingredients are anything but ideal and what they want you to believe in their advertising. If you look at the composition, the whole thing somehow has little to do with food. But okay... That's the case with many highly processed foods. The difference is that MRS pretend to be health food.

On the other hand, it's just crazy to think that a liquid is something to eat. The company YFood literally advertises with the slogan “This is Food”. This is a contradiction in terms and the basis for a completely different problem. If you think an MRS is a good substitute for a meal, congratulations on your new eating disorder. And your children may pick up the habit at the same time.

This is the biggest step backwards in human evolution since Concorde stopped flying...

Real food brings a certain feeling when you touch it or chew it in your mouth and the taste spreads slowly or explosively in your mouth.

A carrot cracks between your teeth. Instead of drinking your fiber, you have to chew it. That's one of the advantages of fiber: You have to chew it. In a way, you have to do hard work. Fiber nourishes you... okay, actually fiber doesn't nourish you, which is its advantage, but we're not in a nutritional science class here ;)

What kind of father would I be if my child was hungry and instead of a carrot I gave him carrot juice?

In my eyes, MRS go in a dystopian direction à la Soylent Green... in other words, science fiction.

"But Marco, I don't have time for a proper meal when I'm working!"

Take Responsibility! Are you working in a prison camp or what? Who are your employers? You literally have the right to take a break from work. And most people do have time for social media consumption, don't they?

And suddenly, when it comes to healthy, real food, no one has time?

The real question is: are you setting the right priorities? And eating properly should be a fucking priority. I may be overreacting, but you can't imagine how creative some people get when it comes to justifying their social media consumption over their health.

Alarm clock rings >>> cell phone out >>> oh... well then no breakfast... and no brushing your teeth... and no deodorant...

If you don't have time to sit down and eat three times a day, nutrition is the least of your problems!

I kind of get it. We're all looking for the magic pill to (for example) lose weight and save ourselves a trip to the gym and just eat what and how much we want. But unfortunately it doesn't work like that.

There is no (sustainable) shortcut.

Take yourself out of context and imagine your grandma tells you that she no longer eats eggs and tomatoes, but now only “eats” “This is Food drinking meals”. You'd call her insane, wouldn't you? (I already think it's insane that you can advertise drinking meals with “This is Food”...)

Or suggest to one of those “I prefer dogs to people” dog owners that they should only give their dog liquid food instead of real food. They would accuse you of animal abuse.

But when it comes to you, it's suddenly okay?

(Sure, it's got the nutritional content of 50 eggs in it!)

If your diet and health were really that important to you, you'd buy frozen vegetables and lean meat** and sit down and plan your meal... and then eat it. Like grandma and grandpa. But they rarely have social media either.

**for the vegans and vegetarians: you would just plan what you eat even more carefully to cover a healthy protein profile.

Boy, have I written myself into a rage now...

And why are protein shakes okay now?

Protein shakes are a cheap and super simple way to support your diet. Because that's all they are: a supplement. They literally support your diet by helping you to consume an important nutrient in the quantities that are relevant to you.

I would even go so far as to say that protein powder is not a supplement, but a food. Unlike the MRS, however, they go on top of your diet and do not replace it.

And of course it's okay to drink a protein shake instead of your breakfast, for example. This is a great way to cut calories and still get important protein.

Or maybe you want to eat less meat? Then the shake can also help you meet your protein requirements.

Whey protein shakes are literally dried and filtered milk. A waste product from cheese production. Some people may consider this to be “highly processed” and therefore harmful, but your Snickers is even more so and whey protein poses significantly less risk to your health... which is to say none at all.

If you've been to the gym and trained hard, you most likely have tissue to repair and need to stimulate your recovery.

You don't need ice baths or absurd recovery protocols from some podcaster or fitness influencer.

You need protein, carbohydrates (yes, those too) and sleep. Even if this theoretically doesn't have to happen directly after training - sleeping in the gym can be a problem - it makes sense to consume a shake after training.

Conclusion

My questions from the beginning were:

Should you replace a meal with a Meal Replacement Shake?

Are you in a desert and going to starve? Then yes. Otherwise, there's always a better option.

Is [replacing a meal] a good idea?

If you're a science fiction fan and want to try something, definitely. And if you're being paid by a manufacturer to advertise it on social media, probably too...

Is it a healthy decision?

No. In the worst case scenario, you can negatively influence your eating behavior and your relationship with food and give your children a false image of healthy eating.

Are protein shakes okay?

Whenever you want to meet your protein needs and can't do it with other foods. If you want to lose weight. When you're working out. If you want it to be quick and cheap. If you want to cut down on meat, for example. They are simply a food.

Ciao

Marco

Meal Replacment Shakes.