It can be difficult trying to lose weight when you're on a busy schedule and surrounded by fast-food temptations. One way to take some of the confusion and planning out of what and when to eat is to use meal replacements. Available in many varieties, they can be a relatively inexpensive and effective way to reach your weight-loss goals.
History
The development of meal replacements effectively began with the NASA space program, as scientists looked for ways to keep the astronauts healthy while generating a low-residue diet. The commercialization of meal-replacement products grew in the 1970s with the development of the diet shake Slim-Fast by S. Daniel Abraham as part of the Thompson Medical Group, with its motto of "a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch, then a sensible dinner." Other diet products have followed suit, including meal-replacement bars and cookies.
Significance
Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with the Centers for Disease Control estimating that 27 percent of Americans are obese. Obese adults are at an increased risk for a range of disease from heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. For 2006, medical costs associated with obesity were close to $147 billion.
Features
Meal replacements come in two forms, liquid-only programs administered by physicians, and the over-the-counter products sold in groceries and drugstores. The doctor-prescribed programs are typically reserved for the morbidly obese, whereas the over-the-counter products are used by other overweight people under their own supervision. The over-the-counter meal replacements usually have 200 calories per serving plus a dose of vitamins and minerals. They are used to replace one or two meals a day. An alternative may be to make a homemade blender drink of skim milk or low-fat yogurt with fruit and ice, says the Amrican Dietetic Association.
Expert Insight
Several studies have compared meal replacement diets to more traditional diets where you have to count calories or only eat certain types of foods. One study conducted by Lisa M Davis et al and published in 2010 in "Nutrition Journal" followed obese adults on either a traditional diet or meal replacement diet for 16 weeks, followed for a 24-week period of weight maintenance. The group on the meal-replacement diet experienced significantly greater weight loss, leading the researchers to conclude that the meal replacement diet plan was an effective strategy for weight loss and reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, two key factors underlying chronic disease. An opinion published by the American Dietetic Association in its February 2009 edition of "Weight Management" stated that substituting one or two daily meals or snacks with meal replacements is a successful weight loss and weight maintenance strategy.
Warning
Most meal replacement diets require you to eat two nutritionally balanced products twice a day followed by a normal, healthy dinner. You should beware of consuming only high-protein meal replacement products which can put stress on your kidneys and lead to malnutrition. If you're diabetic, you should also read product labels carefully to make sure they don't contain too many carbohydrates or sugars. It's common for people on meal replacement diets to gain back the weight they lost plus more after resuming a typical diet, because they didn't change their eating habits. Most such diets can be maintained over the long term, provided you make sure to get the recommended Daily Value of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, according to the American Dietetic Association.
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