To gain weight, you have to eat more calories than your body needs for its daily activities. Milkshakes offer an easy and convenient way to consume those calories. Whether milkshakes are healthy for weight gain depends on the ingredients, and if milkshakes are part of an overall healthy nutritional plan.
Considerations
Eat regular meals, approximately every two to three hours to help you gain weight. These meals should contain complex carbohydrates such as whole-grain rice, potatoes, yams, pasta, bread and oatmeal. Protein sources should include red meat, poultry, whole eggs, fish, dairy products, beans and legumes. Fats should include hemp seed and flaxseed oil, coconut oil and peanut butter. However, lifestyle constraints can make it difficult to eat so frequently. Substitute milkshakes for one or two meals to get the nutrients and calories you need for weight gain. Alternatively you can drink a milkshake between meals.
Unhealthy Milkshakes
Do not drink fast food milkshakes to help you gain weight. The British newspaper, The Guardian, exposed the extensive list of chemicals and artificial flavors present in a fast-food strawberry milkshake in an article on April 24, 2006. Some of the ingredients listed included sugar, sweet whey, high-fructose corn syrup, guar gum, sodium phosphate, carrageenan and artificial strawberry flavor. The artificial strawberry flavor contains more than 40 different chemicals, such as butyric acid, methyl naphthyl ketone and rum ether. Additionally, the high sugar content will make you gain the wrong type of weight, for example, fat on your belly and butt.
Homemade Milkshakes
Make your own milkshakes or smoothies. For example, use 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of oatmeal blended to a fine dust, one sliced banana, 1/4 cup of blueberries, 2 tbsp. of whey protein, 2 tbsp. of honey, 1 tbsp. of hemp seed or coconut oil and 1/2 cup of ice. Blend all the ingredients in a food mixer. The oatmeal ensures your shake is high in complex carbohydrates, honey provides simple sugars, hemp seed oil, or coconut oil, provides healthy fats and the fruit provides vitamins, fiber and antioxidants. You may prefer to use nonfat or reduced-fat milk. Alternatively you could use rice milk or almond milk. Use a variety of fruits in your milkshake to suit your taste.
Weight-Gain Supplements
You may prefer to buy a weight-gain supplement from a grocery store, health food or muscle and fitness store. These usually come in powder form, which you can add to milk, fruit juice, water, rice milk or almond milk to make a weight-gain milkshake. These supplements usually contain whey protein; maltodextrin, which is a carbohydrate; coconut oil, a fat the body readily uses for energy; some simple sugars; vitamins; and minerals. Once mixed with a beverage of your choice, one serving of a weight-gain milkshake can provide you with up to 400 calories, 25 g of protein and 80 g of carbohydrates. Avoid those which promise up to 1,000 calories per serving. Most of the calories are in the form of simple sugars which cause an insulin spike to drive the excess energy to your fat stores.
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