You know that breakfast provides important nutrition and energy first thing in the morning, but you may not always have the time or appetite to eat a full meal. Instead of skipping breakfast altogether, you can opt for a replacement in the form of a shake, smoothie or bar. Learn what features to look for to get the most health benefit out of your replacement choice.
Sugar
Look for commercial products with minimal added sugar. While food labels do not distinguish between added and naturally occurring sugar, a quick scan of the ingredients can help you determine the source of a food's sugar. If you are selecting a meal bar, packaged shake or smoothie, avoid products containing high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, cane sugar, honey, brown rice syrup or brown sugar as one of the first three ingredients. Too much sugar can lead to blood sugar spikes and energy crashes. It also means more calories and less nutrition. The American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugar to just 6 tsp., or 25 g per day, for women and 9 tsp., or 38 g, per day for men.
Protein
Choose a replacement for breakfast that contains some protein. Protein digests slowly and can help make you feel full longer. The minimum amount of protein you should eat is 10 percent of your daily calories -- for a 2,000-calorie diet, this is 50 g. A breakfast replacement with 10 to 20 g of protein is a good way to start reaching your daily requirement. Add a scoop of soy or whey protein to a smoothie or look for all-natural energy bars with 10 to 15 g per serving.
Fats
Some meal replacement bars feature "chocolate" coatings that contain saturated fat or trans fat. Some meal replacement shakes also contain added saturated fats. Eating too many saturated and trans fats can negatively affect your cholesterol levels and increase risk of developing heart disease. You should limit total daily saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent of daily calories -- for a 2,000-calorie diet, this is about 15 g. A healthy meal replacement should contain less than one-third of this daily limit and no trans fats.
Homemade Options
Homemade smoothies are an easy way to control the nutrition, calories, sugar and fat content of your breakfast replacement. Use fresh or frozen fruit with no added sugar, low-fat milk or yogurt, natural nut butter and pure protein powder. You can also make healthy meal replacement bars by stirring together 2 scoops of protein powder, 1 cup of dry rolled oats, 4 egg whites, ½ cup of unsweetened applesauce, 1 tbsp. of natural peanut butter and ¼ tsp. of vanilla extract. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. Cool, cut into four individual bars and wrap for a grab-and-go breakfast replacement that each contain 185 calories, 3 g of fat, 3 g of fiber and 20 g of protein.
References
- "Circulation"; Dietary Sugar Intake and Cardiovascular Health; American Heart Association Scientific Statement; August 24, 2009
- American Heart Association: Know Your Fats
- Institute of Medicine: Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids; September 2002
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