Meal replacement bars from brands like Special K, Slim Fast, Balance, Odwalla, and Luna might seem like a convenient way to get your nutrients. Most advertise high doses of protein and carbohydrates that will fill you up and keep you that way all the way until your next meal. And with fun-sounding flavors like chocolate nut brownie or strawberry vanilla, who can resist? But do these bars fulfill their promises? HC checked in with nutritionists Katie Clark and Kellie Naudeau to find out.
Is This Really A Meal?
So can a meal replacement bar really replace a meal? It depends on whom you ask. Katie Clark believes that when used for no more than one meal per day, meal replacement bars are acceptable substitutes for real meals. “Meal replacement bars – when used in moderation – can be a valuable part of a well balanced diet,” she says. “They are convenient, can be fortified with various nutrients and help with weight management as the amount of calories in a bar is always well documented on the food label – whereas it can sometimes be difficult to determine how many calories are in a traditional meal.”
Is all this really in that?
However, Kellie Naudeau takes a more skeptical view. “I do not believe that meal replacement bars are an acceptable replacement for an actual meal,” she says. “If you create a meal for yourself that is balanced in nutrients, you can get a lot more for your calories. For example: you can have a salad with nuts, veggies, a low calorie dressing with fish or chicken on it for a reasonable amount of calories (<500) while also being satisfied. A meal replacement bar does not necessarily satisfy your hunger and most have a high amount of calories/fat. You will be missing out on nutrients that can be easily retained by eating a piece of fruit, veggies or other items from the food guide pyramid. ”
Instead of a meal replacement bar, she suggests choosing a healthy snack to tide you over until you can eat a full meal. “Rather than a meal replacement, a better option would be a ‘snack bar’ (such as Special K breakfast bars, Fiber One bars, Nature Valley Bars),” she says (yup! We’re not against all bars!). “This way it will help satisfy hunger and tide you over until you are able to eat an actual meal.”
In fact, she recommends that if you find it difficult to fit three full meals into your schedule, you should eat six smaller meals throughout the day. This will help you stay full without resorting to something like a meal bar.
Not All Meal Bars Are Created Equal
Both Clark and Nadeau agree that certain meal bars are much more meal-like than others. Nadeau recommends looking for ones with 150-250 calories, have at least 5 grams of fiber, and less than 10 grams of sugar. The high fiber will keep you full until your next meal.
Clark warns against ones with hydrogenated oils or saturated fats. And skip ones that make bogus-sounding muscle building or weight loss claims. “It’s a very simple fact that at some point in time a person will become tired of meal replacement bars and go back to a regular diet,” she explains. “When you make changes such as that it disturbs your body's metabolism and puts you at risk of having a slower metabolism.”
And whatever you choose, “Keep in mind that – if it looks like a cookie and tastes like a cookie – it probably is a cookie!” says Nadeau.
Make sure you’re not eating these as your “meals”!
Pick It Or Skip It?
HC looked at the stats and facts on some of popular meal bars and taste-tested them to help you figure out which to pick and which to skip.
Skip it or pick it? Skip it. It’s got extra sugar and not enough fiber or protein to keep you full.
Skip it or pick it? Ok, so it’s HIGH in sugar. But the protein and fiber should at least keep you full. Don’t make it your first choice, but grab it in a bind.
Skip it or pick it? Skip it. Like the Special K bar, it’s high in sugar, but this time without the taste to justify it. Though the protein’s high, more fiber would be better.
Protein: 8 grams
Sugar: 10 grams
Taste Test: Delicious. No, I’m not kidding. It’s actually delicious.
Skip it or Pick it? Pick it—if you don’t need it to keep you full for five hours, since it’s fiber and protein is a little low. But it deserves major props for keep its sugar and saturated fat down while keeping its taste up.
Meal Replacement Supplement - Shake, Drink, Bar, Powder
Meal replacement shakes, drinks, and bars are becoming more popular. My personal opinion is that I prefer people eat a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables, meats, and fish that the earth provides us. However, for brief periods of time, these products could be helpful in certain people for weigh lifting and body building purposes or for those trying to lose a few extra pounds.
Weight loss with meal replacement
Clinical trials show meal replacement products to be safe when used as part of an overall low-energy diet. In certain people, a partial meal replacement diet with a shake or drink may be a viable alternative strategy to medications for weight maintenance. However, it is best to limit the use of a meal replacement diet to only a few weeks.
J Am Coll Nutr. 2015. The Effect of Protein-Enriched Meal Replacement on Waist Circumference Reduction among Overweight and Obese Chinese with Hyperlipidemia. In China, high-fat diets and excessive energy intake have led to an increasing prevalence of obesity which was previously uncommon. The current study examined the effects of meal replacement (MR) on weight control in overweight or obese Chinese individuals with hyperlipidemia. This first study of protein-enriched partial meal replacement in a free-living Chinese population suggests a new and promising strategy for reducing abdominal obesity in China.
Meal Replacement bars
Once staples of the low-carbohydrate dieter and high performance athlete, meal replacement bars have evolved into a product category fueled by consumer demand for portable meal options that combine balanced nutrition and a wider variety of flavors to suit every palate. Low-carbohydrate food bars accounted for a majority of food bar sales but consumers are now seeking bars with a complete nutritional balance of calories, fat carbohydrates and protein. Other trends making an impact on this category include whole grains, fiber, low sugar and glycemic index. Many food bar manufacturers and formulators have responded to consumer demand with bars that taste almost candy-like, while still providing a balanced amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats, in addition to healthy ingredients like vitamins and minerals. The bar market is fueled by an influx of new companies and products offering myriad varieties, from traditional granola and breakfast bars to high-tech, motivational diet bars and nutrient-packed power bars. Typical bar consumers include children, women, ethnic consumers, young adults, health aficionados and time-trapped business executives.
Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2004. Short-term hunger intensity changes following ingestion of a meal replacement bar for weight control. Meal replacement products for weight loss are popular and safe for most unsupervised consumers desiring to lose weight. Previously we reported that the thickness of meal replacement diet shakes had a direct and significant effect on hunger intensity during the first 2 h and that hunger intensity scores for liquid meal replacements were significantly below baseline for 3 h following consumption (Mattes & Rothacker, 2001) This study uses the same protocol to investigate meal replacement bars designed for overweight consumers. Subjects were prescreened to include only those that normally ate breakfast and liked chocolate. The bar used in this study contained 250 calories (about 30 more than most liquid diet shakes), 4 g dietary fiber, 14 g protein and 8 g fat. Subjects were instructed to consume the entire bar with a glass of water following an overnight fast when they would normally consume their first meal of the day and to assess their hunger on a 1 (not hungry at all) to 9 (as hungry as I have ever felt) scale before consumption, immediately after and hourly for 6 h (only on typical weekdays). Similar assessments were made for the perception of stomach fullness (1=empty, 9=extremely full), strength of the desire to eat (1=no desire, 9=extremely strong) and thirst (1=not at all thirsty, 9=extremely thirsty). One-hundred and eight subjects (23 male and 85 female) completed the study. No gender satiety differences were found. Hunger ratings and desire to eat remained significantly below baseline for 5 h following consumption. Stomach fullness scores were significantly above baseline for 5 h. Thirst scores were significantly below baseline for 3 h. In conclusion, although the meal replacement diet bars contained only 30 additional calories than liquids, they provided an additional 2 h of hunger suppression from baseline that may have an impact on overall weightloss success. These results support superior short-term hunger control with solid meal replacements.
Questions
Q. Are meal replacement shakes a good idea? I ask as a (wannabe) recreational bodybuilder, and as someone who is interested in actually being healthy, not just having big muscles. Do meal replacement shakes really adequately nourish the body; for example, I tend to think that some, especially many marketed for bodybuilders, actually contain alot of sugar to make up for calories. So are they adequately nourishing, and are they actually as filling as they should be? What would you suggest a person should look for when selecting a good meal replacement (MRP)?
A. There are countless different meal replacement products on the market and it is difficult to make a generalization that would apply to all these products, but, as a rule, many of them lack fiber, have too much sugar, and are too calorie dense.
Q. Can a diabetic use meal replacement shake?
A. As long as the sugar content of the meal replacement shake, drink or, bar is low, a meal replacement diet is a viable strategy for weight reduction in patients with diabetes.
Q. What is the best meal replacement supplement?
A. This is difficult to say, but as a rule look for a product that does not have too much sugar.
Q. I have a meal replacement bar that says there is creatine in it. Do you think this creatine could be helpful?
A. Most likely the amount of creatine in the bar is not that high, but if it has more than a quarter of a gram, it could be helpful.
Q. In my meal replacement shake i see there is lipoic acid and coq10. Are these good nutrients?
A. Yes, these two nutrients are healthy.
Q. Which protein meal replacement shake or diet is preferable, soy or whey?
A. In one study, soy meal replacement shake or drink, as part of a low-energy diet, is associated with slightly but not significantly greater weight loss over a 12-week period than milk meal replacement use.
Do you have a meal replacement product? Preferably similar if not better than Herbalife's Formula 1?
Not at this time, I prefer people eat whole foods.
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