Meal Replacements For Weight Loss
There are three major reasons why people are overweight nowadays. Most over weight people fall into one of these categories, but lot of people fall into more than one.
The first and biggest reason most people are overweight nowadays is because we are not getting good nutrition from our food. It’s shipped long distances, stored long periods of time and God knows what it’s been sprayed with, injected with, etc. before that. Soil is depleted and our meat animals are injected with and fed horrible stuff. The body tries to protect us by encapsulating toxins we eat in fat. Unless we can get the toxins out, the fat is hard to get rid of.
The second reason is people have an unhealthy lifestyle – working long hours, eating out all the time, not getting enough exercise.
The third reason is they simply eat too much, often in a compulsive way.
This type of eating – eating when one isn’t hungry, for example, or eating for emotional reasons rather than physical hunger – is really a type of addiction. It should be understood as an addiction, and it often is.
For example, the group Overeaters Anonymous functions on many of the same principles as AA or other twelve step programs. Excessive eating is treated like an addiction because that’s exactly what it is.
But if that’s the case, it’s easy to see why this addiction might be harder to treat than some others. The way to deal with an addiction is to stay away from the behaviour that’s out of control – alcoholics can’t touch alcohol, for example. The idea is to not do it at all until the addiction becomes a thing of the past – in fact, for many addicts, they can never indulge in their addictive behavior again, not even once.
With food addiction, though, that’s obviously impossible. People have to eat – there’s no getting away from it. That’s why food addiction, though it’s an addiction to a non-lethal substance, may be the hardest of all to deal with. And that’s also why companies who produce and market meal replacements for people to use while dieting to lose weight, actually do succeed in helping some people.
The idea behind meal replacements is that you don’t really eat at all for a good part of the day – instead, you have a special shake or other product that gives you all the nutrients you need, and stops you from feeling hungry. This works in two ways: first, it controls the calories you take in, because the meal replacements are quite low calorie. Second, it breaks the cycle of addictive behavior because you’re not really eating. You can get away from the behavior much as an alcoholic can (and must) get away from alcohol, and that gives you a better chance of breaking the addictive process.
Though most meal replacement plans do recommend that you eat one ‘normal’ meal per day, some people who are serious about losing weight don’t do even that. That’s precisely how Oprah Winfrey once lost a lot of weight – about fifty pounds. She said that she found it easier not to eat at all (subsisting on meal replacement shakes and bars) than to control her eating. When you know that you won’t be eating ‘real food’ at all for a while, it takes the guesswork out of it. Everything becomes very straightforward, and it’s a fact that many people have lost weight using this method of weight loss. It’s not one that is recommended though.
A weight loss program is supposed to teach you about how to eat for the rest of your life – to establish healthy habits, in other words – and using meal replacements can help. But once you go back to eating real food, you might find that your problems with controlling your food intake are still there. Though you will have lost weight, you are more likely to gain it back if you haven’t learned healthy eating habits. So while meal replacements can help, it’s important to know that you really do need to learn how to feed your body properly for the long term.
Some people keep on using the meal replacements for extended periods of time, just because it’s easier and more convenient. Though they designed to give you a minimum level of calories and nutrition, meal replacement shakes shouldn’t be a substitute for real food over an extended period. One or two a day really can help you control your food and calorie intake and give you good nutrition, but let’s keep it in perspective. Just use them as the healthy tool they are, to help you reach your weight loss goals and help you learn new food habits.
If you know or suspect that your problem with food resembles an addiction or compulsion, it may be worth your while to think about using meal replacements for a while in order to lose some weight. Try to make the time you spend using them as productive as possible, though. Really come to terms with your past behaviour, and learn what it feels like to be full, but not stuffed. Figuring out the answer to these and other aspects of healthy eating will help make your weight loss permanent.
Always try to put the best quality nutrition in your body that you can. We only get one.
About The Author
Carol Hansen, is a Twitter specialist focusing on building and monetizing online with Social Media. You can connect with Carol on one of her Twitter sites or Facebook and follow her latest projects, blog posts and cool tips. Carol & Denis are also passionate Waiora reps and are building their lifestyle online. Won't you join them?
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Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The products and information contained herein are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases or, medical problems. It is not intended to replace your doctor's recommendations. The information is provided for educational purposes only. Nutritional benefits may vary from one person to another.
Great article, with some very good down to earth advice on meal replacement diets. They are good to use, but not to abuse. Thanks, looks like I will coming back here for more good info on dieting.
Good article Carol.