Slim Fast, Instant Breakfast, Atkins shakes, just to name a few, are some of the meal replacement products that I remember used to sell like hot cakes almost everywhere. From health food stores, to the grocery store pharmacy, you can get meal replacement bars, powdered drink mixes, and ready to drink shakes that you can use to replace one or two meals per day for steady and speedy weight loss. But are they good for you? I remember picking up a ready to drink shake at pharmacy one time and seeing the abundance of sugar, and amazingly, a huge lack of protein in the product! The only plus to it that I could see is that it was low in calories and low in fat. But the sugar content was unreal!

I remember thinking, "how could this possibly help you lose weight?" The answer was in the low calorie content of the shake. There is a concept in the science of weight loss commonly referred to as "calories in, calories out." Basically, what this means is that your body needs a certain amount of calories per day in order to maintain your current weight, and that if you eat more calories than this amount, you will gain weight. In the same respect, if you eat less calories than this amount, you will lose weight.

The meal replacement shake that I examined was so low in calories, that if you used it as a meal replacement for one out of three meals, the other 2 meals being healthy and lower in calories as well, you would most likely have consumed less calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight, resulting in a loss of weight, however, the product was still not very conducive to health, only fitness.

After searching tons of meal replacement products, I could find very few that were decent, but even then, many of them contained artificial sweeteners and other ingredients that you simply do not need. I knew that there had to be a better way to do this, so I looked into making my own. In this article, I'm going to share with you what I learned about creating your own meal replacement shake, so that it will not only support weight loss, but will also support health.

Many people walk into the health food store with the mistake of thinking that any protein powder can be used as a meal replacement. While you will be incorporating protein powder into your meal replacement, it should not be used as a meal replacement by itself, as it is an incomplete meal. "So what's the difference between a protein powder and a meal replacement?" The difference is that a protein powder only contains protein, with no other nutrients, and is therefore incomplete as a meal. By itself, it may serve as a great source of additional protein, but it is not a meal.

A meal replacement has protein, carbohydrates, and if you wish, a healthy source of fat as well.

So in order to create a healthy meal replacement shake, you would have to add your protein powder to a liquid, and add a carbohydrate as well. I do this personally by adding fruit to my shake. The protein powder serves as a source of quality protein, the fruit serves as a source of quality carbohydrates, and depending on the flavor of the protein (ex: chocolate) and the type of fruit I am using (ex: banana), I may add natural peanut butter to my shake as a source of healthy fat.

I add all of the ingredients to low-fat milk, blend it all up, and down my healthy meal replacement. I do this usually in the morning, since I'm not really a big morning eater. This type of shake will give you more of a thick, milk shake consistency. If you wanted more of a thin consistency, simply replace the milk with water for a thinner, more juice-like consistency.

So there you have it; a simple, and more cost-effective way to make a healthy meal replacement. The only other thing that I should mention is that you should be aware of the type of protein you use. Many proteins contain ridiculous amounts of cholesterol as well as artificial sweeteners. I personally use all natural whey protein. The sweetener used in the protein is called stevia, which is an all natural plant-based sweetener. I recommend using this type of protein, which is available in a variety of brands. So shop around, and try to find a protein powder in which the ingredients list is as short as possible, and contains close to only the following ingredients: protein, stevia, natural flavor.