The market is flooded with weight loss supplements that make weight loss look like an easy thing. You see a perfect bodied young man or woman giving credit to this pill or that pill. I believe there are some merits to some of the weight loss pills on the market but this article is about using supplements in a different way. I am not going to talk about taking a pill to lose weight but about using supplements to control your hunger. The supplements I am speaking of are Meal replacement powders (MRPs) and meal replacement bars. These are sometimes referred to as protein powder, protein shakes, diet shakes, diet bars, protein bars, food bars, food shakes, low carb bars, low carb shakes and the list goes on and on. What these supplements were originally designed for was as a meal replacement. Usually you replace a meal or two a day with one of these delicious meal replacement powders or meal replacement bars and then you eat sensibly the rest of the day. The problem I see with this plan is that it does not control your hunger and then you end up making bad choices for your meals and snacks. I do really well with my eating choices until I become too hungry; at this point I will usually eat anything that gets in my path. I have found that I can control my hunger by using a nutritionally packed meal replacement shake or meal replacement bar. (A word of caution; I am speaking of high quality meal replacement shakes or meal replacement bars, not sugar packed candy bars stuffed with a few vitamins and then marked up in price and sold as an energy bar. As I said before, I get very hungry and then make bad choices. I typically eat every three hours, so I must be very careful about my choices. By eating a meal replacement bar or drinking an MRP, I can control my hunger for those three hours. I am not suggesting that you eat every three hours. That just happens to be my natural schedule. If I make bad choices every three hours you can imagine what the outcome might be. When I sit down to eat a meal, I am usually just three hours past a meal replacement powder and not overly hungry. This means that I can eat until comfortable and sometimes even eat cheat foods. If you are the type of person that eats three squares a day then you might want to use your meal replacement powders in the following way: Breakfast: Meal replacement powder or Meal replacement bar
Lunch: Meal replacement powder or Meal replacement bar
Dinner: Sensible dinner with plenty of fresh vegetables. If you are like me, and eat about every three hours try this: Breakfast: Meal replacement powder or Meal replacement bar
Snack: Half a meal replacement bar
Lunch: Sensible lunch with plenty of fresh vegetables
Snack: the other half of the meal replacement bar or shake.
Dinner: Sensible dinner with plenty of fresh vegetables. If you are the type of person whose weakness is snacking then try carrying a meal replacement bar and taking a bite of it every now and then when the urge for a snack hits you. Meal replacement powders are extremely portable. Find a shaker cup and a water fountain and you have the perfect meal in seconds! I take two shakes with me to work and very rarely travel in my car without a meal replacement bar. Shop around to find the perfect meal replacement bar or shake for you. I suggest purchasing small quantities and experiment with the tastes before you order large amounts. Some simply do not taste well at all. Meal replacement bars and shakes can be very cost effective when you compare them to the cost of eating out. I wish you the best of health! Bill Herren |
