The truth behind shake diets.. shakeology.. isagenix and the newest one..

People always ask about protein shakes. There is so much information out there and so many people saying different things about it.

There are some big misconceptions out there.

For me I only drink protein shakes after my workout. Maybe if I’m in a rush and can’t cook breakfast. But I don’t drink them that often, for me I prefer to get in whole real food after my workout. But shakes definitely have their place when you need them you need them. We are always teaching the importance of eating recovery food or shake right after your workout. Now the truth about shake diets (everyone knows or has heard of someone on a shake diet that had lost all this weight).

First thing’s first… you need to understand what your shake is for!

Supplement or meal replacement? Typically it’s made as a supplement, a fast way to get instanized protein into your system and used if you need to increase your protein intake. It helps with recovery and lean muscle gain. Ideally taken with water. It is a good idea to keep the calorie content down to get the supplement value out of it, so as not just be drinking extra calories and get fat. A common problem is drinking all those extra calories. So if you are eating a whole balanced diet and now taking shakes you may just start to gain body fat. Of course this all changes if weight gain is the goal. Taken as a supplement it will be mixed with water and consumed within 20 minutes of your workout. Each scoop is usually about 80 calories plus has a bunch of BCAA’s that help recovery. Especially when mixed with 30 grams of carbs. Like eating an apple or banana afterwards.

What if your shake is for a meal replacement?

This gets tricky. You have to do this correctly otherwise you will still be hungry and perhaps make bad food choices while hungry. It needs to be much more than just the whey protein shake. You need to add milk or almond milk, fruit, nut butter and maybe oatmeal. There are many things you could add. You should get the calories up to around 500 plus. The thing is that you need to eat enough to get enough nutrition to keep you feeling full for another 3-4 hours.

Meal replacement is totally different from supplement.

If you are having a shake for breakfast it needs to have good substance. Lets say for example 2-3 scoops, a tablespoon of almond butter, 1-2 bananas, some kind of oil and some spinach. Now that is a meal replacement shake! We have all heard people talking about shake diets and how successful they are for them. Here is the truth. A protein shake is protein shake. It doesn’t matter which brand you buy. The shakeology and isagenix give you nice blenders, fancy recipes, and powders that help make you feel full. Btw I don’t know what is in that powder but I wouldn’t recommend. And you are paying top dollar for them.

When choosing a protein a good rule of thumb is to have whole ingredients listed and whey isolate as the first ingredient not concentrate. I know this is detailed but bear with me. Now we know the difference between supplement and meal replacement shakes. We also know that protein is protein.

So why are these shake diets and trendy companies so successful?

Here is why. If someone has a terrible diet, meaning they eat pizza, white carbs, fast food and sugar all day. And if they are then removed from that diet and put on a shake diet of less calories and certainly more nutrition than a slice of pizza. They will get dramatic results. If a person wants to lose 20 plus pounds, a shake diet will be absolutely incredible for them. Especially for someone trying to lose over 50 pounds. It will teach them how to eat, portion control, and get them away from all the bad foods that we are told to eat. They may plateau after a few months depending on their strength training routines but that is a different newsletter.blog.

Now lets get to the frustrated people on a shake diet.

The truth. If you are in decent shape, not needing to lose 20 plus pounds, workout 3 or more times a week, eat a well balanced diet then this will not do anything for you. In fact you may start to feel sick since you are so used to eating whole foods. If you are in a good place health and fitness wise the shake diet will have no positive effects on you. If you aren’t eating carbs and sugar all day you won’t get major results from it. You may even gain body fat and feel hungry all day. But the supplement post workout shake is still a huge benefit. So when you hear about the huge success of a shake diet just take it with a little skepticism and know it isn’t great for everyone. Definitely not athletes.

All the best.