Are Smoothies an Acceptable Meal Replacement?

Within the last couple of years meal replacements have become quite popular in the nutrition world. Between products such as SlimFast, Shakeology, and Whey Powder there are many forms that people choose to consume in place of actual food. I for one am not a huge supporter of meal replacements as they are synthetic substances and consuming real whole foods is what the body craves and what we should be eating. Recently, a good friend asked me about smoothies and was wondering whether consuming a smoothie is acceptable to replace an actual meal with. My answer, it depends on what you decide to put in it....

The problem with replacing a meal with any product whether it be Slimfast or smoothies, is that a meal containing baked chicken breast, steamed green beans, and a baked potato for example, contains more nutrients including valuable vitamins, and minerals. You might be thinking that fruit has vitamins and minerals as well which is completely 100% true. But what about proteins and fats? You can make any smoothie a completely nutritious and satisfying meal replacement. Again, it all depends on what you put in it.

The key to making a smoothie acceptable as a meal replacement is to make sure the smoothie provides a complex carbohydrate and a lean protein. Why does this matter? Well let's take a small detour and talk about that mid-morning/ mid-afternoon (or sometimes both) feeling of tiredness that we all experience at one time or another. For me a lot of the time it's an hour or two after lunch where I cannot stop yawning and would give anything to take even a 15 minute nap. This feeling has more to do with nutrition than you might realize, and is the result of unstable insulin levels and a drop in blood sugar. So let's say for lunch you consume a large bowl of fettuccine with marinara sauce and a large glass of soda. Your body processes this as a giant bowl of sugar. A large influx of insulin is released to offset the carbohydrates consumed, and your blood sugar rises quickly as a result. About an hour or two later, your blood sugar levels drops and the insulin released remains unstable causing that tired feeling.

Consuming a complex carbohydrate combined with a lean protein causes the body to release sugar more slowly into the blood stream which keeps blood sugar and insulin levels stable. As a result, you do not get that tired feeling, and feel more full until your next meal or snack. This is the same response you would get consuming that baked chicken breast with steamed green beans and a baked potato I referenced earlier. But what about matching the same nutrients, vitamins, and minerals content of that meal in a smoothie? So in addition to the complex carbohydrate and lean protein, you would want to include a healthy fat to ensure your macronutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrates) are covered. To achieve this goal, be sure to include one ingredient from each list referenced below.

**Make sure if you add flax seeds to make sure they are ground. Our bodies are unable to process whole flax seeds and you will therefore not be able to obtain the benefits,

I've often been asked if frozen fruits and vegetables are acceptable to use in place of fresh fruits and vegetables. The answer might actually surprise you. Unless you purchase your fruits and vegetables from local farmers markets or farms, frozen fruits and vegetables are not only acceptable, but are actually healthier and obtain more nutrients than fresh vegetables. How is this possible? Organic and conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are picked and harvested when they are not fully ripened to ensure that after travel to grocery stores they are not spoiled or have gone rotten. In contrast, frozen fruits and vegetables are picked and harvested when fully ripened as they are immediately frozen and do not have to travel long distances. The longer a fruit or vegetable has a chance to grow and develop, the more nutrients are available in the product. Therefore, frozen fruits and vegetables have more nutrients.

It is important to mention that smoothies and other meal replacements should NEVER be consumed for three meals per day. Although they can be very healthy for you depending on what is added, variety of foods is the best method to keeping bodies healthy.

If you have any questions or would like to share a though please feel free to contact me. And as always happy eating!

References

1. Reno T. The eat-clean diet. Mississauga, ON: Robert Kennedy Publishing; 2010.

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