Meal Replacements
Meal Replacements: Are They The Long Term Solution?
Weight issue has becoming a serious problem to people of
today, mainly due to the inactive lifestyle and compulsive
eating behavior. Some people eat for emotional reasons rather
than physical hunger, which have become a type of addiction.
It should be understood as an addiction, most of the time
it is. For example, the group Overeaters Anonymous functions
on many of the same principles as AA or other twelve step
programs. Excessive eating should be treated like an addiction
because that’s exactly what it is.
But if that’s the case, it is not hard to understand
why it might be harder to treat than some others. The best
way to deal with an addiction is to stay away from the behavior
which is out of control, just like how alcoholics can’t
touch alcohol. The idea is to not do it at all until the addiction
becomes a thing of the past, for most addicts, they can never
indulge in their addictive behavior again, not even once.
However, this treatment can’t be given to food addiction
since it is impossible for us to stay away from food. That’s
why food addiction, though it’s an addiction to a non-lethal
substance, could be the hardest to deal with. This is why
there are companies such as Slim-fast, who produce and market
meal replacements for people to use while dieting to lose
weight, actually did successfully help some people to lose
weight.
The idea behind meal replacements is that you don’t
really eat at all for most of the day, and you only substitute
your meal with special shakes that give you all the nutrients
you need, and keep you feeling full. This works in two ways:
first, it controls the calories you consume due to the fake
that the meal replacements are quite low calorie. Second,
it breaks the cycle of addiction since you will not be really
eating.
Most of the meal replacement plans will recommend you eat
to one ‘normal’ meal per day, some people who
are serious about losing weight don’t do even that.
And, that’s how Oprah Winfrey once lost so much of weight.
She said that she found it easier not to eat at all by only
subsisting on meal replacement shakes and bars than to control
her diet. Everything becomes very straightforward, and it’s
true that many people have lost weight using this method of
weight loss.
Nonetheless, there are some setbacks. A weight loss program
is supposed to teach you about how to eat for the rest of
your life, to make it a habit to eat healthily, and this is
not what meal replacements will do for you. Once you resume
to your normal diet, you might find that you still have problems
controlling your food intake. Though you will have lost weight,
you are more prone to gain it back if you haven’t learned
healthy eating habits.
Also, there’s a risk that some people will keep continuing
on relying on the meal replacements for prolonged period,
just because it’s easier and more convenient. Thought
they are formulated to give you a minimum level of calories
and nutrition, meal replacement bars can never be replacement
for real food over an extended period.
However, if you notice that you have compulsive eating behavior,
you might want to consider 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. Find
out the answer to these and other aspects of healthy eating
will help your weight loss program permanent.
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