Meal replacement
Slimming or nutritional shakes to improve your health.
Secure delivery
UK clinicians
You can get meal replacement shakes to either help you lose weight or to supplement your diet if you’re at risk of malnourishment.
Either way, they’re here to improve your health. Order meal replacement options online from Treated to get trusted products and expert advice.
Meal replacement refers to a food or drink that’s intended to replace a solid meal. It often comes as a shake, but it can also include things like soups, snack bars or other drinks.
You can use meal replacements as either a means to help you lose weight (like slimming shakes) or to help you to gain weight or take in more nutrition if you’re malnourished, or at risk of becoming malnourished.
Meal replacements are regulated to provide a reasonable amount of your essential nutrients and calories for the day, so that you can safely use them to replace some of your meals without the risk of you not meeting your nutritional needs. But because a serving often contains less calories than a meal, it’s recommended that you don’t use them consistently for more than three weeks unless your clinician has told you otherwise.
Weight loss shakes work by regulating your calorie intake, so that if you follow the ‘plan’ that’s been set out, you’ll take in less calories than you burn. When you burn more calories than you take in from food and drink, you’re running on a ‘calorie deficit’, which means that your body has to burn its fat stores for energy, meaning that you’ll lose weight as a result.
Basically, weight loss shakes do the heavy lifting for you - meaning that you don’t need to think about what you’re going to eat, count calories or spend a lot of time cooking healthy or low-calorie meals.
Nutritional supplement drinks are essentially designed to do the opposite of weight loss shakes. They’re usually fairly dense in calories, and are often intended to supplement, rather than replace, a food-based diet.
It might be recommended to you if you’re malnourished, or are at risk of becoming malnourished, to drink nutritional supplement drinks throughout the day or between meals in order to increase your weight and improve your health. This can often be useful if you’re elderly, as malnutrition is particularly common and dangerous in older populations (especially if you suffer with low mood, cognitive impairment or other health conditions).
Because they’re rich in calories and nutrients, they make it easier for you to take in more calories than you use - and so create a calorie surplus. This means that you can build muscle and fat stores and support your body’s healthy function. When people are malnourished, it means that their bodies aren’t working as effectively as they could be. As such, getting to a healthy weight is important to help your body to fight off illnesses, keep your brain working at its best and to maintain your energy levels.
How we source info.
When we present you with stats, data, opinion or a consensus, we’ll tell you where this came from. And we’ll only present data as clinically reliable if it’s come from a reputable source, such as a state or government-funded health body, a peer-reviewed medical journal, or a recognised analytics or data body. Read more in our editorial policy.
SlimFast is one of the most well-known meal replacement options for weight loss. It typically comes as a powder that you mix with water and contains around 200 calories per serving. But there are plenty of options and brands for weight-loss meal replacements. If you’re planning to use meal replacements for weight loss, then you should consult a clinician first to make sure that they’re safe for you.
A clinician can also advise you on a product and plan that’s going to provide you with enough calories and nutrients for a sensible length of time.If you don’t take in enough calories and nutrients for a long period of time you could be in danger of becoming unwell or malnourished.
As well as meal replacements that can help you to lose weight, there are plenty of options for ‘meal replacements’ that can help people to put on weight if they’re underweight. Ideally, these options should be used alongside food or meals, but they can be used without for a short time if you struggle to chew or eat for whatever reason.
Examples of meal replacements to help with weight gain include: Aymes, Complan and Ensure.
The ‘best’ meal replacement really depends on you. If you’re using meal replacements to lose weight, then you should try to look for options that provide you with enough nutrients and calories to maintain a healthy lifestyle. You should also discuss your chosen option with a clinician before you start, so that you can monitor your weight and health whilst you’re using it, and so that you can decide on a safe and suitable length of time for you to use it for.
Aside from that, the ‘best’ option for you can often largely be down to your taste and budget preferences.
How we source info.
When we present you with stats, data, opinion or a consensus, we’ll tell you where this came from. And we’ll only present data as clinically reliable if it’s come from a reputable source, such as a state or government-funded health body, a peer-reviewed medical journal, or a recognised analytics or data body. Read more in our editorial policy.
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Meal replacement drink that provides you with calories and vitamins.
A high-calorie drink to replace nutrients if you’re unable to eat solid meals.
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Disclaimer: The information provided on this page is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any questions or concerns about your health, please talk to a doctor.
Malnutrition in the elderly and its relationship with other geriatric syndromes. Clinical Nutrition, 29(6), pp.745–748.
Weight management using a meal replacement strategy: meta and pooling analysis from six studies. Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (UK).
Effect of Meal Replacement on Metabolic Risk Factors in Overweight and Obese Subjects. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 52(1), pp.74–78.
The influence of nutritional supplement drinks on providing adequate calorie and protein intake in older adults with dementia. The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 17(9), pp.752–755.
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