Why you should ditch meal replacement bars

The diet culture grows and changes almost monthly.

And with each change, they're usually a lot of food trends that promise a fast/easy weight loss process, promising to help you achieve your desired body goals.

Some people are convinced that meal replacement bars are such food items.

The craze is the bars appear to offer ample protein and carbs to fuel one's day without them having to cook a meal.

This is theoretically supposed to easily save one from gaining calories, thus helping them reach the deficit needed for weight loss.

Truth is, meal replacement bars can function as quick and effective snacks when one is in a rush and needs a boost of nutrients or something to keep the energy going for some time.

However, relying on these bars daily to fuel your entire day will eventually lead to your body getting loaded up with processed ingredients.

In turn, this ends up stalling your weight loss journey and might even cause weight gain over time, especially if these meal alternative bars are being consumed in excess.

This is because not only are they highly processed but they lack certain nutrients and contain more fats and sugar.

One of the leading causes of weight gain is artificial/added sugar, and in order to have these bars tasty and filled with adequate flavour, they’re usually loaded with such ingredients.

While it's no lie that they can actually be good sources of proteins, meal replacement bars usually don’t provide as well-rounded/stocked sources of nutrients as a whole, as compared to natural foods.

Meal replacement bars are often high in calories but do not keep one as full as a home-cooked meal because not only are they smaller in size but the body can quickly process them. 

If you make it a daily habit of replacing full meals, whether home-cooked or those brought from the store, with meal replacement bars, you will most likely experience more bouts of hunger.

This will result in an increased food intake throughout the day as these processed foods fail to adequately fill you up and your mind perceives them as a power snack.

On that note, one is most likely to eat another snack or a meal shortly after replacing a meal with a bar. Even though, it'll be a small meal, snacking throughout the day could lead to one consuming more calories.

Meal replacement bars are nutrient-dense snacks. But if you’re actually consuming them to replace meals that would otherwise include nutrients, vitamins and minerals, then you're in for a huge disappointment.

This may lead to one experiencing a spike in hunger, thus consuming more and inevitably gaining weight. With time, people find that these heavily processed foods are not a long-term solution to seeing weight loss results.

Eating a well-balanced diet with a mix of whole grains, and healthy fats while incorporating daily exercise into your daily routine will help provide your body with the best results when it comes to maintaining weight and working on your body goals.

While adding protein bars to your routine might be beneficial in some ways, they should not become the min meal of your diet/eating habits.

There's no shortcut when it comes to a healthy lifestyle.