Is your Health Drink, Shake or Smoothie Really Healthy?
In today’s society there are many pressures that keep us from taking the time to eat a proper meal, especially with a family that is getting ready for school and both parents preparing for work. Most of the time, the parents sacrifice themselves to make sure that the kids have a nutritious meal, yet rush out the door for work as soon as the bus arrives, and grab a nutrient starved fast food meal. Also, is your child’s lunch meal any good also?
In addition, the nutritional value of our foods has declined, as farmers are creating quantity over quality, and we are slowly becoming starved nutritionally. As a result, obesity is on the rise, and our bodies ability to fight diseases and ailments have become slowed and impaired. Have you noticed more and more people are turning to organic produce and products. An organic tomato tastes so much better than a conventional one, and could it be that the chemicals that protect a conventional tomato has altered the taste.
With a busy lifestyle in a go-go-go world, is it possible to blend all of the good foods and make a drink, shake or smoothie? That process is tough and finding the right combination of ingredients is probably near impossible.
What else can we do?
I know many people who use Ensure, Boost, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Resource, Slimfast, Muscle Milk or Myoplex. Note that Ensure, Boost, Carnation Instant Breakfast, and Resource originated from hospitals and nursing homes where the elderly have a difficult eating real food, so they turned to formulas. However, the top ingredients include water, corn syrup and sugar. All of which a healthy adult can do without, but someone sick who needs quick energy may need it to thrive, and they have their place in the healthcare arena.
SlimFast has been marketed as a way to lose weight; basically, by substituting meals with SlimFast you would cut down your calories dramatically if you follow the program. However the top ingredients in Slimfast include skim milk, sugar, fructose, and cocoa.
Muscle Milk and Myoplex are used by body builders and athletes, which contain larger amounts of protein to aid in muscle growth and recover after a workout. They are made from water, and a milk protein such as Caseinate and Whey.
If you carefully review the ingredients list of these products, you will notice, that they really do not include any real ingredients.
Now Jamba Juice and Planet Smoothie create tasty concoctions with real fruit. Their drinks are loaded with sugars (40-90 grams of sugar). And you need to ask where are they getting the fruit from? If it is not listed organic, it’s probably conventional. These treats are great in moderation.
Now that I’ve been diligently turning the packages over to read the ingredients and nutritional facts, I was very happy to read Shakeology. When you look at Shakeology’s ingredient list, it includes a blend of 70 plus high quality ingredients from around the world. What the makers of Beachbody Nutrition have done was to research many natives living in their indigenous environments away from all the toxins and nutritionally poor foods.
They combined the best of these ingredients and created Shakeology. With this combination and variety of ingredients, and since variety is the spice of life, Shakeology is like no other shake in the world. For example, açai and goji berries, camu-camu, quinoa, wheat grass, flax, maca root, yacon, and sacha inchi are all included in Shakeology.
Shakeology’s ingredients include key nutrient groups which are;
Protein & essential amino acids to help build long, lean muscles and reduce food cravings,
Prebiotics & digestive enzymes to improve digestion, regularity, and nutrient absorption
Antioxidants & phytonutrients to aid counteract free radical damage that can lead to degenerative diseases
Vitamins & minerals your body needs to function for optimal health
Since Shakeology is made from real ingredients, it has been used as a meal replacement or healthy snack.
Please consult your healthcare practitioner and team to review your diet plans, and always be informed by reading the nutritional facts and ingredients on the labels.
