Supplement companies would like you to believe that meal replacement products (MRP’s), powdered mixes and shakes have some sort of “magical” fat-reducing or muscle-building properties. The truth is that they’re nothing more than “powdered food” (or “liquid food”).

The primary benefit of these products is convenience.

It’s a challenge to eat frequently and to get enough high quality protein from whole foods, so quality MRP’s are great when you’re in a hurry and you don’t have time to eat food, but they’re not better than food, no matter what any supplement “guru” says.

Owners of supplement companies will say that MRP’s are the greatest thing since electricity. That shouldn’t come as any surprise; sales of these products run in the tens of millions of dollars each year.

With the one possible exception of post-workout nutrition during mass-building programs, eating real food is better than drinking shakes. The human gastrointestinal system has evolved to efficiently digest whole food, not powders or pills. The process of digesting solid food every three hours actually increases your metabolic rate. This is known as the “thermic effect of food.” Powders fail to take advantage of this metabolic boost.