Experts Say To Avoid This High-Calorie ‘Health’ Food At All Costs—It’s So Bad For Your Body

In trying to lose weight, many of us start reevaluate the foods we eat daily and aim to make our diets even healthier. While certain foods are known to benefit overall health (vegetables, fruits, and other foods that contain nutrients and vitamins), when it comes to processed foods, experts say not everything seems to be “healthy” it really is. We spoke with a registered dietitian Dana Ellis hunesPhD, MPH, RD and Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist white garciaRDN, who identified a type of food to avoid that is often marketed as “healthy” but has ingredients that are often far from it.

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Why meal replacement bars and protein shakes aren’t as healthy as they seem

Swapping a meal for a quick bar or shake may seem like a quick way to lose weight, but as both Hunnes and Garcia explain, depriving yourself of essential nutrients is never the way to go, and it can harm your body in the long run. One of the “most common and crucial diet mistakes,” Garcia says, is thinking that any kind of “meal replacement food or drink” is the solution. From hidden calories to sweeteners to a lack of vital vitamins, choosing one of these often-referred to as “healthy” items should never replace whole foods and balanced meals.

“So many commercials focus on the vulnerability of people trying to lose weight,” Garcia says, “touching on our pain points.” The reality is that “sometimes meal replacements (like bars or shakes) don’t have all the nutrients or calories a person needs to lose weight,” Garcia says, and for “keep that.”

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Hunnes agrees, saying that protein bars are “often high in calories (280-350) or more, sometimes for shakes.” The bars, he says she, are “often high in protein from processed and highly processed sources in conjunction with sugars or sugar alcohols.” These foods are potentially designed to provide energy (also known as calories) for endurance athletes, she notes, but for the general person, “they will be unhealthy and will promote the opposite: weight gain.”

Hunnes says this is because they are very “caloric” (by volume) and add calories that we “just aren’t” burning off. Meal replacement bars and shakes don’t tend to keep people feeling full for long, she adds, stressing that it’s “better to eat a meal that’s unprocessed and full of vegetables, whole grains, fruits, nuts, seeds.” and legumes. Prioritizing the latter over the former, he says, “will be much less calorie dense, contain more naturally occurring vitamins and minerals” and ultimately leave you feeling full longer due to the bulking.