Astronaut food at the parade ground: Why drinking meals fail as a meal replacement #99
Drinking bottles as a meal replacement: Don't have time to eat between two meetings in Zurich city centre? Reaching for a beige bottle with the „This is Food“ slogan seems to be the solution. Unfortunately, as a personal trainer and nutrition coach, I have to disappoint you: This is often bullshit. Here's the scientific (and slightly sarcastic) explanation as to why.
The Zurich disease: "No time to chew"
If you walk through Zurich city centre in the morning, you'll see it everywhere. Between the hustle and bustle at the main station and the business lunch rush at Bellevue. People in expensive suits and finance bro vests sucking on plastic bottles labelled „This is Food“ (or a brand that suggests this).
The promise of these products is tempting for any stressed Zurich high performer: a complete meal in 30 seconds. No Tupperware, no cutlery, no wasted time. 500 calories, vitamins, proteins - just put it in and get back to work.
It sounds too good to be true. And when something in the food industry sounds too good to be true, it's usually... well, astronaut food.
I understand the appeal. Before you grab a greasy chocolate croissant at Stadelhofen, you'd rather go for a „healthy“ liquid meal. But as a personal trainer and nutrition coach, it's my job to debunk nutrition myths and deliver real results.
Here is the hard truth, wrapped in a little humour: Drinkable food is not food. It is a technically optimised nutrient soup.
The science behind it (Or: Why your metabolism is confused)
Why does a steak with broccoli feel physiologically very different to 500ml of beige liquid, even if the calorie count is identical on paper?
1. the "chute effect" (stomach retention time & satiety)
Imagine your stomach like the bouncer at the hippest club in Zurich-West. When „real food“ arrives - let's say chicken breast, rice and vegetables - the bouncer has to work. He has to chop, mix and produce acid. That takes time. The solid food stretches the stomach walls, which sends a signal to the brain via the vagus nerve: „Hey, we're full!“
Drinking meals? They have the VIP pass. They slip past the doorman like a B-list celebrity in a queue. Liquids pass through the stomach much faster (rapid gastric emptying). The stretch receptors are hardly activated.
The result: You may have consumed 500 calories, but your hormone system hasn't got the memo. An hour after your „drinking lunch“, the hunger hormone ghrelin comes back as if you had just jogged up the Üetliberg.
2. the maltodextrin manoeuvre (the hidden sugar)
A look at the back of these bottles is worthwhile for anyone concerned with nutrition. They often list „maltodextrin“ as one of the main sources of carbohydrates. Manufacturers love it because it's cheap, tasteless and technically a „complex carbohydrate“.
But the body cannot be tricked. Maltodextrin is basically sugar that has glued on a fake moustache. It has an extremely high glycaemic index and is rapidly broken down into glucose. This sends blood sugar levels soaring faster than rent prices on Lake Zurich. What follows is a massive release of insulin.
As a nutrition coach, I'll tell you: Insulin is a storage hormone. As long as your insulin level is at the limit, fat burning is blocked. Not ideal if your goal is weight loss or definition.
3 TEF: You don't burn calories while eating
This is one of the most important levers in metabolism. There is something called the „Thermic Effect of Food“ (TEF). This means that the body has to use energy to break down and process food. Proteins and dietary fibre (the stuff you chew must) have a high TEF.
When you eat a real meal, around 10-15% of the calories „evaporate“ through the work of digestion alone. That's a free metabolism boost!
If you drink a pre-digested liquid meal, the TEF is almost zero. The body hardly has to work at all. You give this bonus away completely. It's like just looking at the dumbbells in the gym instead of lifting them.
Conclusion: Chewing is a feature, not a bug
These products are not fundamentally bad. If you're stuck in a traffic jam in front of the Gubrist and haven't eaten for 8 hours, a drink like this is better than the catabolic state (muscle breakdown) or a petrol station sandwich.
But as a daily „meal replacement“? Forget it.
It is highly processed industrial food. It lacks the „matrix“ of real food - the fibre structures, the secondary plant substances, the experience of eating. It disconnects people from their natural feeling of satiety.
My advice as a coach:
We are humans, not astronauts. Our digestive tract is designed to break down food. If you want to see real results - be it muscle building, increased performance or fat loss - you have to eat real food.
Invest the 10 minutes the evening before for meal prep. Or go to the supermarket and buy a packet of dried meat, an apple and a cottage cheese. This takes just as long as queuing at the checkout for the drink shake, provides more valuable nutrients and really fills you up.
Stop drinking, start chewing.
Alex Utzinger Personal trainer & nutrition coach Owner Ultimate Personal Training Zurich
No more drinking meals as a meal replacement - get your real nutritional analysis
It's tempting to simply drink away nutritional problems. But Drinking meals as a meal replacement are at best a plaster on an open wound - they don't solve the real problem: a missing system in your everyday life.
Everyone's metabolism is different. What your colleague can tolerate may give you an energy slump in the afternoon. That's why we offer Ultimate Personal Training no 08/15 tips, but a professional Nutritional analysis.
When your Nutrition coach we take a detailed look at your current state. We identify the „blind spots“ in your diet that are sabotaging your progress. We develop a strategy that fits into your everyday business life in Zurich - without you having to rely on astronaut food.
Stop guessing and studying nutritional values on plastic bottles. Book your nutrition coaching now and we will build you a plan that will make you efficient in the long term.
DE 
EN