Though we may recognize that they aren’t necessarily good for us in the long term, many of us turn to weight loss shakes as a way of trimming the fat. It’s a natural tendency because we want to lose weight and find a simple and efficient way to do so. We want to see the weight come off but don’t necessarily want to work too hard to do so.
As a result of such thinking, using shakes that can help to act as a meal replacement seems an easy and often effective way to trim the fat and change the number on the scale. Seeing as that’s true, though, we want to be aware that this could result in serious problems–perhaps even death—in the long term.
Very recently we heard the story of a woman who was said to be “addicted” to weight loss shakes. Though this may be just one story, it’s important to note that this could happen to anyone. She was using such shakes for over six months, even after she was having kidney pains and complications. She continued to use such shakes because they were helping her to get results, and it was said that she was truly addicted to them for some unknown reason. Things became deadly when she was plagued with severe aches and pains. Doctors couldn’t do anything to stop the pain or otherwise help her, and thus she died the same day.
Nothing to an Extreme Is Ever Good for You
What they found in the woman’s system is perhaps the most shocking part of the weight loss shakes and their correlation in her death. After an autopsy was performed, it was found that she had very high levels of lead in her body, which may very well have caused her to die. Was this an isolated incident? Are most shakes in this category perfectly fine to take for a while? Did she take these shakes for too long and not listen to her body? All of this is still being investigated, and we may not ever really have the answers we want. For now, though, it’s important to note that this death happened and may not be an isolated event.
Though weight loss shakes may help you to get a jump-start on the whole process, they aren’t intended to be used for the long term. They may very well provide an initial boost to your weight loss effort, but they can’t help you forever. You should not be replacing meals for a lengthy period of time, so you want to include food in the right amount as you move forward. This isn’t the case for everyone, but if there are already health problems present or if use of weight loss shakes is taken to an extreme, it can cause long-term problems. Hopefully people will learn from this woman’s example and make good decisions about weight loss methods.
