My moms birthday is coming up and I think I know what I'm getting her. I want to try and get some kind of "liquid meal" thing for her to replace her (awful) diet with. As a bit of background, she can't eat very many solids (like, I can only think of around 6 things she can handle) due to a series of unfortunate medical events (lets just say, if murder was legal, a particular surgeon may want to watch his back). As of now, she's only been eating yogurt and steamed veggies once in a while. Maybe some toast in the morning.

ANYWAYS, all I can find for MRP's are ones aimed at building muscle or aiding in workout. That's not really going to work...she's 50 with arthritis. Do any of you know of something? Basically, something that has all the nutrients a person needs to live. I was looking at that Soylent stuff, but it wont be out for a while.

Ensure shakes should do the trick.

http://ensure.com/products/ensure-plus-retail

These are fantastic, and IMO better than anything you're going to find at a grocery store or most supplement stores like GNC:

http://www.isagenix.com/en-US/products/categories/individual-items/isalean-shake

They have an insane amount of vitamins and the corresponding active enzymes compared to things like Ensure. The problem is that you need someone that's licensed to sell the stuff to sign you up for a membership to buy them. It's kind of like Amway, but less restricted. I know some people that can do that if you're interested.

Also, have you heard of http://www.soylent.me/? It sounds like a joke, but it's real.

Most of these powders are really just fancy instant chocolate milk. Whey powder means it's just basically instant milk with flavorings added.

What you might look into instead is a Juicer for vegetables. An ex-gf of mine used one of these to replace a couple of meals a day and cleared up some nagging digestion issues she had. Breville and Juiceman makes good ones. She had a Krups unit that did not work well and had a ton of parts to clean.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_6?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=juicer&sprefix=Juicer%2Caps%2C293

In any event, you get all the nutrients, some of the fiber and most of the goodness of the fruits and veggies this way.

This is sort of true for the ones that are designed for muscle building - which is different than a meal replacement shake. That said, the ones designed for muscle building are more than just "instant chocolate milk," as they have much, much higher concentrations of isolated whey protein. This is important to know, because if you drink them like they're chocolate milk the extreme amounts of protein can damage your liver.

Juicers can be great. For the most part it's really healthy. The only problem is that it can get expensive and labor-intensive, which is why most people I know that jumped on the juicing bandwagon eventually gave up on it. YMMV.

Soylent may be good for her but I don't think a shake that's "clinically shown to burn fat" is good for her needs as she won't be getting the fat anywhere else in her diet which is unhealthy in the long run.

True, the meal replacement ones may be better than just Instant Milk. I would hope so anyway.

I just have looked at the protein powders that are sold in places like GNC and the local Pharmacy and the one a friend at work uses. However to your point about the protein, it may not be a good idea to use these products to replace meals for that reason alone. Only as a supplement to a balanced diet. Also, there is no regulation to the manufacturing or claims that are made for these products, and some may contain bad things that you don't want to consume for any reason

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/04/protein-drinks/index.htm

That's a good point. The Isagenix shakes are designed to be low-fat, assuming that you'll eat one "normal" meal per day. They're not good as a replacement for all 3 meals.

I think if she is trying to go to a liquid type diet, Juicing the fruits and veggies may be the best way to get most of her nutrition and calories. Some of the juices my ex made actually tasted pretty good.

My mother has had four strokes and has to drink this stuff in a can that a medical supply place delivers by the case. I forget the name of it but it has like 23 vitamins and minerals and 500 cal per can. My stepfather had to drink the same stuff after getting a feed bag & trache removed. Check with your local medical supply chain. The ones with wheelchairs and the like, not GNC crap.