# Boot Camp In A Bottle - 'Meal' Replacement



## DiggyV (May 6, 2011)

OK this is the second in a series of articles about current miracle weight loss agents, or faddy diets, and whether they actually do anything at all. The others in the series are:

Raspberry Ketones - what a crock: http://www.uk-muscle.co.uk/losing-weight/218183-raspberry-ketones-what-crock.html

African Mango: http://www.uk-muscle.co.uk/losing-weight/233024-african-mango-irvingia-gabonensis.html

*What is the fuss all about?*

Boot camp in a bottle has started appearing all over the internet, including right here on UK-M.



It caught my eye as the marketing is clearly designed to make you think that you get the same results as a military finess / boot camp exercise programme. So nicely toned physique, fat loss and general well being. Clearly no supp is going to give you this. This is claimed to be a meal replacement programme that you use for up to 7 days. Meal replacement to me is a complete nutritional supplementation taken so you dont need to eat a normal, healthy proper meal. Not sure BCIAB falls into this category.

It claims to be a meal replacement, detox and have 100% of your daily vitamin requirements.

*What is actually in it?*

On closer inspection - and the people at BCIAB are kind enough to provide a full ingredient list - it contains the following:


Psyllium Husk and Seed

Bentonite Clay

Activated Willow Charcoal

Broad Spectrum Multivit A-K + folic acid at 100% RDA


From the bottle:



*So what do these things do? *

Psyllium husk - a great source of soluble fibre (that we all need) and is the key ingredient in Fybogel. You can buy ir raw in Ebay quite cheaply, and is used to take the edge off your appetite. It swells up massively when taken with water and will make you feel full, wile containing pretty much zero calories.

Bentonite Clay - There are several forms of bentonite, Calcium, Sodium and Potassium being the main ones. Sodium is another expanding agent - like psyllium - Calcium is a great absorbant material for fats and ions in suspension. However the Foods Standards Agency have issued warnings on Bentonite Clay: http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2012/aug/clay-warning#.UV1MWVs4Wrw However it is regularly marketed as a detox agent despite these warnings.

Activated Willow Charcoal: Activated Charcoal is charcoal prepared to be highly porous. 1g of Active Charcoal has a surface are of 500m2. It is used to treat poisoning and appears to have genuine medical applications, and so may well act as a detox agent.

*Cost*

BCIAB retails at £39.99 for 50 servings, 80p a 'meal'. Psyllium Husk caps retail for £8 for 120. Given the warnings on lead and arsenic in Bentonite - I wouldn't touch the stuff - and activated charcoal (500mg) is about 10p a capsule. So 4 psillium and 1 charcoal would be about 35p, less than half price of BCIAB.

BCIAB will not give you the health benefits of actually exercising, obviously. However it will help weight loss, but really not sure that skipping all nutrition at a meal time is a good thing however you look at it. I have personally used psyllium husk to take the edge off my hunger, and it works well, and would recommend this when on a well planned calorie controlled diet, but not instead of a meal.

In the end it will be up to the individual user whether this is something they want to do, however is kind of reminiscent of super models eating tissue paper instead of meals in order to stay thin.


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## Fatstuff (Mar 2, 2010)

i use psylium husk in my shakes when dieting. This kind of product would be useful to be taken with small meals while dieting but at that price tag, no fcuking way. nice lil write up diggy


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## Fatstuff (Mar 2, 2010)

http://www.naturallygreen.co.uk/Psyllium-Husk-Powder-Bentonite-Clay-Large-500g.html?language=en&currency=GBP this would be a cheaper option along with a multi vit lol


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## Ginger Ben (Oct 5, 2010)

Since when was the recommended daily intake of fibre 2g? That looks like a pile of poo to me.

Good work Diggy, UKM's resident bullsh1t detector! :thumb:


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## Guest (Apr 4, 2013)

There is a similar product called glucomannan. Same concept but much cheaper and probably equally as sh!te.

Great stuff as ever Diggyv


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## DiggyV (May 6, 2011)

Fatstuff said:


> http://www.naturallygreen.co.uk/Psyllium-Husk-Powder-Bentonite-Clay-Large-500g.html?language=en¤cy=GBP this would be a cheaper option along with a multi vit lol





Ginger Ben said:


> Since when was the recommended daily intake of fibre 2g? That looks like a pile of poo to me.
> 
> Good work Diggy, UKM's resident bullsh1t detector! :thumb:


Thanks guys! :thumb:



RS86 said:


> There is a similar product called glucomannan. Same concept but much cheaper and probably equally as sh!te.
> 
> Great stuff as ever Diggyv


Glucomannan is another soluble fibre - same as Psyllium - so used well will help control appetite, but not as a meal replacement.


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## DiggyV (May 6, 2011)

God this stuff is appearing everywhere!!!


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## Queenie (May 30, 2013)

Great article as ever diggy!


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## DiggyV (May 6, 2011)

Some of you may know that I am running a blog away form this site for my 100Km walk (click here), on here I have AdSense ads, and with a sweet irony that made me chuckle - this just appeared on there:


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