Meal substitutes are intended to replace a full meal by providing essential nutrients so as to cover the whole of the nutritional needs of persons following a hypocaloric diet according to the regulations in effect. The present invention relates to a meal substitute for controlling weight which may be made quasi-instantaneously from powder mixed with water, in order to obtain a meal appearing in a standard form of bread slices or sandwiches. In most meal substitutes presently known, a powder is mixed with water in order to obtain a sweet or salty liquid foodstuff to be consumed cold or after having been warmed up. The substitute therefore does not assume the form of a solid meal, requiring chewing of the food, which gives the consumer the sensation of eating and not only drinking. In other words, the most widespread present substitutes form a double break relative to normal meals, because they specifically establish ingested nutritional and energetic intakes on the one hand, and on the other hand because they replace a meal with a drink and consequently break the traditional ritual of meals and more generally of human feeding modes which naturally prefer an approach based on the taste and texture of the foodstuffs, including different dishes or food products taken in succession.
The present invention is a meal substitute in solid form which forces the consumer to chew. This has two benefits: (i) the first benefit is that chewing is perceived by the nerve centers which control food intake. Chewing increases the feeling of satiety and limits food intake, which facilitates regularity with the diet for losing weight, (ii) the second benefit is that the solid meal substitute replaces the foodstuff which it forms in a more conventional meal logic, furthermore proposing in one of the proposed configurations a food base considered as quite essential at least in western cultures: bread. With the proposed product, it is possible to preserve the pleasure and habit of a conventional meal based on bread or equivalent while being hypocaloric and forming a sufficient and balanced content, i.e. it actually has the traditional profile of a meal substitute for replacing a wholesome meal.
Obviuosly, it is designed in order to include the whole of the energetic and nutritional intakes, and is characterized—as mentioned and mainly—in that it appears in the form of a combination of a foodstuff to be baked of the bread or cake type and of a accompanying foodstuff of the spread or cream type obtained from two distinct powdered mixtures to be mixed with water, the components of the mixture for making the foodstuff to be baked being provided for obtaining bread or cake after baking for 2.5 to 6 minutes in a microwave oven, and the components of the mixture for obtaining the spread or the cream including cooking-sensitive micronutrients. In particular, bread may appear in diverse forms, for example as a ball-shaped loaf or a flat loaf, the baking time may be different depending on said shape.
Mixing both powders with water leads to the obtaining of two different pasty products, one of which is subject to fast baking in order to end up with a solid texture for the basis of the meal, which may then be cut into slices or into portions on which is positioned the second pasty or liquid mixture, either sweet or salted according to the meal and to the taste of the user.
Both powder mixtures are, of course, packaged separately. In the following, the invention will be described on the basis of the preferential example consisting of bread and of spread, although other equivalent forms of the invention, such as for example cakes with cream, notably chocolate cakes with custard, may be applied.
This form of meal substitute allows the consumers to retain a usual type of food intake, for example by keeping the same consumption mode at breakfast, with bread slices with jam. The spread according to the invention will then be designed so as to assume the aspect of a jam. Another form of the invention may for example replace the habit which persons in a hurry have, of having a sandwich snack instead of lunch, with a meal substitute made from bread slices with a vegetable spread.
Not heating or not cooking a portion of the meal substitute according to the invention is essential in so far that this allows cooking-sensitive elements to be allocated to the powder mixture intended to produce the spread and to thereby guarantee the integrity of certain important micronutrients of the meal substitute, i.e. preserve their own characteristics and properties. The distribution of the components of the food substitute of the invention between the bread and the spread is notably effected according to this criterion.
Another criterion to be taken into account for allocating the components to each other, being aware that together, they should contain all the elements required for receiving the name of food substitute in the light of regulatory requirements, concerns the making of bread, and therefore of the other powder mixture: the bread should be able to be consumed at the end of a baking time as short as possible, not exceeding a few minutes.
The particular combination of the ingredients of the first powder mixture were specially studied and adapted in order to obtain a quickly baked bread. Indeed, with the combination of ingredients and the preparation method, preparation and baking are 10 times to 20 times faster than that for a traditional bread baked in an electric oven or with a bread-making machine.
In order to give the bread a good consistency and a good organoleptic property, the powder mixture for making the bread comprises at least the following ingredients:
More specifically, the preceding composition may comprise the following ingredients:
Still more specifically, it was seen after tests that in order to have very good consistency and texture, the proportions of the powder mixture for making the bread should be the following, for 100 g of powder:
And in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the powder mixture for making the bread will contain the following amounts, always for 100 g:
Moreover, it is possible to integrate into the present bread at least one of the following ingredients and their mixture: guarana, royal jelly, acerola and/or an enzyme preparation so as to provide added value to the product.
Guarana promotes destocking of fats and has a significant energizing effect for maintaining dynamism during a slimming diet. Royal jelly is a natural source of micronutrients and contains natural antibiotic substances which reinforce the immune system. Acerola is a natural source of vitamin C. Finally, the enzyme complex allows facilitated digestion of the meal substitute, the richness of which in proteins and in complex sugars slows down gastric emptying.
These complementary components are added according to weight proportions of the order of 0.05 g to 0.3 g for 100 g of powder.
The second powder mixture for making the spread, also diluted in water, does not undergo any cooking step, by which, as mentioned, it is possible to guarantee the integrity of the cooking-sensitive micronutrients. This powder comprises elements such as vitamins, minerals, components providing their flavor to the spread, such as vegetables, fruit, chocolate, flavors as well as carbohydrates and additives.
The vitamins and minerals are used as a common base for the sweet and salted preparations of the accompaniment.
The difference between sweet and salted accompaniments comes from the respective proportions of the mixed vegetables, fruit, flavors and additives, as well as from the dosage of the chocolate.
According to one possibility, notably validated by taste and texture tests, the relative proportions of these elements in the powder mixture for making the spread may be selected for—100 g—, equal to:
More specifically, 100 g of powder mixture for making the spread consist of:
As regards minerals, they are provided by the following compounds: tripotassium citrate, anhydrous monocalcium phosphate, magnesium carbonate, tricalcium phosphate, iron sulfate III, zinc citrate, manganese gluconate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, and sodium selenite. However they may be replaced with other equivalent mineral substances.
Like for the vitamins, the body needs of these minerals are not identical from one mineral to the other. According to the invention, the meal substitute provides the minerals according to the following amounts, for 100 g of the powder mixture producing the spread:
And in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the spread contains the following amounts of minerals, always for 100 g:
According to the invention, the powder mixture for making the spread comprises at least the following vitamins:
Vitamin needs are not identical. Indeed, certain overdoses of vitamins are dangerous for the person. Consequently, the provision of vitamins is made, for 100 g, according to the following amounts:
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the spread contains the following amounts of vitamins:
Vegetables, fruits, seasoning or flavors may also be added to the composition. According to possibilities specific to the invention, the spreads may be based on at least one of the following ingredients, or their combination:
However, other components may naturally be used, such as for example chocolate.
According to one possibility, the meal substitute of the invention in fact contains the following components:
This meal substitute is obtained in a particular way in two steps. In the example of the bread and of the spread, the first step consists of making the bread in the following way:
These are amounts given as an example and which are based on the existence of a dose of 48 g of the first powder mixture as available commercially, as this will also be the case for the example below concerning the second mixture.
Moreover, it is possible to place an at least partly filled glass of water in the vicinity of said prepared form.
In a second phase, the consumer prepares the spread, according to the following steps:
Next, the consumer deposits the sweet or salted accompaniment on the bread as if he/she was making a slice of bread or a sandwich in order to prepare his/her meal.
According to a first example according to the invention, the composition intended for making the ball-shaped bread loaf contains:
The composition of a salty accompaniment may then be made with the following ingredients and amounts:
Assuming a sweet accompaniment, and according to an example applied according to the invention, the composition may be the following:
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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09306012.7 | Oct 2009 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/FR2010/052279 | 10/25/2010 | WO | 00 | 5/22/2012 |