The general consensus seems to be that if you can take in whole foods, they're preferred over shakes. I just don't know where the reasoning comes from for this though?

For one of my meals, I mix 4 scoops of Cytogainer into 2 cups of water. I bartend part-time, so I don't have the option oftentimes of sitting down to eat and the shake is all I can do while bartending.

The Cytogainer contains high quality whey protein and maltodextrin, but a form that is low on the GI, so it would seem to be a fairly sound meal. All the other ingredients except the sucralose seem ok, so I'm just wondering why it is that most people think liquid meals are a bad call?

Also, if liquid meals are a bad choice, why is it just about everyone downs shakes as their PWO meal? If someone can make sense of this for me, I'd really appreciate it.