personally i don't find shakes, either homemade or premade, to hold my hunger the way a meal with protein and veggies does. just a caution if you start to struggle staying on plan with your food and you rely on very many shakes. long term success imo whether it's south beach or atkins or weight watchers (or anything) is moving toward eating "real" whole foods, not shakes or bars or processed or fast food. jmo.