So what's in that food, anyway?

Kirstie Alley, Whoopi Goldberg, Valerie Bertinelli, Queen Latifah, Marie Osmond . . . Celebrity after celebrity is endorsing different diet plans, all of which seem to have one thing in common: They make their own meals, which are part of the plan.

Did you ever wonder why eating food products from a particular diet plan melts off pounds? I mean, what's the difference between eating a microwaved frozen meal of meat and vegetables vs. eating meat and vegetables you cooked at home? Heck, I've got a kitchen scale to measure portions. Are they adding a little somethin'-somethin' to those meals . . . like maybe appetite suppressants?

Hmm.
Posted by bettye griffin at 9:57 AM
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3 comments:

PatriciaW said...

Since I've done at least two of the "prepared-meal" diet plans in the past, I can tell you there's nothing unusual in the food, at least nothing more than the normal load of preservatives and dyes that you wouldn't get from cooking fresh foods at home.

The deal with those products is that they very carefully control the sugar, fat, and salt content. They also very strictly control the portion. When you hear a portion of meat is roughly the size of a deck of cards, you can bet you get nothing bigger than a deck of cards from those programs.

Naturally one will lose weight because you're not overeating, assuming you strictly adhere to the diet regimen, and what you are eating is reasonably healthy. Can you do it at home on your home? Sure, but it's a lot harder to be as strict.

The downsides are (1) boredom, even though they have a large variety of foods; (2) temptation, cause it's hard to eat less than your 5 yo at a meal; and (3) when you end the program, you haven't really learned how to cook in a low fat/low sugar/low salt kind of way, so you go back to your old habits and regain the weight.

But if someone has a lot of weight to lose, they are not a bad way to get off a good 20-30 lbs (and I know people who've done more). Just have a plan for the adjustment back to the "real world" of eating. And don't forget to exercise!

April 02, 2008
Anonymous said...

I think it's just portion control. It would be cheaper and I think healtheir to weight the foods yourself; but it can be inconvenient if you're in a hurry.

April 03, 2008
bettye griffin said...

Thanks for the information, Patricia! I didn't think they could make prepared foods without additional sodium, but now that I think about it, I do recall reading that frozen foods contain less sodium than canned.

Shelia, Being in a hurry can often create problems, can't it? How many times have we spent more than we should or eaten something laden with calories because we were running late?

Thanks for posting!

April 04, 2008

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