Losing Weight and Feeling Great

‘Diet Plans’ Category

You see the commercials all the time for NutriSystem food, and you find yourself wondering about it.  Does NutriSystem work?  What’s the food like?  How much does it cost?

NutriSystem Food:  The Good and the Bad

OK, first things first:  how does the food taste?  Is it great or is it terrible?

Well, how about it’s a little of both.  Some of the foods seem to be universally loved, like the pizza, hamburger, tacos and such.  Others seem to have few fans, like the beef stew and blueberry muffins.

All in all, the food is good, although some are a little on the bland side (especially the dinners).  Why?  Because the foods are produced to meet the needs of as many people as possible, they are bland-ish.  But that doesn’t mean they can’t be dressed up some!

For example, I think the tacos are yummy with an added tablespoon of salsa and a little low-fat cheese.  The pizza gets two thumbs up with some turkey pepperoni on top.  The hamburger seems to be great no matter what you do to it!

And the desserts — I don’t think there’s one that I don’t like!

Try It Before You Buy It

Now I’m not going to lie — NutriSystem is a little on the expensive side (although if you already eat out a lot, it might actually be a savings).  Figure on about $300 a month.

There is an option of trying some food, however, before you sign up for the full program.  Kind of a "try it before you buy it".

Strange as it may sound, ebay has a lot of NutriSystem listings!  You can buy a few day’s worth of food to try out and see how you like them.

If you decide to go this route, stay away from listings that include the tuna casserole dinner, blueberry muffins or microwave chocolate cake.  The muffins and cake are actually pretty decent once you know how to prepare them, but the tuna…well, better not touch that one!  (Yes, I speak from experience.)

So, If so, check out the box below; click on an image to see the listing and bid amount.

The “No S” Diet is something that’s come out that is rather interesting; I’m not sure I totally agree with it, but it does have some merits, so here goes.

The “No S” Diet really has three simple rules to follow:

• No sweets.
• No seconds.
• No snacks

There are exceptions made; i.e. on days that begin with an S (Saturday/Sunday) you can break these rules a little.  Not go overboard, mind you, but a little easing of the rules on the weekends, so that you can hold to the diet during the week.

While I heartily agree with the “no sugar” part, I take a slightly different stance on the seconds and snacks.  The reason being it depends on what your seconds and/or snacks are.

While I can’t condone a candy bar for a snack (it’s sugar anyway), how about a piece of string cheese and some raw veggies?  That helps stave off cravings while evening out your blood sugar.  I don’t think that unilaterally banning all snacks is necessary.

So that brings me to the “seconds” part.  What are your seconds?  If it’s another piece of lasagna or another hamburger, I’d agree — it’s not necessary.  But what if your seconds are steamed veggies without butter?  Or a leafy green salad with some low-calorie dressing?  I’m not sure I’d ban that kind of second.

I guess I could go along with the no sweets and no seconds (they make sense) but I have to disagree with the no snacks — at least the right kind.  Keeping your blood sugar stable is one of the things you very much need to do, to successfully diet for weight loss.

But what about you — would the “No S” diet help you keep to your weight loss plans?  Or would they drive you to distraction and make you fall into bad habits again?  What do you think?