Prepackaged Diet Food - How To Add Variety And Enhance Taste

I've been on the medifast diet plan since October. I am on the five plus one plan so I've probably consumed close to one thousand prepackaged meals. I also work at a very large office complex full of dieting women. Those of us on diets often have taste tests at lunch time. As a result, in addition to medifast, I've also tasted the offerings of jenny craig, nutrisystem, and the chef's diet to name only a few.

Prepackaged diet meals have come a long way. For the most part, I find them pretty good and acceptable. If I am in a hurry or don't feel like putting any effort towards my meals, I can get by just fine. But, if I have a little more time and inclination, I don't hesitate to take liberties with the foods. (Although I only have personal experience with the diet I am on, I am sure this method would work with all of the prepackaged diet plans.)

For example, the medifast shakes are pretty good, but they are fantastic when made in a high quality blender, served ice cold, and topped with fat free whipped cream and sugar free / fat free caramel syrup. (Fruit flavored syrups are also very good.) This trick can also be used for the puddings, fruit drinks, lattes and cappuccinos. This usually helps keep me satisfied, but if I am having a major dessert craving, I'll splurge and add chocolate shavings, sprinkles, or sliced almonds to my shake or pudding. Yes, theoretically this is cheating, but this splurge is still a very high protein, low calorie treat and much more diet friendly than a real dessert.

I sometimes take these liberties with most of the foods in my diet. Here are a few more examples. I take the prepackaged medifast scrambled eggs, add veggies, fat free cheese and roll it in a fat free tortilla to make an omelet or breakfast sandwich. Sometimes I add salsa to this. Also, I add sugar free syrup, fresh fruit and applesauce to the oatmeal. I add hummus or fat free dip to the soy crackers. I top the chili with fat free cheese and fat free sour cream. Sometimes, I put the chili in a tortilla, add salsa and sour cream and call it a burrito.

My favorite way to enhance the foods is to make them something else entirely. Believe it or not, the medifast puddings and oatmeals can be used to make cookies, cakes and muffins. I also take the fruit drinks and pour them over shaved ice so that I can enjoy a snow cone.

It's entirely possible that the doctors who developed my diet plan did not intend for me to change up the foods. However, I don't think they would argue that I've lost over 50 pounds and after six months, I'm not bored and am sticking with the program with a high amount of enthusiasm. Therefore, I don't think they would mind at all. By definition, I am having a great deal of success with this program and I am sure this is the goal for all dieters.

I would encourage anyone considering or consuming prepackaged diet foods to feel free to use sugar and fat free additions to make the diet's foods appealing to you. This will also add a great deal of variety and will help keep you from getting bored.