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Wedding Reception Meal Ideas

November 3, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

Wedding planning is detailed, organized and exhausting. Every minute detail must be planned and reviewed and then coordinated. There is so much to remember, so many things to overlook and decide on, that planning your wedding reception meal should be one of the things you take pleasure in planning. The meal that is served at your wedding reception should be a reflection of you, and your event. A lot can be said about the meal that you sit down with a hundred plus guests to share.

Evaluate the type of wedding your having will help you determine which way you should go with when looking at your meal for the wedding reception. Is your wedding later in the evening? If so a great idea is an antipasto bar. This can provide a variety of elegant starters to wow your guests and keep the style of your wedding. This style of food is still plentiful while providing options for everyone. Served with red and white wine, this is a classic way to celebrate.

Some couples have chosen to be married in the morning and offer a breakfast brunch. This can be a great alternative to a traditional wedding, and perfect if you’re looking at an intimate ceremony or perhaps a second wedding. This idea could include Eggs Benedict, salmon, french toast or crepes. Fresh fruit, an omelette’s station or souffles are an elegant way to share your happiness with those closest to you.

For an evening wedding, typically a sit down meal is required. You can choose the number courses you would prefer. Some have the full six course meal, while others limit it to three. When choosing your wedding reception meal idea, remember to encompass everyone attending your wedding. While some are vegetarians, you should offer two choices of meat. A popular choice is poultry and red meat. Offering a chicken breast or a Fillet Mignon has been done with success. Others can choose to choose a seafood and a roast.  It all depends on your budget and what your willing to offer your guests. How important is the meal to you? If your wedding is large and your out to impress a roast pig could definitely be the way to go. Larger weddings can be more difficult to plan for, since you will have a larger variety to feed. Perhaps this instance would call for a buffet style wedding.

Buffets offer a variety of  choices  in many ways. If you have a multi cultural wedding a buffet can be a great solution to please everyone. This can be a unique way to celebrate by having a host of  food for all your guests to sample. It may also be a great solution financially.

Planning your wedding reception meal will give you all the creativity that you want. You can impress your guests with any number of ideas when it comes to choosing the food.

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Making the Right Meal Choices in Restaurants

May 24, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

When eating out at restaurants it can be hard making healthy meal choices. Many restaurants are known to try appealing to a larger audience which tends to lead to a larger use of fats, sugars and a large variety of unhealthy ingredients to their menus. This has led many to believe that a healthy meal choice is in turn the absolute opposite. When you are eating at restaurants you should be aware that even though the menu sounds healthy and good for you, it could in turn not be healthy at all.

For those that generally eat at restaurants more regularly you should be more aware of what you are eating so that you can make healthier choices. Here are a few tips to help you eat healthier when you are at restaurants:

Tip #1 – Avoid Soda

For those that always turn to a quenching soda, avoid it! Soda contains a lot of sugar in each 12 oz. serving. A 12 oz glass of soda can equal to at least 200 calories alone. When you dine out at a restaurant the drink servings are generally larger then 12 oz., meaning you can be consuming even more then this. Instead of choosing soda to drink consider going with water or an unsweetened tea. For those that consider going with a diet soda to minimize the amount of sugars they are consuming consider learning about the potential ill-effects of the artificial sweeteners. For those that do choose to go with soda consider having a water as well and monitor the amount of soda you are consuming with your meal. The water can help decrease the amount of soda you are consuming, which helps minimize the amount of additional calories you consume.

Tip #2 – Beware of the “Healthy” Salads

Most people are led to believe that the salads are the healthiest option on the menu of a restaurant. Well, this is not actually true. A lot of restaurants smother their salads with high in fat dressings as well as add on large portions of croutons, cheese, oils and other unhealthy fixings. When you are considering ordering a salad take a good look at the ingredients that is being used. This will help you determine better if it is a healthy option or not. When you place your order also ask to have the dressing on the side. By doing this you are in complete control on the amount of salad dressing being used on your salad.

Tip #3 – Healthy Portion Sizes

This is something you’ve guaranteed noticed when out at restaurants, their portion sizes are massive. This is done so that people feel they are getting a great deal for their money, but in turn is very unhealthy for them. The portion sizes tend to exceed what a person needs by at least 3 times the size. By understanding what constitutes a proper portion size you will have the ability to consume the amounts you need while still dining out at a restaurant. One thing you can do to not only save yourself money, but eat a healthier meal size is split the meal between two people or take the leftovers home for another meal. The portion sizes can have the largest complication on how healthy restaurants are and could cause a lot of health and weight issues if you don’t monitor what you are eating.

By learning how to make small changes in your everyday eating habits, you are well on your way toward a healthier lifestyle. If you are worried you can’t do it on your own consider becoming apart of the Medifast Diet. We are currently offering several Medifast coupons that can help you get a discounted price on your dieting plan.

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Meal Replacement Shakes: Speeding Up Weight Loss Safely

March 16, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

It is interesting to note some thirty years ago, ‘meal replacement’ was a term the scientific community gave to diets they rejected as fads. In the mid 70′s, liquid diets of all kinds were being used, some safe and some unsafe.   However, 30 plus years down the track with much research, development and testing meal replacements have advanced a long way with the aide of the scientific community.

It is important to understand that meal replacement food technology is now used, not only for dieters but has also become a vital factor in hospitals for some patients.   The reason meal replacements have advanced so positively now is  ‘science’  of food technology.   Many more nutrients such as protein, good carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and micro nutrients can be added to a meal replacement.

This enables the user to consume far more nutrition in one meal than they could possibly eat in normal foods.   For example in one meal replacement known, one serving of a meal replacement meal is equal in nutrients to approximately 1300 calories of normal food from the proper food chain.   At the same time the meal replacement serving is only 100 calories.   It is then plain to see the popularity of a good quality meal replacement for losing weight without compromising health. To give more credit to the benefit of meal replacements and assurance of their benefit and safety to weight loss we need to look at their usage in a much more vital way.

I mention they are used in hospitals for some patients.   This is perhaps where science really began to see the benefit of advancing this technology and certainly it has been a tremendous advantage for certain patients.   We now see many patients in hospitals for various reasons comatose for weeks and months. How were these patients to live with out food?  The answer quite simply comes from intravenous fed meal replacement type nutrition. Hence, not only are the patients fed while comatose, but fed well. The understanding of nutrition and what the body needs has come a long way.

Muscle mass and the prevention of losing it is not only vital to dieters but also to bed ridden patients.   This is where the necessity for protein in the human diet has been realized to be of great importance and as a result, it is greatly used in meal replacement products both for diet products and patients in hospitals.   Realizing this, companies now put great resources into finding and including the best grade of protein in their products. Another argument that comes up with meal replacement dieting is the cause to actually eat less natural food, therefore compromising the metabolism.

It is important to note as this argument comes up,  to remember the body is actually fed with important nutrients and perhaps more with meal replacements than normal food. Add to this, less energy used by the body to digest bulk food, there is actually a lot of energy preserved, therefore elevating the tiredness a person feels when the body  works over time in the digestion process.

After a nutritious meal replacement you do not feel this tiredness therefore people are more likely to feel energetic and likely to be more active.   This preserved energy leads to an individual being more motivated to exercise and increase metabolism further. Many individuals may ask, how do I know which meal replacement is the best as there are so many in the market place?  The answer to this question is simple in the process of elimination.

Choice Magazine did an article some months ago on meal replacement products.   It was interesting to note in this article that not all products can be labeled ‘meal replacement’.   In some countries there are health department labeling laws.   These laws have a requirement of a certain amount of nutritional ingredients to be included in a product in order for a company to call a product a ‘Meal Replacement’.

This then makes it easy for us to recognize whether a product is in fact a meal replacement giving us enough nutrients.   Make sure you look on the cans and sachets of what may look like a meal replacement, that it is clearly labeled as such. In conclusion meal replacements are not only for dieters.   We now live in a world where nutritionally related diseases and deaths are over-taking smoking related health issues, hence we realize the importance meal replacements may be to every body’s well being.

As our food, to meet population demand continues to be picked per-ripened, our soil gets depleted of nutrients through over use. Our animals fed hormones for faster growth.   More foods are genetically modified and processed we need to realize we are getting less and less nutrition in our food. We all remember what our fruits and vegetables tasted like some twenty years ago and how different they taste today.   Why do you think this is?  A good question to ask, could it be because of the above mentioned reasons?  We all may well be needing to supplement our daily diets right now, with off course, an exellent quality meal replacement.

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Quick Weight Loss with Meal Replacement Shakes

March 15, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

Weight loss has become big business in this country as the number of overweight people increases. Meal replacement shakes are just one of the types of weight loss products that are growing in popularity. They have always been around, but they are being taken more seriously in recent years.

A meal replacement is normally a high protein bar or shake that is fortified with vitamins and nutrients. They are meant to be eaten in place of a meal. Medifast and Slimfast are examples of 2 of the more popular meal replacement diets that are available.

These meal replacement products make it easy to lose weight, if you follow the program as it was designed. These food plans can make your life easier and they take less than a weight loss plan where you are preparing the food yourself. Meal replacement diets consist of products that are ready to eat, but may require you to add water. The big advantage to meal replacement foods is you will lose weight quickly, because they consist of a minimal amount of calories. The down side of that is that may not always feel full.

It is recommended that you eat at least one sensible meal daily. It is not a good idea to cut food out completely. Personally, I have used these products and I always seem to be not quite satisfied. I can use them along with program that includes food, but to eat only one meal day does not work for me. For many people it does.

For somebody who requires structure and convenience, meal replacement diets are ideal. They can be ready at moments notice, they are very portable and can go anywhere with you and you can buy a months worth of meals at one time. This kind of weight loss plan works well in the society we live in today. People are always on the go and live life at a fast pace.

Meal replacements are not for everybody, but they are another option you have available to you if you are looking for a weight loss program. The bottom line is the program that is going to work best for you is the one you can stick with. If you need a weight loss plan with some structure that is convenient, you should consider meal replacement shakes. They allow you to eat several times a day and can be the program that will help to lose the extra weight.

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What is the ingredient sugar alcohol? It is in a South Beach Diet meal replacement bar. Is it worse?

March 4, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

than regular sugar??

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Weight loss with meal replacement shakes and meal replacement drinks

March 2, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment


Diet and exercises are two important steps for weight loss. You can’t get rid of your weight problems if you missed either one of them. However, how well do you know about diet and how often do you implementing exercises for weight loss? Maybe not even once a week. However, diet is much more crucial and should come first before exercises. As such a good meal replacement diets plan should come into the picture. In conjunction with that a good meal replacement diets plan should consist of effective and safe meal replacement food and drinks. And at this point of time, I will strongly recommend you to take meal replacement shakes and meal replacement bars. Meal replacement bars are a good option for meal replacement food to be include in your meal replacement diets plan. Unlike other meal replacement drinks, meal replacement bar is much more easy to prepare and convenient to bring. These meal replacement bars are very much simple to take and you not even need to prepare it at all. What you need to do is insert few of this meal replacement bars inside your handbag and go to whatever places you want. These meal replacement food is good as they are not only good in taste but it really can really fill up your stomach. The meal replacement bars contain low calories and high health value, especially those meal replacement bars that made of oats and wheat. This meal replacement food really helps in weight loss as it always use to substitute your breakfast or luch. You no need to pour it or shake it, what you need to do is just open up the seal part of the meal replacement bars and enjoy it. Most of the meal replacement bars in the market containing high protein and it is much more useful for body builders as the supplementary snacks. Meal replacement diets plan should also consists of another exclusive meal replacement food, which is a cup of delicious and nutritious meal replacement shakes. A meal replacement shakes normally containing low calories. You will feel your waist area and thigh becoming smaller if your substitute meal replacement shakes for few days consecutively. The meal replacement shakes good for the dieters as this meal replacement food are really organic and “green”. However, meal replacement will functioning well with water. You must ensure you taking more water  after you took meal replacement shakes and it is much more effective for helping you to lose weight if you taking more water in your meal replacement diets plan. This is because of normal meal replacement shakes consist of diet fiber, this fiber is crucial for trash out toxin from your body. Some of this toxin contributed fat tissue in your body. As such, in your meal replacement diets plan, you should not avoid this magic meal replacement drinks. Many of the meal replacement shakes now in the market offered in different interesting flavors and taste. However, the most popular meal replacement shakes would be chocolate and cappuccino meal replacement shakes. Research shown that people tend to for these two meal replacement drinks in their meal replacement diets program as these shakes are closer to normal beverages that we consume. I’m sure many of us loves to have a cappuccino for breakfast or lunch, thus this is why make cappuccino meal replacement shakes so well known and popular.

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Have you tried lighterlife or a meal replacement diet and did weight stay of?

February 28, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

Hi I am 42 years old and tierd of being overweight. I am 3. 5 stone over weight and want it to go now. I am looking at different programmes and would love to hear from people who have tried this type of diet.

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Lean and Green Meal Ideas

February 23, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

Cucumber Mint Gazpacho Soup
1 cucumber, peeled (seeded, if desired) and chopped to ¼” diced½ cup cucumber, peeled and seeded, finely diced1-2 Tbsp fresh mint leaves, chopped¼ tsp English-style dry mustard1-2 tsp sour cream (any variety, optional)
1. In a blender, puree 1 cup chopped cucumbers, dry mustard, 1 tsp sour cream and salt and pepper to taste.2. Transfer to a bowl and chill overnight (or at least 6 hours).3. Stir in finely diced cucumber and chopped mint.4. Garnish soup with 1 tsp sour cream (optional) and mint sprigs or additional chopped mint leaves.
To create a deeper shade of green for the gazpacho, replace ¼ cup of peeled, seeded cucumber (¼” diced) with ¼ cup of diced green bell pepper.

Zesty Chicken Soup
6 oz. cooked chicken breast (grill, bake, poach or saute),cut into ½ inch pieces. Toss into saucepan with a can of chicken broth and a can of Ro-Tel (or just stewed/diced tomatoes if you don’t want spicy); Add garlic & basil to taste and heat. Serve hot, topped with ¼ cup shredded, low-fat cheese (such as parmesan), 1 teaspoon diced green onion and cilantro to taste.

Quick Chicken Caesar Salad
Pre-washed bags of romaine lettuce Dole Light Caesar Salad Kits. You can cook your own chicken breast and dice it up, or buy packaged grilled chicken strips (Costco has some very tasty options). For variety, add sun-dried tomato and occasionally raw or sautéed mushrooms. Just remember to leave off the croutons!

Tuna salad
6oz water packed canned tuna, drained … hard boiled 2 eggs … remove the yolks, dice the whites … mix together with diced dill pickles, celery, bell peppers, onion (1/2 cup of whatever low-carb veggies you like) and 2T “Carb-friendly,” low-fat Miracle Whip. Serve over 2 cups of a combo salad greens & sprouts.

Quick Taco Salad
Brown 1 pound ground beef and then add your favorite fresh salsa (I add the entire small container of ROJO’s salsa). When making it for 4, use 2 lbs. ground beef and a large container of salsa (about 2 -21/2 cups). Continue to cook until the liquid in the salsa is cooked out and the meat/salsa mixture is quite thick. Serve over shredded lettuce. Top with 2T. grated parmesan or other low fat cheese and sliced olives (up tot 6 olives).

Lettuce Wraps
Brown 6 oz of lean ground turkey, add pepper and minced garlic to taste. Set aside and drain. Saute chopped onion, a few slices of diced mushroom, 3 slices of red pepper and 3 of green pepper, all diced, in 1 T. of extra virgin olive oil. (for a total of about 1 1/2 c of veggies.) Add 1 T lite soy sauce. Add the turkey mixture and cook a while longer. Carefully wash and dry 3 large lettuce leaves. Fill leaves with turkey/vegetable mixture and wrap ‘em up. OPTION: Use Steel’s Sesame Ginger sauce on your wraps.

“Cheesy” Asparagus or Broccoli
Add 4 oz water and 2 oz. lowfat cheese to a packet of Medifast Cream of Broccoli Soup mix. Use it as a “sauce” to pour over broccoli or asparagus … very filling…. You can then have your lean meat as a different “meal.”

Stir Fry
You can enjoy a variety of stir fry dishes for your Lean & Green meal. You can easily swap out the type of protein you use and the various types of vegetables. For oil, you can use a small amount of olive oil or try some sesame oil. If you use a non-stick pan, a little oil goes a long way. Good veggies are broccoli, green beans and some pepper and onion strips. Mushrooms always go into the mix. Don’t forget the garlic! Once you heat the oil add the vegetables and stir them constantly. They are done when the colors turn bright. Add either diced and cooked chicken or shrimp and stir fry for another minute or two. Serve over a bed of lettuce.

Shrimp Stir Fry
Cook green pepper strips and onion strips in Pam and a tiny bit of olive oil in a skillet until still a bit crunchy; add fresh garlic and cherry tomatoes, cook a bit longer. Add cooked shrimp just long enough to heat. Serve over bed of greens (baby spinach is excellent). Optional: drizzle with 1T sesame salad dressing.

Chicken & Broccoli Sesame Ginger Stir-Fry
Steam 11/2 cups broccoli crowns in the microwave,
Saute chicken breast strips in PAM,
Add 4-5 onion chunks and the steamed broccoli
Top with 2 T. Steel’s Sesame Ginger Sauce.
Serve over 2 cup mixture of chopped/shredded romaine lettuce or mixed greens with steamed bean sprouts
NOTE: If you’re also cooking dinner for folks not on program, simply serve their portions over steamed rice.

Crispy Chicken Bake
1. Pulse one packet of crackers in the food processor until fine (or a rolling pin over the packet works, too). 2. Toast cracker crumbs lightly in 350 degree oven. 3. Take crumbs out of oven and season to taste (garlic powder, salt, pepper) 4. Dip 6 oz.chicken tenders or breasts VERY lightly into fat free dressing of your choice (or spritz with fat free dressing), 5. Press chicken into bread crumb mixture. Bake or broil as usual.

Stuffed Chicken Breast
6 oz. grilled chicken breast, split and stuffed with ½ cup chopped spinach and diced bell peppers (the veggies can either be fresh and seasoned with salt, pepper, lemon pepper, or lemon juice or sauted lightly in Pam). Top with 1T shredded parmesan cheese.Serve with salad:1-11/2 cups Romaine lettuce½ cup mixed cucumbers and tomatoes2 tablespoons Newman’s Own Balsamic Vinaigrette

Greek Omelet
Whip 2 whole eggs plus 4 egg whites with 1T. water; set aside.
Lightly saute 1 cup diced, multi-colored bell pepper in 1T. olive oil;
Add egg mixture to pan of sautéed peppers and cook on low heat until egg is no longer runny (covering helps the egg cook more evenly)
Add ½ cup choppedspinach and 6 black or green olives, sliced) on top of cooked egg; fold egg in half
Top with 1-2 t. shredded parmesan cheese

Salmon
5 oz. salmon (smoked, baked, poached, broiled, grilled in Pam. Costco also carries some very tasty salmon burger patties that can be heated in a small frying pan sprayed with a little Pam), served over 1-½ cups julienne vegetable strips (use one or several of the following: cucumbers, zucchini, green/red/yellow peppers, tomatoes). May be served with 2 T. Martha’s Tasty Tartar Sauce (see recipe below) or your favorite salad dressing (a dill dressing is especially good).

Lobster
7 oz. steamed Maine lobster served with1 cup sautéed zucchini (with a touch of basil)½ cup marinated tomato salad

Broiled Seafood Fillet
(makes 1 serving)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil7 oz. flounder or cod or sole1 small tomato, seeded and diced1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill or 1/2 teaspon dillweed1 teaspoon bottled capers (optional)1/2 C. fresh mushrooms, sauteed in 1 teaspoon olive oil (optional)Arrange fillet on nonstick baking sheet. Combine lemon juice and oil and brush filet with 1/4 the lemon-oil mixture. Broil 2 minutes on one side.Combine tomato and dill with the remaining lemon-oil mixture; turn over fillet, and top with the tomato mixture. Broil 3-4 minutes, until fish flakes ealily with fork. Top with capers and sauteed mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper to taste.Serve over 11/2 cup mixed salad greens of your choice. Drizzle with 1 Tablespoon buttermilk dressing (or your favorite dressing…you can use more dressing if it is very low-carb and fat free).
Fish is great to have as part of your “lean & green” meal—two to three times a week is ideal. This tartar sauce is a family favorite, and a great way to add some zest and variety.

Martha’s Tasty Tartar Sauce
Use 1 Tablespoon as a condiment…and it is not even cheating!In small bowl stir together with fork:1 C Kraft Free Mayo (or other nonfat/low carb mayonnaise)2 T. parsley flakes1 to 2 T. minced dill pickle1 to 2 T. minced onion1 T. bottled capers (lightly chopped)Mix well and refrigerate for several hours before serving so flavors can blend10 calories per tablespoon (0 from fat).

Grilled Steak and Roasted Asparagus
Steak and asparagus are great together.

Marinated steak:
Many marinades sold at the supermarket contain a lot of sugar and are high in carbs. Select a marinade with 2 grams of carbs or less and 0 fat.
Or, you can make your own beer marinade: combine 1 can (or bottle) of beer, 1 teaspoon crushed garlic, 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper and 1 T. olive oil. (The alcohol burns itself off during cooking, so you don’t need to worry about the alcohol and it adds only negligible calories. Just don’t sample the beer before it cooks out…way too many calories)
Marinate meat at least 20 minutes (1-2 hours is best). Grill in pan or on barbecue.

Roasted Asparagus
Spread out asparagus in a baking dish and drizzle with either one tablespoon olive oil or non-fat dressing (either Italian or Caesar). Toss the asparagus until evenly covered and spread out flat again. Grind some black pepper over asparagus. Roast in 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your asparagus. NOTE: you can roast a variety of the lower carbohydrate vegetables this way and serve together with the meat/fish of your choice.

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Is Medifast the Best Meal Replacement Diet? Three Reasons Why We Say Yes!!!

February 20, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

What is the best meal replacement diet? And is picking a program where the calories are already counted and measured the best way to lose weight fast? How about taste? Or cost? Or success rate?

In this article we are going to take a closer look at why we believe the Medifast diet is the BEST meal replacement program on the market today, and why over 15,000 doctors, (and over one million dieters!) appear to agree! Read on. .

Reason #1: Medifast is Scientifically Formulated, Nutritionally Balanced and Super Successful Aren’t all meal replacement diets created equally? Absolutely not! The truth? Some nutritional bars, shakes and snacks you’ll find in health food stores ( and supermarkets) are LOADED with fat, calories and carbs. Some programs are actually designed for bodybuilder who want to GAIN weight. Others are simply made to taste good. . . and “trick” you into thinking you are on a diet. Medifast is designed specifically for folks who NEED to lose weight. . . and does that one job amazingly well.

Reason #2: Medifast is Proven To Work (in the lab. . . . AND in real life as well!) Yes, the average weight loss in the lab (during the famous John Hopkins University Studies) was well NORTH of 50 pounds a person. Equally as impressive? The real world weight loss stories of people like you and I. Medifast is low calorie, high protein and low fat. You WILL lose weight on this diet if you follow through!

Reason #3: Cost! Yes, the economy is bad, right? We all agree that times are tough. The cost of Medifast? About 10 bucks a day. Or 300 a month. . . and that includes your 5 Medifast meals per day. ( you are only responsible for your one lean and green self prepared meal) The truth is. . . most of us spend more than on junk food on a daily basis. . . . turning that modest investment into long term health, wellness and a GREAT body now is a smart savings for sure!

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Trying to Lose Weight? Consider a Meal Replacement Diet

February 19, 2010 By Karen Hiser Leave a Comment

If you have poor eating habits or eat food that’s frequently high in fat and calories, or have difficulty with portion control, a meal replacement diet may be the way you should go.   Meal replacements allow people who have difficulty changing their eating habits to make gradual changes.   This makes it easier to change your diet permanently, and studies have shown that people who choose meal replacement diets have three times the chance of keeping weight off for good. As with other diet plans, meal replacements don’t work for everyone.

Meal replacements usually come in the form of shakes, bars, and smoothies.   If you don’t like drinking liquids or prefer the taste of real food, your best bet is probably to stick with nutritious, low-calorie food choices.   A small sandwich with tuna or turkey on whole wheat bread with lettuce and mustard has about the same amount of calories as a 200 calorie meal replacement shake.

If you do choose to try a meal replacement diet, here are a few tips for making it work.

  1. Substitute meal replacements at the meals where you find yourself frequently overeating, or tend to make unhealthy choices. If you eat sugary cereal or donuts for breakfast, have a meal replacement shake instead.   If dinner tends to be fast food, have a bar or meal replacement smoothie instead.   Anywhere you can substitute healthier choices for unhealthy ones is where you will see the most improvement in your health and your weight.
  2. Variety is the spice of life – and meal replacement diets On days when you have more time to cook, you may only need to have a shake or smoothie for one meal.   Try to keep your routine fresh every day by having different flavors and choosing different meal replacements; maybe a smoothie for breakfast Monday, and a bar for breakfast Tuesday.
  3. Incorporate exercise into any diet plan, including a meal replacement diet Exercise is important not only for weight loss, but also for keeping a healthy body and preventing disease.   Try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise, both weight-bearing and aerobic, at least five days a week.
  4. Eat healthfully for meals that aren’t replaced Good nutrition is important with any diet.   Try to have leafy green vegetables with as many meals as possible, and keep a good balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates at each meal.   Fresh fruit and vegetables are great for added fiber, and make great, easy snacks.
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