When I think of diet meals I instantly conjure up images of microwavable frozen meals that taste horrible, include too many preservatives and most likely will leave me feeling hungry still when I’m all done. Walk down the frozen dinner aisle at your local grocery store and you’ll see a lot of diet meals ready to go. Weight Watchers has a line as do most of the other major diet programs including my favorite, The South Beach Diet. These aren’t a bad option when you’re in a pinch and I even like to keep a few on hand for those days when it would be a lot easier to hit the drive-thru but I know better than to do that. These certainly shouldn’t become your stable item for you when you’re on a diet. The truth is, having your meals all planned out for you is one of the best weight loss tips to keep you in line and motivated to succeed.
If you’ve ever done the Jenny Craig type programs, you’ll know that they require you to buy their diet meals and, unfortunately, they’re just like those frozen meals you’ll find in the grocery store. They taste bland, have texture a lot like cardboard and they probably won’t fill you up. That’s why I would almost never recommend someone opt for that route when they want to lose weight. These diet meals don’t teach you anything about losing weight and eating right. It parallels the old saying about giving a man to fish versus teaching a man to fish. When you learn to cook healthy foods that are designed to help you lose weight, you learn how to change your lifestyle, not just what you’re having for lunch today.
The go to meal for most people who are on a diet and don’t have very much time is a salad. These are easy to make, store well and don’t require the need for a microwave to enjoy them. If this is what you do, you may find the biggest drawback is that they tend to get boring. To help fight this situation, try mixing your salads up from day to day. Monday may be Greek salad day and you end the week on Friday with a Mexican salad. You probably have enough general varieties of salad to fill a good week or two with something different to eat each day. Make sure you have several types of salad dressing on hand but don’t depend on that alone to provide your variety. Mix up the ingredients you’re using as well as the salad dressing you’re putting on them.
If you need a good healthy diet meal for lunch, why not start with a good healthy dinner and simply make a bit extra for the next day? This is the best bet if you’re looking for something you can bring to work the next day and you know you’ll have access to a microwave for heating it up. It’s a lot more enjoyable having a hot meal for lunch then always digging into a cold salad. Salads work well for the summer months but can leave you a bit desirous for those colder winter months. Just add in one more serving to your dinner plans and then make sure you pull out your lunch before you put it on the table for the family to devour. This will do two things, first of all it will make you a little less likely to overeat at dinner and it will always make sure your kids don’t eat your lunch before you’ve even packed it up.
The best way to make sure you’re eating a good diet meal is to plan, plan, plan. It’s poor planning that usually leaves you at a loss for what to eat and puts you next in line at the drive-thru.