What You'll Eat
Nutrisystem takes care of dessert and your main entrees for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Depending on your plan, the choices for each might vary slightly. You can opt for only pantry items, like oatmeal, pastas, and cookies, or choose a plan that includes frozen foods like omelets, chicken quesadillas, and ice cream sandwiches. Adults, seniors, diabetics, and vegetarians all have unique plans. You can’t avoid the supermarket altogether, though. You’ll supplement Nutrisystem meals with your favorite fresh fruits, veggies (some all-you-can-eat), and dairy products.
When you wean yourself off Nutrisystem food, you can take inspiration from any cuisine to create your menu, keeping in mind the program’s distinction between “good” and “bad” carbs, according to the glycemic index, a ranking of how a carb affects blood-sugar levels.
Recipe Resources
You won’t cook any entrées while on Nutrisystem, and the most complicated side dishes involve tossing veggies with dressing. However, there will likely come a time when you begin to make your own meals again. Nutrisystem offers cookbooks, but you can also just try these sources:
- Nutrisystem’s company and member recipes
- Nutrisystem’s Facebook discussion board
- Low-GI cookbooks
- The GI Diet Guide
- SparkPeople
Last updated by Kurtis Hiatt | January 02, 2013
The Mayo Clinic diet plan focuses on lifelong healthy eating. It's rated high in nutrition, safety, and diabetes, but only moderately effective for weight loss.
The Biggest Loser Diet stresses nutrition and exercise. In 6 weeks, dieters can lose weight, make progress against diabetes, and improve heart health.
The Dean Ornish Diet can be tailored to your specific health issues. The strictest version is challenging because it severely reduces fat intake.
