Grocery alternative for puffs:

Pirate's Booty Veggies -- This is a puffed rice snack made with bits of vegetables (Available at Costco). At Costco it's in a bulk bag, which tempts you to overindulge. Measure it out into single servings, or buy the single serving bags at another store. Low on protein (2g)

Robert's American Gourmet Pirate's Booty Veggie Nutrition

CALORIES FAT CARBS PROTEIN SODIUM
130 5g 19g 2g 120mg

I really don't think that is a good substitution, Sequi, because there is not enough protein and too many carbs. A substitute food should have around the same number of grams of protein as carbs, have fat below 3 grams, and have 90 to 110 calories.

I just wanted to mention this because it seems like a lot of the foods people are coming up with are pretty far off by comparison with Medifast foods.

Jay

I agree. Aim for quality, nutrient-dense foods if you need to make a substitute. :)

Medifast is an engineered food. These are not. I'm still calculating by using a protein heavy no/low carb combination and splitting it up over two meals.

The other meal is either turkey meat, chicken meat, or egg whites. Sorry, I stopped repeating it in every post. The concept is similar to splitting up your lean and green meal, as long as you have them both in a single day.

You can make it more balanced by having half a bar and half the protein in a single meal, but I base that on where I'm eating.

Im also not repeating in every post that you should consider a daily multivitamin if going the grocery substitution route.

What you said was, "Grocery alternative for puffs." That food is not an alternative for the Medifast puffs, it is just a junk food!

The point of Medifast is that you eat a certain nutritional profile at EVERY meal, not every other meal or within some arbitrary period. Splitting the lean-and-green meal means splitting all the components of the meal, not eating the vegetables at one meal and the protein at another. Nothing in the Medifast materials I've read says it's OK to eat whatever at any meal, as long as you get them all in "in a single day." It's a meal-by-meal program.

Lots of people read this thread assuming that the information is OK. Coming up with "alternatives" that do not follow the Medifast nutrition profile for meals is not a good way to proceed, in my opinion.

It's all right to experiment with different approaches, just don't put them out there like they are "OK on Medifast."

Jay

I'm actually writing this in a thread called "Non-Medifast Brand Foods for Substitution." Other than the Lean and Green, Medifast does not endorse use of any non-Medifast foods. It was implied that none of the discussion here is considered "OK for Medifast."

I'm trying to make it Medifast-like, but I don't think I've ever claimed it was "OK for Medifast."

For me, the point of a Medifast diet was to lose weight. I am departing from normal eating habits specifically for that goal. Convenience foods, snack foods, fast foods, and other manufactured foods fall into the category of "junk foods." I agree that it's better to eat whole, unprocessed, nutritionally dense foods. And I will again, after I'm off this diet. Bars, shakes, soft serves, and other highly processed foods fall into the junk food category for me, but I'm eating them on Medifast.

About the only thing from the Medifast diet experience I will continue when I hit goal is the Lean and Green meal. It's gotten me exploring many ways to prepare healthy meals.

Splitting the Lean and the Green is a trick suggested on the official Medifast support board, by the dieticians there. The context was actually for people who were still hungry after eating the scheduled meals. Eating snacks was allowed, but could prevent weight loss. They suggested eating the lean early, either by itself, or in addition to one of the other meals. You would then eat the green by itself at the normally scheduled L&G meal time.

Standalone Medifast Meal alternative:

1/4 cup (33g) Breyer's CarbSmart Vanilla Ice Cream, scooped with a melon baller. (Makes approximately 3 balls).

Roll ice cream balls in 2 Tbsp sushi-grade roe (raw fish eggs, mixed species).

Garnish with the head of a Children's Gummi Bear multivitamin, mounted on a toothpick.

Ice cream fish egg balls total 105 calories, 5g fat, 7g carbs, 2g fiber, 2g sugar, and 7.2g protein. This comes close to matching the nutritional profile of a MF bar (the gummi bear head even provides 20% of the daily vitamin requirements.)

CAUTION: Do not eat the toothpick. Although high in non-soluble fiber, it will leave splinters in your throat.

CAUTION: Do not let your kids observe you beheading the gummi bears. They will never look at you the same again.

CAUTION: Do not take this post seriously. I am simply trying to lighten the mood. I have not actually conducted a taste test of this dish.

CAUTION: I'm pretty sure this is NOT considered OK by Medifast. I'm not sure if it's even OK by me. But it's about as alternative as you can get.

Here are some foods that I found worked:

Fage Total 0% Yogurt
100 Calories; 7g Carbs; 18g Protein; 7g Sugar; 0g Fat
1/2 C Low Fat Cottage Cheese = 80 Calories; 4g Carbs; 13g Protein; 1.5g Fat
Sargento Light String Cheese = 50 Calories; 1g Carbs; 6g Protein; 2.5g Fat *you could have 2 of these*
1 C Eggbeaters = 120 Calories; 4g Carbs; 24g Protein; 0 Fat *cut this down to 3/4 C*

I started looking for food substitutes because I'm thinking ahead to maintenance and I like the structure of the plan, so I'm going to continue to follow the plan, but use regular food in place of most of my supplements. HTH- and I would plan on taking a multivitamin if you're using non-plan food.

Hahahahahahhaa, thank you, I enjoyed this. :)

Lately I've been trying some of the BariWise and WonderSlim bars from DietDirect.com. Good golly Miss Molly! They are delicious. I've also done a somewhat rigorous nutritional comparison (on my blog if anyone is curious/nerdy) and they score pretty well. A bit low on the vitamins, but considering that 4 Medifast meals and a Lean & Green provide over 100%, and that I take pre-natal vitamins, I think they are a good alternative.

Also I got a bag of the WonderSlim Barbeque Snack Bites as a sample with my order. YUM! Maybe its because I'm totally deprived of all crunchy foods after nearly 4 weeks on Medifast, but these were like a dream come true.

Thanks for the breakdown on the Fage 0%, domesticbliss. I love and miss my Fage!

I really wish Wonderslim would switch from aspartame to sucralose. Aspartame tastes funny and gives me headache. :P

glad I could contribute with the Fage, speaking of bars, has anyone tried the Wonderslim Marshmallow Chocolate Cookie, I couldn't even tell it was diet and have been licking the chocolate off the wrappers when I'm done, it's so good!

Another idea for a substitution for those who cannot do the medifast program for some reason.

Fiber One 90 Calorie Brownies - Chocolate Fudge Brownie
Per 1 brownie - Calories: 90kcal | Fat: 3.00g | Carbs: 18.00g | Protein: 1.00g

These do have a TON of carbs, but if you're keeping track (I haven an app on my phone) you won't have a problem. I save this for the end of the day dessert, and if I can't have it because of the carb count, I have something else.

I've tried it by itself and it's fine. I also put a spoon of FF cool whip on it, not bad. I also cut it in half (kind of hard and was very thin), put a drop of peanut butter on it, warmed it up in the microwave for 20 seconds, then added the FF cool whip. This second way needs to be eatten faster then I wanted (I was enjoying the melted PB) because the brownie got hard at the last 2 bites. I cut it in half to try to make it last longer:D

Not enough protein. Not enough protein. This is not a substitute for a Medifast meal because there is not enough protein. This is simply a brownie.

Sorry to sound like a broken record about this, but my feeling is, if you're going to do Medifast, do Medifast. It's really about restricting carbs as well as fats. It's about a certain nutritional profile. Anyone can decide to eat a 100 cal brownie--fine--but don't call it a Medifast substitution. This is just my opinion. (and I'm sticking to it! ;))

Jay

yes you sound like a broken record.

Some of us cannot do medifast because of certain reasons, please do not judge us. :^: We would love to. I tried for 9 days but the soy was just too much for my system. Others cant because of the cost.

Just like the carb count, we have to make sure we make up other factors in the rest of our "meals". I have 26 grams of protien every morning with my morning shake. A majority of the rest comes from my L&G. I'm satisfied with that. And I take a multi vitmain with my L&G.

Maybe this discussion is on the wrong board. Unfortunately I'm not sure where it would go. Calorie counters would say we're doing too low of calories. Low carb would say we're not low carb enough. Medifast says we're not doing enough either. When is enough enough?

We just need a discussion where we can support each other and not get down on us for doing something that will work for us. Please do the same.

I had another thought from another poster being negative towards those of us who choose to follow their own plans. Ill paste it here.

That's because your not going to find "exact" substitions, so you have to do the best with whats available at the store. Finding a substition does not mean the Exact same, it means finding something comparable and if the totals for the day add up to it close enough for the individual person then that's all that matters.