I am substituting Zone bars but they are higher so I only do one a day and adjust the carbs somewhere, I sometimes use yogart that is 0 fat like some new Greek brands from Costco. Even with the fruit you can be very low in carbs and high in protein. so it is one of my 5 a day.
I use another bar from Costco's that is very close to the prot/carbs/cal etc as MF. I also order from Vitacost on line the diet cookies from a Chef, cant remember his name but they are awesome in taste and order some of the low carb, high protein drinks in powder form from them also. I only eat one of the choc chip cookies at a time cause the carbs for 2 in a pack and 30 gr. and that is too high but one at a time I can still lose. Love them and getting more. The $5 shipping for any total is great also. That is pretty good, even heavy orders. I do not like the premade drinks as they taste bad. MF has the best tasting bars and drinks so the Zone is good and I am able to continue my program with it and use light soups also. At night sometimes I eat real chicken or turkey if I get hungry and eat the super low condiments like cactus (mexican section) and a few olives or puckles to keep the carbs down. I cant find a pudding like choc one that is as good as MF, if you know of any let me know. Over all the MF got me going and I am happy about that. Read my hair post. Hope this helps.
The "vegetarian sloppy joe" at New Lifestyle is tvp - texturized vegetable protein (defatted soy flour crumbles, essentially). The cheapest place I buy it at is Winco Foods in the bulk foods section. It is a GREAT sub for ground beef, you would just need to figure out the seasonings. You can also buy tvp at stores that carry Bob's Red Mill - but at a higher price, or at natural foods store. Basically, for a cup of dry tvp, you rehydrate with about 7/8 cup of water. With your seasonings, put it on a bed of lettuce....YUMMY!!!!
Thanks very much for starting this thread. I am type II diabetic, saw my dr yesterday, he said becoming a vegetarian is helping me, but I really really need to do a low-carb plan, as the scientific literature says that low cal low fat diets don't seem to help people get the weight OFF. If I can get the weight OFF it could resolve my diabetes as it is in the early stages. He has several patients that are going to a clinic that provides doctor supported medifast type regime. I'm confident that once I get the weight OFF I will stabilize my weight as that is what eating veg has done for me. My ins may pay for a part as they are now doing so for people who need to take weight off for gastric bypass surgery....so what you are posting will still help me stretch my meager dollars...THANK YOU!
I used to be a vegan and was a vegetarian for a long time, now I wont eat soy products. I will do fermented soy but that is harder to found. I think many of us are looking for other brands of protein powder and bars etc. At least I am. What bars taste great and are not Mfast? I have used Zone and like them. I tried some all natural ones but too high in carbs. Want one low in carbs and high in protein and low in calories.
@justducky: Glad the soy works for you by the way.
Hi Dariann,
Yes, our bodies all react in different ways...and the soy works for me... but I know quite a few people that it doesn't work for!
And I know that my doc is right...I need high protein, low carb....gonna go to the MF-like clinic on Tuesday, but I'm wary cuz their website looks like a hard sell sales pitch...so I'm contemplating doing it on my own, I just have to be careful due to diabetes and blood pressure meds...they do check with your ins co to see what is covered. I have heard that it covers the medical but not the food. In that case, I'll probably buy an initial order, cuz I have to, then mingle it with Wonderslim to stretch my dollars. I did a similar program in the 1980s and it is incredible...it works.
Can't help you with the bars, unfortunately. I remember finding some homemade protein bars recipes on forums dot lowcarber dot org . I can't remember, for me, though, if they are vegetarian....I can't do meat anymore, for me, it grosses me out.
Hi Ducky, Good morning.
Have you checked out the medifast home program with the coaches? The program is free I think, I am not doing that so I am not sure. The centers are good if you need more support than your doctor (to watch your blood sugar and blood levels) family/friends/ and this web site. I think the diet is listed on the web site for home delivery and you get it also when you order the food. They have a medical program for diabetics. Yes it is allot of money the centers. Allot. Can you call your insurance company first.
I am doing a modified medifast and have lost and right now I am maintaning and want to start losing again, I was losing like crazy. Read my post on my hair and other issues.
You do have to be careful and do what is best for you.
I did see a web site with recipes and I need to look for that site again. I might of printed some out. I personally dont like soy, I can do it but dont like it. I like the Zone bars but they are higher in cal/carbs so I dont do more than one a day. But it great to take with me. I get them at Costco's and then get the cookies from Vitacost and do one pack a day, one cookie per meal. I have a ton of protein powders for shakes and I should eat those instead of egg whites and a low carb wrap cause hubby cooks them for me. I always go to the sports bars location and read the labels. Protein/carb/fat ratio. I try to get close to even with protein and carbs like the medifast bars. Not exactly but close. Nothing over 200 cal if at all possble and low carbs, very hard to find.
Why not try the online program first unless your insurance will pay for it. I didnt think they did that anymore. I hope yours does. That would be great. Let us know how it all goes.
Thank you everyone for the suggestions. Will look into many.
Both my wife & I are almost at our goals & are trying to save money by purchasing similar items to MF products. We got a deal on Pria bars at netrition.com. but they don't fill me up as well. We compared nutritional info & couldn't find products that give us the nutrients & fill us for 2-3 hours.
We're going to continue using their products for between meals once we transition into the maintenance phase. It may cost more, but we're looking for results and want to keep the new bodies we've acquired.
Dariann, thanks for the advice. After doing research, Robard is the manufacturer of the supplements the doctor's office gave me samples of, which is the same company that makes new lifestyle, wonderslim, bariwise, etc., they just private label them (oh - and the doctor's office's version is the higher protein - 27g/meal - like Wonderslim Weight & Inches -rather than all the others' 13g or so/meal).
Oh - I did just find this one company here: bodyandhealthessentials dot com , wow, that does the same shakes - they call theirs NutriBest - for $7.00 per box for 7 packets if you buy 60 boxes!!!!! Wow! That's even cheaper than dietdirect.
I figured that would last for 12 weeks for $420, a heck of WAY less money than the center wanted. Hubby says we can't even do that till January, so I think for now I will follow some of the suggestions here, and go to Sam's and get some protein powder for the meantime: I know what I need - low carb, high protein. And I've been maintaining by being a veg, for me it works...so I just need something to get the weight OFF!
My insurance will only cover 60% of the med services only - not the meal replacements. It's $275 for med history and physical; $385 monthly med fee; meal replacement is $3.85/packet (2-5 packets per day of the higher protein - 27g packets).
So if I did that, for one month I would be paying $231 med and they quoted me $216/mo for 2 packets/day, so $447 out of pocket monthly. Really, the only med thing I will have to watch is if my blood pressure drops, and blood sugar drops, but I can watch both those myself and go to my primary care doc and have HIM adjust my meds.
Thanks for letting me think out loud...
Last edited by justducky2; 12-04-2009 at 05:16 PM.
so are you then doing MF on your own and getting the food from another source? Let us know how you are doing. I will add you as a buddy if that is OK.
Robarts, (sp) I am very familiar with them and like many of the items as far as taste. You can get bars at Costco's with high protein/low carbs and either cut the # of them in a day that you use or cut in half. Take a supplement if need be if the bars dont have vitimins. That is easy enough. Robarts used to make products for a company in Ohio that had many weight loss centers. They didnt private label at first then did. It is hard to found them unless you get them on line or buy from a center. I dont see them in health type stores like GNC. Too bad.
so are you then doing MF on your own and getting the food from another source? Let us know how you are doing. I will add you as a buddy if that is OK.
Robarts, (sp) I am very familiar with them and like many of the items as far as taste. You can get bars at Costco's with high protein/low carbs and either cut the # of them in a day that you use or cut in half. Take a supplement if need be if the bars dont have vitimins. That is easy enough. Robarts used to make products for a company in Ohio that had many weight loss centers. They didnt private label at first then did. It is hard to found them unless you get them on line or buy from a center. I dont see them in health type stores like GNC. Too bad.
Enjoying this site and your feed back.
Darian, yes, I have decided to to MF on my own. I just don't have $500/mo for 6 months to do it with the center; the main thing that they would be offering me is the weigh-in and the accountability, or if I did the strict fast (no lean & green, VLCD <800 cals/day) then it is important to have the med follow-up with the EKGs. I have the oomph to do MF during the day; and I find if I drink a shake right before I leave work, I'm not insane about munching when I get home because the protein fills me up. Then I go home and fix a sane and healthy dinner for my family, so they are benefitting too. I'll follow up with my reg doc if I need meds adjusted.
PLUS, I could get the NutriBest shakes, 3 months worth, for $420 (Robard is the maker, same as MF, New Lifestyle, and doctors/centers). So I just need to take it one day at a time, and get this done.
I actually went and bought the EAS 100% Whey Protein Chocolate mix from Sam's Club. 130 cals, 23g protein, 3g carbs. I'm very carb-sensitive, so this will work well for me and allow me to eat some limited carbs for dinner. I shake it up with 9 oz water at work; the taste is more like a beverage than a shake; I tried less water to see if it would thicken, but it doesn't. Maybe I'll get some vegetarian thickener and see if it thickens it up. It is not overly sweet, which is a plus, and I'm completely full after drinking it. I also drink hot tea and a cup of vegetarian boullion during the day, too. My boss has some small cans of low sodium V8 that she encouraged us to drink up; I think I'll buy some of those, too, to have at work. Last week was just an experiment (that TOM, not a good time for me to start dieting!), so tomorrow I start full blast and will let you all know what happens next week.
I looked at the bars at Costco, do you recommend a particular one that is high protein/low carb. I couldn't find both those qualities in any of the bars I looked at! If they were high protein, they were high carb; if they were low carb, they were low protein!!! Thanks!
I actually went and bought the EAS 100% Whey Protein Chocolate mix from Sam's Club. 130 cals, 23g protein, 3g carbs. I'm very carb-sensitive, so this will work well for me and allow me to eat some limited carbs for dinner. I shake it up with 9 oz water at work; the taste is more like a beverage than a shake; I tried less water to see if it would thicken, but it doesn't. Maybe I'll get some vegetarian thickener and see if it thickens it up. It is not overly sweet, which is a plus, and I'm completely full after drinking it.
This looks like a great find! Just missing the all important fiber LOL! Does anyone have any reccomendations for that? Which fiber supplement do you like best? I've also noticed WS is low in fiber too.
This looks like a great find! Just missing the all important fiber LOL! Does anyone have any reccomendations for that? Which fiber supplement do you like best? I've also noticed WS is low in fiber too.
luvinit, I dunno. I do eat a nice big salad and fruit for dinner, though.
I do want to warn you about the EAS....it doesn't taste too much of anything. I don't have to choke it down, but don't expect it to be yummy, either. Very thin when just shaken with water. But tolerable and keeps me full.
"Shirataki are calorie free, they are only made of soluble fiber. Fiber is in itself a type of carbohydrate in chemical structure but it has no calories and has no effect on blood sugar so it is essentially inert." - from the Miracle Noodle website - google medifast shirataki to find.
Medifast FAQs say: Yes. You can have shirataki noodles -- serving size 1-1/2 cups (12 oz). This would be considered the “Green” portion of your Lean & Green Meal.
Otherwise, you can make sure you eat fiber rich foods for your lean and green (google fiber rich foods and you'll find lists) or use some benefiber or metamucil....
LOL! Does anyone have any reccomendations for that? Which fiber supplement do you like best? I've also noticed WS is low in fiber too.
