Today is day one of IP. And I have researched or the past two weeks thinking this could be it. And I ve read that the majority of people love the food... But after finishing lunch I'm skeptical. To me it tastes like chemicals trying to resemble food. I KNOW it's not supposed to be perfect and things would taste different but maybe I'm just overly sensitive?

Has anyone else experienced this? And has it gotten easier? I just want that chemical taste off my tongue lol!!

***I'm not giving up but I just need to know if this is normal.
Thanks for your feedback!!
~Sheena

Sheena:
It really depends on WHAT food you are eating that tastes like chemicals. You should be getting 2 cups of vegetables at lunch, which obviously should not taste like chemicals. Also, this diet is primarily man-made, so you will have some products that taste artificially sweet, etc. because they ARE. If the flavor bothers you, look up some of the fun with packets ideas that are out there, there are tons of awesome ideas for them.

What packets have you tried so far?

What have you tried? The first day I had chicken soup for lunch. By itself, it tasted funny. ButI sauteed a cup of mushrooms and added that to the soup, then added garlic and onion powder, and the spicy blend by mrs dash. I loved it!!!! The right kind of seasoning make a big difference.

-Jennifer

I agree. The right seasonings can be key to the IP food. Mrs. Dash is great. I really like the southwest seasoning. LandOLakes also makes some that are really good. The butter and cheddar seasonings are great. Last week I tried the broccoli cheddar soup and wasn't real crazy about it until I cooked a cup of broccoli and poured the soup over that. The extra veggies took away some of the off taste of the packet.

haha i totally hear you on this...which is why i dont use any of the IP foods. Im on alternatives and i use the atkins rtd shakes and thats it... I dont use the other foods because i find that they all taste really fake and chemically...I have a sensetivity to fake sugars...like splenda...so i taste even the smallest amount in everything..Personally..out of all the packets , i preferred the savoury ones the best because all the sweet ones tasted too chemically and sweet...

This morning I had the chocolate shake. I added more water and then heated it up. After a few sips I added cinnamon to it and it wasn't bad after that.

For lunch I had lettuce, 2C cucumber and peppers with WF bacon ranch dressing. And IP brocoli cheese soup.

Thank you for the ideas about adding more brocoli/veggies into the soup along with seasonings. I keep forgetting we are allowed to add herbs and such.

I have a few mushroom soup packs. What should I add to spice it up?
I have some bars, mango premade drink, potato purée, mushroom soup, lemon instant pudding, yogurt flavored drink, pancakes, chicken soup, and vanilla yogurt.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better! :-)

Sheena,
I am wishing you luck. I have been on IP for 4 weeks, this is my 5th. I have found so many of the products horrible and un-editable. This has really disappointed me, I feel for $35.00 a box ($5.00 a meal) it would at least taste good. I am not willing to pay $35.00 for something I have to choke down, so I started reading everything on this site and bought all the alternative products that people have tried and recommended. I have found myself much happier, and more willing to do this diet. I feel I am still on the program, I am just replacing a IP packet with a similar alternative products. I hope this helps and keep up the good work, you can do this!

For me the walden farms dressings help, along with seasonings. I don't like to cook so much and am not much of a breakfast eater. So I can mix up a quick drink and wa la -- breakfast. For lunch I had 2 cups of shredded cabbage with the spagetti packet on top of it and I thought it taste fine...but as I mentioned, I'm not much of a cook. I'm sure as you journey through you'll get lots of tips from this forum...I know have.

I hear you sister! Saturday I just couldn't swallow it anymore. I've had no problems until last week. I told my coach that I didn't know how much longer I could do this and I'm only 4 pounds from my goal. But Saturday, if I would have swallowed the Spaghetti - I would have thrown it back up. So as of today I'm no longer using any of the IP foods except the Cappuccino drink mix - that one is still good to me. Good luck to you! I'm done!!!!

Look at all the recipes on here for what you can do with the packages. For instance I did like crispy cereal as a cereal but love it made into a pancake.

Personally I found the sweet type of packages tasted more artifical than the others, anything that was a berry type flavour.

Hi. I have been on for 8 months and have never had any soups. I stick with the ready made chocolate, mango and vanilla drinks and the puddings are great but add cinnamon. There are so many options that you need to try the recipies and experiment. The wildberry yogurt drink makes excellent pancakes! I also do not use the walden farm items. Read the different threads! You need to experiment. The chocolate caramel bars are excellent.

I threw several packets out the first week because they were not food I could eat. If I opened one and couldn't eat it, I opened another. They gave me 28 packets the first week and I only needed 21, so even if I threw out one each day I was fine.
The second week was a lot better because I knew which foods I could stomach. I'm in my 4th week now and ther are some that I actually like. The premixed drinks and the bars are the ones I prefer.
Just keep trying, it will get better and in the end it will be worth it.

I think it is all about imagination and how you use herbs, spices, lemon and lime juice etc...the more creative you are the better you eat...the little we get! haha!
Good luck to you Sheena!
Jake

I am going to try and spice things up with herbs and different vegtables. I REALLY want this to work. But I think I may even use alternatives once in a while for variety.Thank you so much for the kind words.

You have me VERY interested in the pancakes made from the wildberry yogurt drink mix. Would you mind sharing your recipe?

And Good for you for sticking with the program for 8 months!! That is amazing and shows it can be done! Thank you