Do you rely on diet industry products?

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  • belgerian
    belgerian Posts: 1,059 Member
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    Nope Try to eat whole foods, excercise regularly and stay away from fast/processed foods. Now if I can just keep that damn spoon out of the ice cream.
  • shelllea
    shelllea Posts: 6
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    Sometimes I go through phases where I have no appetite and I will use the weight loss shakes. Its a good way to keep getting nutrients without feeling sick to my stomache. But other than that I just try watch what, and how much, I eat.
  • BuffyEat2Live
    BuffyEat2Live Posts: 327 Member
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    I'm on Weight Watchers, and I'm still in the first month or so on being back to tracking my food, and YES I do rely on those products to help me get through the week.

    I'm just not up for a lot of cooking right now, but I have gotten there in the past and I will get there again!

    I say that baby steps work for some, and I'm one of them. So right now, I do have "Special K" bars and "SmartOnes" dinners and "Healthy Choice" yogurt. And I'm fine with that. I also eat plenty of fresh produce, because that's a huge part of Weight Watchers, too.
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
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    If it has a health claim on the box/packet it is immediately suspect for me.

    Double suspect if it has 'diet' in the title and don't get me started on 'low fat' or 'lowers cholesterol'.

    I tend to therefore avoid psuedo-food in boxes and packets.

    Same. I eat normal food. If I eat yogurt it's sweetened with sugar not aspartame or whatever else they use. I eat 14% sour cream, regular salad dressing, mayonnaise, peanut butter and everything else. The only 'low fat' thing I have is 2% milk - which is a $$$ consideration and not a fat one. The whole milk costs quite a bit more.

    The low cal, low fat, snack packs just encourage people to eat more because they have lower calories / fat and not to properly control the portions... Some things aren't meant to go into your body.. What do you eat when there is NO skim milk, fat free yogurt, stevia, diet coke?
  • lionskitty
    lionskitty Posts: 72 Member
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    I take vitamins, I switched to diet soda from regular and I like having the weight watcher bread, which is really just better portion controlled slices from what I can see, tastes like bread just smalled/thinner slices. Lower fat dressings and thiings like that aren't really relying on the diet industry, like taking skim over whole milk it's just a choice :)
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    No, I don't rely on them. But I sometimes buy Weight Watchers or Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches or bars. And if I forget my lunch at work, I often pick up a can of Healthy Request soup or a Kashi frozen meal.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I have watched too many documentaries and have been vastly educated on the truth of our food industry.

    "vastly educated" by the film industry. There is something very wrong with that concept.
  • tripitena
    tripitena Posts: 554 Member
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    I admit a weakness for certain items like that. In the last couple of years I've switched us to fat free cheeses & milk, egg beaters, lower sodium pretty much everything I can. I'm a vegetarian & T is omni but I've gotten him to eat more veggies, less red meat,more chicken. I haven't fried much of anything in years. I even steam corn tortillas for enchiladas and use a shell
    shaper to bake them for tacos. We dont drink many sodas or sweet drinks so I havent gone diet there mainly because they taste like crap. We dont use artificial sweeteners or things made with them.
    I think, for us, every calorie and fat gram counts so I cut them where I can. We may not eat strictly clean but we have certainly cleaned our act up.
  • ScubyUK
    ScubyUK Posts: 271 Member
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    I use these guys here in the UK.

    www.soulmatefood.com

    Everything is freshly prepared and delivered to my door every other day 3 times a week. All made with fresh ingredients, nothing processed or packaged a-la Weight Watchers or Biggest Loser, and completely tailored to my dietry requirements and my likes\dislikes.
    The closest I come to a "meal replacement shake" is a fresh smoothie or a juice as a snack.

    The closest thing I could find across the pond is this place.

    https://www.zonemanhattan.com


    Looks bloomin expensive but LUSH!

    It works out at £22.50 per day, that's Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Snack and Dinner - 6 days a week. No wasted or spoiled food, no time spent shopping for groceries (I can now go grocery shopping once a month for the household type.), no time spent cooking (other than heating the food through.), I have more time to spend on myself and exercising.


    Expensive but maybe you'll feel empowered to learn to cook the same kinds of foods for yourself once you've learnt the foods and quantities you can eat? It's a shame we are all so spread out across the country/world or we could set up healthy supper clubs :-)

    That's kinda why I use them to be honest. I'm a pretty decent cook, but I'm single and live alone. Shopping and cooking for 1 is a pain, I always cook too much, and I'm a bit of a food-snob and don't especially like food that's been prepared and then frozen for later, so I either eat too much, or I throw it away.

    Healthy supper club would be aces!!
  • justal313
    justal313 Posts: 1,375 Member
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    Since I dont consider skim milk or 2% cheese to be "diet" food, I guess it's the WW or Sara Lee bread that's lik 90 calories for two slices. I have found however it's REALLY thin and pound for pound it's probably equivalent for calories and nutrients, just THIN. I mean really, I have to put lettuce on my tuna to keep it soaking and tearing the bread.

    But since it's really a delivery mechanism for tuna or egg yolks or smoked turkey, I don't care.

    Oh and diet soda but that's because I don't want the sugar. Even when I hit my goal weight I'm not going to want to drink my calories unless it's wine, beer or hard liquor.
  • tebcolorado
    tebcolorado Posts: 50
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    I have watched too many documentaries and have been vastly educated on the truth of our food industry.

    "vastly educated" by the film industry. There is something very wrong with that concept.

    I didn't say I was vastly educated by the film industry. I have been vastly educated by my all natural chiropractor for the last 6 years, reading every nutrition book I can get my hands on, taking multiple nutrition classes and scouring the internet for source after source. They all basically teach the same things so I base my knowledge on years of collective research and education. Thank you very much.
  • paulaviki
    paulaviki Posts: 678 Member
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    I do buy some diet versions of food like crisps, but not religiously. I've just got in the habit of reading packaging now and making my choices based on that, not just the brand or type of food it's meant to be. I have found a lot of diet type products are similar to non diet foods in terms of calories and fat, they just tend to be smaller portions!
  • bizorra
    bizorra Posts: 151 Member
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    Ugh, WW food.... most of it is overloaded with sodium. I once bought WW pitas because it said "only 2 points!" and I thought that was good since I knew a pita was 4 points... turned out it was 2 points for half a pita (at least they were on sale, grumble grumble) When I was doing WW even my leader warned us to be wary of WW food at the grocery store.

    But I don't rely on diet food. I try to eat lower fat versions, but not if it means adding a bunch of unknown ingredients (like most FF yogurt vs most 2% yogurt) The odd occasion I need to use frozen meals, I make my choice based on calories and ingredients list, not the marketting.
  • rahrahrita
    rahrahrita Posts: 225 Member
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    I mainly cook for myself, even when I'm in my college dorm room and only have a microwave and a crock pot to cook with.
    When I do buy snack foods, I do go for the healthier options. I don't just look at the title and say "ooh, Weight Watchers! I'll buy it!" I go through all of the ingredients and compare the ingredients of different brands. I usually opt for the one with fewer ingredients because it's usually the most natural.
    The main thing for me that has helped me with my weight loss (other than counting calories) is eating clean and cooking my own food.

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