The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[gerimarc]

Got a sample package of the Chicken Salad Essential 1 meals product. Just slit open the envelope. It's not bad. Tad bit chewy, but flavorful. It's fully prepared with the lite mayo, relish, bell peppers. Actually when I make chicken salad or tuna fish for my significant other, I always put some relish in it for him. So, the flavor is similar.

My question though is......do we consider this a supplement product that we can eat now......or do we use it for a meal if we are doing the 5 and 1......or is it for maintenance stage.

I ate it now to taste it and give you my opinion.

Gerimarc
214/180/160
started 4/04

[Unca_Tim]

Hi Gerimarc,
Thanks for the taste test.
Nancy covered the new essential 1's in the August newsletter, just out yesterday.

There's a link to it on the bottom of the home page. Click on their pic here at the top of the forum, then go to the August newsletter on the bottom of the menu in the left margin. There's also a "Newsletter Archive" link above that, if you haven't seen her past newsletters. There's lots of good info in them you might want to check out. You can also click "Free Newsletter" there and subscribe, if you aren't already.

All the best,
Unca

[Nancy]

Gerimarc ~

The Tuna salad IS so good! We really like it, too!

Essential One Meals may be used to replace your one daily meal on the 5 and 1 program; however Essential One Meals CANNOT be used to replace one of the 5 Medifast food supplements on the 5 and 1 program.

The Tuna Salad does not replace a shake or any of the other Medifast meals. It IS your ONE on the Five and One program.

In addition to the Tuna Salad pouch, you must consume 1-2 cups of salad greens (any kind), which may include up to 1/4 cup of raw veggies with 1-2 Tbsp. of low-fat or non-fat salad dressing. PLUS up to 3 servings of cooked veggies - of COURSE …no corn, peas, taters or lima beans while on the weight loss phase...

Oh yes! The Tuna Salad may be used for good nutrition for your kids and family. I like it for maintenance and have a tuna salad pouch spread on ONE slice of whole grain bread. If you are NOT on maintenance yet, use your "Freebie" Multi-Grain or Vegetable cracker packet and dip the crackers into the tuna salad or just plunk the Tuna Salad mixture directly onto a green salad and have it with your cooked veggies for a convenient and healthy lunch or supper. Yum! It is very handy if you are on the road. Needs NO refrigeration.

[Jules]

Hello, Gerimarc ~ I can fully well understand why you asked if the Medifast chicken salad was a supplement....it was really flavorful, but there is not much of it... ....it has a really smooth consistency....I think one can eat their 7oz. of allowed chicken and not feel hungry after their lean and green.....The new L&G guidelines posted on 7/6/05 on the "Lean and Green Protocol Update" allow us to have 7ozs. of lean chicken, turkey, or fish.....I have six packets left...the worst, it made me feel hungry after I ate it..... ....maybe someone can tell me how to make this chicken salad better, so I can finish my six packets......Jules

[Nancy]

Jules, the Essential 1 Chicken Salad is great mixed with a green salad or slathered into the center of an English cucumber.

[Lisa in NY]

Nancy, this is taken from your post above:

"In addition to the Tuna Salad pouch, you must consume 1-2 cups of salad greens (any kind), which may include up to 1/4 cup of raw veggies with 1-2 Tbsp. of low-fat or non-fat salad dressing. PLUS up to 3 servings of cooked veggies - of COURSE …no corn, peas, taters or lima beans while on the weight loss phase... "

DOES THIS MEAN I CAN HAVE 2 c salad AND 3 servings of cooked veggies with the Lean and Green?

Must all the veggies be consumed at one sitting?

Can I have the 2 c salad with the L&G and the 3 servings of cooked at another time of day?

Thanks for any clarification!

Lisa

[Jules]

I need claification on the veggie issue!! I thought you had to choose between 1/12 cups of cooked vegetable or 2 cups of salad greens and 1/4 cups of raw vegetables. I thought it was just a simple choice between cold/raw or cooked. Just want to double check on this.......Jules

[Nancy]

re: the Essential 1 Meals

These are very lean portions of tuna, chicken, and beef.

In order for the Essential 1 Meal to be nutritionally balanced, it DOES need to be a 2 cup serving of salad greens AND 1.5 Cups of cooked vegetables and yes, they do need to be eaten together with the meat portion.

Jules - for the "Green" portion for the Lean and Green Meal, we usually do think in terms of the vegetable serving as being 'either or' - either a salad or a cooked vegetable but there is no reason why a person could not have a 1 cup salad and a 3/4 cup serving of cooked vegetable. It really is not an issue of eating a cold or a hot vegetable, it's the issue of serving size and carbohydrate level - we want to keep a balance with the protein serving.

[DogMa]

I'm confused by this. The nutritional info on the packet matches very closely with the other supplements. So how does 3 ounces of tuna equal the 7-ounce portion of seafood allowed in a lean and green? It has no more fat than a Medifast bar, no more calories than a Medifast soup, and fewer carbs than either one.

[Nancy]

Hi, Robin ~

Allow me to clear this up for you. You re right, they do seem similar to the caloric content of a meal packet. The Medifast meal replacement packets however are fortified to enable you to get all the vitamins and minerals one needs for optimal nutritional health. The Essential One meals are not fortified.

The Essential 1 meals are not to be used in place of one of the 5 meal replacement packets but rather to be used as the 1 Lean and Green meal and must also include both the small green salad and the serving of cooked green vegetables to give the necessary balance of carbs. The reason is due to the lower calorie content than a piece of meat. The Medifast meal replacement packets are designed to provide the essential macronutrients when used in conjunction with the lean and green meal to provide the correct amount of calories and nutrition you need to do the program. The key is that the Essential One meals are not fortified.

[DogMa]

OK, thanks for the clarification, Nancy. Guess I won't be ordering any more of those things, then. I'd much rather have real food and not waste a lean and green on a tiny 3-ounce packet of tuna that I found too sweet anyway!!

[Nancy]

They are tiny, Robin and I agree with you - I'd rather have a chunk of grilled chicken or salmon but they sure do come in handy for people who are traveling or for folks on maintenance. The chicken and tuna salad are great for a fast snack.

[DogMa]

Yeah, that's how I'll use up the ones I have, on my next trip. But as a regular meal replacement rather than a lean and green (which I find easy to do when I'm traveling). If my nutrition's off just a tad for a few days, I don't think it'll kill me. Better than eating fast food or something, at least.

I'll add it to my travel strategy, when I usually go with more than one bar a day, too. Anything that requires no prep and no refrigeration.

Thanks for the clarification, Nancy. (But seriously, I was hoping for another non-sweet item. I think the sweetness of everything is my biggest Medifast issue. That, and the high-fructose corn syrup in some of the products. Sigh. But that's a whole separate topic.)

[Nancy]

Robin, I agree with you - many of the items taste very sweet, especially the French Vaniller shakes.

Dr. Andersen said the chemist is working on lowering the high-fructose syrups. We must keep in mind that the average American is used to consuming a lot of processed foods - high in fat, sugar and white flour so they are appealing to the average consumer. Guess that means you and I are not average then, eh?! I vote for being "above" average, how 'bout you? Tee hee!

[DogMa]

I have some of those. They're all still chocolate-type flavors, though; artificially sweet is still sweet to me, and I'd like to get out of the habit of eating sweet things. When I'm home, I pretty much live on the soups because they're the one thing that's not at all sweet. But when I'm out, it's not so easy. I keep hoping they'll come out with more savory choices. Maybe one day they'll fortify the tuna and chicken salads so they can be used interchangeably with the other stuff. I can't imagine it'd be that hard.