Can a Meal Kit Service Help You Lose Weight? Here's What a Nutritionist Really Thinks

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There are more than 100 meal kit options on the market, including Blue Apron, Green Chef, HelloFresh, and Plated, just to name a few. Some of my clients who are looking to shed pounds have asked a key question—can a meal plan help me lose weight?

The reality is that these kits are generally designed to make it easier to cook at home, not slim down. You order the meals online, and the recipes and the correct amount of each ingredient are delivered to your door.

Meal kits aren't standardized, can vary widely, and do not guarantee weight loss. But they may help. Here’s my take on the trend. 

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Ingredients are important

When it comes to losing weight­, ingredient quality, macronutrient balance, and portions are all key, and that’s where meal kits may fall short. A lot of kits include recipes calling for refined carbs, like white pasta or noodles, white rice, and white-flour pizza crust, bread, burger buns, and tortillas. And in some recipes, a surplus of refined carbs is combined with a heavy sauce, and scant amount of vegetables and protein—not the ideal meal balance for shrinking your shape.   

Portion sizes can be a problem

Another snag I’ve run into with my clients is portion control. Many kits include recipes that serve a minimum of two people. The people I counsel have sometimes made the entire recipe, with the intention of bringing the second portion to work the next day, only to wind up eating both portions in a single sitting.   

You need the time to cook

Meal kits also require the time needed for cooking. Yes, the recipe is picked out, and you don’t need to shop for the ingredients, but will you actually make it? I’ve had clients forgo kits in favor of something faster (and less healthy) because they were either too tired or too busy to prepare the meal. If this sounds like you, meal kits probably aren’t your best bet.       

You need to choose the right meal plan

But, is there a work-around if you really like the idea of having ingredients delivered to your door and you’re looking to slim down? Sure. First, review all of your options and choose a service with the best selection of recipes for your goal. Aim for dishes that include larger portions of veggies, a lean protein source (seafood, poultry, lentils, or beans), and a smaller portion of healthy carbs, such as a whole grain, like brown rice or quinoa, or a starchy vegetable such as fingerling potatoes.

You can alter the recipe to fit your needs

And remember, there’s no rule that you have to use all of the ingredients. For example, if a salmon burger recipe includes a bun, you can ditch it, wrap your burger in a romaine lettuce leaf, and add a healthier starch instead, like a small baked yam. Or, make half of the rice portion in a kit and mix in a generous portion of shredded zucchini or chopped spinach.    

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Cooking at home does offer you more control over what you eat and how it’s prepared, and that’s an important strategy for sustainable weight loss. If meal kits offer you a cooking shortcut, just remember that you have the option of tweaking them. And about that second portion. If you have a tough time not dipping in, try this tip. Before you even plate your meal or begin eating, place the second half in a sealable container and stash it inside your lunch sack in the fridge. The more steps you have to go through to get to it the less likely you are to eat it. Bonus: you save money by actually getting two meals out of the deal, and you can put that savings towards a non-food treat, like a massage.

Bottom line: meal kits can be a helpful tool, but they aren’t a complete weight loss solution. To see real and lasting results you have to find ways to make them work for you.    

Cynthia Sass is Health’s contributing nutrition editor, a New York Times best-selling author, and a consultant for the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets

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How Instagram Helped Me Shed 63 Lbs.

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Niki Tuck, 22, 5'3", from San Diego, California
Before: 175 lb., size: 18
After: 112 lb., size: 0/2
Total lost: 63 lb.
Total sizes lost: 8/9

Niki's wearing: Adidas tank (adidas.com for similar), Nike sports bra ($35; nike.com), and Champion leggings ($35; target.com) for similar styles.

I grew up being the fat, funny friend, always feeling like my personality had to match my size. By senior year of high school, I weighed 160 pounds and was ready to make a change. Hoping to become a new and improved Niki, I moved from New York to San Diego for college in August 2013. Since people out west are active and outdoorsy, I assumed I would be, too; I also thought I’d kick my junk food habit. The problem: My meal plan gave me access to every fast food chain on campus. In two months, I gained the freshman 15 on top of my already overweight frame.

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Finding what works

By spring semester, I realized my size was making it hard for me to get around. Fed up, I began logging an hour and a half on the elliptical early each morning in the empty campus gym. I dropped 20 pounds in three months. Unfortunately, I also tried several fad diets, which resulted in a year of ups and downs on the scale.

So I spent the summer before my junior year studying body-building sites, learning from fitness influencers, prepping meals, and eating clean. By August, I was down to 138 pounds, and for the rst time ever I liked my reflection in the mirror.

Falling for fitness

I continued to strength train five or six days a week during my junior year and entered a 12-week body transformation challenge in January 2016. I didn’t win, but my preparation brought me down to my lowest weight: 109 pounds. These days, I’m still lifting weights and eating right. I’ve also added hikes around Cowles Mountain to my regimen. Five years ago, I’d never even gone to a gym. Freshman year of college, I’d show up at dawn, too ashamed to be seen. Today? I’m taking sweaty sel es and loving it.

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Four tricks that helped Niki get in the best shape of her life

1. Scale down. Buying a food scale was critical for me, since I always overate. Weighing my meals helped me learn what a proper portion size actually looked like.

2. Share your success. I used to love seeing people’s progress pics on Instagram; they made me feel like change was possible. I now share photos of my own transformation on my account, @nikituck, hoping to motivate others who are on a weight-loss journey.

3. Choose a motto. My favorite quote is from George Bernard Shaw: “Life isn’t about finding yourself. It’s about creating yourself.” This pushed me to keep working toward my goals and reminded me that I could make whatever I wanted of myself.

4. Go ahead—splurge. I’m all for indulging, because the occasional blowout teaches my body to appreciate the healthy foods I typically eat. My go-to splurge? Mexican food, always.

 

As told to Anthea Levi

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The Low-Fat vs. Low-Carb Diet Debate Has a New Answer

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This article originally appeared on Time.com.

If there’s one message that most people get about their diet, it’s to cut back on fat. Too much fat, especially the saturated fat and cholesterol found in animal meat, dairy products and cheese, can clog up arteries and lead to heart disease, stroke and obesity.

But fat may not be only culprit in those unhealthy conditions. In recent years, studies have revealed that cutting back on fat doesn’t always contribute to a lower risk of heart disease or reduced chance of dying early. In fact, some studies show the opposite, that people who eat extremely low amounts of fat tend to die earlier.

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That may be because of something else they’re eating instead. In one of the most comprehensive studies to date looking at how diet affects health and mortality, researchers led by a team at McMaster University report that rather than lowering fat, more people might benefit from lowering the amount of carbohydrates they eat. In a study published in the Lancet, they found that people eating high quantities of carbohydrates, which are found in breads and rice, had a nearly 30% higher risk of dying during the study than people eating a low-carb diet. And people eating high-fat diets had a 23% lower chance of dying during the study’s seven years of follow-up compared to people who ate less fat.

The results, say the authors, point to the fact that rather than focusing on fat, health experts should be advising people to lower the amount of carbohydrates they eat. In the study, which involved 135,000 people from 18 different countries, the average diet was made up of 61% carbohydrates, 23% fat and 15% protein. In some countries, like China, south Asia and Africa, however, the amount of carbohydrates in the diet was much higher, at 63% to 67%. More than half of the people in the study consumed high-carbohydrate diets.

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The findings add more data to the continuing debate over the best advice for healthy eating. When the focus on cholesterol emerged in the 1970s, connecting fatty foods and heart disease, doctors urged people to reduce the fat in their diet by cutting back on red meat, dairy products, eggs and fried foods. Food makers took up the mantra, and pumped out products low in fat. But they replaced the fat with carbohydrates, which scientists now understand may be just as unhealthy, if not more so, than fat.

That’s because carbohydrates are easily stored as glucose in the body, and they can raise blood sugar levels, contributing to obesity and diabetes — both of which are also risk factors for heart disease.

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So why has there been so much focus on fat? The researchers say that the first studies to link fat to heart disease were conducted primarily in North America and Europe, which has the highest consumption of fat worldwide. It’s possible that different diet advice may be needed for different populations. In western cultures, where there is an excess of fat, reducing fat may play a role in lowering heart disease, as long as people aren’t replacing the fat with carbohydrates.

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In other parts of the world, where carbohydrates make up a large part of the diet, cutting back on carbs may make more sense than focusing on fat. “Individuals with high carbohydrate intake might benefit from a reduction in carbohydrate intake and an increase in the consumption of fats,” the study authors write.

More study will also be needed to figure out exactly how much fat and how much carbohydrates should be recommended for optimal health. The study did not compare, for example, people who ate low-fat diets to those who ate low-carb diets to see how their diets affected their mortality.

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4 Simple Ways to Hit Reset on Your Diet After Labor Day

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Summer can feel like one looong semi-vacation—and it's easy to fall into the trap of the "anything goes" vacay mindset for oh, three whole months. If you've indulged more often than you planned (hello, BBQ, ice cream, and many glasses of frosé!), you may be itching to get back on track, and recommit to clean eating this fall. Here are a few simple ways you can prepare to hit reset after Labor Day.

Eat every 3 to 5 hours

And start with breakfast, even if you don’t feel especially hungry first thing in the morning. Regular meals help regulate your hunger hormones, keep your blood sugar and insulin levels steady, and maximize your metabolism—which are all key factors for seeing quick weight-loss results.

Get in the habit of prepping clean meals and snacks, and choose some go-to recipes, so you can stock up on the right ingredients. A good breakfast option is a veggie and avocado omelet, with a side of fresh fruit. For lunch try fresh greens lightly tossed with vinaigrette made from balsamic vinegar, Dijon, lemon, and Italian seasoning; and topped with lean protein, avocado, and a small scoop of quinoa or chickpeas.

At dinner you can't go wrong with a veggie “pasta": Sauté a generous portion of veggies in low-sodium veggie broth with garlic and herbs, and serve over a bed of cooked spaghetti squash. Then add a lean protein on top, and garnish with sliced almonds. If there’s a long stretch between lunch and dinner, snack on nuts or seeds and fresh fruit.

This fall become the type of person who packs a lunch! Sign up for our 21-Day Healthy Lunch Challenge now

Commit to H2O

Making water your beverage of choice is one of the most impactful changes you can adopt. Why? There are lots of reasons: Water curbs appetite, and supports metabolism, digestion, and circulation. It can also do wonders for your skin, and help you de-bloat from sodium-triggered fluid retention.

Start weaning yourself off bubbly beverages, and all drinks sweetened with sugar and even natural, no-cal substitutes. Also, begin every day with a tall glass of water; then sip three 16-ounce servings throughout the day. If you don’t like water plain, add lemon or lime, sliced cucumber and mint, or slightly mashed berries.

This strategy is one of the quickest ways to flatten your belly, and get sweet cravings under control. One of my personal tricks is to fill an eight-cup water filtering pitcher at night and finish it the next day. If I’m going to be away from home, I use the pitcher to fill a stainless steel bottle to take with.

RELATED: 14 Surprising Causes of Dehydration

Cut back, but don’t omit carbs

Yes, curbing carbs can help you shed pounds, but in my experience, nixing them altogether can backfire. A no-carb diet may lead to crankiness, and cravings that trigger binge eating. It can also lead people to consume an excessive number of calories from low-carb foods like nuts. Instead of banishing carbs, I recommend including a small serving of fiber- and nutrient-rich carbohydrates in each meal. Think of them as an accent, not the main attraction.

For example, at breakfast you might have a cup of fresh fruit, or a half cup of cooked oats. Then at lunch and dinner, have half-cup portions of foods like quinoa, brown rice, pulses, and sweet potato. Increase the amount if needed, based on your activity level, but make sure the veggie portion of each meal is at least twice the size of the carb-heavy side.

I recommend breaking out your measuring cups to put together your meals—at least for a little while. It's a pain, but it will help you become familiar with these new portion sizes, so eventually they become second nature.

RELATED: 14 Roasted Vegetable Recipes You Have to Try This Fall

Stock up on dark chocolate

Slashing sugar is a good idea, but it’s not realistic to declare that a speck of sugar will never again cross your lips. To get your fix healthfully, and with fewer calories, make a few squares of dark chocolate (with at least 70% cacao) your daily treat. Research has shown that a small amount of dark chocolate can satisfy cravings for both sweet and salty foods. It also packs antioxidants and minerals, and is hearty-healthy too. You might savor one square after lunch, and another after dinner. Many clients tell me that knowing they have this treat to look forward to every day helps them say "no" to temptations, and stay on track.

Cynthia Sass is Health’s contributing nutrition editor, a New York Times best-selling author, and a consultant for the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets.

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