I sometimes hear from people who are wondering about a specific food that
they hope isn't going to be off of limits once they begin the Medifast diet.
Believe it or not, I get asked about olives relatively frequently. A common
concern would be something like: "I love olives.
They are one of my favorite foods. I eat them with salads a lot of the time
and I sometimes have them with eggs. I really want to try the Medifast diet,
but I don't want to give up my olives. Are they allowed on this diet?"
Actually, my understanding is that they are. But they count as a fat. And
you aren't supposed to have an unlimited amount of them. It works this way. In
addition to eating five diet meals, you need to eat one larger "lean and
green" meal each day. That meal consists of five to seven ounces of lean
protein, three servings of vegetables, and two servings of healthy fats. 5 - 10
green or black olives are considered to be worth one serving of a healthy fat.
So let's say that the person who asked this question wanted to have olives
as part of a salad as was her habit. If she were making a dinner time lean and
green meal, she could have a chicken salad with 5 -10 olives as well as some
salad dressing.
This would put her within those two allowed fat servings. Another thing to
consider is that you don't have to your lean and green meal at dinner. You can
have it for any of the main meals. So there was nothing wrong with having eggs
and olives for your lean and green meal either.
If you were going to do this, you would be allowed to have up to 14 egg
whites or two cups of egg beaters. She could also have 10 - 20 olives because
she didn't need salad dressing and could use both servings of fats. She would
still have three servings of vegetables left so she could actually make this
into an omelet if this idea appealed to her. Perhaps spinach, white mushrooms,
peppers mixed in with the eggs and olives would be a nice option. As you may be
able to tell, your lean and green meal is meant to be somewhat substantial. It
will definitely be your largest meal of the day.
But to answer the question posed, yes you can have olives on Medifast when
you eat your lean and green meal and they will count as one of the two healthy
fats that are allowed with this meal. Olives are one of those foods like nuts
that people suspect won't be allowed on the diet. But many are pleasantly
surprised when they find out that they in fact are.
0 comments:
Post a Comment