Complete Meals - Then and Now

It's amazing what passes as a "meal" these day.  One of the local fast food restaurants near my house has been advertising "complete meals" for only $4.  What a deal - or is it?

First of all, the "complete meal" is a hamburger, fries and soda.  Once upon a time, I would have considered that a "complete meal", figuring I was getting protein, carbs, and veggies (fries).  To be sure, even in those days I knew it wasn't a balanced meal, but I'd hate to tell you how many times French fries were as close as my children and I would get to a vegetable on one of our busy, on-the-go days.  I might enhance the nutrition incrementally with some lettuce and a slice of tomato on the burger, but I certainly missed the nutritional mark by a wide margin.  I tried to find the nutritional information for one of the complete meal options, the triple steakburger and fries, but it wasn't available on the company's website.  I can only guess, but it wouldn't surprise me if the calorie, fat, and sodium count for that meal exceeded the recommended daily guidelines.  Sadly, while a meal like this would be way over the recommended guidelines for calories, fat and sodium, it would be severely lacking in nutrition.

When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1, some people questioned the safety of consuming less than 1,000 calories a day, certain that going this low wasn't safe.  The irony was that even though my calories were drastically reduced, I was probably getting better nutrition than I had in a very long time - perhaps ever.  Many of the calories I consumed to sustain my weight at 260 were empty calories - sweets, chips, etc.  Yes, I ate fruit and vegetables and I  tried to eat organic and preservative-free as much as possible, but I also consumed a lot of empty calories.  On 5&1, every calorie was nutrient dense.

It's been a journey to go from viewing a burger, fries and soda combo as a complete meal to considering a single Medifast crunch bar a complete meal (which it is, in every sense of the word "complete").  By making that change in my thinking, I was able to finally reach a healthy weight and went from surviving to truly thriving.  I'm also saving money, because for the price of the "complete meal" offered by the fast food restaurant, I can have two REAL meals - Medifast meals - now that's a true deal!

Today we'll face choices as to how we're going to spend our calories and our money.  Choose wisely :-)