What The Heck is Medifast?
I recently started the Medifast diet, and when I did, it took me a little while to understand exactly what people meant when they referred to Medifast. Were they talking about the website? The product? The shakes? Some sort of dietary movement? It took me several days of talking to people to really figure it out. The answer is, all of the above.
Medifast is a company that designed and manufactures a diet and accompanying foods, that owns a website (medifast.com), and that labels it's concept, foods, and ideals with the Medifast name. "Medifast meals" are complete meals provided by the company, along with books, and kitchen appliances like Medifast blenders and shakers. They do own and run a few clinics, but not many compared to the number of followers they have.
The company and its diet have been around for more than two decades. Developed by doctors that were preparing obese patients for safe surgeries, it worked so well that it was expanded, modified, and made public as the diet that is so popular today. Respected institutions like the Johns Hopkins University have studied the Medifast diet.
Similarly, many well-known celebrities endorse Medifast, among them Kristie Swanson from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Genie Francis from General Hospital. Despite it's long-standing reputation, many people have an incomplete understanding of the nature of the Medifast diet.
It's more than just shakes and bars. There are more than 70 separate foods on the diet's menu, and those are just the simple things you can do with them. It's easy, for example, to combine the Medifast eggs with the Medifast pudding and create some excellent baked dishes that come out like cake or muffins, but within the plan's limits. Since you must eat six times every day on this diet, it's important to have the kind of variety that they offer.
Just to keep you on your toes -- well, OK, not JUST to keep you on your toes, it's also because it's healthier -- the company asks you to put together one off-menu meal every day. Of course, they do ask you to stick to fresh, mostly-raw foods, to keep your nutrient level high. It's a challenge to get all of the nutrients you need in six 100-calorie meals, so their menu is carefully planned to make sure it can happen.
The idea behind the diet is that, by severely curtailing your intake of carbohydrates and increasing your intake of protein, your body is forced to burn fat for energy. They don't ask you to give up your sweet tooth, though -- the pudding, some of the shakes, and several of the optional drinks all have excellently sweet flavors.
The real power of the Medifast program, though, comes from its convenience. They sell each and every food product individually or in pre-packaged groups that go well together. I prefer the latter because it's not only cheaper, but easier to deal with as well.
Hopefully now you know what to think of when you think of Medifast. And if you think that perhaps this well-researched and highly successful diet is for you, just head over to Medifast and check it out!
