In today’s world, most people have crazy schedules and hardly get time to look after themselves. Meal kit delivery services deliver pre-prepared meals to our doorstep. These ready-to-eat meals are customized using portioned ingredients according to a customer’s favorite recipe. There are hundreds of meal kit options in the market including the South Beach Diet that offer fresh and minimally processed food.
Meal kits are not only designed to make it easy to cook at home but are also helpful for anyone who’s looking to shed a few pounds. The kits are not standardized; most of the plans feature a plant-based diet in most of their recipes. They also offer plans for vegetarian, vegan, and organic plans to cater to those who are on a specialty diet.
How Do Meal Kit Services Help Us Lose Weight?
Anyone who’s looking to lose weight needs to make appropriate changes in their eating habits. To be honest, that is quite tough. It takes a lot of willpower to get out of bad habits such as eating high-calorie foods.
Here are some ways in which meal kits help us watch our weight:
- Maintain healthy eating habits
Maintaining a healthy eating habit takes so much effort. Most people feel the urge to congratulate themselves with a food-related reward whenever they are celebrating something. Instead, it’s recommended that you give yourself non-food treats such as massages.
Meal kits provide a means to start a new lifestyle that has a more consistent eating program. They give a 2-person portion that has limited calories. In general, the meal kits are healthier compared to what most people eat on a daily basis. Even though some meal kits may contain pan fried foods, these always come with veggies and carbs to pair. Pan fried foods have low fat and low-calorie levels compared to deep-fried foods.
- Quality of ingredients
When it comes to weight loss, the type of nutrients that are used is really important. The macronutrient balance is what determines if the meal is really capable of helping you shed a few pounds.
- Portion size
Portions are key in any meal. A lot of people usually have a problem with potion control.
Most meal kits in the market often serve a portion for two people. This makes it quite easy to size out; all that one needs to do is divide the meal in half, prepare one half and save the other half for later.
- Minimal time is required to cook
The time required to prepare the food is very little. The recipe is already picked out and someone else does the ingredient shopping for you. This saves so much time especially for those who are too busy to actually go grocery shopping.
Meal kits are your best bet if you always get home tired and don’t have the time to start picking out recipes. Basically, meal kits offer you a cooking shortcut.
- A wide variety of recipes
There is a wide selection of recipes depending on a person’s ultimate goal. If you intend to lose weight, you should go for meals that offer a bigger portion of veggies, a smaller portion of healthy carbs, and a lean protein source.
Meal kit services offer you more control over what you eat and how you prepare it. This is an important strategy for sustainable weight loss.
The best part about all this is that you are at liberty of tweaking the recipes. You don’t have to use all the ingredients.
Are There Any Drawbacks?
Some drawbacks that are associated with meal kits include:
- Cost
If you break down the cost by the actual value of the food items and the per-person cost, you realize that you pay $70 to another person to go shop for you. This is quite high but also, totally worth it for those who do not have time to shop.
- Wastage in Packaging
The meals come in a large box which features lots of insulation. Inside the box, there are three ice packs. All these go to waste because they are not used again.
- Nutritional Value
Considering that most people end up eating the entire meal at a single serving, they take up a lot of calories in when they eat what is supposed to be a 2-person portion.
Most recipes also contain significantly high levels of sodium and fat.
Conclusion
Meal kit services are a helpful tool in weight loss. However, they don’t offer a complete solution. One has to remain consistent in order for them to see real and lasting results. Before you pick what plan you want to be delivered to you, consider which one is best for your goals.
A major upside about meal kits is that they offer great deals by giving two meals per serving. This helps you save money. If you are always falling into temptation and eating the second portion, here’s what you need to do: stash the second potion in a container and put it inside the fridge. This way, the chances are very minimal that you will eat it.
