Part 4: What About the Nutrisystem Diet?

The Nutrisystem diet is a portion-controlled diet that aims to help the consumer lose weight and improve their health with the most convenience and no-hassle. This is accomplished by offering a membership program (for a cost to the consumer) that includes delivery of pre-packaged food products and access to helpful resources and guides. The main claim of the diet is eating high fiber, low fat foods with fewer calories. Below is a photo of their most basic membership plan that includes a one month supply of meals. The membership packages can be cancelled at the consumer's request or when the consumer reaches their desired weight goal. The program helps equip the consumer with knowledge on how to maintain their new healthy lifestyle following completion of the program.



Summary of Diet Recommendations:
The Nutrisystem diet recommends eating 6 meals per day: breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and dessert. The membership program includes pre-packaged food products for all of the meals, except the morning and afternoon snacks. (They provide suggestions on what the consumer should eat as their morning and afternoon snacks and encourage supplementing the other meals with fresh fruit, vegetables, protein, and milk.) The Nutrisystem diet offers a very large selection of pre-packaged food items for the 4 meals it covers. Meals are conveniently microwaved. The consumer is allowed to hand-pick which menu items he/she desires to eat, or can let Nutrisystem representatives select food items for them. Nutrisystem also offers targeted membership packages (vegetarian, 60 years and older, diabetic plans). In general, the women's food plans limit the total number of calories allowed per day to 1,200; for men, it's up to 1,500. They recommend exercising for at least 30 minutes per day, and provide fitness plans and other support to help the consumer achieve this.

The food itself is low in sodium, saturated fats, and trans fats, and is made up of 55% carbohydrates, 25% protein, and 20% fat. The foods claim to be high in whole grains. They instruct the consumer to supplement daily meals with a total of 6 servings of fruits and vegetables, 3 servings dairy or protein, and 2 servings fat. Foods not allowed with the Nutrisystem diet include alcohol, sugar, white bread, candy, cakes, and processed foods. (I italicized this, because I'll address this point shortly.) An example of a 1,200 calories-per-day meal plan consists of:

Breakfast: Nutrisystem breakfast entree, 1 serving fruit, and 1 serving dairy or protein
Lunch: Nutrisystem lunch entree, 1 serving salad, 1 serving dairy or protein, 2 Tbsp fat-free salad dressing
Snack: 1 serving fruit, 1 dairy or protein serving
Dinner: Nutrisystem dinner entree, 2 vegetable servings, 1 salad or fruit serving, 1 fat serving
Dessert: Nutrisystem dessert
(Source)

What's Good?
Recommending multiple meals per day, rather than just 3 meals per day, is a wonderful attribute of this diet. They also do not shy away from carbohydrates, which frankly is a relief to see in a modern weight-loss diet. Carbs are not the enemy. Complex carbs are the body's main source of energy. I'm glad to see that the Nutrisystem diet is not also a low-carb diet. The diet also encourages at least 30 minutes of exercise per day, in conjunction with their meal plans. I doubt most of the Nutrisystem customers actually follow this recommendation, but at least Nutrisystem is recommending such frequent exercise and they promote that there's more to overall health than just what you eat.

What's Bad?
In short, a lot.

First, calorie restriction does not work and is not a healthy way to lose weight. Starving the body into losing weight only results in short-term weight loss or a life of misery. I recall my own efforts in the past at counting calories and trying to self-limit my caloric intake to 1,200 calories per day. How in the world are you supposed to keep an accurate calorie count when you cook meals at home or eat out? It is extremely difficult to keep up with in daily life. Even using tools like Livestrong's My Daily Plate can only get you so close to the actual number of calories you're eating. And do you realize how easy it is to reach 1,200 calories in one day (if choosing calorie-rich; nutrient-deficient foods)?! There were days I reached that limit at lunchtime. Golly, that was so discouraging. I remember serving myself tiny, tiny portions and still feeling hungry afterwards. Looking over at Michael's plate full of food with his skinny body used to make me so MAD! It was a real struggle for me to have the discipline to keep track of my calories all day and have the self-control to stop at my upper limit. Eventually, I gave up trying, and the weight piled back on. That is just no way to live life.

Following my first point, the Nutrisystem diet is designed for convenience and no-hassle. Microwavable foods require almost no effort. I can certainly see why this diet is appealing to the modern, busy consumer. But what happens once they conclude the program? Eventually they will have to make food decisions on their own and prepare their own meals. Going from being spoon-fed most all meals to having to cook for yourself is asking for a set-back. Unless the person really takes ownership of their meal planning and begins to count calories and self-limit, they are likely to gain all the weight back. Just like my previous argument about the South Beach diet, who wants to have their weight yo-yo-ing all over the place?

My third argument is about the food content itself. The pre-packaged foods are advertised as being non-processed, high in fiber, low in fat, full of whole grains. This is a bold faced lie. I tell my clients that you have to learn to completely ignore every single advertising claim on the front (and sides and back) of food packaging. You can only trust what's contained in the ingredients list. So let's have a looksy. I have chosen a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert food item from the Nutrisystem diet. I selected the food items below based on what appears to be reasonably "healthy sounding." I know that is extremely subjective, but I did my best to select foods that I used to think were reasonably healthy, like "lean meats."

Breakfast - Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal: OATS, APPLES (SULFITED), SUGAR, DEXTROSE, NATURAL FLAVORS, SALT, CINNAMON, CARAMEL COLOR.
My take on this: The first ingredient is great. The second is basically "apples with a preservative," followed by sugar, more sugar, artificial flavors (there's nothing "natural" about this), salt, cinnamon, and an artificial coloring agent. Yes, the first ingredient is presumably a whole grain (though it should literally say "whole grain oats" if it is in fact a whole grain.) In summary, this has the potential of being a healthy, high-fiber breakfast meal, but all of the preservatives and artificial ingredients reveals that it is a processed food. It would be much better to prepare oatmeal at home, add some fresh chopped apples, a little honey, and cinnamon.

Lunch - Chicken Noodle Soup: CHICKEN BROTH, ENRICHED EGG NOODLES (WATER, ENRICHED DURUM FLOUR [WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID], WHOLE EGGS, WHEAT GLUTEN, EGG WHITES, GLYCERYL MONOSTEARATE), WHITE CHICKEN (WHITE CHICKEN MEAT, WATER, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, SALT, SODIUM PHOSPHATE), CARROTS, POTATO STARCH, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF CELERY, HYDROLYZED CORN PROTEIN, FLAVORING, SALT, CHICKEN FAT, ROAST FLAVOR (MALTODEXTRIN, YEAST EXTRACT, SOY SAUCE [SOYBEANS, WHEAT, SALT], TAPIOCA MALTODEXTRIN, CHICKEN FAT, FLAVOR), YEAST EXTRACT, CHICKEN BROTH (CONTAINS FLAVOR), SPICES, DEHYDRATED CHIVES, DEHYDRATED PARSLEY, ANNATTO COLOR. CONTAINS EGG, SOY AND WHEAT.
My take on this: Oh dear...that's a bunch of ingredients. When you see "enriched," you should not think that's a good thing. You're not enriching anything, especially your health. Furthermore, when you don't know what something is or how to pronounce it, it's probably not good for you (glyceryl monostearate, hydrolyzed corn protein?!) Lot of preservatives and artificial flavors. And here's what I find most appalling and sad about this lunch item: it contains zero fiber. Zero! Being only 110 calories with 20 from fat (this means the meal is 18% fat) and no fiber is giving you fat but not filling you up. So sad. And there are ZERO whole grains too. Plus, the high amount of animal products results in an over consumption of protein, fat, and cholesterol, which can lead to poor health.

Dinner - Spaghetti Primavera with Chicken Meatballs: COOKED CHICKEN MEATBALLS (CHICKEN MEAT, BREAD CRUMBS [WHEAT FLOUR, SUGAR, YEAST, SALT], PARMESAN CHEESE [PASTEURIZED MILK, SALT, CHEESE CULTURE, ENZYMES], NONFAT MILK, WATER, SPINACH, MAGNESIUM POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, EGG WHITES, SPICE), WATER, COOKED ENRICHED PASTA (WATER, SEMOLINA, DURUM FLOUR, NIACIN, IRON (FERROUS SULFATE), THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), CRIMINI MUSHROOMS, TOMATOES, ASPARAGUS, GREEN PEAS, GARLIC, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF BASIL, CHEESE FLAVOR, CHICKEN BROTH POWDER (CHICKEN STOCK, MALTODEXTRIN, SALT, NATURAL FLAVOR, YEAST EXTRACT, MODIFIED STARCH, THIAMINE (VITAMIN B), SOY LECITHIN), CITRIC ACID, EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, PARMESAN CHEESE (CULTURED MILK, ENZYMES, SALT), RED WINE VINEGAR, SEASONING (NATURAL FLAVOR, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, YEAST), SEASONING (SEA SALT, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE), SPICES, TURMERIC AND ANNATTO FOR COLOR, XANTHAN GUM. CONTAINS EGG, MILK AND WHEAT.
My take on this: Again, that's a whole lot of ingredients and appears highly processed and full of artificial ingredients and preservatives. Plus, there are added oils, little fiber, and zero whole grains. This dinner meal is 26% fat. Just like the lunch, the high amount of animal products results in an over consumption of protein, fat, and cholesterol.

Dessert - Oatmeal Raisin Cookie: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, THIAMINE, RIBOFLAVIN, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, FOLIC ACID), ROLLED OATS, RAISINS, BUTTER, EGGS, CANOLA OIL, BROWN SUGAR, RESISTANT MALTODEXTRIN, SUGAR, FRUCTOSE, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, BAKING SODA, BAKING POWDER (SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SODIUM BICARBONATE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), CINNAMON POWDER, MAPLE FLAVOR. CONTAINS EGG, MILK AND WHEAT.
My take on this: Again, "enriched" does not enrich anything about your health. Rolled oats? Excellent, that's a whole grain! Followed by raisins (good, not great - concentrated sugar), butter (yeah, that's real healthy), eggs, added fat, sugar, preservative, more sugar, even more sugar, whey protein (dairy product), baking soda and powder, preservatives, cinnamon, maple flavor (not maple itself, just the artificial flavor). Oh, and this one little cookie is 40% fat. Yikes! I can make a dairy-free, egg-free, oil-free, white sugar-free oatmeal raisin cookie that tastes delicious and doesn't have all of these preservatives, artificial, and harmful ingredients.

And finally, recommending (or at least, selling) 20% fat food products (or as I've shown you, sometimes higher than that!) is not health-promoting. Eating the diet I recommend gives you all the fat you need. You do not need to add additional fat from animal foods and oils! These food products are basically junk foods. And they recommend supplementing these junk foods with 3 servings of dairy or protein and 2 servings of fat per day! Did you know that the fat percentages of milk are calculated by weight, not content? That's right folks, 2% milk does NOT mean there's only 2% fat content. And if you're curious, click on the links below to view how much cholesterol and sugar is also in each type of milk.

Fun Facts about Milk

1 cup (8 oz) of the following types of milk has:

Whole milk: 146 calories, 71 from fat = 49% fat
2% milk, a.k.a. "reduced fat": 122 calories, 43 from fat = 35% fat

1% milk, a.k.a. "low fat": 102 calories, 21 from fat = 21% fat

Skim milk, a.k.a."non-fat" or "fat-free": 83 calories, 2 from fat = 2.5% fat

All milk, especially skim milk, contains casein (animal protein)
which has been scientifically linked to cancer tumor growth

Bottom Line:
The Nutrisystem diet offers convenience at the price of good health. Although short-term weight loss may occur due to calorie-restriction, it is not a long-lasting, healthy diet to follow because of the lack of whole grains and fiber, and the added oils, preservatives, artificial ingredients, and high-fat content. For the price of the membership plans, your money would be better spent purchasing health-promoting, plant-based foods and preparing meals at home that fill you up, satisfy hunger, and allow you shed pounds without the hassle of counting or restricting calories. I have said goodbye to 35 pounds lost once and for all, without the torture and deprivation of counting calories or limiting portion sizes. You can too. If you would like assistance with how to adopt a plant-based diet, plan meals, and cook within your time constraints, I would be delighted to help you.

Next -- Part 5: What About the Weight Watchers Diet?
Previous -- Part 3: What About the South Beach Diet?
Introduction to the 10-Part Series