Is Jenny Craig for You?

The unopened box: what's inside?

Dieting is not my usual way of losing weight, I step up my exercise, or cut out alcohol and lose a few pounds. I also have a sensitive tummy so frequent stomach viruses also keep the weight off.

But I know that that’s unusual and as I get older, I’m finding that keeping weight off gets harder. So I was eager to try the Jenny Craig five day kit starter kit,  exclusively at Walmart.

The kit, which retails for $44.98, includes 5 days of prepackaged meals. There is a lot you have to add, which means you get plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. So it’s not cheap, but it’s very convenient, particularly if you are also cooking a meal for your family or bringing lunch to the office. Actually, it’s cheaper than going out to lunch.

The contents of the starter kit

The kit also includes a free month of consulting with Jenny Craig diet experts, $50 in coupons for future plans, and $25 off for both you and a friend if you get a friend to sign up.

The packages are color coded - yellow is for breakfast, green for lunch, orange for dinner, blue for snacks and magenta for dessert. 

A disappointment was that the kit, which includes 20 meals, has limited vegetarian choices. The starter kit is a sampling, and of the five dinners, three had meat. And the sole vegetarian option was the same thing, twice, cheese ravioli.

The ravioli with sautéed spinach and chopped fennel

However, it was quite good ravioli, and I was surprised that cheesy ravioli, in a tomato sauce, could be part of a weight loss program. 

In the accompanying literature, it mentioned that the dinner should also include a half cup of green vegetables. I thought my idea of sautéed spinach was unique, but that is actually the serving suggestion on the box. However, I enlivened mine with chopped fennel fronds to give it a little Mediterranean flair.

Make your salad fun

One of the lunches was canned chicken, which you have with a garden salad and applesauce. I made this for my mom, stuffing the chicken into a couple of tomatoes and using some of the applesauce in the dressing.  It looked so good I made my own vegetarian version with canned tuna instead of chicken.

Garden salad
2 Campari tomatoes
1 1/2 cups greens -I used spinach - or swap out 1/2 cup of the greens for 1/4 cup chopped celery (1 stalk) and 1 small chopped carrot

Core the tomatoes and remove some of the flesh. You want to create a cavity for the chicken or tuna. Chop the tomato flesh and add to the greens.

Pack the chicken or tuna into the tomato cavities and serve with the greens. Drizzle the dressing over everything.

Dressing:

2 tablespoons applesauce
1/2 teaspoon miso
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk everything together or blend with an immersion blender. Makes enough for 2 salads

For the cereal breakfast, I used 2 strawberries from my mid morning fruit snack, and about half a cup of nonfat Greek yogurt.

What’s for breakfast?

The starter kit had 5 days of breakfast, all things a vegetarian can eat. But, each meal included 8 ounces of skim milk. I can barely choke down the milk needed to moisten cold cereal, so I figured nonfat Green yogurt would be a great substitute. A container of Greek yogurt (5.3 ounces) has about 97 calories, and a glass of skim milk has 90.

I did have my milk with the apple cinnamon oatmeal; rather than make it with boiling water, as suggested on the package, I added milk and microwaved it. It was filling and delicious. And I used some of my milk allotment in my coffee.

Lunch time

Four of the five lunches had meat, but I did try the tortellini soup. With this you eat a huge 2 cups of garden salad, with dressing. 

I made kale salad, figuring it takes longer to eat, so you seem for full.  I marinated the chopped kale in dressing for 2 hours to soften it, and added some roasted broccoli and cauliflower.

Easy roasted vegetables

Cut up a bunch of broccoli and a head of cauliflower.

Spray a roasting pan with a light film of olive oil. Add the veggies, spray with a little more olive oil and sprinkle with smoked salt.

Lunch; you make your own garden salad

Roast at 425 for 35-45 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your vegetables.  Can serve hot, or at room temperature with salad greens.

Snacks

There is certainly enough food with the Jenny Craig diet. I really liked that you have snacks between meals, and even dessert. The daily morning snack was what I usually have: a serving of fruit and 6 ounces of non-fat plain Greek yogurt. So yes, I was double dipping on my Greek yogurt.

Dessert: the s'mores bar was nice and chocolatey, and only 140 calories

Mid afternoon snacks varied: string cheese one day, fruit, string cheese and almonds 2 days, fruit another day and fruit and string cheese another. I haven’t had string cheese since my kids were little but it’s handy to portion out the right serving size.

The included Jenny Craig desserts - called after dinner snacks - were just enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Note: I was provided a free Jenny Craig Weight Loss Starter Kit. Opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Roman Pizza in Park Slope: kid and diet friendly

Can you eat pizza and still stay in shape? Probably not if you scarf down a couple of slices at a most Brooklyn pizza joints, but if you go to a restaurant like Campo de’ Fiori, it's easy. First, start with one of the great salads. Even the simple mixed greens had a delicious vinaigrette, and a sprinkling of raw onions. There is also a beet salad, and a radicchio salad with gorgonzola and apples.

We naturally skipped over the cured meats selection and headed straight to the pizzas. The Roman style pizzas use organic wheat in dough that sits overnight, developing the flavor. The eco conscious restaurant also uses organic tomatoes and local vegetables. Plus the chefs profess not to cut down trees or produce on CO2 to cook the pizza. The simple Margherita pizza lets the purity of the ingredients shine. Just the right amount of extremely fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil come together in a deeply satisfying square pie. You can also get pizza with buffalo mozzarella or creamy burrata. We liked the Vignarola, with artichoke hears and topped with salad. Salad on pizza is a sneaky way to get extra veggies into your kids, and it is both tasty and low in calories. There are a number of vegetarian pastas, including one with cauliflower and gorgonzola. We will be back.

Healthy Eating

I have a continual debate with my mother, mother-in-law, and friends, about whether or not my vegetarian diet offers enough protein. Best selling author Dr. Barry Sears, in his new book, Toxic Fat, advocates a mostly vegetable, fruit and legume diet that provides enough protein, and reduces what he calls Toxic fat, a natural fatty acid that causes inflammation and leads to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s.

Take that, steak-wielding in-laws!

Dr. Sears’ anti-inflammatory diet balances the body’s hormones, specifically levels of insulin and GI tract hormones.

Even if you continue to eat meat, Dr. Sears suggests a way to cut down, dividing a plate into three equal sections and filling one third with a low-fat protein, 3 ounces for women or four ounces of men the rest of the plate should be filled with colorful non-starchy vegetables, with a little heart-healthy monounsaturated fat: e.g., olive oil, slivered almonds or guacamole.

A Zone Diet meal planner offers menus and recipes, like a Mediterranean pizza made with onions and green olives, and only 1 tablespoon of (fat free) feta cheese.

To follow the diet strictly, you have to buy Zone products like sliced bread ($17.50 a loaf) and multigrain pizza crusts ($25 for 5). They are expensive, but far cheaper than restaurant or take-out meals. And two slices of that bread have as much protein as a chicken breast.

The recipe below uses the Zone fusilli, which is $25 for 5 packages. The rest of the ingredients cost under a dollar total, so you have a whole, healthy meal, for less than $6.

For a few dollars more, you can even invite the in-laws.

Fusilli Fagiole

Ingredients:


1 package of Zone Fusilli


1 ½ teaspoons olive oil


1 garlic clove, minced


½ cup Italian plum tomatoes, drained and chopped


1 teaspoon fresh parsley, minced


1 pinch basil, dried
1 pinch oregano, dried


¼ cup cannelloni beans, rinsed


Salt and pepper


Grated Parmesan if desired


Fresh basil leaves for garnish

Instructions:


Cook the fusilli as directed on package.


Reserve 1 cup of liquid and drain the rest.


Meanwhile, heat olive oil and garlic in a medium saucepan.


Sauté on low heat to prevent burning.


Add the plum tomato and turn up heat to medium high.


Bring to a simmer.


Add dried herbs and beans.


Add ½ cup of reserved pasta liquid and stir. The starch in the liquid will help thicken the tomato mixture. Continue to simmer adding more liquid as necessary to thicken tomato sauce to desired consistency.


Pour over pasta. Sprinkle with fresh basil and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.