Making Vegetables Taste "More Better" on Medifast

The Medifast lean & green meal calls for a mountain of vegetables and healthy portion of lean protein. For many people, that's a big departure from the traditional American meal of meat; a handful of vegetables; and hefty serving of pasta, potatoes or rice.

To make up for the lack of starchy foods, the vegetable must ascend from second banana to leading man -- literally, the star of your plate..

Since starting Medifast in late September, I have played around with veggie recipes to make them worthy of their major role in my diet. One of my favorite new ways to cook them is roasting.

Once you eat your cauliflower roasted,
you'll never go back to steaming it.

Last night my husband barbecued a tri tip with which (in my PM days) I would serve a baked potato and salad. For the potato, I substituted a head of cauliflower cut up into florets and mixed with a small amount of olive oil and a few twists of my favorite freshly ground spice mix (sea salt, garlic and parsley), then arranged the coated cauliflower in a single layer on a cookie sheet. After baking 20 minutes at 425 degrees, the cauliflower was golden brown, slightly crispy and delicious. Even my husband didn't miss the potato.

My favorite way to cook spinach is to saute it with a small amount of olive oil and minced garlic. Sometimes I also add a little low sodium chicken broth for flavor and/or saute mushrooms with it. This technique works well for any leafy greens.

For salads, I get as imaginative as I can. I am always trying new combinations of lettuce and other vegetables. Arugula gives salads a peppery kick. Sweet mini peppers add some nice flavor, crunch and color. I always buy the best quality tomatoes because the cheap ones are genetically engineered for shipping, not eating. Salad dressing rarely goes on my greens directly. Instead I pour it into a separate bowl and dip my fork in before taking a bite of the salad to avoid ingesting a huge dollop or puddle.

Being a foodie at heart, I am always looking for creative and fun ways to cook vegetables. My next experiment will be zucchini fritters cooked in a muffin tin with eggs as seen on this video produced by the cutest Medifast couple ever, Leah and Nick (who adapted the recipe from the Sandy's Kitchen Adventures blog).

Whatever you do, don't make Medifast a prison sentence of food deprivation. Finding new and fun ways to cook your vegetables will not only help you comply with the diet during the weight loss phase, it will also create new eating habits that will stay with you long after your fat has melted off.

Similar posts:

Medifast and Gluten: What Happened When I Went Almost Gluten Free by Accident

How Medifast Helped Me Develop Better Habits


If you're interested in learning more about how you can lose weight safely and more rapidly with the Medifast 5&1 plan, please visit my Take Shape for Life website.