As the Snap 21* diet winds down, just a couple of notes. First, people keep asking me how much weight I’ve lost. I don’t know; I don’t do bathroom scales. But I do know this: Yesterday morning when I wriggled into my gardening jeans to pull a few weeds before work, they were just the tiniest bit looser. Yes!
And how is the food? For the most part, it has been better and more sophisticated than I expected. I don’t have much to compare it to, since I have never dieted or subscribed to a meal service before. But the food is very wholesome, nicely packaged and generous in its portions. The nutritionists who put together the menu apparently love quinoa, the so-called “miracle” South American grain, as it recurs frequently. The menu also has numerous bison, salmon and turkey options. Among my favorite dishes: truffled quinoa “mac & cheese” ($4.75); curried chicken salad ($3.25); curry-dusted cauliflower “steak tips” ($6.50); and cider brined pork tenderloin ($6.25). Also, every salad was delicious, especially the spinach and beet salad with chicken.
Not so great: the mushroom-jalapeño soup that tasted like a Christmas tree (too much rosemary), and green beans that were usually too woody and undercooked for me. I also don’t care for eggs first thing in the morning, but the staff was happy to swap out all of my various egg white “scrambles” for oatmeal.
Finally, how much does it cost? Snap Kitchen isn’t cheap, but it is not silly expensive, either. The receipts for my 21 days totaled $550.18, or $26.20 a day. When you factor in that this was for three meals plus two snacks daily – except Saturdays, when we had a half-day off – it seems quite reasonable. And as I note above, the quality of the food is quite high.
In next Tuesday’s SideDish, I’ll have my final Snap 21 report.
*What is the Snap 21 project? Snap Kitchen, the healthy take-away restaurant, asked 21 people to try their 1200-calorie diet for 21 days. The food and consultations are gratis; we agree to blog/tweet/Facebook about it for the duration of the exercise. Follow along.