I sometimes hear from people who are a bit confused about adding fresh items from the grocery store to their Nutrisystem meals. And there may be some reluctance to even bother with the sides because no one wants to work hard on the diet just to add foods that counteract what you’re trying to do to thwart your progress. I heard someone say “what am I supposed to add to my Nutrisystem meals? I don’t want to eat the wrong things.” I will answer this in the next article.
The plugins are divided into 4 categories. You can choose from any category each day: One of the real goals of Nutrisystem is for you to eat a very balanced diet from all the food groups while eating foods that are glycemic friendly. To that end, the plugins are divided into 4 categories. as follows: smart carbohydrates; energy fuels; vegetables; and extras. Ideally, you will think of each group every day. This is not as difficult as it sounds. You will receive a guide to adding groceries with your order and they will tell you how many of each category you should have. They also give tons of examples with suggested amounts.
For example, foods in the “smart carbohydrates” category are foods such as fruits, juices, whole grains, and pasta. In a real world example, you could have a medium banana or a slice of oat bread with your breakfast from your own grocery store. Or you can add a half cup of pasta or beans at lunch. For dinner, you can have strawberries on the side.
The next category we will look at is “energy fuels” and these are primarily lean proteins such as cheese, yogurt, nuts, peanut butter, and lean meats. A real-life option might be to add Canadian bacon for breakfast, a cup of yogurt for lunch, or some extra lean meat for dinner. Peanut butter and tree nuts are also included in the “energy fuel” category. Now the category “vegetable” is reasonably self-explanatory. Unsurprisingly, there are a wide variety of veggies on this list. Generally, you are allowed a whole cup of vegetables, which is quite a lot.
The “extra” category are things like condiments (mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, salad dressings, oils) and snacks like popcorn and pumpkin seeds. Don’t confuse these snacks with the daily snacks you eat at Nutrisystem. It works like this. In this plan, you eat three main meals (breakfast, dinner, and lunch) plus side dishes at each meal (choosing from the categories I just talked about) dessert. These are included with your Nutrisystem package. So remember that the sides of the store are just that. They are accompaniments that should be consumed as an accompaniment to your main meals. But she also gets snacks between meals to keep her from feeling so hungry.
So to answer the question posed, the options for side items are extensive, but you are given a lot of good information with your order. You can basically choose a side from any of those four categories, depending on what goes well with your food. So you can have some yogurt (energy fuels) with your breakfast bagel, some carrots (veggies) with your chicken salad lunch, and some pasta (smart carbs) with your steak for dinner. And you would still get 2 extra sandwiches and a dessert on top of all of this.