Remember the story of the three little pigs?  One built his house of straw, one built his house of sticks, and the other built his house of bricks.  The big bad wolf came and blew everyone’s down except for the one who built his house of bricks.  The same can hold true with making nutrition choices and taking the easy way out.

My Fit Foods and SNAP Kitchen would fit in this story as the house of straw or house of sticks.  You can get a calorie-controlled, healthy proportioned set of meals through them.  The more food you buy, the more you pay.  Because larger people get more food than smaller people to maintain their weight, larger and taller people will pay more money at these places.

This is great for people who don’t have time to assemble meals themselves and are concerned with a weight goal or meeting a certain calorie level for exercise and sports.  They take the knowledge needed to assemble healthy meals that meet your needs out of the equation so that you can just be dependent on them for the rest of your life.

This is not much different than meal replacement systems like Nutrisystem, Herbalife, and Medifast.  It’s just food and not liquid supplements or powders.

I have seen the food bills for My Fit Foods and SNAP Kitchen.  For anywhere between $550 to $700 for three weeks, you can get meals (you could make yourself) already made for you in pre-portioned quantities to meet your goals.  If you don’t cheat, you’ll reach your goals.  This comes down to $183 to $233 per week in food for 1200-1800 Calories.

Guess how much I spend on food a week at the grocery store?  Anywhere from $30 to $70, depending on how much food I’m out of.  I also eat anywhere between 2700-3300 Calories per day as someone who is active most days of the week.  When I lost my weight, it was even less, usually closer to the $30 mark.

I’ve even lived on $20 for 5 days worth of meals when I had to do the food stamp challenge, and I still was consuming 2900 nutritious Calories per day.  Eating healthy is NOT expensive.  I do not know where this myth comes from.

Cooking your own meals, you’d save $150 per week, $600 per month, or about $7500 per year if you don’t rely on My Fit Foods, SNAP Kitchen, or other meal system for all your meals.  You could even go out to eat once or twice a week and STILL have plenty of money left over.

Many Millennials (born 1980s to early 2000s) eat out ALL the time.  They do not know how to cook or what they should include in meals for proper nutrition.  It doesn’t have to be gluten-free, organic, or non-GMO for it to be healthy either.

What happens when you quit any of these pre-made meal systems?  You could gain the weight back!  Most people probably don’t exercise considerably enough to eat whatever they want.  Meanwhile, you are lost for making food choices on your own or how to prepare food.  The principles and habits of weight management and fitness were not instilled for lasting change.

Now let’s compare these meal replacement systems to the cost of a typical visit with a registered dietitian.  Most RDs (or RDNs, same credential) charge anywhere from $75 to $200 or more per visit, depending on area they are located, education and experience, specialty, and the demographic they tend to work with.  This is about the same as what a psychotherapist charges or a massage therapist charges.

I list my prices on my website because I figure if you have to ask what the price is, it won’t be standard for everyone and probably assumed to be too expensive.

With an RD visit, you learn what you are doing with food and nutrition.  You gain confidence in your ability to prepare foods that meet your needs and wants.  It gives you the FREEDOM to eat the foods you want while still achieving the body type you want while paying SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than meal replacement systems.  You also invest in your own knowledge and get personalized information relative to your particular lifestyle and health history.

Chances are, you won’t have to meet with the RD weekly for a full year to get on track.  Most clients can get on track within a few sessions (1-5), depending on any barriers they must get past.  From a financial standpoint, making the time to consult with a professional is a HUGE return on investment (ROI).

With a visit to a registered dietitian, you are learning how to fish–not being given a fish dinner.  You are building a house of bricks.  It will take some initial time and effort, but once you get it, you’re good for life.  No one is going to blow your house down when you know how to build and repair a quality house of bricks.

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Used with permission by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Tags: cheap food, food ideas, nutrition education, weight loss