Jenny Craig is a comprehensive weight-loss program that has been helping men and women lose weight since 1983. The program provides in-center and one-on-one phone counseling to help its clients understand portion control, develop a healthy relationship with food, increase physical activity and achieve life balance. Jenny Craig's primary program features are structured weekly weight-loss menus and packaged food.
Snacks
Although Jenny Craig menus are very structured for food, snacks and dessert, there are built-in menu opportunities to exchange similar foods. Snacks that are between 100 and 120 calories can be substituted for comparable grocery-store brands. For example, Jenny Craig's S'mores Bar, which has 130 calories and 3 g of saturated fat, can be substituted with a South Beach Living Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bar that has100 calories, but the same amount of fat. The South Beach bar also has fewer grams of sugar, 4 g, compared to the 12 g of sugar in the Jenny Craig Bar. South Beach bars are sold at major retailers.
Desserts
The Skinny Cow has low-calorie and low-fat ice cream desserts, such as cones, sandwiches, cups and bars. Some desserts have only 100 calories per serving. These desserts have fewer calories than Jenny Craig's cheesecakes, brownies and mini cakes. These treats can be found in the ice cream section of retailers and grocery stores.
Other 100-Calorie Foods
Most of Jenny Craig's snacks and desserts are under 170 calories. Choose snacks that are between 100 and 170 calories, but choose the higher-calorie foods less often. Nabisco has nine 100-calorie snack and dessert foods. These snacks include cheese crackers and cookies. Some of these foods have more sodium than Jenny Craig snacks. For example, one 100-calorie pack of Cheese Nips has 240 mg of sodium per per serving. This is higher than the American Heart Association's standard for low-sodium foods -- less than 140 mg of sodium per serving. These snacks are widely available in most retailers. Fruit such as apples and oranges are low-calorie foods that can substitute easily for snack or dessert.
Warning
According to Jenny Craig's website, when clients follow the structure of the program and exercise most days of the week, they will lose 1 to 2 lbs. per week. Substituting too many foods from the menu may result in weight gain. You should speak with a Jenny Craig weight-loss consultant about substituting foods.
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