I often hear from people who wonder what types of meat they can eat on the Medifast diet. A popular request is for steaks. People want to know if you can eat it, what portion sizes would be, and how often you can get that food. I heard someone say, “Will I ever be able to eat a steak on Medifast?” It’s my favorite food and I can’t imagine life without eating it regularly.”
The answer to these questions is that you can eat steak. But you have to eat a certain kind. And at a certain time. I will explain this further below.
Eating Steak for Your Lean and Green Meal: In addition to five of the diet’s prepackaged meals, you may eat one larger main meal each day that you prepare or provide. This meal should consist of lean protein and low glycemic index vegetables. How many ounces of this protein you get depends on how lean that protein is. For example, if you eat a meat that is over 95 percent lean, you can have 6 ounces of it. If your meat or protein is over 85 percent lean, you can have five ounces of it. Needless to say, you need to choose lean cuts for this to work. Of course, the more marbled and fatty the meat, the higher the expected fat content.
Lean cuts of steak are round the eye, sirloin and shoulder. T-Bone is also considered relatively slim. Steaks like prime rib, rib eye, and tenderloin contain more fat. If you spend a lot of money and eat a fatter cut of meat, you need to eat less of it. I admit that sometimes I stray to less lean cuts of meat. But when I do, I add it to stir-fries, soups, or stews so I can use less. In other words, the meat isn’t the main attraction, but you have enough to taste and enjoy.
If you want a traditional meal with a larger cut of steak with a side of salad or vegetables, you can choose a meat marked as extra lean. You can easily tell this by looking at the nutritional information on the side of the pack. Also, I find that you can often cut visible fat off even lean cuts to save even more fat. As I’ve become accustomed to eating leaner foods, I actually find excess fat or grease a little too much, so I now prefer to eat leaner cuts of meat. To answer the question posed, yes, you can eat steak with your lean and green meal, but to enjoy more of it, you should choose lean cuts.
Thanks to Lindsey Price
