Why Water is Essential to Health and Weight Loss – Infographic

Water is vital, not only for life but for your general health and even in weight loss. We created the following infographic to help educate us all how important proper hydration is and how dehydration can seriously effect your health and slow your weight loss. Please let us know what you think and feel free to share it with friends or post it on your blog using the instructions below 🙂

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Our Medifast Recipe Contest Winners

Meet Our VERY Lucky Winner for the May 2023 Recipe Contest!

Hidemi Walsh who won both the early bird draw and grand prize draw for a total of $200! Congratulations Hidemi!
I am Japanese and moved to the US from Japan to marry to my American husband 4 years ago.   I was overweight when I was in my mid 20s which was so embarrassing because most girls in Japan are skinny. I tried lots of different things to lose weight. The most effective and the best way was to change my meal habits, not how much I eat but WHAT I eat.  I also stopped dining out and cooked at home every day. I was living alone at the time so it was easier for me to change my diet and eliminate any temptations. I didn’t skip any meals. I just stayed away from deep-fry, creamy dressing, too much sugary sweets. Also I exercised every day at home (just 15 minutes). I lost about 25 lb in 3-4 months and since then I haven’t gained weight so easily even if I eat more than usual. Sometimes I treat myself with ice cream or chips but I always try to be active and positive for my physical health and mental health too.

PREVIOUS CONTESTS BELOW…

Announcing Our Recipe Contest Winners for November 2022!

Margo Plachetka who won $100 for our Random Recipe Draw!
“I started Medi-fast the end of August. I wanted to lose about 50 pounds. To date I have lost 30 pounds! I have various health issues and wanted a healthier lifestyle. Medi-fast is doing that for me. I love to cook, so thinking up ways to make my usual recipes more healthy was exciting! Thanks for the prize!! Love your site!”

Maggie Durkin who won $150 for Best Recipe! (Asian Stir Fry)
“I started on my weight loss journey 2 months ago, with my parents. They’re using the medifast food, I’m broke, so I’m just using the basic principles. My love of cooking and the lean and green guidelines have made it more enjoyable. The stir fry recipe is one I came up with early on, and it’s a family favorite; even family members who aren’t on the diet like it. Over the last two months, I’ve lost 15 lbs, and that’s without any additional exercising beyond the 20 minutes a week I put in on the elliptical machine. My mom has lost the same amount of weight, and my dad has lost more. We’ve all got a long way to go, but now that we’re all adjusted to the diet and the eating pattern, we’re starting to add more exercise.”

Congratulations to all our winners!

Ice Cream Blizzard Shake

Submitted By: Sherri Ross

Prep Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 0 mins
Servings: 1

Ingredients

  • 1 packet of vanilla Medifast shake mix
  • 1 tbsp butter nut extract
  • 1 tbsp amaretto extract or sf syrup
  • 1/2 cup ice
  • 1/2-3/4 cup water (depending on how thick you like it)
  • 1 packet Medifast chocolate chip cookie dough/or brownie mix

Directions

Mix the cookie dough or brownie mix in provided container with only enough water to form into a dough. Roll into small balls ( usually 6 total) and freeze  (3 servings)  ***no need to bake in microwave first! ***

Mix all other ingredients together to make shake, add 2 frozen balls of chocolate chip cookie dough/brownies into the blender after all other ingredients are blended. Pulse the blender 4 or 5 times enough to get the balls into pieces you can sip through a straw.

You can also experiment using other flavors: Strawberry shake with brownie is amazing and Chocolate shake with brownie/cookie dough.

Nutrition Info per serving:
Calories 150 | Fat 1 g | Cholesterol 5mg | Carbs 16g | Protein 16g

Medifast Info per serving:
1-2 medifast meals | 2 condiments

Italian Zucchini Bake

Submitted By: Sherri Ross

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 40 mins
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 10 oz cooked 93% ground beef (2 Leans)
  • 1 cup canned Italian diced tomatoes – less than 5 g of carbs per 1/2 cup – (2 Greens)
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder (1 Condiment)
  • 1/8 tsp salt – optional (1/2 Condiment)
  • 1/8 tsp pepper (1/4 Condiment)

Cheese Filling

  • 4 oz or 1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese (2 to 3 g fat per oz) (1/2 Lean)
  • 6 oz or 1 1/2 cups reduced fat mozzarella cheese, divided (1 1/2 Leans)
  • 3 tbsp reduced fat parmesan cheese (3 Condiments)
  • 2 tbsp egg beaters
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder (1 Condiment)
  • 1 tsp Italian Seasoning (2 Condiments)
  • 1/8 tsp pepper (.25 Condiments)
  • 1 large zucchini sliced into thin circles ( or 2 small)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add tomatoes, garlic powder, salt and pepper to already cooked and weighed ground beef. Simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.  Mix the ingredients for the cheese filling using only 3/4 cup of mozzarella. Fill the bottom of a baking dish with the meat filling and top with the cheese filling. layer sliced zucchini over top, and sprinkle with remaining cheese, and Italian seasoning. Bake for 40 minutes until the top because bubbly. Let cool 10 minutes before slicing (the casserole will hold together better). Divide into 4 equal portions. These freeze great in those Ziploc containers.

Serve with revolution rolls toasted and topped with garlic powder to feel like you are having an amazing Italian dinner.

Nutrition Info per serving:
Calories 275 | Fat 4g | Carbs 5g | Protein 13g

Medifast Info per serving:
1 lean | 1/2 green | 2 condiments