You don't necessarily have to be able to afford NS. First, while it costs me ~$300 a month, my food bill only went up by $100 a month. But then I already ate pretty good. There are a lot of people that do the NS plan without buying the foods, here are some of the resources that you might find helpful. Note, you don't need to be buying NS to sign up for the forums. Good luck with your efforts.
Quoting: Stolen from a NS forum post
well - you've got a terrific start with Amy's recipes --- she's done a lot of the work for you by creating individual (for the most part) serving recipes of many favorite foods --- she also indicates at each recipe how she counts it, so you can use that as a guideline (I recommend that you also do your own calorie counts based on YOUR ingredients as packages differ and there are enough surprises in the world - lol) --- here's the "days off" meal plan for women from the NS Weekends Off program sold thru QVC (it's a 5/2 plan with 5 days using NS foods and 5 days using your own and "food exchanges" that are from the "grocery additions" that you already have ---
Weekends Off Plan for Women
There are some differences between the listing that has been shared on the BB's and what I'm seeing in the booklet --- mostly that's because the BB info is based on the "under 40" plan --- There is also no fat listed in the BB info (and remember there IS fat in the NS entrees) --- here are the plans per the booklet
Under Age 40:
Breakfast -- 1 protein + 1 fruit + 1 carb + 1 dairy
Lunch -- 2 protein + 1 salad + 1 carb + 2 fat
Snack -- 1 protein + 1 fruit
Dinner -- 4 protein + 2 veg + 2 fat + 1 carb
Dessert -- 1 dairy + 1 fruit
Over Age 40:
Breakfast -- 1 protein + 1 fruit + 1 carb + 1 dairy
Lunch -- 2 protein + 1 salad + 2 carb + 1 fat
Snack -- 1 dairy + 1 fruit
Dinner -- 3 protein + 2 veg + 2 fat + 1 carb + 1 salad
Dessert -- 1 dairy + 1 fruit
If you have 100+ lbs to lose, add 1 carb to breakfast and dinner and 1 fruit to lunch
Note --- The Weekends Off plan makes a distinction between Dairy and Protein --- The "Dairy" items are milk, yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese & parmesan (these items qualify for the dairy/protein guidelines used by many people of 100 calories, 7+ gr protein, no more than 3 gr fat - women, if you select non-dairy items for this menu item, take supplemental calcium)... The "Protein" items are chicken, egg, fish, meat as listed in the "regular" planner and should be used in the serving sizes listed in the Grocery Additions section of your booklet or online.
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now - here are the NS guidelines for each of the food groups --- please, I cannot stress this enough, use the PROTEIN only guideline for your meal exchanges and NOT the "Dairy/Protein" guidelines that work for the grocery additions to NS foods (or meal replacements) - there are noticible differences in calories for these different food groups and again, we like to limit our surprises to pleasant ones - lol
From posts of info received directly from NS counselors:
1 Vegetable Serving = 5 g. carbohydrates, 2 g. protein, 25 calories
1 Fruit Serving = 15 g. carbohydrates, 60 calories
1 Low-GI Carb Serving = 15 g. carbohydrates, 3 g. protein, trace of fat, 80 calories
1 Fat Serving = 5 g. fat, 45 calories
1 Protein (lean) = 7 Grams of protein, 3 grams of fat and 55 calories
1 Dairy (or Dairy/Protein) Serving = 12 g. carbohydrates, 8 g. protein, a trace of fat, 100 calories
NOTE: I have also seen 7+ gr protein & no more than 3 gr fat, and the occassional yogurt at 120 cal - for a dairy/protein serving in the E-Classes with Mary Gregg, NS dietitian
Free Foods = A food that is 20 calories or less... You can add 2-3 free foods to your meal plan
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And if you are preparing your own food here are the average values of the NS entrees that someone with way too much time on their hands came up with, although personally, I prefer to use food exchanges rather than do all that math (lol - I do numbers for a living and like to keep my "real life" simple":
NS Breakfast Entree averages = 150 cal, 2.75 g fat, 23 g carb, 10 g protein
NS Lunch Entree averages = 170 cal, 3.25 g fat, 26 g carb, 10 g protein
NS Dinner Entree averages = 240 cal, 5.25 g fat, 28 g carb, 20 g protein
NS Dessert Entree averages = 110 cal, 3.25 g fat, 12 g carb, 10 g protein
Daily with additions average for the Women's Under 60 Plan (Men, anyone with over 100lbs to lose and Over60 Men & Women increase daily average by the additional grocery additions): 1200 calories, 80 grams of protein, 160 gram of carbs and 27 grams of fat. Fiber averages 20-30 grams. The recommendation for sugar is no more than 10% of your total calories
1 gram of carb = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
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and to "complete" the set - here's my version of the NS basic plan for women & men - again with food exchanges
NS "Basic" Under 60 Plan:
............................................... Women & Men ................................ Men only
............................................. Grocery Additions ............................. Additions
Breakfast:... NS Entree ........ plus 1 Fruit & 1 Dairy/Protein ........... Plus 1 Carb
Lunch:......... NS Entree ........ plus 1 Dairy/Protein & Salad ............ Plus 1 Carb
Snack:.................................. 1 Dairy/Protein and 1 Fruit
Dinner:........ NS Entree ........ plus 1 Salad & 2 Vegetables ............ Plus 1 Carb
.................................................. ... & 1 Fat....................................... & 1 Fat
Dessert:...... NS Entree
If you have 100+ lbs to lose, add 1 carb to breakfast and dinner and 1 fruit to lunch - Men & Women
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...........................NS Entree
Breakfast:.. about 120 cals = 1 protein & 1 carb
Lunch:....... about 160-180 cals = 1-2 proteins & 1 carb
Dinner:....... about 300 cals = 3-4 proteins & 1 carb
Dessert:..... about 100 cals = 1 dairy & 1 fruit
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Now - you'll see variations between each of the things I've posted as well as some differences between these and how Amy calculates each meal --- ya know what??? the differences are way to little to get all hot & bothered about - pick one that makes sense to you, track your foods somehow - either by the online diary OR your own paper one -- see below for my paper tracker - note that it's actually for Maintenance, but has "spacing" for each of the first two maintenance levels AND for the weight loss version (ok there are some differences in the bitty lines and the NS menu, but it can be adapted by you easily enough if you think about it) --- you could also have NS send you a free pocket planner every few weeks (start now cause it'll take a while to get one - they are really slow with this) and use it - just mark off the "ns entree" box when you've had your "meal translation" - it's easy enough (can you spell anal??? I do both my form AND the check off box --- keeps me in "balance" with the food groups - lol)
hope this helps
lynn
