Complete Optavia Dining Out Guide

If you despise cooking or do not have enough time to cook your meals, then you might be looking for a diet that can minimize the time you spend in the kitchen. One such diet is the Optavia diet. This post will discuss Optavia dining out guide and recipes for weight loss and a healthy lifestyle.

Before jumping on the Optavia diet plant, let us understand the meaning of the Optavia diet. 

What is the Optavia diet? 

Optavia diet is owned by a meal replacement company called Medifast. This diet plan is low calorie and reduces the carb intake by combining homemade meals with packaged foods to fasten the weight loss.

Optavia’s weight loss diet includes one-on-one coaching. While there are plenty of options, they all fall under Optavia Fuelings. Optavia Fuelings consists of 60 items low in carbs but high in probiotics and protein cultures. The Optavia diet foods include cookies, puddings, shakes, soups, cereals, and even pasta.

Although the Optavia diet seems high on carbs, the fuelings are designed to be low on sugar and carbs as compared to the traditional dining-out guide plan. The company uses small portion sizes made with sugar substitutes to make fuelings healthy. 

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Optavia Dining Out Guide

You start your Optavia diet plan by having a one on one phone conversation with a coach to familiarize yourself with your plan.

Initial steps

If your aim with following an Optavia diet is weight loss, then you can start with the Optimal Weight 5 & 1 Plan. This plan follows 800-1000 calories and is said to drop 12 pounds in 12 weeks.

You have to eat 5 Optavia Fuelings, one Green and a lean meal every day. You have to eat one meal after every 2-3 hours, incorporated with 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day.

In this Optavia plan, you consume a maximum of 100 grams of carbs every day. This plan also includes one snack every day, which needs to be approved by your coach. Some approved snacks include ½ cup sugar-free gelatin, three celery sticks, or 4 grams of nuts. 

This Optavia program comes with a dining out guide that explains how to order green and lean meals at your favorite dining place. 

Remember, Alcohol is off-limits in this diet plan.

Maintenance phase

Once you have reached your weight loss goal, you step into the six-week transition phase. This phase involves increasing calorie intake to a maximum of 1550 calories per day. You are also allowed to include different foods like low-fat dairy, fruits, and whole grains. 

After successfully completing the six weeks, you start the Optimal Health 3&3 plan. This plan consists of 3 Green and Lean meals along with 3 Fuelings every day.

People who experience sustained success can also become a trained Optavia Coaches. 

Can Optavia Diet help you to lose weight? 

Optavia diet is designed as a weight loss diet plan by keeping a check on daily carbs and calorie intake through portion-controlled snacks and meals. The 5&1 plan limits daily calorie consumption to 800-1000 divided between 6 portion-controlled meals. 

Although there are mixed results in research, some studies have shown that diets with partial or full meal replacement plans as compared to strict calorie restriction diets show greater weight loss results. 

A 16-week study on 198 people with obesity found that the Optavia 5&1 diet plan lowered the weight, fat levels, and waist size significantly compared to other control groups.

On average, people who follow the 5&1 Optavia plan lost 5.7% body weight, and 28% of participants lost more than 10 percent of weight. Also, people who followed the Optavia diet till the end lost twice as much as the participants who stopped in the initial sessions. 

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Potential Benefits of Optavia Diet

Here are some potential benefits of following Optavia diet recipes and dining out guide.

Easy to follow

The Optavia diet relies heavily on prepacked feelings, and you have to cook only one meal a day when following the 5&1 plan. 

Every meal plan comes with various samples, meal logs to make it easier for you to follow. You have to cook only one lean and green meal one day following the Optavia recipes provided by the program. 

In case you are not willing to cook anything, you can buy packaged meals known as Flavors of Home to replace your Green and Lean meals.

May improve blood pressure.

Optavia programs help to improve blood pressure with limited sodium intake and added weight loss. The Optavia diet has not been researched completely yet; however, a 40-week study of 90 people reported a reduction in blood pressure after following the Optavia diet. 

All the Optavia meals are designed with less than 2,300 mg sodium each day. Numerous health organizations like USDA and AHA recommend consuming less than 2,300 mg sodium each day. This is because higher sodium consumption is linked to high blood pressure and heart disease. 

Offers ongoing support

Optavia’s diet plan includes a personal coach who guides you throughout to help you reach your weight loss goal. 

Research suggests that having a counselor or lifestyle coach helps in long-term weight management. 

Foods to eat

The only foods allowed in the 5&1 plan of optavia diet are one green and a lean meal every day. These meal plans consist of healthy fats, low carbs, lean proteins, and green vegetables with two servings of fatty fish every week.

Below we have mentioned some of the beverages and condiments that are allowed in the Optavia dining out guide.

• Meat- turkey, chicken, lamb, game meat, lean beef, ground meat, pork chop, or tenderloin.
• Fish and shellfish- trout, halibut, lobster, tuna, scallops, shrimp
• Eggs- egg whites, Egg Beaters, whole eggs
• Soy products: only tofu
• Vegetable oils: flaxseed, canola, olive oil, walnut, 
• Additional healthy fats: olives, low carb salad dressings, pistachios, reduced-fat margarine, walnuts, almonds, avocado
• Low carb vegetables: collard greens, celery, spinach, cucumbers, cabbage, mushrooms, eggplant, cauliflower, zucchini, peppers, spaghetti squash, broccoli, jicama
• Sugar-free snacks: popsicles, gum, gelatin, mints
• Sugar-free beverages: water, coffee, tea, unsweetened almond milk, 
• Condiments and seasonings: spices, dried herbs, salt, lime juice, yellow mustard, lemon juice, soy sauce, 1/2 tsp of ketchup, sugar-free syrup, zero-calorie sweeteners, salsa, cocktail sauce,

Foods to avoid

Most of the beverages and foods containing high amounts of carbs are banned in Optavia dining out guide and recipes.

• Fried foods: fish, meats, vegetables, shellfish, sweets like pastries
• Refined grains: pancakes, white bread, biscuits, pasta, flour tortillas, pastries, crackers, cookies, white rice, cakes,
• Certain facts: coconut oil, butter, solid shortening
• Whole fat dairy: cheese, milk, yogurt
• Alcohol: all varieties
• Sugar-sweetened beverages: sports drinks, fruit juice, energy drinks, sweet tea, soda, 

All these restricted foods are added back in the 6-week transition phase and are even allowed in the 3&3 plan.

• Fruit
• Low-fat dairy: cheese, yogurt, milk, 
• Whole grains: high fiber breakfast cereal, whole grain bread, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, 
• Legumes: soybeans, peas, beans, lentils, 
• Starchy vegetables: white potatoes, peas, sweet potatoes, corn, 

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The bottom line

The Octavia diet is becoming the new popular meal plan for weight loss. This diet includes homemade low-carb meals, prepacked foods, and personalized coaching. The initial 5&1 plan is moderately restrictive, and the 3 & 3 maintenance phase also allows for a huge variety of food with less processed snacks which makes weight loss easier. 

The Optavia dining out guide is repetitive, expensive, and does not accommodate daily requirements of nutrition. Also, the extended calorie restriction may cause nutrient deficiency along with some other health concerns. 

We hope now you are clear about the Optavia diet, its benefits, and meal plans. If you like this article, do not forget to leave comments down below.