Many Angelenos have included a diet plan in their New Year’s resolutions; however, many will soon get discouraged because of lack of results. Next NextAdvisor.com, a consumer information web site, conducted their 2013 diet meal delivery taste test to help guide those interested in a svelte figure in the direction of the plan that is are effective in theory, an important factor in the dieter’s ability to stick with the plan is the actual taste of the food. NextAdvisor notes that its taste test and associated diet program reviews can help prospective dieters choose the diet plan that maximizes their opportunity for success.
NextAdvisor anonymously ordered a week’s worth of standard meal plans from top diet programs Diet-to-Go, Jenny Craig, Bistro MD, Nutrisystem and eDiets Fresh Prepared. They paid out of pocket, posing as regular consumers who were starting diet plans. The results of the taste test varied from previous NextAdvisor taste tests conducted in October 2010 and January 2012, and revealed some surprising findings, including a new winner: Diet-to-Go.
“With the start of the new year, we want people interested in starting a diet program to get the most up-to-date information about these plans as possible,” said Lifestyle Editor Polina Polishchuk. “Many of these companies change their inventory and we believe that people want to know how the food will actually taste before they commit to paying for the program.”
Ten individuals of varying ages, both male and female, participated in the taste test. Since the taste test was done blind, the testers never saw the brands they tasted or any other identifiers. Participants in the taste test sampled each meal, rating the taste on a scale of 1 to 10 and providing additional comments. Their feedback range from “excellent consistency and good flavor,” regarding Diet-to-Go, to “chewy and flavorless” for one of the lower-rated plans.
“We had no input from the diet companies and the tasters had no way of knowing which brand they were trying. This was a completely independent taste test,” said Polishchuk. “The overall scores you see in the chart are the outcomes of averaging the ratings from breakfast, lunch and dinner of each plan.”
As mentioned previously mentioned, Diet-to-Go came in first, followed by Jenny Craig, Bistro MD (last year’s winner), Nutrisystem (who came in last the previous year), and eDiets Fresh Prepared. Diet-to-Go’s meals were consistently well liked, with its breakfasts and lunches earning five out of five stars and dinner earning 4.5 out of 5 stars. Other plans were less consistent, noted Polishchuk. “For example, Bistro MD had sky-high ratings for dinner, but its scores for breakfast and lunch were average.” The experts at NextAdvisor.com believe that these taste factors are important tools for dieters who are deciding which program to try.
The taste test results were only one of several components used to calculate the overall rankings for NextAdvisor’s complete diet meal delivery program reviews. Other factors include price, fitness tools, and support strength and availability, i.e. access to nutritional experts online, over the phone or in person.
The complete report is available at this link.
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