The Blurb:
Total Diet Foods deliver entirely fresh, delicious and wholesome meals to your door. Their delivery fairies leave a chilled cooler bag of chef-prepared meals on your doorstep in the early hours of the morning each day of your plan.
They offer everything from calorie or carbohydrate controlled diets to Paleolithic ‘caveman’ diets, to programs designed to correct digestive or other imbalances, to just delivering healthy, fresh, really decent food for people too busy or lazy to cook.
The Process:
I opted for a very high-protein, relatively high-calorie program to boost my energy levels and kick-start a return to healthy eating.
Having slipped into bad habits as the result of a bad relationship—and a rather better relationship with Sancerre—I’d decided enough was enough. I’d been feeling sluggish, hungover, and generally bleh, and hoped that being provided with readymade balanced, nutritious meals would lift my energy and set me back on a healthier track.
My Paleolithic, 2000-calorie daily plan consisted of three full meals and decent-sized morning and afternoon snacks. The meals were made up of about a million servings of fruit and veg, and a large amount of high quality protein. Everything was cooked to perfection—a favourite lunch consisted of two precisely-rare-in-the-middle salmon steaks on a bed of harissa and kohlrabi. Everything was seasoned with delicious sauces, dressings and accompaniments.
I can’t say whether it would have been quite so delicious had I opted for a lower calorie plan, but I imagine if anyone could make it taste good, TDF could.
The Results:
I’d have been satisfied had any TDF dish been served to me at a decent restaurant; some were almost Michelin quality (no joke!).
Standout dishes included a smoked salmon and red cabbage salad (divine), a king prawn and Asian vegetable stir fry, and a grilled halloumi and chicken breast salad.
As Ben, the company founder, takes a detailed inventory of your likes, dislikes, allergies, goals, and general nutritional status, it’s inevitable that you end up with meals you adore. In my case, oceans of exquisitely tender meats, fish and cheeses, with mountains of fresh, flavoursome veg. Alongside breakfasts of scrambled eggs, frittatas with peppers and spinach, and rich Greek yogurts, seeds and berries, the menu could not have been more perfect. My only teeny-tiny gripe is that the heating instructions for the dinners were only given for a microwave, which I don’t possess.
There’s something exciting about having no idea what you’ll be eating until it arrives each morning. As a rule, I don’t like surprises, but when you love every possibility the surprise might bring, you can’t go wrong!
I generally feel better and more vibrant on a low grain, Paleolithic diet and just three days in I’d lost two pounds, the colour had returned to my grey smoker’s cheeks, and I had significantly more energy. By day five, I’d lost three pounds, been more productive at work, and felt ready to take on the world. Apart from a single disappointingly chewy sirloin steak salad and a delivery hiccup on the last day, the plan was faultless.
