In this article we'll cover meal substitutions and what to do if you receive a meal plan containing items you dislike, cannot access, or simply do not want to consume.
Upon signing up you're required to add any items you do not what to consume - for whatever reason, to the dislikes/allergies field. If you did not do this you now know why these items have been included, but not to worry! If your plan has too many items included that you don't want included simply add them to your dislikes/allergies list via the "Account Details" section of the members area. Once you've done this email the support team at:
support@josefrakichfitness.com and request your meal plan be revised. Your newly revised meal plan will not include anything you've added to your dislikes/allergies list.
But what if items are included even though they were added to your allergies/dislikes list?
There are a couple of reasons as to why this may have happened. Firstly, there are a few items with multiple entries in our food library, so if you remove "Pork Lean" that's not going to remove "Bacon." Even though you may consider bacon a pork product it's considered a different food item for purpose of our food library.
Secondly, some items can bypass being excluded if substitute options are mentioned. For example; if you remove "turkey," but turkey has chicken as a substitute - and you haven't removed chicken, then turkey may still be included. If substitute options are mentioned they will be mentioned below the food item they pertain to.
If a food item, or meal has been included that you don't like you can also request a "Meal Swap." This can be done via the JRF app, or JRF keto app if you're on a keto based meal plan.
How to substitute food items yourself - D.I.Y
Some background info to begin! The human body needs protein and fat to function, not carbohydrates. Here at JRF we have two rules; clients must get at least 1g of protein per pound of their lean body weight and clients must get at least 0.4g of fat per pound of their lean body weight. So long as these minimum requirements are met, there is room for play with the macronutrient breakdown within the total calorie count.
Keeping the above information in mind a general rule of thumb is if you are taking out a protein source, replace it with a protein source. If you are taking out a fat source, replace it with a fat source. And if you are taking out a carb source, replace it with a carb, protein, or fat source - as carbs aren't essential.
So now let's look at an example; say you have 140g of cooked chicken you'd like to substitute out for lean beef, as you've got some beef left over you don't want to waste. You might be thinking you can replace 140g of chicken with 140g of beef, well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but not all chickens and cows were created equal. The substitution needs to be made using the total calorie count of each item. Let's say there are 165 calories in 100g of cooked chicken breast, then that means there are 231 calories in 140g of cooked chicken breast. So what you're trying to essentially find is the amount of beef, in grams, that equates to 231 calories. If we say there are 250 calories in 100g of cooked beef, then there are 225 calories in 90g of beef. 225 is very close to 231, so these are the figures you'll want to run with. To conclude, 140g of cooked chicken breast can be substituted with 90g of cooked lean beef.
After trying all of the above and you still need assistance, or you simply need further clarification on any of the points mentioned; please do not hesitate to email our support team at:
support@josefrakichfitness.com