Planning and preparing everyday meals is challenging even under the best circumstances. When dieting, meal preparation often results in an hour of mind and finger-numbing carrot peeling while broiling skinless, tasteless chicken. Lunches consist of grainy organic vegetables in a low-fat, watery dressing that tastes as objectionable as it looks. In a hurry? Then your grand meal preparation probably consists of the sophisticated pull tab removal of a meal replacement drink. Luckily, thanks to Bistro MD, you can avoid the hassle and taste bud-numbing choices you’ve been enduring and enjoy fresh, tantalizing heat and eat meals and snacks delivered right to your door.

Bistro MD is the brainchild of Dr. Caroline Cederquist, a physician specializing in weight-management who is also a former trustee of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians. On the company’s website, Dr. Cederquist discusses her own busy lifestyle, complete with a bustling medical practice, four kids and a husband. From this never-ending mélange of duty and obligation, her dream to develop an easy program to help other busy professionals enjoy tasty, nutritionally sound foods was born. The realization of her dream, Bistro MD, is a prepackaged meal plan that provides fresh meals in vacuum sealed packages that are delivered to dieters throughout the U.S.

With Bistro MD, Dr. Cederquist has assembled a team of chefs and nutritionists who plan and create the meals available on the menu. The nutritionists have developed meal plans appropriate for many different health considerations including specialized plans for diabetics or those looking for low sodium or low cholesterol options. In addition to developing the menu, the nutritionists are available for phone consultation with customers.

When you first enter the Bistro MD website, you are asked to complete a free diet profile. This profile asks for your height, weight and weight loss goal. Once you submit this information, you are shown another screen with more questions, ranging from your desired timeframe to meet your goal weight to your individual health needs and activity level. Once complete, your diet profile can be emailed to you and you can choose to have a diet counselor contact you.

The diet profile assigns you a color which helps to point you in the right direction for menu choices. Once you’ve selected the right menu for your color, you are asked to decide which meal plan you’d like. You can choose from 4 different plans, the most inclusive being seven days worth of meals (3 meals a day) and 2 snacks per day, and the least inclusive consisting of five days of meals (3 meals a day) and no snacks. The meals are vacuum sealed and delivered right to your door. They can be cooked in the microwave or cooked in a pot of boiling water until the food is done.

On average, the Bistro MD meal plan provides dieters with between 1,100 and 1,300 calories per day. There are no drinks included so dieters should be careful not to sabotage their efforts by indulging in sugar filled sodas or juices. Caffeine is not forbidden on the diet but they suggest that you limit your intake. You can enjoy milk in small quantities as well.

Let’s face it, dieting is never easy. When you’re dieting, you can feel like you’re taking part in the world’s longest obstacle course. You spend most of your day jumping over free donuts here, turning down lunch dates there and sliding away from Death by Chocolate around the corner; navigating through potential diet pitfalls can take more willpower than the average person has. Bistro MD takes some of the unpredictability and challenge out of dieting for you and helps you stay on the right track to reaching your goal without sacrificing quality or taste.