I often hear from people who are considering the Medifast diet but also love a certain type of food that they don’t want to give up. Some common items are breads, crackers, chips, and sweets like cookies or brownies. I heard from someone who was particularly concerned about cookies and asked, “Will I be able to have cookies with Medifast? If so, what kind?”

You absolutely can eat cookies with Medifast, but if you do, you should eat the diet cookies because they have been modified to be very low in calories and carbohydrates while being higher in protein and fiber. Regular cookies you can get at the supermarket while you are in the weight loss phase of the plan are discouraged. The reason for this is that regular grocery store items likely contain a high amount of carbohydrates which could prevent ketosis and delay results. Once you’ve reached your weight loss goals and are ready to return to regular eating, you’ll reach a point where you can slowly introduce food into your daily life. At that point, you can choose a healthy brand of cracker and be fine with adding grains back to your diet.

People often ask me why you have to stick to diet food. Well, let’s take a closer look at them and see why. Garden Veggie Crackers are only 60 calories per serving. There are 12 grams of carbohydrates, just one gram of sugar, and 2 grams of protein. Multigrain crackers have similar nutrition. There are also soy crisps that are on the menu and they are also a very tasty snack. They’re nice and crunchy, but they also have a hint of salt and often satisfy the same kind of craving as a cracker. They come in flavors like white cheddar, ranch, and apple cinnamon. And these contain even fewer carbohydrates than regular cookies. These options are also quite inexpensive at just $4.50 per box. It’s not that you can’t eat grocery store snacks on this diet. You are allowed to have certain types of popsicles, dill pickles, some nuts, Jell-O, mints or gum, and celery. I find that people often dismiss celery or pickles, but I find that they can give you the same crunch or saltiness that you would like in crackers. If not, you can always go for the diet version and still play perfectly safely. If you must have your favorite type of crackers, try to limit the number of them and then go back on the diet the next day. This is just my opinion of course, but I think it’s better to go ahead and have a little of something if you really crave it rather than deny it until you gorge yourself.

But I don’t think this is a real risk with cookies when they offer a safe diet version. They also have brownies and cookies that are also safe.