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Those who were caught off guard by the official start of summer may have silently rejoiced when the weather on Memorial Day turned foul, making it okay to keep your clothes on. But now you might find yourself panicking as you change out your baggy winter wardrobe for summer’s decidedly skimpier attire. Waistband a bit too tight? Not ready yet to bare your bod in a bikini? Then maybe it’s time to cede all food planning to Metabolic Meals, a meal delivery system that takes all of the guesswork and, well, work out of eating healthily.
We spoke with the company’s founder, Jason Barbour, just as he was preparing to expand and go national, with a new facility in Overland and deliveries around the country. Several years ago, working in exercise science and nutrition, Barbour found a common problem among his clients: a lack of quality in their nutrition. They may have been making great strides when it came to exercise, but nutrition-wise, they were clueless.
Thus, Metabolic Meals was born, a service that “combines organic, locally sourced ingredients with cutting-edge nutritional knowledge to create meals that help improve health, fat loss, and performance.” Okay, so it’s about more than how you look—it’s also about feeling good and performing well. According to Barbour, the company’s largest demographic is made up doctors, who both use the service themselves and promote it to their clients.
If that’s not convincing enough, Metabolic Meals feeds all the St. Louis Blues players pre- and post-games. Before a game, for example, players will nosh on steel-cut oats, paleo muffins, free-range egg dishes, or gluten-free pastries. Yes, all the food is gluten free, and “superfood” grains such as amaranth, quinoa, brown rice, and chia replace flour. On game days, the players take in more carbs and protein to help them perform at their optimal levels.
While the initial drive to sign up for delivery, which, by the way, can be cancelled at any time, may be related to dropping pounds, Barbour explained that it’s “more than about losing weight.” People become more educated, so it’s a “lifestyle,” particularly for the busy professional who wants healthy meals.
With two plans—the 5-day and 7-day with add-on snacks and double-protein—customers have several options from which to choose. A regular 5-day plan delivered to a central location runs $162.90 (snacks, which we like, will increase that price about $30), while the 7-day plan price was quoted at $207.59 (double protein adds about $80 to the price tag). There’s also a one-time bag deposit fee at $15.
When we found out that the meals are “sealed in special containers and quietly delivered to your door in Metabolic Meals thermal bags, ready to eat when you first wake up,” we could see the benefits of joining, especially because we’re pretty sure that our portion sizes are often double what we should be consuming.
We don’t think we have it in us, however, to be truly dedicated to a gluten-free lifestyle that seriously limits alcohol. When Barbour, who follows the plan, told us that he allows himself one cheat night a week—either Wednesday or Saturday—on which he eats gluten-free Pi pizza and ice cream from Oberweis, we thought that sounded too much like a typical day for us, although we’d go for pizza with gluten. If we get invited to a pool party later this summer, we might reconsider, or we’ll just remind everyone that it’s unhealthy to expose too much skin to the sun’s harsh rays.
