The Slim-Fast Optima diet plan and the various Slim-Fast products are intended for weight reduction (at a moderate rate approved by most health professionals) or weight maintenance. Some people also use them as convenient and easily portable meal or snack substitutes when hiking or traveling.
Slim-Fast was started in 1977 as a product line of the Thompson Medical Company, founded in the 1940s by S. Daniel Abraham. Thompson Medical also sold the controversial weight loss dietary supplement Dexatrim. In 1987, Abraham took the brand private,