Advice needed from "Clean" eaters...

scottg9999

Between my job and overbooked schedule, I find I routinely don't have the time to make home cooked meals. I have been eating Kashi cereals for breakfast and Kashi frozen meals for lunch or dinner. I would like to eat as clean as possible... do you think these meals are good/okay/bad? I have links to the products below if you haven't seen them before.

Thanks,

Scott


http://www.kashi.com/products/category/Cold Cereal

http://www.kashi.com/products/category/Entrees

vfinkenstadt

When I was doing the wrokaholic routine with a 6am to 11 pm schedule, I ate a lot of frozen dinners - mostly healthy choice brand.

By "clean" do you mean a nutritional plan that does not contain processed/packaged goods? I think of the raw food advocates when I hear about "clean" diets.

jennyfair24

Kashi offers some great products...however, fresh, home made foods would be better. If its possible, I find that taking part of a day once a week and preparing my lunches and/or dinners for the week really helps me stay on track. Then I can just grab something healthy and nutritious and I know what exactly is in it. The only thing I'd say with frozen meals is to be mindful of the amount of sodium in them...they can sometimes contain more than an entire days worth.

ItsCasey

You're going to get varying responses on the frozen meals. Some say they are horrible because of the sodium and just the stigma of eating anything pre-prepared, and others will say that as long as they contain healthy ingredients, they're fine.

When I first started trying to lose weight, I was eating Lean Cuisines for dinner 4 nights per week, mostly because it was just easier to keep an eye on my food intake when I could enter the calories for a whole meal right off a box instead of having to search for calorie counts for every little ingredient I included when cooking a meal . I've cut back to one or two frozen meals a week because I like to cook, and I've become a lot more knowledgeable about cooking with healthy foods.

But if you don't have time to cook, you have to do what you have to do. My one caution would be to really examine the ingredient list on the box so that you have a full understanding of what you're eating. Don't just look at the nutrition label to see if it's a reasonable number of calories. You're probably in good hands with Kashi because healthy food is what they promote (not just low-fat food).

onvacation

Kashi is a good brand and probably a better choice than a lot of other frozen meals - also check out Amy's Organics - they have some good ones also.

I keep some frozen stuff for those days I just don't feel like making something or didn't make it to the store!

I like to make a big batch of soup on the weekend and portion it out and freeze it so I can have it during the next few weeks.

Good luck!

JennaK

Kashi is definitely one of the better names out there and looking at some of the nutritional stats I'd say that the sodium is reasonable. However, what I find with frozen dinners is that I get soooo much less for the calories.

I now make most of the stuff I need on Sundays and then can grab it quick. For example, I make a bunch of chicken breasts and then have them when I need them. It takes me less time to throw a chicken breast, veggies and greek yogurt on an Ezekiel wrap then it takes for the microwave to warm up a frozen dinner :-) I also wash and cut fruits and veggies on my "cook day" too so I can throw them in a tuberware container with some hummus on my way to work.

katschi

I'm far from being perfect at it but I do try to eat clean.
As a consequence, my meals are very basic and perhaps boring to some.
The easiest dinners for me take about 10 minutes to cook up and basically consist of a protein, lots of veggies and sometimes a side of grain or sweet potato.

Today for instance will be jumbo shrimp sauteed in a pan plus peas and a tsp of butter.
So the formula for dinner for me is:
chicken or fish or shrimp or eggs
+
lots of veggies
+
a side if I need it ... brown rice or quinoa or sweet potato
+
1 pat butter or salsa

If I'm cooking chicken, I always cook more than one at a time so it's ready for the next day.

If you can find the time (20 min or so, start to finish, including prep) to cook yourself up some simple dinners, I think you're better off than even the Kashi meals.
Whole, homemade foods, IMO, trump processed.

That was my very long answer to say they're okay but not ideal if you're eating clean.
Tosca Reno has several Eat Clean books out with one geared towards men that you might want to check out.