Lean Cuisines

JenRun1

I love Lean Cuisines, especially the flat bread melts. But, I recently heard that even though they are low in calories they are super high in salt and this can keep the body bloated which won't tip the scale in a downward motion.

Anyone have good experience with the Lean Cuisine / Smart Ones?

Or bad? Curious if I need to withdraw from this habit.

welloiledmachine

They are okay once in a while, but they are not on the clean eating list. You are right. They are high in sodium and other junk that you really aren't doing yourself any good by eating them.

aymetcalf

I eat them all the time for lunch - they are prob not the best for you because of sodium - but I have still been able to lose weight. Just drink lots of water. :flowerforyou:

Jazzyjules71

I do know that Lean Cuisines/smart ones etc are generally high in sodium. they take away fat and sugar and add sodium for flavor! Plus it's highly processed which isn't ideal either. When you have a high sodium diet, your body responds by retaining fluid. It's a physiological process. that's why people with heart failure go into heart failure after Easter! High salt (i.e. ham dinner) = high water retention.

moriaht

I always eat them and smartones too! I don't care much about my sodium intake becuase it doesnt affect actual fat loss. Just watch it for a while before a special event or something.

mamaberube

I counter the salt by adding veggies, I just dump frozen veggies into the dish and nuke it for a few extra seconds (about 30) I do this with Stoffers meals (the 2 serving ones) and intead of 2 servings I get 3 - dinner for the whole fam (except my little guy, he is PICKY!!)...but I check the salt and stuff, and try to find a lower salt one, but if you love it and it helps you lose I say eat it, try adding veggies to the ones you can though, works great...

melizerd

I eat them because it's easy to take with me and not have to worry about it. I find that I've had no problem drinking enough water to flush the sodium out so I don't get bloated or retain water when I eat them. For awhile I was eating one 5 days a week, now I'm down to once a week or so because I'm home more now at lunch time (I'm a full time nursing student and a mom but on summer break right now).

I haven't had a plateau in the year I've been here and working on losing weight, I'm down 71lbs so far so I suppose I eat and exercise well enough for it not to be an issue.

AdrienneKaren

Actually, all those "diet" frozen meals that claim to be good for you really aren't that great. One of the grocery stores in my town has a nutritional measuring system called NuVal. They rate every food in their store between 1 and 100. The higher the number, the better it is for you. Most of those dinners are pretty low (around 20). They not only are high in sodium, they don't use whole grains very much and don't contain much in the way of vegetables. The high sodium content will make you retain more water. They're not bad for an ocassional meal, but not everyday. The high sodium call also raise your blood pressure. It kind of stinks because they are so convenient!

JenRun1

I guess I never really thought of the bad part other than the sodium. Thanks for a new perspective!