Lean Cuisine - good or bad?

tash313

I eat Lean Cuisine frozen meals quite a lot when I'm at work, but I'm wondering if they are actually doing me any good. I love how convenient they are, and I think they are delicious, but I'm worry when it comes to pre-packaged stuff. Thoughts??

mamaturner

I love 'em, but I don't eat them very often. I keep them in the freezer so there handy if I end up making something for dinner that doesn't fit in for the day. I wouldn't recommend eating them all the time. Pre made salads or even making your own salad for lunch the night before (or a sandwich) and some fruit deffinitly coulnd't hurt to throw in!

dremonas1220

I eat them for lunch M-F. They really are pretty good, but I am wondering if they are actually good for me? They have a TON of sodium. I am having a really hard time meeting my calories for the day too, so I am wondering if packing a sandwich would be better for me - not only to bump up my calories, but because it is not a frozen meal.

LittleSpy

My take on them is that they're not real food.
I was eating them very occasionally -- perhaps twice a month but I recently stopped buying them altogether because I kind of felt like I was cheating myself.

They may be better than a daily fast food burger & fries (sometimes the best choice may just be the lesser of 2 evils), but you'd be doing your body a lot more favors by cooking up a little extra for dinner & taking leftovers for lunch.

xchrysalisx

I eat these quite often for lunch when at work. They are so convenient and also low in fat and calories. My only concern with them is the amount of sodium that is in some of the meals. My BP and cholesterol is something my GP has me keeping an eye on lately so I'd love any suggestions that other people may have when it comes to something healthy for lunch that is also low in sodium.

Buzzkitty1

I think they're okay once in a while, but I wouldn't make a habit out of them personally. I like some of the pizzas.
I am far more satisfied if I bring last night's leftovers to work, or a big salad. It's real food and keeps me satisfied so much longer. It also does not blow me up like a tick with all that sodium.

LeeiaL

In general I try to stay away from processed foods, particularly frozen dinners, low in calories or not. There's still a lot of junk in there that is not good for you to consume...preservatives, extra sodium, sugar (yes!) additives, etc.

I would consume sparingly only in a pinch. But I try to stay away from them completely. Agree with the above poster that recommends cooking up some extra healthy dinner to take for lunch.

In general, processed foods are not good.

ambervargo

I would get into phases where I ate them at lunch or dinner. I recently saw a nutritionist and she has banned them. However, she did recommend alternatives for the same convenience without the creepy ingredients and sodium. Amy's, Kashi and Trader Joe's meals.

jillybeanruns

I say eat them as a last resort. The sodium is ridiculously high and I don't think the portion size is really that good. I much prefer eating a sandwich with turkey and cheese. There's far more nutrition in making a salad or a sandwich than in eating a frozen meal. I would check out Trader Joe's if you want something frozen (but still be wary of sodium and additives) and also for bread. They have some pretty good breads that are lower in sugar, calories and sodium!

erickirb

Bad for you because they are processed foods, full of sodium and chemicals (check the labels)
Good for loosing weight, but not for your health.

bebhinn

I find a nice departure from Lean Cuisine is the Healthy Choice Gourmet Steamers - they taste a bit better, are a bit better for you and are slightly less processed imo. The sodium is still there so I make a concerted effort to pair it with 1-2 large glasses of water. Theyre definitely handy for work if you have no healthy leftovers to take with you.

I think another major bonus in them (and this helped me) was that they aided in calorie management when I started dieting (and LONG before MFP when I was counting every night for a half an hour by hand) lol. They also teach you a bit of portion control. Ultimately I think they do minimal harm if consumed occasionally but are not suitable for multiple meal consumption every day.

volks80

I eat them for lunch M-F. They really are pretty good, but I am wondering if they are actually good for me? They have a TON of sodium. I am having a really hard time meeting my calories for the day too, so I am wondering if packing a sandwich would be better for me - not only to bump up my calories, but because it is not a frozen meal.

This is me as well. I can actually make a very filling healthy sandwich for less calories so that is what I have been doing. Used to eat them all the time.

chgudnitz

I guess it depends on what you mean by doing you any good. I eat them all the time and they never seem to do anything bad to me. Erickirb said good for losing weight, I agree. I don't really see how they are "bad" for your health. Unless you eat clean, all natural, not processed foods at all you are already eating tons of chemical preservatives anyway.

So bottom line, my opinion is they are good. Not as good as something else, not as bad as another. Then again, is there really a perfect meal?

LittleSpy

I guess it depends on what you mean by doing you any good. I eat them all the time and they never seem to do anything bad to me. Erickirb said good for losing weight, I agree. I don't really see how they are "bad" for your health. Unless you eat clean, all natural, not processed foods at all you are already eating tons of chemical preservatives anyway.

So why add to it?

With that logic, we should all just stop and say "Well, I'm already fat, what's gaining a few more pounds?"

Today I poured some frozen broccoli (the "ingredients: broccoli" kind) in a bowl & topped it with 4oz (unenhanced) chicken tenderloins that I had cooked Wednesday night. At lunch, I just popped in the microwave for a minute. Almost as convenient as a Lean cuisine and certainly better for me. So, while I agree that there are greater evils than Lean Cuisine in the fast-food world, there are certainly some healthy alternatives that are just as convenient.

leavinglasvegas

I used to eat them all the time. At this moment, I gag at the thought of it. It is so much easier to lose weight with whole foods, rather than processed foods. Cutting processed foods out of my life was the best thing I ever did!

Cook up big dinners and freeze the left overs. You'll have your own "Lean cuisine".

Cook a pot of soup on Sunday and seperate it into servings. Put a few in the fridge for the week, and the rest in the freezer so you don't have to eat it every day. Make a new soup every week to keep it interesting.

If you eat meat, grill up a bunch of chicken once per week and use it in salads, soups, sandwiches, served with rice and veggies, etc. My brother did this. He got a george formen grill and bought chicken by the bulk. He would make up a big batch of rice and keep it in the fridge. Then all he had to do was steam some random veggies and pop the rest in the micro. He lost over 100 pounds. (he went from beer and fast food to cooking for himself while working 80 hours per week and being a typical 24 year old single party guy)

greeneyes82

We eat them for lunch here & there, but you really have to watch the sodium. Try to buy the ones that don't have so much sodium & you have to try not to go over on your sodium when you eat your dinner. Remember you took quite a bit in a lunch time with any frozen meal & you should be fine!

chgudnitz

I guess it depends on what you mean by doing you any good. I eat them all the time and they never seem to do anything bad to me. Erickirb said good for losing weight, I agree. I don't really see how they are "bad" for your health. Unless you eat clean, all natural, not processed foods at all you are already eating tons of chemical preservatives anyway.

So why add to it?

With that logic, we should all just stop and say "Well, I'm already fat, what's gaining a few more pounds?"

Today I poured some frozen broccoli (the "ingredients: broccoli" kind) in a bowl & topped it with 4oz (unenhanced) chicken tenderloins that I had cooked Tuesday night. At lunch, I just popped in the microwave for a minute. Almost as convenient as a Lean cuisine and certainly better for me. So, while I agree that there are greater evils than Lean Cuisine in the fast-food world, there are certainly some healthy alternatives that are just as convenient.

Where would you pull that analogy from?

What I'm saying is if you only focus on the chemicals inside of one item of food, yes it looks bad. When you look at what you are not eating instead, that also likely has as many chemical preservatives added. When making a food choice, you need to be able to look at what you are NOT having and compare it to what you choose to have to truly see if you are doing harm.

I'm glad you chose to do what you did. Did you know some people would say your broccoli was likely grown with toxic pesticides and chemically enhanced to grow faster? Or the chicken was likely fed a multitude of growth hormones to promote rapid weight gain to be able to move them to market faster?

stacyoct19

The ones I get say no preservatives.

LittleSpy

Did you know some people would say your broccoli was likely grown with toxic pesticides and chemically enhanced to grow faster? Or the chicken was likely fed a multitude of growth hormones to promote rapid weight gain to be able to move them to market faster?

Yes, and I agree with them. But why eat "toxic" broccoli preserved with "toxic" crap & sauced with "toxic" crap and "toxic" chicken preserved & mixed with "toxic" crap in a Lean Cuisine when I can just eat plain "toxic" broccoli and chicken? The one with more crap is worse for you. The one with less toxic crap is better for you. It's not like Lean Cuisine uses "organic" meat and veggies & then processes them with a bunch of toxin filled junk. They use the same toxic meat & veggies I do & THEN they process them with a bunch of additional "toxic" ingredients.

You can be as argumentative as you want to be, but just because you're already eating stuff that's arguably bad doesn't mean you may as well eat MORE of it. I understand your point completely-- that unless you're eating clean foods you're already eating extra stuff that's probably bad for you --but I'll never agree with it, exactly.
The fat analogy makes perfect sense to me -- I can also use a cocaine/heroin/meth/cigarette/alcohol/pollution/listgoeson analogy if you'd prefer. You say you're already doing something bad -- so, doing more of the bad stuff doesn't really matter. I say it does. Bad+bad = doublebad. That's just math, hun.

LittleSpy

And it's not even about "preservatives." Just look at the ingredients. It's a long list of ingredients. The ingredients in my chicken & broccoli are "Chicken, broccoli, salt, basil, oregano." If you can afford organic chicken & broccoli (or whatever), go for it and then you don't have to worry so much about the possibility of any pesticides or hormones or antibiotics.
Locally grown organic? Even better -- then you're stimulating your local economy.

Lean Cuisine Baked Chicken ingredients (and old favorite of mine):
Potatoes, water, cooked chicken tenderloins (chicken tenderloins, water, seasoning (sugar, spices including paprika and turmeric, onion and garlic powder), soy oil, salt, potassium phosphate, sodium phosphate, dextrose), corn croutons (enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn meal, high fructose corn syrup, contains 2% or less of: partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oils, salt, yeast, yeast nutrients (monocalcium phosphate, calcium sulfate, ammonium sulfate), cornstarch, distilled vinegar, annatto extract color, ascorbic acid, soy flour), onions, skim milk, celery, soybean oil, carrots, modified cornstarch, salt, bleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), chicken flavor (salt, yeast extract, maltodextrin, chicken powder, flavor, soy sauce (soybean, wheat, salt)), garlic puree, potassium chloride, sugar, parsley, chicken broth, spices, dehydrated onions, flavor (maltodextrin and natural flavors (made from milk)), caramel color, paprika, carrageenan with dextrose.

And that looks like one of the better ones to me. Yes, it could absolutely be worse. But when you have a better option that is just as easy, why not go for it?

chgudnitz

You can be as argumentative as you want to be, but just because you're already eating stuff that's arguably bad doesn't mean you may as well eat MORE of it. I understand your point completely-- that unless you're eating clean foods you're already eating extra stuff that's probably bad for you --but I'll never agree with it, exactly.
The fat analogy makes perfect sense to me -- I can also use a cocaine/heroin/meth/cigarette/alcohol/pollution/listgoeson analogy if you'd prefer. You say you're already doing something bad -- so, doing more of the bad stuff doesn't really matter. I say it does. Bad+bad = doublebad. That's just math, hun.

Relax, lol.

Listen, the analogy makes no sense because by your argument you would infer I said eat more bad food by comparing it to "Im already fat, why not gain a few more pounds" Not at all what I said. By that, you would imply that I said you're already eating bad crap, just eat more of it. So let's re-do your math, hun. We have X - Y = Z with X being the completely bad crap you may be eating, Y being the now better (but still not 100% great) crap you are eating and Z being the crap savings you get for making that choice. That's just math hun.

Z needs to be the focus for anyone making a healthier lifestyle for themselves. Focusing on one aspect of a decision is fine but not the whole picture. We need to look at the difference in our prior choices and compare them to now.

The original question was not "are there healthier alternatives to lean cuisine?" The question was is she doing any good for herself. My answer will not change to that. If she made a healthier choice to go with it then yes, it's doing her some good. Hun.

LittleSpy

The original question was not "are there healthier alternatives to lean cuisine?" The question was is she doing any good for herself. My answer will not change to that. If she made a healthier choice to go with it then yes, it's doing her some good. Hun.

But it's important to not mislead someone into thinking frozen dinners are actually good for them. If what you said last is what you meant to say first, perhaps it would have been better worded as "Lean Cuisines may be better for you than what you were eating before, but, overall, no, they're not good for you."

chgudnitz

The original question was not "are there healthier alternatives to lean cuisine?" The question was is she doing any good for herself. My answer will not change to that. If she made a healthier choice to go with it then yes, it's doing her some good. Hun.

But it's important to not mislead someone into thinking frozen dinners are actually good for them. If what you said last is what you meant to say first, perhaps it would have been better worded as "Lean Cuisines may be better for you than what you were eating before, but, overall, no, they're not good for you."

I'm ending with this. Show me any study you find that shows Lean Cuisine to be "not good for you". It may not be the healthiest choice, but show me anything that supports "they're not good for you."

LittleSpy

Listen, the analogy makes no sense because by your argument you would infer I said eat more bad food by comparing it to "Im already fat, why not gain a few more pounds" Not at all what I said.

And, actually, that is what you said. Correct me if I'm wrong, please, but you said ALL the food we're eating, unless we're eating clean and organic, have some arguably bad component to them (pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, whatever). So, if you're already eating those things, the argument that Lean Cuisines contain "bad" ingredients (HFCS, any added preservatives, artificial colors, whatever) isn't valid.

My point is that the latter argument IS still valid because Lean Cuisine is using both the 1st foods and then they're adding the 2nd bad component as well. Bad+Bad=doublebad. They're worse for you than the real food alternative which was my entire point -- that there is a healthier, just as convenient alternative.

LittleSpy

I'm ending with this. Show me any study you find that shows Lean Cuisine to be "not good for you". It may not be the healthiest choice, but show me anything that supports "they're not good for you."

The ingredients I listed above contain hydrogenated oil.
Why don't you show me a study that says trans fat is good for you?
Show me a study that says artificial coloring is good for you.

Why are you passing off the burden of proof to me?

summer6102

Heathy choice steamers are very low in sodium the asian ones! I have to watch my sodium cause of high blood pressure but there very good and very low!

ractayjon

There was an article on yahoo a few weeks ago (and it was also on one of the Evening News shows....(still not sure exactly how reliable the sources are but...)
The overview of the article/news bit was that lean cuisine, smartones, healthy choice and one other one (not sure which, sorry) were all "tested" for calories counts. (not additives, just calories) and all - every single one - of the brands actually had MORE calories then were stated on the lables. MORE?! The reason that the companies said this was ok had to do with 1. the federal govt guidleines that say that calorie amounts can vary within a certain amount and 2. that the added ingredients are so hard to calculate that they are estimated.
My opinion -- if you cant calculate nutritional value because they are so variable I dont think I want to put it in my body. Id rather buy some meat, cook it with seasonings that I am aware of, mix it with vegetables that I have cooked and add a rice or carb (I do eat about 80% orgainc) then freeze them in individual containers to "eat my own" "tv dinners.
just my opinion

Afamouse_Mommie

I have had the same question. My cholesterol is through the roof, and I started eating them to help me stop buying so much fast food for lunch and skipping dinner. I have never had a problem with sodium, but I am afraid of fixing one problem and risking creating another. Any suggestions?

BamaRose0107

I eat lean Cuisines every once in awhile. They are better than other choices, however there are better choices than lean cuisine. We can all claim to know what exactly "healthy" means in terms of food, but honestly there are so many different ideas and conflicting studies floating around, noone is really 100% sure. I choose to eat in moderation, I do eat some processed foods (a very small amount), I also eat fresh veggies, whole grains, lean meats (no red meat). If someone want to eat organic non processed or whatever that is great. All I can say is that I have lost alot of weight, gotten to where I can control my stomach problems, depression and blood sugar without medication and I enjoy all the foods I love even some processed. If you want to eat a lean cuisine great its much better than a cheese burger and fries. They are high in sodium but I know if I don't have time to prepare my lunch I would rather choose lean cuisine over fast food anyday. Use your own judgement and take everything you read on hear with a grain of salt, do your own research. That would be my opinion.

DrBorkBork

When I tried Lean Cuisine, I noticed they were sky high in sodium (at least the ones I grabbed). I eat Healthy Choice meals instead, most of which are under 500 sodium. My favorite are the cafe steamers.

bebhinn

When I tried Lean Cuisine, I noticed they were sky high in sodium (at least the ones I grabbed). I eat Healthy Choice meals instead, most of which are under 500 sodium. My favorite are the cafe steamers.

LOVE LOVE LOVE them!