Lean Cuisine - Really?

jennylynn84

I hear a lot about watching the sodium content on frozen meals like Lean Cuisine because it's supposedly really high. But I honestly don't find that in comparison to the rest of my day, it's not that bad. In fact, I can easily eat them and not go over my sodium for the day. Is that sodium amount from MFP low?

It's just that if I try to not eat Lean Cuisines and have a low fat sandwich instead with fat free turkey lunch meat or something like that, or even some of the fresh chicken salads I make at home - I come in even higher on sodium. I mean I know that fresh homemade food is better in general, but I just don't always have the money for ingredients to cook for lunch.

I'm from Louisiana and we put a ton of seasoning on pretty much everything, so I have been trying hard to watch my sodium content. So I guess I'm mainly concerned that the MFP amount might be too high for the day if Lean Cuisines are supposed to be so bad. In which case I really need to look at all my sodium amounts.

mvl1014

2300mg/day how many are you getting?

jennylynn84

2,500 is my daily allowed. On an average day, if I'm well-behaved with my food all day and eat a trusty Lean Cuisine I come in around 1,500-1,700.

EmilyStrick

someone posted an interesting factoid on here the other day, that in order to keep healthy electrolyte balance, you want to get 1mg sodium per calorie ingested. i had never heard that before, and there is a lot of conflicting research, but i thought it was interesting. also, make sure you're getting enough potassium, at least as much and up to twice as much as the sodium you take in. good sources of potassium are bananas, avocados and potatoes. i'm guessing the lean cuisines are very low in potassium, so you may want to add some bananas as snacks, or replace the lean cuisine with a spinach salad topped with avocado (and some seasoned salt ).

jdramage

I don't have an answer here but I fully support your question! I love lean cuisines. They are cheap, contain veggies, are portion-controlled, and super convenient. I don't eat them everyday but they sure help me get through the work week. I also wondered about the sodium content based on what I've heard about frozen, processed meals. My daily value is 2500 mg/day... When I eat these meals I often get closer to that value but don't usually go over it. I make sure to drink extra water too. It's been interesting watching the sodium content everyday because I notice that I do feel pretty swollen and definitely worse when I eat too much of it...

jennylynn84

It's been interesting watching the sodium content everyday because I notice that I do feel pretty swollen and definitely worse when I eat too much of it...

I definitely agree. A couple of weeks ago I went out for sushi and splurged. It was at the very end of the day, and I hadn't prepared and had a ton of water all day, and the next day I felt AWFUL. So I can definitely tell when I'm on the high side of my sodium.

Your puppy is VERY cute by the way.

lt_mrcook

sodium is related to potassium...not calories. If you have a LC meal, just check the box against what MFP says. IF it's right, then go with it. Just check the package too, and make sure you know what all of the ingredients are. We've started letting our 8 yr old read the package, and if she can't read any of them we don't buy it. Just remember you are what you eat. Plus make sure that the plastic that LC uses for their trays isn't one of those that leaches PBA into your food when heated. That can screw with your hormone levels and cause a real mess.

dmags

weight watchers now has prepared meals that are refridgerated not frozen. The supermarket had them up front because they were new. I had the meatloaf and garlic mashed. It tasted ok, as good as any of the frozen ones. It had around 560 mgs of sodium. about half of the frozen. I don't think that the sodium in lean cuisines is a major concern if you are drinking you water, but this is another quick option.