Please tell me ready meals aren't that bad :(

anything microwavable is bad.

I basically live off them. I'm always so tired and rushed that they are just so quick and convienient. The only times I don;t eat them is when I go to a friends house who cooks, or I go out for dinner, or sometimes I will have an omlette or porridge.

I eat fruit and yogurt for brekkie, granola bar for a snack, ham and egg salad for lunch and usually more fruit/cereal bar snack in the afternoon. So it;s not like i'm not getting my nutrients.

I will make sure i'm always within my calories and try to pick the ones with less salt/sugar etc.

Are they really as harmful for your health as everyone says??

they're pretty bad. sodium like nobodies business - even the "low sodium" options.

learn to cook. it'll make you and your friends/family much happier in the long run!

The Lean Cuisines that I eat for lunch are generally 600 or less mg of sodium. High? Yes, I suppose so, but they're actually substantially LOWER than a lot of other things I actually COOK. Granted, I'll buy a package of yellow rice because I have no clue how to make it from scratch. The yellow rice is 730mg per 1 cup serving. Add in ANYTHING else and my sodium for THAT meal is going to be far higher than the Lean Cuisine. Shrug...

I used to eat the Michalena's dinners for a while. They seemed ok at first and I tried the various versions/flavours. I soon found that they all started to taste the same. I have to credit them for *inspiring* me to learn how to cook. Long story short, when you make it yourself, it will be cheaper, healthier and taste better.

The next time you have a "ready" meal, have a look at the ingredients and the nutrients. I have found that they are usually loaded with fat, salt or sugar or all of the above. Then you will usually get loads of MSG and other bizarre additives. Keep in mind that most of these "foods" are made in gigantic batches so they require special chemicals to just make the "recipes" work in huge industrial-sized machines. I knew a guy that worked in the food industry and he said he would *never* eat anything processed since he has seen what happens behind the scenes with some of these huge vats of "food".

Oh and don't ever believe that the companies that make these "meals" have your best interests in mind. They are driven by profit goals and whatever they can do to maximize profits, they will do. You're health is of no concern.

On a positive note, the internet is an amazing resource for great recipes. It's good to plan out your meals in advance so that you know what groceries you will need for the week.If you can drop a skinless boneless chicken breast in a frying pan (or barbeque or oven), then you're halfway there already. It's all pretty simple once you get started.

All the best on your fitness journey.

Some of these answers, wow.

Be careful who and where you get advise from..

Research research. If you have to ask why GMO is bad, maybe you should do some research.

Look at studies that show a rat fed nothing but GMO food and a rat fed regular feed. See what happens for yourself.

IMO, I wouldn't eat anything that's not organic and that has the least amount of ingredients. Microwaving strips a good amount of all the nutrients from the food. Then your eating dead food. You might lose some weight by eating those but at what cost. Most likely will develop some sort of cancer or other disease later down the road. Especially if your microwaving platics with your food. Most all the frozen ready meals are in plastic trays. Petroleum based.

I could go on but yeah. If you want to lose weight, it's easy. Eat right, eat smart, drink lots of water, stay away from refined sugars, wheats, dead foods, get plenty of rest, deal with any stress in your life so it's not bottled up, exercise, and maintain healthy relationships with people. Don't bottle up emotions. When you are stressed out, people use eating to cope. They don't always eat the best foods for that either.

Good luck everyone.

Cheers