The Worst Frozen "Diet" Foods

Avoid These 6 Frozen Diet Foods!

The 6 Worst Frozen Foods You Could Have!


There’s no place as packed with truth-twisting treats as the frozen food aisle of your supermarket.

How do so many bad-for-you foods get away with masquerading as “health” foods? Well, consider the case of the most famous imposter of all, Frank Abagnale: Over the course of several years, he masqueraded as a doctor, airline pilot, and lawyer. So successful were his impersonations that Hollywood made a movie about his life: "Catch Me if You Can," starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Abagnale had exactly what it took to pull off any hoax: the right look, the right talk, and a detachment from the consequences of his actions.




Sound familiar? Think about food industry: The people who fill our supermarket freezer section have no problem clumping together pseudo-foods and processing chemicals and selling it to you under the guise of "healthy eating." They give these foods the right look (gourmet packaging with wholesome images) and the right talk (nutritional buzz-terms like "light," "natural," and "gluten-free"), and they obviously don't care about the consequences (more than two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese).

Indeed, some frozen-food manufacturers even go so far as to spackle terms like "lean" or "healthy" right on the label. But the truth is, many of these foods are imposters. 

#6: WORST FROZEN DESSERT

Ben & Jerry’s FroYo Phish Food (1/2 cup)

240 calories
6 g fat (4.5 g saturated)
27 g sugars

Frozen yogurt is often a healthy alternative to ice cream, but not this version. In fact, it has 100 more calories than your standard vanilla frozen treat. That’s largely due to coconut oil and butter being high on the ingredient list—not to mention nearly a half-dozen Oreos' worth of sugar in every scoop.

EAT DESSERT EVERY DAY! You can—and not put on an extra pound. You just need to know which desserts to indulge in, and which to avoid.

#5: WORST FROZEN BEEF MEAL

Lean Cuisine Beef Chow Fun

320 calories
5 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
520 mg sodium
18 g sugars

The calorie toll here isn't so bad, but the sugar impact is unacceptable. This isn't dessert, after all. You could have a scoop of Edy's Slow Churned Rocky Road ice cream and still cut 6 grams of sugar. The problem here is Lean Cuisine's “sweet and spicy” Asian sauce. Think of it as pancake syrup with a few spices stirred in.

#4: WORST FROZEN MEXICAN MEAL

Cedarlane Roasted Chile Relleno

360 calories
20 g fat (10 g saturated)
620 mg sodium

This box advertises “all natural” in the corner. Maybe, but Monterey jack and cheddar cheese, which make up two of the first five ingredients, are still naturally full of fat. And that’s how Cedarlane stuffs this relatively small dish with 50 percent of your day’s heart-unhealthy saturated fat.

#3: WORST FROZEN CHICKEN DISH

Healthy Choice Sesame Chicken

410 calories
10 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
460 mg sodium
21 g sugars

Remove the calming green packaging and the ostentatious use of "healthy" in the name, and you'll see this meal for what it is: fried chicken swimming in sugary syrup. Healthy Choice claims this is “roasted” chicken, but an inspection of the ingredient statement reveals the meat is coated in corn flour and cooked in vegetable oil. At KFC they call that "fried."

FOWL FOULS: Chicken is a lean, fat-fighting protein. But it's also the most abused food in American restuarants.

#2: WORST FROZEN BURRITO

Evol Burritos Egg & Sausage

480 calories
16 g fat (5 g saturated)
850 mg sodium

We love Evol’s commitment to unadulterated produce and naturally raised meats, but "natural" alone won't keep fat off your body. Sausage is still the first ingredient in this beast of a morning wrap, and as such, it saddles you with 25 percent of your day’s fat and saturated fat, 35 percent of your sodium, and half your cholesterol. These numbers don’t make Evol evil, but they don’t make this burrito nutritious either.

BREAKFAST BOMBSHELLS: Research shows that those who eat a balanced breakfast consume fewer calories over the course of the day. But do the first meal wrong, and you can set yourself up for calorie overload.

#1: WORST FROZEN PASTA DISH

Amy’s Rice Macaroni with Non-Dairy Cheeze

520 calories
22 g fat (5 g saturated)
740 mg sodium

Amy’s casts itself as the healthy alternative to other frozen meals, and often that's true. But not here. “Made with organic pasta,” as the package proclaims, means nothing if you’re consuming an oil-soaked cheese-alternative that crams in more than a third of your day’s fat allotment. For the same amount of calories, you could eat two packages of Banquet’s macaroni and cheese.