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Avoid These 6 Frozen Diet Foods! |
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
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.
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
320 calories
5 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
520 mg sodium
18 g sugars
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
#4: WORST FROZEN MEXICAN MEAL
360 calories
20 g fat (10 g saturated)
620 mg sodium
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
410 calories
10 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
460 mg sodium
21 g sugars
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.
FOWL FOULS: Chicken is a lean, fat-fighting protein. But it's also the most abused food in American restuarants.
#2: WORST FROZEN BURRITO
480 calories
16 g fat (5 g saturated)
850 mg sodium
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.
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
520 calories
22 g fat (5 g saturated)
740 mg sodium
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.