Author Topic: (Nutrition Action) Looking for less sodium in frozen dinners  (Read 125 times)

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Offline agate

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(Nutrition Action) Looking for less sodium in frozen dinners
« on: January 23, 2014, 09:37:45 am »
From NutritionAction, January 13, 2014:

Quote
Look for Less Sodium in Frozen Entrées
Posted By Jayne Hurley

The biggest barrier to finding healthy frozen entrées is salt. And it doesn’t matter if you’re looking at supermarket bestsellers or brands with a healthier reputation.

With the mainstreamers—think Bertolli, Marie Callender’s, Stouffer’s—you can pretty much count on 800 to 1,200 milligrams of sodium. That’s a hefty chunk out of the 1,500 mg limit that experts recommend for an entire day for most adults.


“Light,” “lean,” “reduced-guilt,” and other healthy-sounding frozen entrées like Lean Cuisine and Smart Ones trim the sodium to around 500 to 700 mg, and Healthy Choice never tops 600 mg.

We recommend frozen entrees that have no more than 450 mg of sodium, which is generous, considering that most of our recommendations have just 200 to 400 calories— nowhere near a third of a day’s worth.

We found a handful of lines that shave the sodium by relying on flavorful ingredients like ginger, garlic, sundried tomatoes, lemongrass, shiitake mushrooms, toasted almonds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, shallots, tahini, and white wine:

Artisan Bistro. Most of its 18 Bakes, Bowls, and Entrees have 300 to 550 milligrams of sodium. And how often do you see ingredients like edamame, lentils, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and quinoa in frozen trays?

What’s more, Artisan’s wild salmon comes from certified sustainable Alaskan fisheries, its chicken is free range, its beef is grass fed, and its vegetables and grains are organic. Also impressive: most of the dishes deliver 15 to 24 grams of protein.

Lean Cuisine Honestly Good. Each tray features a chicken breast, a fish filet, or beef strips over brown rice or part-whole-grain pasta, plus veggies like broccoli, edamame, snap peas, yellow carrots, and yellow zucchini.

Three of the six entrées meet our recommendation for sodium, and you can lower the sodium in the other three by using less sauce, which comes in a separate pouch. Bravo.

Luvo. Luvo (formerly Lyfe Kitchen) keeps the sodium at 470 mg or less, and you can’t beat ingredients like kale, artichokes, toasted almonds, red wheat berries, and brown basmati rice.

Other lines with less sodium than most: Amy’s Light in Sodium stays below 400 mg, but five of its eight entrées have too much saturated fat and/or white flour. Sukhi’s Lean Fare also never hits 400 mg, but all four entrées use white rice instead of brown. Kashi is heavy on whole grains, but only three of its 15 entrées are low enough in sodium and saturated fat.



The article can be seen here.
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