Diet food

[gerrymcd]

I'm fascinated by the contents of other people's shopping baskets/trolleys.  Standing inline to checkout I can't help but look to see what food the person in front of me is buying.  One thing I've noticed.....

Its very common -- especially at this time of the year -- to see 'heavy' people buy a lot of diet meals, meal replacement shakes, etc.  In fact, its not unusual to see people buy an entire weeks worth of nothing but ready made frozen diet meals and protein shakes.  But, it dawned on me a while ago, its rare to see lean people buying a basket full of nothing but lean cuisine frozen entrees.  If I was an alien studying earthlings I would have come to the conclusion -- based on supermarket observation -- that diet food makes people overweight.

So, my question......  do people only eat diet meals when they want to loose weight?  Do people, in general, not eat them when they reach their goal and stop watching what they eat?  Why don't lean people eat a lot of diet food?

[Fylcon]

I notice something different.....my cart if full of veggies, fruits, some meats, cheese, milk, healthy oils (avacado) maybe sweet potatoes, rarely other potatoes, no breads, cheese, milk, healthy oils (avacado), very very little in my cart is processed, The odd processed item is something I can't make or is a treat for my kid.  I see carts full of processed foods, convience foods, large boxes of cookies, large boxes of single serving treats.  I make everything I can from scratch and I work full time.  A bag of oreo's in our house gets thrown out after about 10 cookies.  If we want cookies I make them, same for just about anything.

The reason we have issues isn't the diet foods we eat but can be quite often related to the overly process foods that contain a lot of sugars and other thing.

I believe that many people choose diet convience foods because they really believe that will help them to loose weight, not everyone knows how easy it can be too cook and how fast you can make things.  It takes time, patience and knowledge.  If eating healthing was so easy everyone would do it and in return a lot of the big comapanies would have their issues, after all they want you to buy their food and not make your own 😛

[dizzyfreckles · Accepted solution]

well, I can't talk for another people, but I eat those lean cusine meals even when i'm at my healthy weight. here's why. #1 sometimes I don't have time to make a dinner, this makes it easy.  #2 it beats mc donalds on the days that i don't have time to cook.  #3 as i'm the one that cooks everything, i get tired of cooking,i don't want to spend money going out and i don't want to over do it on the calories. 

I read an article once that said you really shouldn't have more than 3 of those meals a week due to their sodium content. So i try to stick to that rule.  Anyhoo, they help me a ton. Help me stay on my healthy eating habits and really get me out of time crunches. 

[kmeassick]

I never eat diet packaged meals. In order to do that they have to add certain not so healthy chemicals and take away certain natural things that  are supposed to be in the food. They don't make you feel as satiated as had cooking the real version yourself. Eating "fat free" or "sugar free" food only leave you wantng what you aren't getting. Eat a small portion of the real thing and you'll feel satiated!

[Fylcon · Accepted solution]

I wrote in my blog a bit ago about convience foods and how convient they really are.  It started one night, I was coming home late after I took the kid to his class, it was 8pm everyone is hungry, the family, the dogs, the cats and let me tell you Fast food looked to be an option.  But then by the time I get back in the car, turn around get the food, come back and put it on the table, I used 30 min or more for crap.  The end result was I flattened a chicken and made sweet potato fries and a salad in the same time.  And I saved everyone from consuming all the salt sugar and fat and other crap in it.

The Advantage of Frozen Diet Food

Frozen meals are often sold in accurate size portions for their calories.

The Disadvantages of Frozen Diet Food

Frozen diet foods are not as nutritious. They often contain high amounts of preservatives and sodium (normally between 700 to 1800 mg remember there is a daily recommended maximum of 2300 mg of sodium), makling it hard to stay under the maximum).

Most frozen meals do not provide enough fruits and vegetables to meet your daily nutritional requirements. Eating just frozen diet meals with no additional fruit and vegetables can lead to vitamin deficiency.

When it comes to lunches, I usually try and take leftovers the next day....easy to put together, tasty and fast 🙂

[dizzyfreckles]

I just think that in a perfect world, ppl wouldn't eat these. I'm all for it if people use them as a stepping stone towards healthier habits, ya know? I think eventually once dieting starts getting under control, you naturally move on towards greenier pastures. 

[leear]

Recent research concluded that the calories in most supermarket diet meals is the same as the equivalent non-diet version. The only difference is the diet version tends to be a smaller pack size and a higher cost.

Some may diet versions may substitute a lower fat ingredient (or two), like cheese and leaner meat, for the full fat versions, but this changes taste and texture.

The advice was eat smaller portions of what you enjoy and do enough excise to burn it off.

Any food can be a diet food! For example, a long time ago, a friend decided to go on a calorie controlled diet with  vitamins and minerals pills. Her diet  food of choice was chocolate Mars bars and pineapple. She lost loads of weight, but had loads of sugar highs and lows, as well as constipation and tooth aches.

Remember you are what you eat and I would advise a balanced diet of food you enjoy.

[Lightsinger]

I eat pre-packaged diet meals and vegetarian pre-packaged meals for lunch only as a convenience, not as a way to diet.  They are low calorie, low fat, and protion controlled, true, but I eat them because I frequently don't have time to prepare fresh for lunch at work.  I cook only fresh at home, and if there's anything left, I can sometimes take it to work the next day.  Usually, though, because I don't prepare a lot of food at any one time -- I'm only cooking for two, and that means we eat a lot of leftovers if I cook a lot -- so no opportunities for lunches.  I'm curious what other working people do for their on-the-job lunches. 

I shop either every day or every other day because we do eat fresh, and that cuts into my cooking time as it is. 

[Wonton]

I like you and your creeping on random strangers 🙂 Keep it up!

[Tcup]

There is a common misconception about lean cuisines- the sodium. 

I have been eating them for lunch and dinner since I started using my fitbit and I stay well under the recommended daily sodium limit (I mix in yogurts, hard boiled eggs and fresh fruit for breakfast and snacks though)

These meals are great for calorie and portion control- plus I do not feel like I am on a diet because I'm eating things such as "ravioli", "beef pot roast" etc. 

They definitely have helped me stick to my weight loss plan and I have lost 15 lbs so far in about 6 weeks (obviously I have been exercising also) and they taste pretty good! I have 15 lbs left to go but I plan on keeping these as a part of my daily diet after I reach my goal.

To each their own, but they have definitely helped me 

[smhermione]

When I am at work I eat Lean Cuisines everyday for lunch, sometimes I'll eat them on the weekends too.  They are portion controlled, pretty tasty and I think they have a reasonable amount of nutrition for a meal.  Some of them are small so if I feel like I'm not getting enough I'll add a yogurt or piece of fruit for a snack.  I try to keep my breakfast and lunch to pretty low calories because I like to have a bigger dinner and a snack in the evenings, that's just me.  I don't think you could sustain eating only Lean Cuisines for lunch and dinner as again they are small portions and I think I would get bored with them and the cravings would attack! 

I haven't had too much trouble with the sodium levels of these meals, in fact I find that when I make my own meals I end up with more sodium.  Also it says right on the box that there are no preservatives in these meals.  Freezing is a perfectly acceptable way of keeping foods that also keeps the nutrition.  The canning process can reduce the amount of vitamins that vegetables have by cooking the nutrition out to get them up to temperature for the canning process.  I really don't see where the science is saying that frozen meals are less nutritous.

[dundura]

I started a blog based on that same observation and my struggles with weight....I literally had the same observations

check out...this post when you have a moment http://dietsarelame.com/good-food-vs-bad-food-questions/