Frozen Food: Healthy or Not?

Frozen food has a bad rap

Historically, frozen foods have gotten a poor reputation from consumers and health professionals alike. Complaints have ranged from poor texture, mushy, bland tasting (or worse), and some are even loaded with sodium and fat for taste and or for longer shelf life.

However, the quality of frozen food has improved tremendously these last several years

With recent technology advances in the frozen foods industry, frozen meals are fast gaining recognition to be THE solution to not just healthy nutrition, but also solving food waste, and portion control for weight control and disease management.

A. Frozen Meals can contain more nutrients

Nowadays, frozen meals are often flash-frozen, or quickly frozen, which means the cellular integrity of the food is not damaged, which allows all the nutrients to be fully retained and preserved. This method of freezing also preserves the structural integrity and texture of the food upon reheating.

Additionally, for frozen fruits and veggies, they are frozen at ‘peak’ ripeness, which means they’ll pack a similar nutritional value as their fresh counterparts with little loss in benefits.

In fact, a study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that people who regularly ate frozen meals had higher daily intakes of important nutrients such as protein, fiber, and potassium.1

B. Frozen Meals can save precious time

In today’s 24/7 busy working world, most of us spend the day working; and when that’s done, it’s cleaning, doing laundry, running errands, exercising, shopping, taking care of the kids, and doing other things that fuel your passions. To save time, heating up a meal out of your freezer may be the answer (take less than 10 minutes!)

C. Frozen Meals reduce waste

Buying frozen foods, already “carved out” into meal-sized pacakages, can also help you and the whole supply chain reduce waste.

D. Frozen Meals helps you control portions

Depending on your specific state of health, preference, weight loss target or diet programme, you may need more or less food than what’s provided in one frozen meal. Regardless, because frozen meals come in single-serving sizes, they can help you learn and choose or apportion wisely.

References:

  1. EurekAlertAAAS. (2014, October 20). Frozen meal eaters have better intakes of key nutrients for fewer calories than QSR eaters.
  2. Excerpts taken from the original article by Gabrielle McGrath, MS, RD, LDN on magazine.baze.com

It’s About Behaviour and Lifestyle Change

Many of us may have tried dieting or eating healthier at different times in life, for different reasons. And it’s hard!

There may be a zillion reason for this, but knowledge is usually not one of them.

Most of us know that it can be helpful to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, eat less processed foods, and cut down on sugar and fat. But knowledge is not always enough to change behavior.

Behavior change science shows us that new habits have to be easy, accessible, realistic, and close to equal satisfaction compared to previous behavior. So while I could get on my soapbox and talk about all the factors that impact our food choices on a daily basis, I instead want to provide one solution to you.

Ultimately, nutrition is not black and white.

Which is why we are always working towards making healthy easy. There is no one-way to eat healthy.

Imagine HEALTHY, AFFORDABLE, DELICIOUS and UNIQUELY AMGD frozen meals that are easily accessible and perfect for any meal, so long as you have a microwave.

That’s what HealthFull believes in. That’s what HealthFull offers you.