You know the drill: you get back from work late in the evening, are too tired to rustle up a meal from scratch and your family is hungry. If you are a bachelor, your are subject to all the aforementioned clauses too.
So what do you do? You grab a few ready-to-eat meals, peel off the plastic from the top and heat it up in a microwave oven. Or if they come in aluminium foil, you place them in boiling water and your meal is ready in a jiffy. Throw in a few slices of bread or some leftover rice and your meal is done. No chopping, frying or the minutiae of garnishing with herbs and all those hassles.
The ready-to-eat meals industry grown at an astonishing pace over the last two decades. They come in a range of cuisines that can beguile the most committed cook. Italian? Mexican? Indian? Thai? Chinese? Greek? Take your pick.
With more and more people leading busier lives, meal preparation is a chore most like to avoid at the end of a long day at work. It’s a given, then, that nutrition takes a backseat under the circumstances.
Many of these meals claim that they taste just like home-cooked meals. That’s an elevator pitch. The truth is that they are nowhere near as noutritious or wholesome or healthy as home-cooked emals.
1) According to a British study, not even one out of every 100 meals in the supermarket freezers complies with the nutritional guidelines set by the WHO (World Health Organisation).
2) The single most worrying aspect of ready-to-eat meals is that they are alarmingly high in slat and sugar levels. High salt and sugar consumption is a cause of many health proeblems from diabetes to hypertentison and heart disease. Adults should eat no more than 6gms of salt a day, that’s about 1 full teaspoon. Children should eat much less. The daily recommended amount of salt children should intake depends on their age. “Read the nutrition labels on food packaging to help you cut down on salt.” .
3) These meals also contain high amounts of fats, transfat and artificial colour. “All these can cause internal problems such as high blood pressure, and affect the heart and kidneys.”
4) Office goers who take along a noodle pot which simply needs boiling water and some standing time to cook, are particularly at risk of nutritional deficiences because these foods contain little health-giving nutrients.
“If you have to eat ready meals, then opt for the ones which have lower fat, lower salt content and fewer calories.”
5) Ready-to-eat meals are rich in presrvatives which is how they enjoy a long shelf life. Why would a chicken curry otherwise have a pouch life of 3 months? Some preservatives can be natural, like salt or sugar, or they can be complex chemicals manufactured in laboratories, and these can increase health risks.
6) Many of the ready-made meals have trans-fats which increase your levels of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and decrease ‘good’ HDL cholesterol. So limit foods that contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, hydrogenated vegetable oil or shortening.
7) Packaged meals frequently have their nutritional value compromised, as ingredients start to degrade over time. Vegetables lose their vitamins, grains lose their texture.
8) Diabetics should also be wary of such meals as they are usually high in calories and have larger portion size. “Most ready meals are over-sized. Even though that little package may seem to serve only one, many are actually for two or more servings.”
9) Many ready-to-eat meals claim they are low-fat. This entices people to eat more of them. Just because the packet says ‘low fat’ does not mean the food is low in calories. Portion control is important for all foods, even those claiming to be low in fat or calories. Check to see how many servings are in a pre-packed ready meal. Also, many meals have rich and creamy sauces as a base. 2,500 calories a day.
10) Many pre-packaged meals contain high-fructose corn syrup and research is beginning to suggest that this liquid sweetener may upset the human metabolism, raising the risk for heart disease and diabetes. To spot fructose on a food label, look for the words ‘corn sweetener’, ‘corn syrup’, or ‘corn syrup solids’ as well as ‘high-fructose corn syrup.
11) “Most ready–to-eat meals are low in fiber and dietary fiber is one important dietary component to lowering cholesterol. The recommended intake of fiber is 20gms-35 gms for adults. A guideline as how to choose foods with good sources of fibre:
a) High fibre food. Tthe food product has 5 gms or more fiber per serving.
b) Good source of fibre’. The food product has 2.5gms to 4.9 gms of fibre per serving.
c) More or added fibre’. The food product has at least 2.5gms of fiber per serving.
12) if you must eat a ready meal, also eat a fresh salad as a side dish to compensate for lack of fibre and nutrients. Follow the meal with a fruit selection as well for a balanced effect.
“The healthiest and safest diet for us to consume is one that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and food that is cooked at home,” says Amera.
Information: Amera Marian Varghese. nutritionist, Medcare Hospital, Dubai
