Are prepared meals really good for your health?

Stephen PaulHealth & Diseases

Prepared meals good for your health? Many manufacturers are trying to attract consumers with products that are guaranteed to be free of sugar, fat or unhealthy additives. But can we really trust them? Not so sure…

What is a ready meal?

A prepared meal is a ready – made dish generally sold in supermarkets. It is cooked or reheated in the microwave or sometimes in a saucepan. They are intended for those who do not necessarily have time to cook. Practical, they represent a considerable saving of time since they require only a few minutes of cooking in a dish already provided. They are also ready to eat.
But beware, despite their convenience and the promises made by the brands on the packaging, the prepared meals are far from being better for your health, especially as part of a diet intended to lose weight . Sometimes harmful to certain organisms, these dishes should be eaten in moderation … or even avoided.

Composition and impacts of prepared meals on health

Until a few years ago, processed meals did not really take into account the nutritional needs of consumers, until the arrival of nutritional information. Over the evolution of customs, many brands have started to make industrial products guaranteed without additives, 0% fat or without sugars. But prepared meals good for health are not really legion. As part of a healthy diet, one rule is immutable: the more the products have been denatured, the more harmful they are . Processed industrial and flat products fall into this category.

The products used are often not of the best quality. To hide this fact, many manufacturers add a quantity of additives to a ready-made dish: preservatives, sweeteners, flavor enhancers… Combined together, these additives can become dangerous for health .
Foods found in supermarkets also contain a large amount of sunflower oil, due to its low cost. However, this oil is very rich in omega-6. If this fatty acid is not harmful when it is mixed in a balanced way with omega-3, it becomes however very inflammatory when it is found in excess in the body. To make oils easier to work in a dish done, they are subjected to a hydrogenation process which allows them to solidify. This technique transforms them into trans fatty acids , which in the long term can be dangerous for the cardiovascular system .
Also beware of products labeled 0% fat. A fat-free product is generally very tasteless. Thus, to make it more consumable, we add a lot of sugars , making it very caloric anyway . As a general rule, good fat is preferable to sugar, even on a diet.

Alternatives to prepared meals

Healthy prepared meals are not non-existent. However, it is necessary to look for them, and especially to look carefully at the nutritional information . Going for organic dishes is not necessarily recommended, because organic does not necessarily mean healthy.
If you want to eat a processed dish, do it in an exceptional way, and look carefully at the information on the product packaging.
Flee if you see too much omega-6 compared to omega-3, check the amounts of sugar , and watch for additives , especially monosodium glutamate.

The only alternative for a healthy diet is to cook the products yourself . You must necessarily spend more time there, but in the long term, unprocessed products are more effective, less caloric and much less expensive.

Stephen
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Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.

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