Are Lean Cuisine Products really lean?

I love when new products come out. Whenever I see a new product advertised, I look it up on google.com, which was invented for people like me. Brings it right up - anything I want to know about it. So let's look at one of Lean Cuisine's new products "Market Creations".

Love the name. Sounds like it is fresh, right? From the market anyway. I like the packaging better. It doesn't come in a box to heat up. Has "steams fresh" on front of package. But as you know if you follow my blogs or Facebook fanpage, marketing and advertising can be deceiving, so let's look a little further. Let's visit leancuisine.com and find out more:

280 calories
7g fat
20g protein
33g carb
680mg sodium

Not too bad, calories are okay, protein looks good, sodium is really high. Just for grins, I looked at some of their older products to see the difference, because you'd think that anything labeled "Market Creations" would be a healthier version, right? So I looked up Chicken Fettucini, a similar product:

330 calories
6g fat
26g protein
42g carb
770mg sodium

A little bit of difference. The "Market Creations" is lower in calories and just a tad in sodium. So in reality, it is healthier than the older stuff. But what gets me is the list of ingredients. Remember - you cannot just look at the numbers. You need to look at the whole picture and that includes ingredients. When I hear "chicken alfredo", I expect to see these items in the list of ingredients - pasta, chicken, maybe some veggies, maybe cream? So here's the list of ingredients as listed on the package for Chicken Alfredo:

Ingredients:

Skim Milk, Blanched Enriched Pasta (Water, Enriched Semolina (Semolina, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid)), Herb Glazed Chicken White Meat (Cooked Chicken White Meat, Water, Seasoning (Salt, Maltodextrin, Garlic, Sugar, Spices, Dextrose, Yeast Extract, Carrageenan, Orange Peel, Onion, Soybean Oil, Chicken Fat, Paprika, Chicken Broth, Dehydrated Celery, Natural Flavor), Isolated Soy Protein, Modified Corn Starch, Caramel Coloring, Maltodextrin, Sodium Phosphate, Canola Oil), Broccoli, Carrots, Yellow Carrots, Water, 2% Or Less Of Modified Cornstarch, Cheese Flavor (Cheddar Cheese (Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Water, Salt, Disodium Phosphate, Natural Flavors), Romano Cheese ((Made From Cow's Milk), Cultured Milk, Enzymes, Salt), Soybean Oil, Parmesan Cheese (Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Butterfat, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Asiago Cheese (Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Yeast Extract, Spices, Enzyme Modified Parmesan Cheese (Cultured Milk, Water, Salt, Enzymes), Flavor (Maltodextrin, Flavoring And Modified Food Starch), Enzyme Modified Cheese (Cultured Milk, Water, Salt, Enzymes), Whey Protein Concentrate, Mono-&Diglycerides, Whey, Carrageenan, Seasoning (Wheat Starch, Extracts Of Annatto And Turmeric Color, Natural Flavor), Lactic Acid, Calcium Lactate, Seasoning (Maltodextrin, Flavor, Enzyme Modified Butterfat).

Contains: MILK, SOY, WHEAT INGREDIENTS. 

Well crap, doesn't that seem like a lot of ingredients for Chicken Alfredo? See enriched several times, dextrose [anything that ends in -ose is sugar], sodium several times, maltodextrin several times, natural color [if it's natural, why is it colored? duh].

So would I recommend this product? No, probably not.
Here's an easy alternative for you to make at home:

Peso Pasta with Spinach

Whole wheat pasta
Pesto
Baby Spinach
Grilled chicken breasts

Boil pasta, drain and return to pan. Scoop in several tablespoons pesto with olive oil, then stir in handfuls of baby spinach. Stir until well blended, adding more pesto if needed. The spinach will wilt as you stir. Serve warm and top with grilled chicken.

The key to good lunches if you have to take your lunch - leftovers! Cook a pot and then put it in containers that you can take to work. There are options to taking a frozen meal to work for your lunch, you just have to plan ahead a little bit. But the health benefits will be well worth it!