If you want a quick, healthy meal, frozen dinners can help. Frozen dinners have come a long way from the first days of red meat and potatoes, with many low-fat, low-calorie options on the market today. Frozen dinners are often high in sodium, however, which can have negative repercussions on your health. You can find the best low-sodium frozen dinners by reading labels and knowing what to look for.
Effects of High Sodium
Everyone needs sodium to help with basic bodily functions, but too much sodium can cause you to become dehydrated and lead to serious health problems. A high-sodium diet can strain your kidneys, as they try to eliminate extra sodium. Excess sodium accumulates in your blood, attracting more water and increasing your blood volume. Too much blood increases blood pressure, straining the arteries and heart. Chronic high sodium levels can cause heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and congestive heart failure, according to MayoClinic.com.
Recommendations
The American Heart Association recommends consuming less than 1,500 mg a day of sodium for a healthy diet. When shopping for frozen dinners, read the nutrition labels to make sure you don't buy any meals with more than 25 percent of your daily sodium allowance. Brands such as Amy's, Lean Cuisine, Weight Watchers, Kashee and Healthy Choice offer low-sodium options. Just because a meal is labeled low-fat or healthy, however, does not mean it is low in sodium, so be sure to check the label before making a purchase.
Healthy Frozen Meals
In addition to low sodium, the best frozen dinners offer a variety of nutrients and include foods from most -- if not all -- of the food groups. You can use the interactive Daily Food Plan to create a healthy eating plan with guidelines on how much to eat from each food group based on your age, sex, activity level and body type. Pick frozen dinners with whole grains, lean protein sources and vegetables. You can add a piece of fruit on the side to help get your daily fruit servings. If your meal includes dairy products, make sure they are low-fat.
Considerations
Frozen meals tend to be high in sodium because they are usually processed and rely on sodium to preserve the food. Look for organic frozen meals -- such as Amy's -- to find foods that have not been processed. Some frozen meals may say "reduced sodium" on the packaging, but the original amount of sodium may be so high or the sodium level may be only slightly reduced, so still check the label to see how much sodium is in the meal.
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