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The Kashi logo and slogan are trademarks of Kashi Company
While many brands advertise that they are healthy alternatives to traditional grocery store foods, most of them hide unhealthy additives and sodium in their foods to make them taste good. The most important thing you can do as a health-conscious consumer is not to just go on the word of the packaging. When something advertises to be low in fat, look at what it may be using to make up the difference.
Kashi’s slogan is “Seven whole grains on a mission.” That mission is making health foods good foods. They have successfully infiltrated the market on mass produced health foods and become a highly recognizable brand. They offer everything from breakfast foods, to snacks, to frozen dinners, all of which are transparent when it comes to nutritional values.
On Kashi’s website they list every nutritional fact for everything they sell including ingredients. One thing you will notice is Kashi ingredients are pronounceable. No mono-hydro-scary thing-glutamate here. You’re looking at chicken, onions, salt, and garlic.
Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice and many other frozen food companies list their nutritional values and ingredients on their websites as well. Do your research, you may be surprised at what you find.
Below are the published nutritional facts for Kashi, Healthy Choice and Lean Cuisine’s versions of Sweet and Sour Chicken.
Lean Cuisine: Healthy Choice: Kashi:
Amount Per Serving: Amount Per Serving: Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 310 Calories: 400 Calories: 320
Calories From Fat: 25 Calories from fat: 90 Calories from Fat: 35
Total Fat: 3g Total Fat: 10 g Total Fat: 3.5g
Saturated fat: 0.5g Saturated Fat: 1.5 g Saturated Fat 0.5g
Protein: 17 g Protein: 13 g Protein 18g
Cholesterol: 30 mg Cholesterol: 20 mg Cholesterol: 35mg
Sodium: 540 mg Sodium: 500 g Sodium: 380mg
Potassium: 760 mg Potassium: not listed Potassium: 600mg
Carbohydrates: 53 g Carbohydrates: 61 g Carbohydrate: 55g
Sugar: 20g
Another difference comes in the fine print of the ingredients lists.
Ingredients in Lean Cuisine Sweet and Sour Chicken:
Blanched enriched long grain rice (rice, ferric phosphate, niacin, thiamin mononitrate and folic acid), cooked chicken tenderloins (chicken tenderloins, water, isolated soy protein, modified rice starch, canola oil, seasoning (flavors, yeast extract, salt, dehydrated garlic, citric acid), salt, sugar, sodium phosphates), water, tomato puree (water, tomato paste), pineapple in pineapple juice, carrots, green peppers, red peppers, sugar, orange juice concentrate, pineapple juice concentrate, apple cider vinegar, modified cornstarch, soybean oil, soy sauce (water, wheat, soybeans, salt), cultured whey, salt, potassium chloride, spices, lactic acid, calcium lactate.
Ingredients in Kashi Sweet and Sour Chicken:
Cooked Kashi® Pilaf (water, whole: oats, long grain brown rice, rye, hard red winter wheat, triticale, buckwheat, dehulled barley, sesame seeds), cooked chicken (chicken breast, water, chicken flavor [dehydrated chicken broth, chicken powder, and natural flavor], rice starch, carrageenan, salt), evaporated cane juice, water, roasted green beans (green beans, extra virgin olive oil), white vinegar (distilled vinegar, water), red bell peppers, edamame (soybeans), roasted yellow bell peppers, organic tomato ketchup (water, organic tomato paste, sugar, organic vinegar, sea salt, organic onion powder, organic garlic powder, organic spices), onions, crimini mushrooms, rice starch, concentrated pineapple juice, tomato paste, ginger puree (ginger, water), garlic (garlic, water), apple juice concentrate (concentrated apple juice, water, ascorbic acid [vitamin C]), citric acid.
[Healthy Choice did not have an ingredients list available on their website for this product.]
Kashi ingredients are less processed and more natural which allows your body to more properly digest, store, and dispose of the nutrients you eat. With more efficiently stored and disposed nutrients your body can function closer to peak efficiency. And of course, the less fat and calories you consume the less fat and calories your body has to deal with through the course of the day. You can’t store fat you haven’t eaten.
Kashi is just one of several brands that have decided to make health food actually healthy instead of appearing to be healthy.
Read the label and compare your options. Know what you’re putting in your body. While you can usually assume that certain brands are good for you, when it comes to a specific meal (in the case of this article Sweet and Sour Chicken) there will be a difference between brands. Some have more or less sugar (Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choices tied at 20g), more or less veggies (Kashi’s 6 vs. Lean Cuisine’s 3), and other vital nutrients. Be active when it comes to your food and make the best choice for you.
*Healthy Choice is owned by ConAgra Foods, Lean Cuisine is owned by Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., and Kashi is owned by the Kashi Company. All nutritional information and ingredients were taken directly from the official product website as available on March 28, 2009. The opinions in this article belong to the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Examier.com or any other affiliated parties. No compensation was offered or taken in the writing of this article. Always consult with a licensed physician before drastically altering your diet or beginning a new health regimen.
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