ConAgra Foods Introduces New Healthy Choice Entrées to Help Americans Incorporate Dietary Guidelines into Everyday Life
January 31 2011 - 11:18AM
Business Wire
As the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are released,
ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) one of North America’s leading
food makers, announced today four new Healthy Choice® Café
Steamers® meals and nine recently improved All Natural Entrées.
ConAgra Foods and its Healthy Choice brand have a solution for
incorporating the dietary guidelines into people’s everyday lives
in a way that’s practical, simple and economical.
“One of the leading nutritional problems identified in the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans is the imbalance of calories in
versus calories out, with the overconsumption of calories strongly
linked to portion distortion and calorie density,” said Mark Andon,
Ph.D., vice president, Nutrition, ConAgra Foods. “Independent
research shows that frozen single-serve meals, such as our new
Healthy Choice entrées, can help people lose weight better and more
rapidly than healthy eating plans that don’t include frozen
single-serve meals. Frozen single-serve meals offer portion and
calorie control, and are generally lower in calorie
density.”(1-4)
Like all Healthy Choice frozen meals, the new varieties parallel
the dietary guidelines in a number of ways. With nearly 70
delicious options, Healthy Choice frozen meals are low in fat and
saturated fat, include many whole-grain and meatless selections,
are controlled in sodium and cholesterol and, importantly, are
appropriately portioned with the calorie content clearly labeled.
Each new single-serve frozen entrée contains between 220 and 360
calories, and no Healthy Choice meal exceeds 500 calories.
Additionally, the meals are low in calorie density and
calorie-dense foods have been identified as a major issue
contributing to obesity.
New Asian Inspired Healthy Choice Café Steamers meals include
Lemongrass Chicken & Shrimp, Kung Pao Chicken, Pineapple
Chicken, and Beef Teriyaki. The existing All Natural Entrées
product line has been updated with a one-step steaming tray to
unlock a fresher taste and more vibrant flavor. The contemporary
recipes include Asian Potstickers, Pumpkin Squash Ravioli,
Portabella Spinach Parmesan, Three Cheese Marinara, Portabella
Marsala Pasta, Tortellini Primavera Parmesan, Roasted Red Pepper
Marinara, Creamy Basil Pesto, and Lobster Cheese Ravioli. Suggested
retail prices of Healthy Choice frozen meals range from $2.00 to
$3.29.
Leading the way in health and wellness
“We consider our broad portfolio of health and wellness brands,
such as Healthy Choice, Hunt’s® and Orville Redenbacher’s®
SmartPop! ®, to be a competitive advantage for ConAgra Foods and
will continue focusing on delivering the great-tasting, nutritious
foods consumers want,” Andon said.
Hunt’s tomatoes: Because of the tomato’s popularity and
nutritive value, the 2010 Dietary Guidelines outline a new
red-orange vegetable sub-group that provides a greater focus on
tomatoes. This new guideline can be met easily by consuming just
one more serving of tomatoes each day. Also, encouraging greater
tomato consumption may help increase overall vegetable intake since
canned tomatoes, such as Hunt’s®, are readily available year round,
widely accepted by consumers, convenient and economical. Canned
tomatoes can also offer nutritional benefits. According to a study
reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, lycopene
absorption is two to three times greater in canned tomato products
than in raw tomatoes.
Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popping Corn: Beyond mealtime,
calorie and portion control are also important when it comes to
snacking. According to the dietary guidelines, snacks account for
25 percent of the calories consumed in the U.S. and can lead to
weight gain. Orville Redenbacher’s® 94 percent fat-free SmartPop!®
popcorn, available in 100-calorie mini bags, is a low-fat,
whole-grain snack that can help people stick to reduced-calorie
eating plans while still feeling full and satisfied. When compared
with other 100-calorie snacks, popcorn offers the advantages of
whole grains and fiber to help control hunger, which in turn can
help prevent overeating and make losing weight easier.
About ConAgra Foods
ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG), is one of North America’s
leading food companies, with brands in 97 percent of America’s
households. Consumers find Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters,
Hebrew National, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s, Orville Redenbacher’s,
PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim, Snack Pack and many other
ConAgra Foods brands in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise and
club stores. ConAgra Foods also has a strong business-to-business
presence, supplying frozen potato and sweet potato products as well
as other vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of
well-known restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial
customers. For more information, please visit us at
www.conagrafoods.com.
The following research was not sponsored by ConAgra Foods. It
was reviewed by the Scientific Advisory Committee to the 2010
Dietary Guidelines for Americans and rated as strong.
(1) Nutritional Management of Cardiovascular
Risk Factors. Arch Intern Med 1997.
(2) A Randomized Trial of Improved Weight
Loss with a Prepared Meal Plan in Overweight and Obese Patients.
Arch Intern Med 2000.
(3) Use of Portion-Controlled Entrees
Enhances Weight Loss in Women. Obesity Research 2004.
(4) Use of Packaged Entrees as Part of a
Weight-Loss Diet in Overweight Men: an 8-Week Randomized Clinical
Trial. Diabetes Obes Metab 2006.
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