ConAgra Foods Announces Four New Healthy Choice Café Steamers Meals

2/01/2011 -- As the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are released, ConAgra Foods, Inc., one of North America's leading food makers, announced 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."

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.