Vegetarian Journal - Sep/Oct 1993
These articles were originally published in the September/October 1993 issue
of the Vegetarian Journal, published by:
The Vegetarian Resource Group P.O. Box 1463, Dept. GR Baltimore, MD 21203
(410) 366-VEGE
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to educating the public on vegetarianism and the interrelated issues of
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VEGETARIAN JOURNAL'S GUIDE TO FROZEN CONVENIENCE FOODS By Suzanne Havala,
M.S., R.D.
How many times per week do you cook dinner from scratch? Granted, there
are some of you out there who are truly conscientious. You fix and freeze
healthfully-prepared, individual portions of food that you can pull out
of the freezer during the week and heat up for a quick meal. Or you actually
do make dinner from scratch every night. I commend you. However, there is
also a large contingency of kitchen-averse veggies out there who prefer
to take a few short-cuts. They use some of the myriad of frozen convenience
products that are out on the market today.
What is a frozen convenience food? We're talking about ready-made entrees
or other items that can make up a substantial portion of a meal. Examples
include frozen pizza, burritos, all-inclusive frozen meals (akin to the
TV dinners of yesteryear -- an entree with a couple of side dishes), singular
entrees, such as lasagna, etc. (Vegetarian burgers and dogs were discussed
in the January/February, 1993 issue of _Vegetarian Journal_.)
There are hundreds of products on the market, not only in natural food stores
but increasingly in neighborhood grocery stores as well. We won't attempt
to review all that is available, but a little discussion about some of the
considerations in choosing these products may be helpful. We've sampled
a few products, and we invite you to send us any comments you may have about
products that you have tried - good and bad -- so that we can share this
information with readers in a future issue of Vegetarian Journal.
When Choosing a Frozen Convenience Product -- Consider the "Basic Four"
1) nutritional value 2) taste 3)convenience 4) cost
NUTRITION
It's hard to assess the nutritional merits of products that don't give nutrition
information on their labels. Taj Gourmet Foods makes a line of frozen Indian
meals, sold in natural foods stores, that are delicious, such as the Mutter
Paneer. Unfortunately, the nutritional content of the dish is a mystery.
In cases where no nutrition information is provided on the label, you may
need to use subjective measures to make an assessment. Looking at the list
of ingredients, and knowing that ingredients are listed in order of their
predominance in the product, can also help. If oil is listed somewhere near
the top, then the item is probably high in fat. Another option, of course,
is to write the company for nutrition information. (The May/June, 1993 issue
of _Vegetarian Journal_ includes an article on label reading.)
TASTE
Just as you may kiss a few toads before finding a prince, you may have to
taste a few duds before finding a good product. Of course, taste is subjective
- what one person likes another may reject. So experiment with new products.
Expect to be disappointed now and then, but the chances are good that if
you are open to trying new products, you'll find some new favorites. A couple
of recent duds (judging is subjective - you may feel differently) were two
Tumaro's products, Blue Corn Tamales and Black Bean Burritos, both found
in natural food stores. The tamales were microwaved according to the package
instructions, but the filling was dry. The black bean burritos were also
prepared according to package directions. One was microwaved and one was
oven-baked in foil. It was nice that the tortillas were made from whole
wheat, but they were tough and tended to fall apart. The filling was an
interesting mix of black beans, vegetables, and rice, but overall the product
was sub-par.
On the other hand, a Jaclyn's product, Grilled Tofu in Black Bean Sauce,
was very tasty. The tofu was chewy and tasted good, and the black bean sauce
mixed well with the brown rice and mixed vegetables (green beans, carrots,
and corn) that were included in the meal. The dish was well-seasoned and
not bland. A Jaclyn's spokesperson also recommends trying the Salisbury
Steak in Mushroom Sauce -- it's made with seitan.
CONVENIENCE
Let's face it: buying ready-made foods is usually more expensive than making
a meal from scratch. We pay for convenience. Convenience usually means being
able to reach into the freezer for a ready-made item that needs only to
be heated in the microwave, conventional oven, or on the stove -- and can
be ready in minutes. For those who like to use a microwave oven, most frozen
foods can be ready in anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes. A conventional
oven or stove top cooking can take longer.
Frozen products may also be convenient if they can be heated and even eaten
right out of the same package. Some packages that contain more than one
serving of a food can be resealed easily, to protect the flavor of the remaining
serving. One note: there was a packaging problem with the Jaclyn's Tofu
with Black Bean Sauce. The product began to thaw on the way home from the
store, and by the time it was put into the freezer, black bean sauce was
leaking out of the package and onto the kitchen floor. The plastic covering
over the serving container was not intact, and the sauce leaked right out
of the cardboard package.
COST
How much are you willing to pay for convenience? Jaclyn's makes Fat-Free
Pizza. A box of 9 rectangular slices (total of 24 ounces -- about the same
amount as a medium pizza) cost over $6.50 at a Charlotte, North Carolina,
natural food store. The pizza is plain, made with soy cheese, and is pretty
typical of frozen pizza in taste. Microwaving is not recommended, so the
pizza had to be heated in a conventional oven. The crust was good -- thin
and crispy -- and the cheese melted fairly well. It could have used more
tomato sauce. The flavor of oregano was predominant. This pizza, like many
other frozen varieties, would serve as a good base upon which to add more
sauce and additional toppings. It passed the day-old-leftover-cold pizza
test well, too.
But cost is a factor to consider. How much more would a fresh, home-delivered
pizza cost than what you would pay for the Jaclyn's (or another brand) pizza?
The Jaclyn's Tofu with Black Bean Sauce was $4.25 at another Charlotte,
North Carolina, natural food store. Although the dish included sides of
rice and vegetables, many people could probably eat more than the portions
given in this product and would perhaps add bread and a dessert to the meal.
The total cost might be as much as you would pay at a restaurant for a similar
meal.
In the next issue of _Vegetarian Journal_ we will review alternatives to
dairy products including non-dairy cheese, yogurt, sour cream, etc.
___________________________________________________________________________
SCIENTIFIC UPDATES
A REVIEW OF RECENT SCIENTIFIC PAPERS RELATING TO VEGETARIANISM By Reed Mangels,
Ph.D., R.D.
EATING RIGHT AFTER A HEART ATTACK
If diet can reduce risk of heart disease in a healthy person, could it also
reduce the risk of death after a heart attack? Researchers in India set
out to answer this question. They studied 406 predominantly male patients
who were assigned to either a diet rich in fruits, vegetables,cereals, nuts,
and fish or to a standard low calorie, reduced fat and cholesterol diet.
The diets were started within 48 hours after the subjects had a heart attack.
The subjects on the near-vegetarian diet had higher intakes of fiber, polyunsaturated
fat, vitamin C and vitamin E. Their dietary cholesterol, calories, and saturated
fat were lower than the other group's.
After 6 weeks, those on the near-vegetarian diet had a larger decrease in
blood cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides and greater weight
loss than did subjects on the more traditional diet. These differences were
accompanied by fewer fatal and non-fatal repeat heart attacks and a lower
rate of sudden cardiac death in the 6 weeks after the first heart attack
in subjects eating a diet rich in cereals, nuts, fruits and vegetables,
and fish.
Both groups got about 28% of calories from fat. Those on the near-vegetarian
diet averaged 128 milligrams of dietary cholesterol per day; the others
averaged 266 mg per day. Dean Ornish, M.D.,has successfully used a diet
with close to 10% of calories from fat and almost no cholesterol in treatment
of severe heart disease.We can only wonder if a similar diet would have
been even more helpful for the 12 subjects of this study on vegetarian diets
who died within 6 weeks of their first heart attack with less rigorous dietary
changes.For more information see: Singh RB, Rastogi SS, Verma R, Bolaki
L,Singh R: An Indian experiment with nutritional modulation in acute myocardial
infarction. Am J Cardiol 69:879-85, 1992.
DIETS HIGH IN CALCIUM, LOW IN ANIMAL PROTEIN REDUCE RISK OF KIDNEY STONES
In 1986, more than 2 billion dollars was spent on the treatment of kidney
stones. About 10% of men and 3% of women will suffer (and from what I've
heard, suffer is a mild term) from kidney stones at some time.
Since kidney stones are commonly composed of calcium oxalate and calcium
phosphate, conventional wisdom says that to prevent the formation of calcium-containing
kidney stones, dietary calcium should be reduced. Until recently no studies
had been done examining the validity of this advice. Dr. Gary Curhan and
co-investigators at Harvard studied more than 45,000 men for four years.
They asked the subjects about their diets at the start of the study and
then saw who got kidney stones over the next four years (505 men). Those
men who had the highest intake of dietary calcium (over 1050 milligrams
daily) had almost half the risk of having a kidney stone compared to men
with the lowest dietary calcium (under 600 mg per day). The authors speculate
that increased dietary calcium may reduce the absorption of oxalate. Oxalate
is also a culprit in kidney stone formation. If less was absorbed, less
would be available to form stones.
Readers who want to reduce their risk of kidney stones should not rely on
calcium supplements. In the Harvard study, they did not have the same protective
effect as did dietary calcium, for unknown reasons. Dairy products are not
necessarily the best way to prevent kidney stones. In this study, high animal
protein intakes were found to increase risk of kidney stones. Since dairy
products are so high in animal protein, it seems sensible to rely mainly
on non-dairy sources of calcium to reduce risk of kidney stones.
In addition, those subjects who had high potassium intakes (potassium is
found in many fruits and vegetables) and generous fluid intakes also had
a lower risk of kidney stones. An editorial in the same issue of New England
Journal of Medicine points out that vegetarians have a reduced risk of kidney
stones. The editorial also recommends that anyone with calcium oxalate-containing
kidney stones drink enough water to keep urine volume above 2 liters per
day, limit oxalate rich foods, and limit animal protein. For further information
see: Curran GC, Willett WC, Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ. A prospective study of
dietary calcium and other nutrients and the risk of symptomatic kidney stones.
N Engl J Med 328:833-838, 1993. Lemann J, Jr. Composition of the diet and
calcium kidney stones. New Engl J Med 328: 880-882, 1993.
DIET OF BREAST- FEEDING WOMEN AFFECTS INCIDENCE OF ALLERGIES IN THEIR CHILDREN
Swedish researchers studied infants to see if their mothers' diets while
breast-feeding affected the infants' incidence of allergy. All infants studied
were from families with a history of allergies (rashes, asthma,runny noses).
Half of the mothers were placed on diets free of eggs,cow's milk, and fish
for the first three months of lactation. The other half had no dietary restrictions.
All infants were started on cow's milk after six months and on eggs and
fish after nine months. At four years, those children whose mothers had
avoided cow's milk, eggs, and fish had fewer and less severe allergic-type
rashes than the other children. No difference was seen in asthma or other
respiratory symptoms. It would have been interesting to see if a longer
period of avoiding cow's milk and other foods by mothers and infants would
have reduced the incidence of respiratory symptoms and if this would have
had an even greater effect on other symptoms. The researchers state that
"we still believe that it is too early to advocate ...avoidance of
[foods] during lactation to families with [allergies]". They recommend
further studies. While one small study does not prove that this type of
diet is effective in reducing allergic symptoms,since a diet free of cow's
milk and eggs can be nutritionally adequate,it seems reasonable to recommend
such a diet to breast-feeding women with a family history of allergy. For
further information see: Sigurs N,Hattevig G, Kjellman B. Maternal avoidance
of eggs, cow's milk, and fish during lactation: Effect on allergic manifestations,
skin-prick tests,and specific IgE antibodies in children at age 4 years.
Pediatrics 89:735-739, 1992.