ConAgra Foods established the Healthy Choice line of frozen meals in order to provide a healthier, lower-calorie alternative to the fatty salt-bombs that have traditionally stocked the TV dinner section of the supermarket, but are Healthy Choice meals good for you or do they come with their own set of problems? Below, I have outlined several ways that Healthy Choice meals can be improved in order to make them a truly healthy choice.

The sodium content needs to be dramatically reduced. This may sound like a tired complaint of processed food, but it's one that needs to be made over and over again until manufacturers take it into account and reduce sodium levels in processed and packaged foods to a reasonable level. Sure, salt makes food taste good, but too much of it leads to fluid retention and hypertension. 400 to 700 mg of sodium for a 300 calorie meal is simply too high. There are other ways to add flavor to food.

Instead of filling most of the mass of the meal with pasta, instead replace it with additional vegetables. Pasta, particular cheaper pasta, is based on refined flour, which increases inflammation, stimulates blood sugar spikes, and in general is simply not good for you. It is included in frozen meals because it tastes good and because it is a way to add mass to the meal for a very low cost. The logical step would be replacing some or all of the pasta with additional vegetables, and possibly a little more meat.

Cut back on the sugary sauces. While this is not a problem when it comes to every Healthy Choice frozen dinner, but there are definitely several of them that contain sugary sauces. Teriyaki, sweet and sour, and barbecue sauces are a few examples. No one is denying that sweet sauces taste great, are cheap to make, and lend to the mistaken belief of many people that anything without fat is good for you, but when something is touting itself to be a healthy alternative, it shouldn't be glazed in sugar.

Increase the calorie content. Yes, I realize that Healthy Choice frozen dinners are marketed as weight loss alternatives, which means that they are expected to be low in calories. My argument is that 250 to 350 calories is simply not a meal for most people, and eating meals this size can actually inhibit weight loss efforts. Healthy cooking involves keeping to realistic caloric expectations.

Now, I know exactly what you're thinking. "But, if all of these changes were made, they would cost a lot more," you say, and you would be exactly right in doing so. The costs would definitely go up. Making the meals larger, fresher, and replacing cheap pasta with more expensive meat and vegetables would no doubt increase the cost of the meal. Here is my argument to that: your health is worth an extra dollar or two when you buy a frozen dinner.

Much of the obesity problem in the world is due to a dependence on cheap processed food, but if we spend a little more and get something that is much healthier, not only would our health be better, but we would most likely end up spending less money later in life due to chronic illness. Healthy Choice frozen meals are certainly better than the industry norm, but they can also be made a lot better.