According to a recent article on Frozen Food Age's website, Tim Ryan of the Culinary Institute of America was quoted as saying that Americans suffer from "dietary schizophrenia," talking skinny but eating fat.

In other words, Americans may talk the talk of dietary control, but very few walk the walk and actually manage their diets in a healthy fashion. Ryan was speaking about the results from the 2005 Parade Magazine Survey entitled "What America Eats."

According to the survey, nearly half (45%) of all households prepare different dinners on the same night at least once a week due to different schedules. There was no information as to whether these two different nightly dinners are complete meals, sandwiches, take-out or other convenience foods. One in five (21%) households eats cereal for dinner at least once a week; and a little over one-third 36% - eat fast food or family restaurant-style casual dining due to time constraints.

More than half of all the people who responded indicated that they consider a "homecooked meal" to be a meal that combines fresh food, such as steaks, hamburger, or pork chops along with convenience foods like bagged salads, frozen vegetables or microwaveable side dishes.

The result of all this? 84% of those surveyed said that they try to eat a well-balanced meal but frequently fail; 42% eat a healthy mix of foods but undermine their food choices by snacking and eating guilty pleasure foods. Although they admit to sabotaging their own dietary plans, 80% of the respondents said that the obesity crisis needs to be addressed by food companies and 71% thought that the government should do something about it. Half of those surveyed with children didn't think that their own children needed to be on a diet, and only one-quarter of the respondents were themselves on a diet for weight loss.

One way to limit those impulse purchases and to be careful about what you eat is to research frozen meals, entrees, side dishes and TV Dinners before you buy. Most of the websites offering nutritional information have databases from the USDA, which has a very limited and out-of-date selection of nutrient information on frozen meals. Frozen food manufacturers, while responding to consumers' interest in dietary information, are still using packaging tricks great pictures, misleading wording and subtly disguised portion figures to attract consumers into purchasing foods which may exceed their nutritional requirements. If you can't perform on-line research before you go to the grocery store, make sure you read the labels very carefully to ensure that you're getting only what you want for your diet. In these cases, getting more than you bargained for isn't a good thing.

One brand of frozen meals that I recommend for people dieting, regardless of whether they are limiting carbohydrates, fat or overall calories, is the Birdseye Voila (lo-carb) line of meals in a bag. These meals combine the three C's creaminess, crunch and chewiness, as well as good flavor, are low in carbs and low in calories. There are numerous other flavorful, healthy and fast to prepare frozen meals that can meet your dietary needs just make sure you check out the labels first!

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