Surprised by potassium levels in Lean Cuisine!

LaBigGirl · 11-30-2008, 12:33 AM

Hi all, I am on spironolactone (a potassium-sparing diuretic) and must avoid excessive potassium in my diet. It occurs naturally in bananas, oranges, and many foods, but I never expected so much to show up in Lean Cuisine meals. I know a lot of Cysters are on spiro. or the similar medication that is in Yaz pill, so I thought it was important to share this info.

It appears that in the last year, Stouffer's has been changing their LC recipes to reduce sodium, but they are using salt substitute now (aka potassium chloride) to make up for the lost sodium-salt. I have bought these meals in the past as a quick meal or to take to work. Now, I am not buying them at all due to the potassium levels. The average seems to be 500 mg. per meal! I could maybe have 1-2 a week and be ok, but I'd really have to watch it. I wrote to Stouffer's when I discovered the changes, and complained that they had never indicated anything on their labels other than "New Recipe!" and that a person would have to study the nutrition label anew to even notice the difference. They responded to me with a form email that had nothing to do with what I had written them.

Anyway, if this topic has been covered already, sorry for the repeat! I just was caught off-guard by it and wanted to share.

RunnerDuck · 11-30-2008, 01:38 PM

I noticed this recently with some Campbells soup... it was clam chower, one of those ones in the Chunky Sized cans, but not Chunky. They talk up their preium ingredients on the can and mention using some funky kind of salt so there is less sodium... I don't think it was the potasium stuff, though.

I don't really think slipping fake salt on people is that good an idea. I don't like fake sugars, either. I think it's better to use real sugar but cut down on it so you get used to the less sweet taste. I feel like the salt is the same way - isn't it better in the long run to get used to things being less salty than to use some weird salt to cut sodium? I know the stuff isn't really fake and is probably not harmful for most people but it's like the overall lifestyle change is being ignore.

I hadn't thought of it being unhealthy for some people. You're quite right. If you're on spiro, this might be a concern. I think the risk of K overload on spiro is not as dangerous as some might think, but it is still a consideration! I remember being told you'd have to seriously binge on bananas for there to be a problem - but I don't know how much is actually in the lean cuisine.

JoyJoyJoy · 12-02-2008, 11:45 PM

Thanks 4 the info.