It’s a cup of yakisoba, but it’s healthy!　Can one live on a “complete meal” alone?　The Dietitian’s Convincing Answer is

Good for you or bad for you?”…1/3 of a day’s intake of nutrients

Nissin Foods’ “Perfect Meshi” series has become a common sight in convenience stores and supermarkets. The lineup includes junk foods such as cup yakisoba noodles and curry rice, so one wonders whether they are good or bad for the body.

The “Complete Nutritional Meals” series, which has been gaining attention over the past few years, are foods that provide 1/3 of our daily nutritional needs, as defined in the “Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese and Nutrient Labeling Standards” published by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. The daily requirement of nutrients is determined by the Japanese Dietary Reference Intakes and the Nutrient Labeling Standards published by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

says Erika Shinohara, a registered dietitian.

The good thing about “Perfect Meshi” is that it has an excellent nutritional balance. Even if you think you are paying attention to your diet, there are nutrients such as vitamin B group, vitamin D, and calcium that are difficult to obtain from food.

Also, if you eat out a lot, there are surprisingly a lot of things you take in without realizing it, such as sugar, animal fat, and salt. With a complete meal, you can make up for the missing nutrients and still prevent overconsumption.”

Eating only a “complete meal” may worsen the intestinal environment

It is important to note that although the name “complete” is used, it does not provide a full day’s worth of nutrients, but only 1/3 of a day’s worth. If this is the case, then it would seem that eating “x3 servings” of the “Perfect Meal” series products in a day would provide the necessary nutrients….

However, from a nutritional viewpoint, there are some concerns.

Chewing food is very important for those of us who live on nutrients from food. Chewing causes the secretion of saliva, which improves digestion and absorption, and helps prevent tooth decay and gum disease. It also stimulates the satiety center, preventing overeating, and is involved in the development of facial muscles and jaw development.

Cup meals, cup yakisoba, smoothies, and other foods in the complete meal lineup require less chewing, so the benefits of chewing may be lessened.”

In addition, while it contains a good balance of nutrients necessary for a day, it does not contain “functional ingredients” other than nutrients.

Functional components are components that are not essential for life, but have functions effective for cellular anti-oxidation, disease prevention, and maintenance of health. Well-known examples include lycopene in tomatoes and anthocyanin in blueberries. Since the complete meal is a processed food, such functional ingredients cannot be fully consumed and must be obtained from raw foods.”

Furthermore, if the diet is solely biased toward processed foods, there is concern about the effect on the intestinal environment, which is said to be the “key to health.

In order to increase the number of beneficial bacteria in the intestines, we need to take in beneficial bacteria from fermented foods, as well as dietary fiber, oligosaccharides, and other foods that serve as food for beneficial bacteria. If you eat only a complete meal all the time, there is no food to feed the good bacteria, so it is thought that it will be difficult for the good bacteria to increase. To maintain a good intestinal environment, it is important to eat a variety of foods.

For those whose diets are unbalanced, the “Perfect Meal” is rather healthy.

Considered as one of the three meals, depending on how the “complete meal” is utilized, it can be a strong ally for busy modern people. For those whose diets are unbalanced or who eat two meals a day, using it well can help make up for missing nutrients.

Many of the products in the “Perfect Meshi” series can be completed by pouring in hot water or heating in the microwave, and the cooking process is simple for all of them. For those who tend to eat unbalanced meals, such as ramen noodles + rice at restaurants, rice bowls + noodles at convenience stores, or hamburger sets at fast food restaurants, I would rather recommend the Complete Meshi series.

If you have trouble cooking for yourself because you tend to overeat, especially at night, replacing only one meal with a complete meal at night will give you a perfect nutritional balance for that one meal. This will also prevent calorie overload.

The best time to include a complete meal is not only for dinner, but also for breakfast. For those who skip breakfast, or who often end up eating only bread and coffee due to lack of time, smoothies and granola from the “Perfect Meal” series can be used as an easy way to have a well-balanced breakfast.

If one meal is a complete meal, there are some points to keep in mind when eating the other two meals.

For example, you can eat a salad with green and yellow vegetables, a granola, or a smoothie. For example, try to eat a variety of foods instead of the same menu, such as raw foods like green and yellow vegetable salads and fruits, fermented foods like yogurt and natto, blue fish rich in EPA and DHA, and soy products containing soy isoflavones.”

Foods that were once thought of as junk food are now becoming more health-conscious. Moreover, a decade ago, some foods were “bland” and “not good to eat. Technology has evolved and healthy food has become both tasty and functional. It seems that today’s busy people are the ones who can’t afford not to use these healthy foods.

Erika Shinohara is a registered dietitian. She is a certified instructor of the Japanese Society of Anti-Aging Medicine and the president of Health & Beautrition. She is the leader of Health & Beautrition, which provides easy-to-understand information on dietary habits that create health and beauty from within the body. While working as a member of a medical team at a general hospital and a nephrology and internal medicine clinic, she realized the importance of sleep and became a sleep improvement instructor and a sleep health coach.