Planning and preparing nutritionally balanced meals are important steps in managing blood sugar for those who have diabetes. To support people managing blood sugar levels, Nestlé has developed a line of tasty, nutritious Lean Cuisine Balance Bowls.
The meals meet the American Diabetes Association® (ADA) Better Choices for Life Program frozen entrée nutrition guidelines. Lean Cuisine is the first brand to participate in the program with full meal offerings.
"Our culinary team worked alongside nutritionists and members of the ADA to ensure that our meals are crafted with filling flavors and well-balanced ingredients that help consumers achieve their personal nutritional goals," says Kat Amrhein, Lean Cuisine Brand Manager. "Each frozen entrée contains 400 calories or less, a serving of vegetables, and zero grams of added sugar."
A good source of protein and fiber, the Balance Bowls come in four delicious and nutritious varieties: Tex-Mex Rice and Black Beans; Lemon Garlic Shrimp Stir-Fry; Roasted Eggplant Parmesan Pasta; and Creamy Pasta Primavera. The meals carry the ADA Better Choices for Life logo on-pack, making it easy for consumers to find them in-store.
Jennifer Paine, Head of Nestlé's R&D unit for food in Solon, Ohio says: "We used a test and learn approach to develop these great-tasting meals that make it easy for people managing blood sugar levels to enjoy a nutritionally balanced diet. After a successful pilot through our U.S. R+D Accelerator, we are excited to launch the meals on a much wider scale under the Lean Cuisine brand."
As part of the R+D Accelerator initiative, the original recipes went from idea to shop in only six months. The Accelerator team worked with various Nestlé's experts including nutritionists, chefs, product developers and regulatory scientists to develop the meals. After a limited-edition launch in 2022, Nestlé teams further improved the recipes and created new varieties, which will now launch nationwide in select U.S. retailers starting in April 2023.
Nestlé's aims to provide nutritional products and services tailored to people with specific dietary needs as part of a balanced diet. In Malaysia, Nestlé launched Nutren GlucoSmart, a novel food supplement containing Reducose®, a mulberry leaf extract that is clinically proven to lower blood glucose spikes. To compliment the launch of Nutren GlucoSmart, Nestlé scientists developed a digital platform that enables the assessment of diabetes risks and provides tailored recommendations for prediabetes-friendly meal plans. As a follow up, Nestlé launched TangLv, a powdered milk beverage also containing Reducose® to support healthy aging, under the YiYang brand in China.
In India, Nestlé provides a range of tasty, nutritious, diabetic-friendly recipes based on MyMenu IQ™, a scientifically validated nutritional service that ranks the nutritional balance of meals on a scale from zero to 100.
Nestlé also partnered with the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation to launch Gut-Friendly Recipes, a comprehensive free digital tool that uses machine-learning algorithms and nutrition data to generate personalized meal plans for people with chronic digestive issues, or anyone seeking nutritious gut-friendly meals.
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