What exactly are processed foods? Are there healthy processed foods? There is so much information out there that I’m finding it hard to navigate.
Processed foods are foods that have had substantial transformation from the raw ingredients they were made from.
Things like packaged cookies and chips, high sugar breakfast cereals, white bread, commercial protein bars and drinks, many soups and prepared meals, cakes, bacon, hot dogs, jerky, sauces and spreads, lots of commercial snack options, flavored sodas, etc. are all examples of highly processed foods.
Then there are less processed things; yes they’ve had a lot done to make them different from plain meat/veg/fruit/water, but the ingredients lists are smaller, mostly recognizable food items, and they have lower sugar, sodium and additive ingredients. Wholegrain pasta or multigrain low sugar bread, passata with natural ingredients for flavour instead of sugary pasta sauces, soups without lots of sodium and random ingredients like thickeners, plain yogurt and basic dairy products like butter, milk or cheese, tinned fish in water, plain seltzer or ones that just have natural fruit flavors, that sort of thing.
Processed foods are just anything that is different than how it is found in nature. So, a sliced apple is technically processed.
There are absolutely “healthy” processed foods, but it all depends on your definition of healthy. The whole “avoid all processed foods” is common in some nutrition communities, but blanket statements like this don’t improve anyones education on food & nutrition.
Processed foods are things that basically come in a wrapper. If it was taken, and something was added/taken, and then it was purchased, it’s processed. Now, to be clear… THAT’S OKAY.
Processed foods are mostly beneficial for things like portability and taste, but there’s no reason that a protein bar or a piece of bread, or some chips, or a pop tart is bad for you, within the context of a healthy diet. As long as what you’re eating gets you adequate protein and fiber, minimal trans and saturated fat, reasonable levels of added sugar, and fits within a sustainable long-term diet plan, then all you need to worry about is micronutrients, and that tends to be where processed stuff falls well short.
If you’re incorporating some processed foods like fast food or prepared meals into a diet of whole, single ingredient foods, you’re reasonably fine. If you’re doing it in the reverse order - have some veggies among a mass diet of processed foods - then likely you’re falling way short in some pretty important vitamins and minerals.
I tend to buy canned grains which would be considered processed foods. The cans I buy is for beans, chickpeas, peas, etc. and the only Ingridients are the grain itself, sea salt, and water. So it’s processed but it isn’t bad for your health. Easy way to throw them into a recipe.
It depends on the definition of processing. In my opinion, cooking food is not the same as processed food. I regard anything that you can do in your kitchen or a farm as cooking or preparing. Anything that requires industrial level machinery, chemical, etc is processed. Processed foods are also not black and white, they exist along a spectrum (I.e. white rice versus brown rice, white bread versus whole grain, grass fed beef versus grain fed beef, etc.)
Anything that has more than one ingredient for the most part. Focus on whole foods - rice is rice, chicken is chicken, beans are beans.
If you don’t know what else the food is made up of by looking at it, it’s processed to some degree.
Unfortunately even some of the healthiest food brands that claim unprocessed are still some how processed , your best bet to stay away from that is buying single ingredient foods(eggs,rice,potatoes,meats,fresh fruit/vegetables) you get my point.
processed means affecting it anything further than its idle state in nature
so you want as minimally processed as possible if that makes sense
processing can be shredding, pressing, heating, mixing, cooling, roasting, … you get the deal.
the less machinery, the less chemicals. the more straight from the ground , probably the most beneficial for your health. when we cook our food it is a form of processing and if done in the right way can have benefits for health
look at your family’s medical history and then eat accordingly. If you have high blood pressure issues or heart issues then avoid salt Which means low salt options. That really cuts down on a lot of processed food fresh or frozen or canned. If you have diabetes in the family then watch out for carbs and sugar. For a diabetic sugar is sugar, Whether it is skittles or an orange. Personally I don’t even know where to go with cancer which I do have in my family. So I follow my mothers philosophy. Eat as little processed as possible. I do however believe in traditional processed food like sesame oil, black vinegar, pickles, sauerkraut…
So I turned into a snob and will only eat gourmet processed food. if I am going to cheat it better be good. No more of the cheap stuff.
However I belong to the group that says the biggest factor that we’re really ignoring is stress. Everything else is a low second.