What exactly is Processed Food?

Did you know ultra-processed food makes up about 65% of the calories most Americans eat? This number includes children, which is EXTREMELY frightening! These foods are responsible for the rise in many diseases that have become standard here. Let’s see if this catches your attention.. 5 or more servings of these kind of foods a day increases your chance of bad health by 60%!  What is even scarier is how little that really is. Here is an example of what 5 servings of ultra-processed food looks like, 2 pieces of bread, handful of pretzels, normal size cookie, and a serving of crackers.  YIKES. Time to break down the categories of processed foods.

Unprocessed are the WINNERS. Think of foods in their normal state or foods that lack added ingredients. Examples are fruit, veggies, beans, and eggs. For your health this is what the majority of your diet should be from.

Processed foods might have started as whole but then manufactures have added oils, salt, or sugars to make them last longer/taste better. Some of these minimally processed foods can be enjoyed in moderation. Examples of these would be organic raw cheeses and natural peanut butter or other natural nut butters.

Ultra-Processed foods are NO’s!!!  These are made in a factory folks. They use a process of taking parts of food, changing them, and adding synthetic” bad for you” ingredients.  They should be ZERO part of your daily diet.  The fake ingredients make it possible for the item to be on a shelf so long AND they make you crave more of them.  Refined sugars are addictive and stop your body’s signal that it is full. Those that consume a high level of these foods have the highest risk for obesity and chronic diseases.

I’m going to give you some examples from several food categories: sweetened drinks, packaged bakery goods and candy, cereal bars, flavored yogurts, deli meats, chips/crackers, frozen meals, ketchup/store bought salad dressing, mac-n-cheese, canned soup, and PB with added sugar.  Please for your health do not consume these and DEFINITELY do not give them to a growing child.

Let’s strive to eliminate foods with added sugar, refined grains, and refined seed/vegetable oils.  All good habits start by small steps. Don’t tackle everything at once 😊