Proccessed Foods

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  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
    estherdragonbat wrote: »
    Seitan... is it "Say-tan" or "Sy-tan"? Serious question; I use it, but I've never actually heard its name spoken and I'd hate to get strange looks when people think I'm saying I consume the lord of the underworld if I'm mispronouncing it...

    It's say-tawn. Nothing like how it is spelt.

    Thanks!
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
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    xvolution wrote: »
    Food processing, anything that has been modified so it has more than one ingredient in it (like the previous example of rolled oats, the oats would still be natural as long as it's just the oats in the packaging, but add sugar or salt it becomes processed).

    What about bagged mixed salad? Definitely fits many definitions of processed because not only does it contain more than one ingredient, but it's also packaged.

    To me, it's just different types of salad greens that are pre-washed and put in a bag. Easy, convenient and in a lot of cases, more economical than if I were to buy all of the different greens separately and do it myself. :)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,906 Member
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    megpie41 wrote: »
    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    megpie41 wrote: »
    Yes, sodium benzoate is easy to pronounce...that one came to mind because I knew if off hand and didn't have to look it up to spell it.

    Think of the old Bryers ice cream commercial with the little girl reading the ingredients. She reads the competition and can't pronounce the chemical names....she reads Bryers and reads "milk, cream, sugar..." This was my point.

    She probably couldn't read or understand Shakespeare either. Should we avoid his plays?

    You guys really are insultive...very mature. I have beyond a college education so I am well educated. Can I actually pronounce the names, yes. Most educated people can differentiate between a chemical name and quinoa. You guys can continue to eat FDA chemicals because they cause no harm. I will continue to avoid them and that is my choice.

    Maybe I should have said difficult to pronounce for a 10 year old...but now you're going to complain with that analogy...there is no winning or common understanding with you guys so I'll stop trying.

    @megpie41 When I first read the post I thought the "she" referred to you and was offended on your behalf, but when I reread it understood the "she" to mean the little girl in the Breyers commercial and in that case thought it was relatively appropriate, although unfortunately unclear.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    edited August 2017
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    And without knowing what the OP meant by "package processed," the only example I can come up with of that - in the definition as it stands - might be a bag of microwave popcorn which does, in essence, get processed while still in the package. :)
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    VintageFeline wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    aggelikik wrote: »
    when I hear "processed food", I think of processing that adds a ton of preservatives to extend the food lifetime way beyond what more natural ways would achieve, or artificial flavouring and colouring to mask/alter significantly the taste, or using substitutes for other ingredients, either to make them more "trendy" or usually to cut the costs.

    I find this interesting, because I simply would not assume the word is used in such a limited way, it makes no sense to me. And as I said above, I think to the types of processed foods I eat or use, which are mostly more lightly processed or about preparation vs. addition of preservatives (not that I think there's anything inherently wrong with preservatives, and traditionally it's such things as salt, plus smoking, canning, pickling and related ingredients).

    I wonder when the popular usage started shifting so that some people think "processed" refers to a much smaller portion of foods than it does.

    I find this usage really frustrating, because if someone asked me if I avoid processed foods I'd say of course not, because I eat yogurt, etc. But then people insist that they do when they have protein powder and packaged bacon and so on in their diaries. If I said I did not eat processed foods (even though I do eat a mostly whole foods diet just because of personal preference), I'd feel like a liar, so people who eat lots of processed (in my mind) stuff insisting they gave up processed foods because they stopped going to McDonalds (well, more than once a week) or
    buying lots of frozen pot pies or whatever is confusing and makes communication so much harder, IMO.

    I'm not trying to be critical, but more to understand. I don't find that people in my life have some clear meaning of "processed" that is different than what I think of as processed. They's probably say something like "I'm avoiding foods with additives" if that's what they meant (which is problematic too, as what additives, just salt is an additive, but still not the odd meaning of "processed" I see here).

    I have always found the popular usage to mean Ultra Processed Foods.

    And I have not. If I told someone I knew I didn't eat processed foods while eating a homemade pasta dish with some cheese on it (also veg and lean meat), I imagine they'd poke a bit of fun.

    This is despite the fact that neither the dried pasta I used nor the cheese would be "processed" in the weird sense it gets used by some.

    So I'd feel like a liar to claim I do not eat processed foods and it causes me dissonance when people who clearly do insist they do not (especially when they usually ate, until last week, ultra processed foods I never ever ate and are specifically referring to cutting out those things).

    I am confused by this in part because I did go through a stage where I tried to avoid all foods not processed by me, and it was HARD and made things pointlessly hard for me, and I absolutely did worry about things like cheese and flour.

    Honestly. In the real world, I find people don't consider cheese, milk, butter etc to be processed. Processed is a word with negative connotations when applied to food. And I know some pretty intelligent reasonable people. It's just a modern vernacular to explain some foods we're supposed to consider bad for us.

    Which is why I prefer to use the term "convenience foods". Most people know what I am talking about (and yes, I do incorporate them in my diet because they are not bad for me).
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    VintageFeline wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    aggelikik wrote: »
    when I hear "processed food", I think of processing that adds a ton of preservatives to extend the food lifetime way beyond what more natural ways would achieve, or artificial flavouring and colouring to mask/alter significantly the taste, or using substitutes for other ingredients, either to make them more "trendy" or usually to cut the costs.

    I find this interesting, because I simply would not assume the word is used in such a limited way, it makes no sense to me. And as I said above, I think to the types of processed foods I eat or use, which are mostly more lightly processed or about preparation vs. addition of preservatives (not that I think there's anything inherently wrong with preservatives, and traditionally it's such things as salt, plus smoking, canning, pickling and related ingredients).

    I wonder when the popular usage started shifting so that some people think "processed" refers to a much smaller portion of foods than it does.

    I find this usage really frustrating, because if someone asked me if I avoid processed foods I'd say of course not, because I eat yogurt, etc. But then people insist that they do when they have protein powder and packaged bacon and so on in their diaries. If I said I did not eat processed foods (even though I do eat a mostly whole foods diet just because of personal preference), I'd feel like a liar, so people who eat lots of processed (in my mind) stuff insisting they gave up processed foods because they stopped going to McDonalds (well, more than once a week) or
    buying lots of frozen pot pies or whatever is confusing and makes communication so much harder, IMO.

    I'm not trying to be critical, but more to understand. I don't find that people in my life have some clear meaning of "processed" that is different than what I think of as processed. They's probably say something like "I'm avoiding foods with additives" if that's what they meant (which is problematic too, as what additives, just salt is an additive, but still not the odd meaning of "processed" I see here).

    I have always found the popular usage to mean Ultra Processed Foods.

    And I have not. If I told someone I knew I didn't eat processed foods while eating a homemade pasta dish with some cheese on it (also veg and lean meat), I imagine they'd poke a bit of fun.

    This is despite the fact that neither the dried pasta I used nor the cheese would be "processed" in the weird sense it gets used by some.

    So I'd feel like a liar to claim I do not eat processed foods and it causes me dissonance when people who clearly do insist they do not (especially when they usually ate, until last week, ultra processed foods I never ever ate and are specifically referring to cutting out those things).

    I am confused by this in part because I did go through a stage where I tried to avoid all foods not processed by me, and it was HARD and made things pointlessly hard for me, and I absolutely did worry about things like cheese and flour.

    Honestly. In the real world, I find people don't consider cheese, milk, butter etc to be processed. Processed is a word with negative connotations when applied to food. And I know some pretty intelligent reasonable people. It's just a modern vernacular to explain some foods we're supposed to consider bad for us.

    Maybe because I hang out with foodies and lawyers who are overly analytical about language. ;-)

    But cheese is one thing I think everyone would point out is processed, and I don't mean American processed cheese product, but good cheese.

    I am learning that processed is now like "socialist," it gets used to mean "things I do not like" and not with any useful meaning. (That socialist thing may be changing, not sure, and may well be different in the UK, so joke may fall flat, oh well.) But that is not yet something I had experienced in the offline world much, although the more I read popular nutrition stuff (not educated stuff), the more I see it is becoming a thing.

    Doesn't solve the problem that it creates an unanswerable question.

    Do I eat processed food?: well, of course, but if we mean what you call processed, maybe not or rarely anyway.

    Annoying.

    Bigger question, as you point out, is that it says nothing useful about about nutrition or weight loss.

    Hilarious thing is that when asked what's wrong with processed foods very often people say "it's packed with sugar or fat or salt" (which cheese is, it has sodium and is high fat). Clearly, not all processed foods have these things, lots of homemade foods do, and they are also extremely easy to pronounce.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    aggelikik wrote: »
    when I hear "processed food", I think of processing that adds a ton of preservatives to extend the food lifetime way beyond what more natural ways would achieve, or artificial flavouring and colouring to mask/alter significantly the taste, or using substitutes for other ingredients, either to make them more "trendy" or usually to cut the costs.

    I find this interesting, because I simply would not assume the word is used in such a limited way, it makes no sense to me. And as I said above, I think to the types of processed foods I eat or use, which are mostly more lightly processed or about preparation vs. addition of preservatives (not that I think there's anything inherently wrong with preservatives, and traditionally it's such things as salt, plus smoking, canning, pickling and related ingredients).

    I wonder when the popular usage started shifting so that some people think "processed" refers to a much smaller portion of foods than it does.

    I find this usage really frustrating, because if someone asked me if I avoid processed foods I'd say of course not, because I eat yogurt, etc. But then people insist that they do when they have protein powder and packaged bacon and so on in their diaries. If I said I did not eat processed foods (even though I do eat a mostly whole foods diet just because of personal preference), I'd feel like a liar, so people who eat lots of processed (in my mind) stuff insisting they gave up processed foods because they stopped going to McDonalds (well, more than once a week) or
    buying lots of frozen pot pies or whatever is confusing and makes communication so much harder, IMO.

    I'm not trying to be critical, but more to understand. I don't find that people in my life have some clear meaning of "processed" that is different than what I think of as processed. They's probably say something like "I'm avoiding foods with additives" if that's what they meant (which is problematic too, as what additives, just salt is an additive, but still not the odd meaning of "processed" I see here).

    I think it has more to with everything being processed in some way, so it being pointless to discuss whether we eat processed food in the technically correct context, since obviously yes, all of us eat mostly processed food (unless someone is eating only raw vegetables and fruit, I think it is impossible not to). So I always considered the term "processed" mostly as a way to describe ultra processed food, and this is what most people IRL seem to mean with it.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    earlnabby wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    aggelikik wrote: »
    when I hear "processed food", I think of processing that adds a ton of preservatives to extend the food lifetime way beyond what more natural ways would achieve, or artificial flavouring and colouring to mask/alter significantly the taste, or using substitutes for other ingredients, either to make them more "trendy" or usually to cut the costs.

    I find this interesting, because I simply would not assume the word is used in such a limited way, it makes no sense to me. And as I said above, I think to the types of processed foods I eat or use, which are mostly more lightly processed or about preparation vs. addition of preservatives (not that I think there's anything inherently wrong with preservatives, and traditionally it's such things as salt, plus smoking, canning, pickling and related ingredients).

    I wonder when the popular usage started shifting so that some people think "processed" refers to a much smaller portion of foods than it does.

    I find this usage really frustrating, because if someone asked me if I avoid processed foods I'd say of course not, because I eat yogurt, etc. But then people insist that they do when they have protein powder and packaged bacon and so on in their diaries. If I said I did not eat processed foods (even though I do eat a mostly whole foods diet just because of personal preference), I'd feel like a liar, so people who eat lots of processed (in my mind) stuff insisting they gave up processed foods because they stopped going to McDonalds (well, more than once a week) or
    buying lots of frozen pot pies or whatever is confusing and makes communication so much harder, IMO.

    I'm not trying to be critical, but more to understand. I don't find that people in my life have some clear meaning of "processed" that is different than what I think of as processed. They's probably say something like "I'm avoiding foods with additives" if that's what they meant (which is problematic too, as what additives, just salt is an additive, but still not the odd meaning of "processed" I see here).

    I have always found the popular usage to mean Ultra Processed Foods.

    And I have not. If I told someone I knew I didn't eat processed foods while eating a homemade pasta dish with some cheese on it (also veg and lean meat), I imagine they'd poke a bit of fun.

    This is despite the fact that neither the dried pasta I used nor the cheese would be "processed" in the weird sense it gets used by some.

    So I'd feel like a liar to claim I do not eat processed foods and it causes me dissonance when people who clearly do insist they do not (especially when they usually ate, until last week, ultra processed foods I never ever ate and are specifically referring to cutting out those things).

    I am confused by this in part because I did go through a stage where I tried to avoid all foods not processed by me, and it was HARD and made things pointlessly hard for me, and I absolutely did worry about things like cheese and flour.

    Honestly. In the real world, I find people don't consider cheese, milk, butter etc to be processed. Processed is a word with negative connotations when applied to food. And I know some pretty intelligent reasonable people. It's just a modern vernacular to explain some foods we're supposed to consider bad for us.

    Which is why I prefer to use the term "convenience foods". Most people know what I am talking about (and yes, I do incorporate them in my diet because they are not bad for me).

    I find this a much more sensible approach to the language question, since usually this IS what is meant on MFP.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,906 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    aggelikik wrote: »
    when I hear "processed food", I think of processing that adds a ton of preservatives to extend the food lifetime way beyond what more natural ways would achieve, or artificial flavouring and colouring to mask/alter significantly the taste, or using substitutes for other ingredients, either to make them more "trendy" or usually to cut the costs.

    I find this interesting, because I simply would not assume the word is used in such a limited way, it makes no sense to me. And as I said above, I think to the types of processed foods I eat or use, which are mostly more lightly processed or about preparation vs. addition of preservatives (not that I think there's anything inherently wrong with preservatives, and traditionally it's such things as salt, plus smoking, canning, pickling and related ingredients).

    I wonder when the popular usage started shifting so that some people think "processed" refers to a much smaller portion of foods than it does.

    I find this usage really frustrating, because if someone asked me if I avoid processed foods I'd say of course not, because I eat yogurt, etc. But then people insist that they do when they have protein powder and packaged bacon and so on in their diaries. If I said I did not eat processed foods (even though I do eat a mostly whole foods diet just because of personal preference), I'd feel like a liar, so people who eat lots of processed (in my mind) stuff insisting they gave up processed foods because they stopped going to McDonalds (well, more than once a week) or
    buying lots of frozen pot pies or whatever is confusing and makes communication so much harder, IMO.

    I'm not trying to be critical, but more to understand. I don't find that people in my life have some clear meaning of "processed" that is different than what I think of as processed. They's probably say something like "I'm avoiding foods with additives" if that's what they meant (which is problematic too, as what additives, just salt is an additive, but still not the odd meaning of "processed" I see here).

    I have always found the popular usage to mean Ultra Processed Foods.

    And I have not. If I told someone I knew I didn't eat processed foods while eating a homemade pasta dish with some cheese on it (also veg and lean meat), I imagine they'd poke a bit of fun.

    This is despite the fact that neither the dried pasta I used nor the cheese would be "processed" in the weird sense it gets used by some.

    So I'd feel like a liar to claim I do not eat processed foods and it causes me dissonance when people who clearly do insist they do not (especially when they usually ate, until last week, ultra processed foods I never ever ate and are specifically referring to cutting out those things).

    I am confused by this in part because I did go through a stage where I tried to avoid all foods not processed by me, and it was HARD and made things pointlessly hard for me, and I absolutely did worry about things like cheese and flour.

    Honestly. In the real world, I find people don't consider cheese, milk, butter etc to be processed. Processed is a word with negative connotations when applied to food. And I know some pretty intelligent reasonable people. It's just a modern vernacular to explain some foods we're supposed to consider bad for us.

    Maybe because I hang out with foodies and lawyers who are overly analytical about language. ;-)

    But cheese is one thing I think everyone would point out is processed, and I don't mean American processed cheese product, but good cheese.

    I am learning that processed is now like "socialist," it gets used to mean "things I do not like" and not with any useful meaning. (That socialist thing may be changing, not sure, and may well be different in the UK, so joke may fall flat, oh well.) But that is not yet something I had experienced in the offline world much, although the more I read popular nutrition stuff (not educated stuff), the more I see it is becoming a thing.

    Doesn't solve the problem that it creates an unanswerable question.

    Do I eat processed food?: well, of course, but if we mean what you call processed, maybe not or rarely anyway.

    Annoying.

    Bigger question, as you point out, is that it says nothing useful about about nutrition or weight loss.

    Hilarious thing is that when asked what's wrong with processed foods very often people say "it's packed with sugar or fat or salt" (which cheese is, it has sodium and is high fat). Clearly, not all processed foods have these things, lots of homemade foods do, and they are also extremely easy to pronounce.

    I can totally relate with your experience with "socialist" and have been really frustrated with how this term has been misused. I won't expand on that as that would get too political for the main forums.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    aggelikik wrote: »
    when I hear "processed food", I think of processing that adds a ton of preservatives to extend the food lifetime way beyond what more natural ways would achieve, or artificial flavouring and colouring to mask/alter significantly the taste, or using substitutes for other ingredients, either to make them more "trendy" or usually to cut the costs.

    I find this interesting, because I simply would not assume the word is used in such a limited way, it makes no sense to me. And as I said above, I think to the types of processed foods I eat or use, which are mostly more lightly processed or about preparation vs. addition of preservatives (not that I think there's anything inherently wrong with preservatives, and traditionally it's such things as salt, plus smoking, canning, pickling and related ingredients).

    I wonder when the popular usage started shifting so that some people think "processed" refers to a much smaller portion of foods than it does.

    I find this usage really frustrating, because if someone asked me if I avoid processed foods I'd say of course not, because I eat yogurt, etc. But then people insist that they do when they have protein powder and packaged bacon and so on in their diaries. If I said I did not eat processed foods (even though I do eat a mostly whole foods diet just because of personal preference), I'd feel like a liar, so people who eat lots of processed (in my mind) stuff insisting they gave up processed foods because they stopped going to McDonalds (well, more than once a week) or
    buying lots of frozen pot pies or whatever is confusing and makes communication so much harder, IMO.

    I'm not trying to be critical, but more to understand. I don't find that people in my life have some clear meaning of "processed" that is different than what I think of as processed. They's probably say something like "I'm avoiding foods with additives" if that's what they meant (which is problematic too, as what additives, just salt is an additive, but still not the odd meaning of "processed" I see here).

    I have always found the popular usage to mean Ultra Processed Foods.

    And I have not. If I told someone I knew I didn't eat processed foods while eating a homemade pasta dish with some cheese on it (also veg and lean meat), I imagine they'd poke a bit of fun.

    This is despite the fact that neither the dried pasta I used nor the cheese would be "processed" in the weird sense it gets used by some.

    So I'd feel like a liar to claim I do not eat processed foods and it causes me dissonance when people who clearly do insist they do not (especially when they usually ate, until last week, ultra processed foods I never ever ate and are specifically referring to cutting out those things).

    I am confused by this in part because I did go through a stage where I tried to avoid all foods not processed by me, and it was HARD and made things pointlessly hard for me, and I absolutely did worry about things like cheese and flour.

    Honestly. In the real world, I find people don't consider cheese, milk, butter etc to be processed. Processed is a word with negative connotations when applied to food. And I know some pretty intelligent reasonable people. It's just a modern vernacular to explain some foods we're supposed to consider bad for us.

    Which is why I prefer to use the term "convenience foods". Most people know what I am talking about (and yes, I do incorporate them in my diet because they are not bad for me).

    I find this a much more sensible approach to the language question, since usually this IS what is meant on MFP.

    Correct. Most people wouldn't have a problem with a bowl of oatmeal made from Steel Cut or Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (both technically processed since they are not in the original grain form), but "process" it to make it instantly edible with some boiling water and you have a convenient food that some would prefer not to eat because of the things added to it.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    VintageFeline wrote: »
    I do use convenience foods instead of processed because it is more descriptive of what I am talking about. But really it makes no odds because if I want any of them I'll eat them.

    Yup, me too. I doubt I could have continued eating within my targets during my moving house if it hadn't been for a freezer full of Lean Cuisine's and my microwave.

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