Processed food
Replies
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janejellyroll wrote: »
How are you defining "internet". What if I can't pronounce that? Is it bad for me?7 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I guess I ran into the term rather late then. My parents (and their friends) talked about "whole foods," but I never heard the term "clean eating" until I was much older. And they didn't consider a food undergoing processing as necessarily negating its status as a whole food (some forms of processing would, of course). "Processing" and "whole" were not seen as opposites in our circle, but two ways of describing food that could sometimes overlap and sometimes not. Yogurt (some kinds), for example, was considered a whole food, as were whole grain breads.2 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I guess I ran into the term rather late then. My parents (and their friends) talked about "whole foods," but I never heard the term "clean eating" until I was much older. And they didn't consider a food undergoing processing as necessarily negating its status as a whole food (some forms of processing would, of course). "Processing" and "whole" were not seen as opposites in our circle, but two ways of describing food that could sometimes overlap and sometimes not. Yogurt (some kinds), for example, was considered a whole food, as were whole grain breads.
I honestly didn't know anyone that ate yogurt when I was young, but I doubt that would have been considered a "processed food'. Things like Hamburger Helper, La Choy, Dinty Moore, TV dinners, etc. were generally what was meant.3 -
How can you tell
Does it exist in nature? If it doesn't, it's processed.
That said, most of what we eat is processed to one extent or another...I buy broccoli that is trimmed and comes in a bag...technically, it is processed. This like dairy, canned beans, canned tomatoes, etc are minimally processed...something like chips, Kraft Mac 'n Cheese, frozen ready meals, etc would be highly processed.4 -
janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
Same here.0 -
The problem isn't the food as much as it is society has just changed over the years. As technology advances it creates laziness and people no longer have to work for things. The average American has a job where they sit for hours at a time and the only physical activity is walking to and from their car. So they have to compensate with their diet to counteract the inactivity. Everyone has most conveniences at their finger tips or just a short drive from home. Hell they even deliver your groceries now so you don't even have to leave your home to get your food.
At my farm at the peak of hay season I don't diet because I know with all the work I can eat whatever I want and won't gain weight. Inactivity is worse for you than what you are eating.3 -
Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
You mean before people had an easy way to call *kitten* "*kitten*"? The days when the author/salesman's word was all you needed to believe?3 -
Was it removed from a plant? Processed. Was it washed? Processed. Was any sort of peel, shell, or coating removed? Processed. If it's a dead animal, was it butchered in some way? Processed. Was it cooked? Processed.
It doesn't matter if you did these things to your food, or someone else did it for you, either way, the food has been processed.
All this to say, as others have pointed out, processing food necessary, and in many cases makes food more nutritious. If you are concerned about nutrition, you'd be better off following some simple guidelines, like fill half your plate with fruit and vegetables. Or choosing whole grains over those that have the fiber removed (i.e. "white" grains) at least some of the time.7 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I guess I ran into the term rather late then. My parents (and their friends) talked about "whole foods," but I never heard the term "clean eating" until I was much older. And they didn't consider a food undergoing processing as necessarily negating its status as a whole food (some forms of processing would, of course). "Processing" and "whole" were not seen as opposites in our circle, but two ways of describing food that could sometimes overlap and sometimes not. Yogurt (some kinds), for example, was considered a whole food, as were whole grain breads.
I honestly didn't know anyone that ate yogurt when I was young, but I doubt that would have been considered a "processed food'. Things like Hamburger Helper, La Choy, Dinty Moore, TV dinners, etc. were generally what was meant.
In my home, it was just used to describe foods that had undergone processing. My parents encouraged the consumption of some of those foods (yogurt, whole grain bread, fermented vegetables, wheat germ) and discouraged the consumption of others (Lucky Charms, potato chips, bologna).
I never encountered the term as a value judgment or an meaningful description of a food's nutritional value until much later in life.
That's why I question that, pre-internet, it meant the same thing to everyone. Doubtless, some people did use it in the way OP means it (foods to be avoided). But other people, I'm sure, were more like my family and just used it to describe foods that had undergone processing.2 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I never heard "clean eating" when I was a kid ('70s and '80) or even much in the '90s -- to me it exploded in the '00s.
We'd call foods "health foods" and people who were all granola-y or crunchy (those may be '90s, not earlier, can't recall now) might shop there, but we never called it "clean eating."
I had a good friend in the late '70s/early '80s whose parents were into natural foods and she was not permitted to eat sweets (other than the things her mom made with different ingredients) and they definitely avoided convenience foods, but it wasn't called "clean eating."5 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I guess I ran into the term rather late then. My parents (and their friends) talked about "whole foods," but I never heard the term "clean eating" until I was much older. And they didn't consider a food undergoing processing as necessarily negating its status as a whole food (some forms of processing would, of course). "Processing" and "whole" were not seen as opposites in our circle, but two ways of describing food that could sometimes overlap and sometimes not. Yogurt (some kinds), for example, was considered a whole food, as were whole grain breads.
I honestly didn't know anyone that ate yogurt when I was young, but I doubt that would have been considered a "processed food'. Things like Hamburger Helper, La Choy, Dinty Moore, TV dinners, etc. were generally what was meant.
In my home, it was just used to describe foods that had undergone processing. My parents encouraged the consumption of some of those foods (yogurt, whole grain bread, fermented vegetables, wheat germ) and discouraged the consumption of others (Lucky Charms, potato chips, bologna).
I never encountered the term as a value judgment or an meaningful description of a food's nutritional value until much later in life.
That's why I question that, pre-internet, it meant the same thing to everyone. Doubtless, some people did use it in the way OP means it (foods to be avoided). But other people, I'm sure, were more like my family and just used it to describe foods that had undergone processing.
You may be right. It could be regional. When I was young and people used these terms everyone seemed to know what was meant. But perhaps if we'd been in a different region of the country it would have meant something else.
The hippies and commune dwellers seemed to be the only people that really cared that I personally knew, but it wasn't uncommon to hear anyone say "I need to clean up my diet". And we all knew they meant start eating more whole foods.2 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I guess I ran into the term rather late then. My parents (and their friends) talked about "whole foods," but I never heard the term "clean eating" until I was much older. And they didn't consider a food undergoing processing as necessarily negating its status as a whole food (some forms of processing would, of course). "Processing" and "whole" were not seen as opposites in our circle, but two ways of describing food that could sometimes overlap and sometimes not. Yogurt (some kinds), for example, was considered a whole food, as were whole grain breads.
I honestly didn't know anyone that ate yogurt when I was young, but I doubt that would have been considered a "processed food'. Things like Hamburger Helper, La Choy, Dinty Moore, TV dinners, etc. were generally what was meant.
We didn't eat any of those things (other than TV dinners as a treat when my parents went out). We did eat lots of processed foods, though -- yogurt was one, cottage cheese, all sorts of condiments, canned tomatoes, bottled salad dressings, occasional ice cream. My mom wasn't much of a baker beyond cookies, so for a cake or brownies she'd go with the mix. My family ate cereal (but for me, since I hated it) and store-bought bread (I also hated it, I was a weird and annoying kid, no doubt) and peanut butter and jelly and canned tuna and canned soups and cheddar and swiss cheese and canned vegetables and frozen fruit, too.
My parents were definitely not clean eaters (and probably would not know what the term means even now), and didn't eschew processed foods -- I think they thought of processed foods as making life easier. But for my mom pre-made meals or things you would use instead of cooking a dinner (lunch was somewhat different, and on occasion was also different) was just not proper.
It was if anything some kind of "mother's responsibility" thing, not about processed = bad. And again, it was convenience foods or more specific terms, not the current idea that processed means something more specific than it actually does.1 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I never heard "clean eating" when I was a kid ('70s and '80) or even much in the '90s -- to me it exploded in the '00s.
We'd call foods "health foods" and people who were all granola-y or crunchy (those may be '90s, not earlier, can't recall now) might shop there, but we never called it "clean eating."
I had a good friend in the late '70s/early '80s whose parents were into natural foods and she was not permitted to eat sweets (other than the things her mom made with different ingredients) and they definitely avoided convenience foods, but it wasn't called "clean eating."
Same here. I really don't think I ever heard the term "clean eating" until maybe 10 or 15 years ago. There was one girl in my class in the late 70's/early 80's whose parents were hippies, and her lunch always came out of their garden and she wasn't allowed to eat chocolate so she always had carob chips instead. I don't remember classifying her food at all, but unfortunately she was seen as weird (mostly for the no chocolate!).
We ate quite a few foods that I would now call "processed" but just called them food back then - tater tots, Banquet chicken cutlets, Campbell's Pork & Beans, hot dogs, Twinkies. I knew they weren't health food, but didn't have a label for them.1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »How can you tell
Does it exist in nature? If it doesn't, it's processed.
That said, most of what we eat is processed to one extent or another...I buy broccoli that is trimmed and comes in a bag...technically, it is processed. This like dairy, canned beans, canned tomatoes, etc are minimally processed...something like chips, Kraft Mac 'n Cheese, frozen ready meals, etc would be highly processed.
Pretty much this. Add in breakfast cereal, pizza, twinkies, ho-ho's, & candy etc.
The "pre-internet" gym setting is my reference. When someone wanted to drop weight or cut up, they dropped or severely limited processed foods, & "ate clean" & nobody argued what was "legal".1 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I guess I ran into the term rather late then. My parents (and their friends) talked about "whole foods," but I never heard the term "clean eating" until I was much older. And they didn't consider a food undergoing processing as necessarily negating its status as a whole food (some forms of processing would, of course). "Processing" and "whole" were not seen as opposites in our circle, but two ways of describing food that could sometimes overlap and sometimes not. Yogurt (some kinds), for example, was considered a whole food, as were whole grain breads.
I honestly didn't know anyone that ate yogurt when I was young, but I doubt that would have been considered a "processed food'. Things like Hamburger Helper, La Choy, Dinty Moore, TV dinners, etc. were generally what was meant.
In my home, it was just used to describe foods that had undergone processing. My parents encouraged the consumption of some of those foods (yogurt, whole grain bread, fermented vegetables, wheat germ) and discouraged the consumption of others (Lucky Charms, potato chips, bologna).
I never encountered the term as a value judgment or an meaningful description of a food's nutritional value until much later in life.
That's why I question that, pre-internet, it meant the same thing to everyone. Doubtless, some people did use it in the way OP means it (foods to be avoided). But other people, I'm sure, were more like my family and just used it to describe foods that had undergone processing.
You may be right. It could be regional. When I was young and people used these terms everyone seemed to know what was meant. But perhaps if we'd been in a different region of the country it would have meant something else.
The hippies and commune dwellers seemed to be the only people that really cared that I personally knew, but it wasn't uncommon to hear anyone say "I need to clean up my diet". And we all knew they meant start eating more whole foods.
I have heard people say "I need to clean up my diet," but that was never seen as the same thing as eliminating processed food (some of which, I've already mentioned, were seen as part of a healthier diet) and it was a distinct thing from "clean eating" (which I've only heard in the past ten years or so).
Processing a food wasn't seen, in and of itself, as removing value from it. Sometimes it was just a way to make storing it or eating it easier.
Were some processed foods not seen as part of a healthful diet? Of course. But it wasn't inherent to their processing, it was because the processing method chosen removed too much nutritional value or the food wasn't nutrient-dense to begin with.1 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I guess I ran into the term rather late then. My parents (and their friends) talked about "whole foods," but I never heard the term "clean eating" until I was much older. And they didn't consider a food undergoing processing as necessarily negating its status as a whole food (some forms of processing would, of course). "Processing" and "whole" were not seen as opposites in our circle, but two ways of describing food that could sometimes overlap and sometimes not. Yogurt (some kinds), for example, was considered a whole food, as were whole grain breads.
I honestly didn't know anyone that ate yogurt when I was young, but I doubt that would have been considered a "processed food'. Things like Hamburger Helper, La Choy, Dinty Moore, TV dinners, etc. were generally what was meant.
In my home, it was just used to describe foods that had undergone processing. My parents encouraged the consumption of some of those foods (yogurt, whole grain bread, fermented vegetables, wheat germ) and discouraged the consumption of others (Lucky Charms, potato chips, bologna).
I never encountered the term as a value judgment or an meaningful description of a food's nutritional value until much later in life.
That's why I question that, pre-internet, it meant the same thing to everyone. Doubtless, some people did use it in the way OP means it (foods to be avoided). But other people, I'm sure, were more like my family and just used it to describe foods that had undergone processing.
You may be right. It could be regional. When I was young and people used these terms everyone seemed to know what was meant. But perhaps if we'd been in a different region of the country it would have meant something else.
The hippies and commune dwellers seemed to be the only people that really cared that I personally knew, but it wasn't uncommon to hear anyone say "I need to clean up my diet". And we all knew they meant start eating more whole foods.
I don't know, that's a little different though! I think if someone said to me back then "I need to clean up my diet!" I would know they mean they need to eat healthier. But I don't know I would have thought that meant less "processed" food. I mean in the 80's, I would have defined Shredded Wheat, Nature's Valley granola bars, and Campbells chicken noodle soup as "healthy". I thought then (and still do) that something can be "processed" and "healthy", just like something can be "whole" but not necessarily great for you. So maybe it was regional.2 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I guess I ran into the term rather late then. My parents (and their friends) talked about "whole foods," but I never heard the term "clean eating" until I was much older. And they didn't consider a food undergoing processing as necessarily negating its status as a whole food (some forms of processing would, of course). "Processing" and "whole" were not seen as opposites in our circle, but two ways of describing food that could sometimes overlap and sometimes not. Yogurt (some kinds), for example, was considered a whole food, as were whole grain breads.
I honestly didn't know anyone that ate yogurt when I was young, but I doubt that would have been considered a "processed food'. Things like Hamburger Helper, La Choy, Dinty Moore, TV dinners, etc. were generally what was meant.
In my home, it was just used to describe foods that had undergone processing. My parents encouraged the consumption of some of those foods (yogurt, whole grain bread, fermented vegetables, wheat germ) and discouraged the consumption of others (Lucky Charms, potato chips, bologna).
I never encountered the term as a value judgment or an meaningful description of a food's nutritional value until much later in life.
That's why I question that, pre-internet, it meant the same thing to everyone. Doubtless, some people did use it in the way OP means it (foods to be avoided). But other people, I'm sure, were more like my family and just used it to describe foods that had undergone processing.
You may be right. It could be regional. When I was young and people used these terms everyone seemed to know what was meant. But perhaps if we'd been in a different region of the country it would have meant something else.
The hippies and commune dwellers seemed to be the only people that really cared that I personally knew, but it wasn't uncommon to hear anyone say "I need to clean up my diet". And we all knew they meant start eating more whole foods.
I have heard people say "I need to clean up my diet," but that was never seen as the same thing as eliminating processed food (some of which, I've already mentioned, were seen as part of a healthier diet) and it was a distinct thing from "clean eating" (which I've only heard in the past ten years or so).
Processing a food wasn't seen, in and of itself, as removing value from it. Sometimes it was just a way to make storing it or eating it easier.
Were some processed foods not seen as part of a healthful diet? Of course. But it wasn't inherent to their processing, it was because the processing method chosen removed too much nutritional value or the food wasn't nutrient-dense to begin with.
What did they mean by "I need to clean up my diet" if not tied to clean eating?0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I guess I ran into the term rather late then. My parents (and their friends) talked about "whole foods," but I never heard the term "clean eating" until I was much older. And they didn't consider a food undergoing processing as necessarily negating its status as a whole food (some forms of processing would, of course). "Processing" and "whole" were not seen as opposites in our circle, but two ways of describing food that could sometimes overlap and sometimes not. Yogurt (some kinds), for example, was considered a whole food, as were whole grain breads.
I honestly didn't know anyone that ate yogurt when I was young, but I doubt that would have been considered a "processed food'. Things like Hamburger Helper, La Choy, Dinty Moore, TV dinners, etc. were generally what was meant.
In my home, it was just used to describe foods that had undergone processing. My parents encouraged the consumption of some of those foods (yogurt, whole grain bread, fermented vegetables, wheat germ) and discouraged the consumption of others (Lucky Charms, potato chips, bologna).
I never encountered the term as a value judgment or an meaningful description of a food's nutritional value until much later in life.
That's why I question that, pre-internet, it meant the same thing to everyone. Doubtless, some people did use it in the way OP means it (foods to be avoided). But other people, I'm sure, were more like my family and just used it to describe foods that had undergone processing.
You may be right. It could be regional. When I was young and people used these terms everyone seemed to know what was meant. But perhaps if we'd been in a different region of the country it would have meant something else.
The hippies and commune dwellers seemed to be the only people that really cared that I personally knew, but it wasn't uncommon to hear anyone say "I need to clean up my diet". And we all knew they meant start eating more whole foods.
I don't know, that's a little different though! I think if someone said to me back then "I need to clean up my diet!" I would know they mean they need to eat healthier. But I don't know I would have thought that meant less "processed" food. I mean in the 80's, I would have defined Shredded Wheat, Nature's Valley granola bars, and Campbells chicken noodle soup as "healthy". I thought then (and still do) that something can be "processed" and "healthy", just like something can be "whole" but not necessarily great for you. So maybe it was regional.
Most people I knew didn't think processed food was unhealthy either, though if asked I imagine most would say it was less healthy than whole natural foods.
My sister and her friends thought it was unhealthy and we were all being poisoned, but they were teenagers and had to have something to criticize.2 -
gearhead426hemi wrote: »The problem isn't the food as much as it is society has just changed over the years. As technology advances it creates laziness and people no longer have to work for things. The average American has a job where they sit for hours at a time and the only physical activity is walking to and from their car. So they have to compensate with their diet to counteract the inactivity. Everyone has most conveniences at their finger tips or just a short drive from home. Hell they even deliver your groceries now so you don't even have to leave your home to get your food.
At my farm at the peak of hay season I don't diet because I know with all the work I can eat whatever I want and won't gain weight. Inactivity is worse for you than what you are eating.
none of that makes processed foods bad...0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Oh how I long for the days pre-internet when everyone understood what processed foods were and didn't get trivial, nit picky and pedantic about such things.
I grew up pre-internet, and we knew cheese and yogurt and bread were processed foods. We didn't go on about it, since who cares. We also used other (more specific) terms for what people now seem to think are the only processed foods, like "fast food," or "restaurant food," or "TV dinners," or "frozen meals," or "convenience items."
Oddly enough, during my childhood we both ate plenty of processed foods (pretty similar to the kinds of processed foods I eat regularly now, plus some other things I don't really eat), and didn't have some bizarre idea that being "processed" meant something was inherently bad for you or "processed" meant anything more than that it was, you know, processed in some way. Natural peanut butter is processed as is smoked salmon or bacon or a Hungry Man TV dinner or some frozen egg rolls. Are they all the same? No, they are quite different.
This may just be my personal experience, but I only heard "processed" being used as a synonym for "unhealthy," "bad," "fast food," or "convenience foods" once "clean eating" became a commonly used phrase. When I was younger, I never heard it used that way -- it seemed that most people understood, without dwelling on it too much, that cheese and canned beans and bread were processed.
When I was young (60's - 70's) clean eating was commonly used and everyone seemed to know it meant natural whole foods. Processed foods was the opposite and generally thought of as not as healthy by those who touted clean eating (which weren't many that I knew other than my older sister and her hippie friends).
I guess I ran into the term rather late then. My parents (and their friends) talked about "whole foods," but I never heard the term "clean eating" until I was much older. And they didn't consider a food undergoing processing as necessarily negating its status as a whole food (some forms of processing would, of course). "Processing" and "whole" were not seen as opposites in our circle, but two ways of describing food that could sometimes overlap and sometimes not. Yogurt (some kinds), for example, was considered a whole food, as were whole grain breads.
I honestly didn't know anyone that ate yogurt when I was young, but I doubt that would have been considered a "processed food'. Things like Hamburger Helper, La Choy, Dinty Moore, TV dinners, etc. were generally what was meant.
In my home, it was just used to describe foods that had undergone processing. My parents encouraged the consumption of some of those foods (yogurt, whole grain bread, fermented vegetables, wheat germ) and discouraged the consumption of others (Lucky Charms, potato chips, bologna).
I never encountered the term as a value judgment or an meaningful description of a food's nutritional value until much later in life.
That's why I question that, pre-internet, it meant the same thing to everyone. Doubtless, some people did use it in the way OP means it (foods to be avoided). But other people, I'm sure, were more like my family and just used it to describe foods that had undergone processing.
You may be right. It could be regional. When I was young and people used these terms everyone seemed to know what was meant. But perhaps if we'd been in a different region of the country it would have meant something else.
The hippies and commune dwellers seemed to be the only people that really cared that I personally knew, but it wasn't uncommon to hear anyone say "I need to clean up my diet". And we all knew they meant start eating more whole foods.
I have heard people say "I need to clean up my diet," but that was never seen as the same thing as eliminating processed food (some of which, I've already mentioned, were seen as part of a healthier diet) and it was a distinct thing from "clean eating" (which I've only heard in the past ten years or so).
Processing a food wasn't seen, in and of itself, as removing value from it. Sometimes it was just a way to make storing it or eating it easier.
Were some processed foods not seen as part of a healthful diet? Of course. But it wasn't inherent to their processing, it was because the processing method chosen removed too much nutritional value or the food wasn't nutrient-dense to begin with.
What did they mean by "I need to clean up my diet" if not tied to clean eating?
It would usually be that they needed to adjust their diet to meet more of their nutritional needs (choosing foods that were denser in the nutrients they didn't think they were getting enough of) or that they needed to consume fewer calories. Since you could do both those things while eating foods that are processed, I don't think I ever would have assumed that they were looking to eliminate foods just because they were processed, in fact, sometimes people were choosing processed foods specifically to help them meet specific goals they had set for themselves (like when my parents added wheat germ to our diet because they felt like we needed more Vitamin E).
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