The issue with processed foods (opinion)
Aaron_K123
Posts: 7,122 Member
The weight-loss and general health community is quite full of woo. That said I think there is some truth to the often repeated idea within those communities that, given the choice, it is better to select whole foods over processed foods for your overall health and well-being. However, in my opinion, the reason often stated for why you should avoid processed foods is actually backwards from what is true. The point of this post is to just give my view on why it is better to select whole-foods but not for the reasons you typically hear.
Before I get into it I figure I should define how I am using these words as they are often used in very different ways in different posts and articles.
By "whole food" I mean food that is not broken apart into its constitutive parts. The only things you can be 100% sure are whole foods would be things like a piece of fruit or a vegetable or a piece of meat. Things that are mixtures of whole foods, like a salad with lettuce, nuts and chicken would count as well.
By "processed food" what I mean is taking a whole food and breaking it down to process it for one component, an example being processing corn to produce high-fructose corn syrup which is the sugar component of the corn.
So, when I see people online talking about how processed foods are "bad" and you should stick to whole foods they seem to love to point at the ingredients list as an example of what is "good" and what is "bad". They will show as an example lets say an oatmeal that lists as its ingredients "oats, apples, cinnamon" and say that is good because it has just three whole-ingredients while in comparison a similarly marketed product of oatmeal that has a list of 20 ingredients many with chemical-sounding names like calcium pantothenate is "bad" because it has a lot of extra and unnecessarily (in their opinion) ingredients. The implication being that whole foods are simple with few ingredients while processed foods are complex with many many ingredients. That the problem with processed foods therefore is that they have too much stuff, things that have long scary names that could be potentially dangerous and that you don't need. Honestly I think this is utterly missing the point of why whole-foods are potentially the better option.
The reason I believe whole-foods are better is not because they have less ingredients, but rather the opposite, because they have thousands and thousands MORE ingredients than a processed food. The point of processing is to take the one thing you want out of a food and purify it so it can be put into food products. You process corn to make high-fructose corn syrup which is almost entirely a single molecule, fructose, because that is the sweet component of corn and you want to sweeten things. A food product that has pieces of sweet corn will have thousands more ingredients that are part of what makes up "corn" compared to something sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. This is because corn, or any whole food, is biochemically very complex and has thousands of molecules in it to the point a full ingredients list would be impractical and impossible. So the issue with processed foods is not that they have too many ingredients, it is that they potentially have too few. They are extremely reductionist.
A product whose ingredients list is something like corn starch, high-fructose corn syrup, calcium panthothenate, nicinamide thiamine mononitrate etc etc etc 20 more ingredients is actually far less ingredients than a piece of corn would have, not more. If you eat only processed foods it would be much more likely that you were missing out on some subtle nutritional aspect that our bodies benefit from but wasn't one of the things that was intentionally added to the products you are consuming.
The problem isn't that nicinamide thiamine mononitrate is scary and dangerous, it isn't....the issue is that if you boil down everything into only the ingredients you want and exclude everything else then it is somewhat likely that that sort of reductionism will exclude things we actually do require in our diets because our requirements are more complex than just a few dozen ingredients.
That said I think the community at large treats processed foods like they are poison or something which I think is wrong-headed. There is nothing dangerous about processed foods, they won't "sabatoge" your health. For example if you have a salad with a mix of whole foods like fruits and nuts and you pour a bunch of high-fructose corn syrup on top of it you haven't "ruined" it, it still has nutritional value. The issue with processed foods is simply, in my opinion, that they lack some of the nuance and variety of vitamins and nutrition that can be found in whole foods. If you include whole foods in your diet you can also have processed foods...but if you eat only processed foods I feel you are likely short-changing yourself nutritionally.
Finally I think it is important to recognize that processed food-stuffs serve an important and vital role in our communities as well as globally and shouldn't be viewed as "bad". Not everyone has the luxury to be able to afford or even find the variety of whole foods one would need to have a well rounded diet and those people greatly benefit from cost-effective cheaper mass produced processed foods that provide some of the absolute essentials for a fraction of the cost. Protesting the existence of processed foods in general I feel is a very elitist and myopic view. Proccessed foods are good, we need them to be available and I would never mock them. I just think if you have the time and the money that it is a good idea to have some fruit, some vegetables and a salmon filet worked into your diet just to cover your nutritional bases...just recognize not everyone does and you don't need to be a prick about it.
Bottom line I agree whole foods are better that processed foods for health and nutrition, but I don't think it does us any favors to demonize processed foods...they aren't bad, they just aren't complete. Feel free to include processed foods in your diet, just try to keep some whole foods in there as well.
Before I get into it I figure I should define how I am using these words as they are often used in very different ways in different posts and articles.
By "whole food" I mean food that is not broken apart into its constitutive parts. The only things you can be 100% sure are whole foods would be things like a piece of fruit or a vegetable or a piece of meat. Things that are mixtures of whole foods, like a salad with lettuce, nuts and chicken would count as well.
By "processed food" what I mean is taking a whole food and breaking it down to process it for one component, an example being processing corn to produce high-fructose corn syrup which is the sugar component of the corn.
So, when I see people online talking about how processed foods are "bad" and you should stick to whole foods they seem to love to point at the ingredients list as an example of what is "good" and what is "bad". They will show as an example lets say an oatmeal that lists as its ingredients "oats, apples, cinnamon" and say that is good because it has just three whole-ingredients while in comparison a similarly marketed product of oatmeal that has a list of 20 ingredients many with chemical-sounding names like calcium pantothenate is "bad" because it has a lot of extra and unnecessarily (in their opinion) ingredients. The implication being that whole foods are simple with few ingredients while processed foods are complex with many many ingredients. That the problem with processed foods therefore is that they have too much stuff, things that have long scary names that could be potentially dangerous and that you don't need. Honestly I think this is utterly missing the point of why whole-foods are potentially the better option.
The reason I believe whole-foods are better is not because they have less ingredients, but rather the opposite, because they have thousands and thousands MORE ingredients than a processed food. The point of processing is to take the one thing you want out of a food and purify it so it can be put into food products. You process corn to make high-fructose corn syrup which is almost entirely a single molecule, fructose, because that is the sweet component of corn and you want to sweeten things. A food product that has pieces of sweet corn will have thousands more ingredients that are part of what makes up "corn" compared to something sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. This is because corn, or any whole food, is biochemically very complex and has thousands of molecules in it to the point a full ingredients list would be impractical and impossible. So the issue with processed foods is not that they have too many ingredients, it is that they potentially have too few. They are extremely reductionist.
A product whose ingredients list is something like corn starch, high-fructose corn syrup, calcium panthothenate, nicinamide thiamine mononitrate etc etc etc 20 more ingredients is actually far less ingredients than a piece of corn would have, not more. If you eat only processed foods it would be much more likely that you were missing out on some subtle nutritional aspect that our bodies benefit from but wasn't one of the things that was intentionally added to the products you are consuming.
The problem isn't that nicinamide thiamine mononitrate is scary and dangerous, it isn't....the issue is that if you boil down everything into only the ingredients you want and exclude everything else then it is somewhat likely that that sort of reductionism will exclude things we actually do require in our diets because our requirements are more complex than just a few dozen ingredients.
That said I think the community at large treats processed foods like they are poison or something which I think is wrong-headed. There is nothing dangerous about processed foods, they won't "sabatoge" your health. For example if you have a salad with a mix of whole foods like fruits and nuts and you pour a bunch of high-fructose corn syrup on top of it you haven't "ruined" it, it still has nutritional value. The issue with processed foods is simply, in my opinion, that they lack some of the nuance and variety of vitamins and nutrition that can be found in whole foods. If you include whole foods in your diet you can also have processed foods...but if you eat only processed foods I feel you are likely short-changing yourself nutritionally.
Finally I think it is important to recognize that processed food-stuffs serve an important and vital role in our communities as well as globally and shouldn't be viewed as "bad". Not everyone has the luxury to be able to afford or even find the variety of whole foods one would need to have a well rounded diet and those people greatly benefit from cost-effective cheaper mass produced processed foods that provide some of the absolute essentials for a fraction of the cost. Protesting the existence of processed foods in general I feel is a very elitist and myopic view. Proccessed foods are good, we need them to be available and I would never mock them. I just think if you have the time and the money that it is a good idea to have some fruit, some vegetables and a salmon filet worked into your diet just to cover your nutritional bases...just recognize not everyone does and you don't need to be a prick about it.
Bottom line I agree whole foods are better that processed foods for health and nutrition, but I don't think it does us any favors to demonize processed foods...they aren't bad, they just aren't complete. Feel free to include processed foods in your diet, just try to keep some whole foods in there as well.
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Replies
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Incredibly well said!1
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Processed foods almost always have added sugars, and or, sodium (also a lot of other things) that many of us don’t want in our food. Servings are more expensive than making your own foods from fresh, frozen or canned. Controlling what is put into what you eat is a choice many choose to make. Calories are calories though, your choice. No wrong or right.21
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I process just about any food I enjoy into my mouth.10
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missysippy930 wrote: »Processed foods almost always have added sugars, and or, sodium (also a lot of other things) that many of us don’t want in our food. Servings are more expensive than making your own foods from fresh, frozen or canned. Controlling what is put into what you eat is a choice many choose to make. Calories are calories though, your choice. No wrong or right.
I have plenty of processed foods in my pantry that don't have any added sugar and many that don't have added sodium (I'd probably have more if I made it an object to avoid sugar and sodium, which I don't).
Expense is completely variable. There are plenty of budget-friendly processed foods (as well as some whole foods that have a price that is completely bonkers). I can control the amount of money I spend by avoiding the foods that I think aren't worth it and purchasing the ones that I think are.
People who choose to include processed foods in their diet are no less controlling about what they eat than those who avoid them. We are just potentially using different criteria to control what we eat.11 -
missysippy930 wrote: »Processed foods almost always have added sugars, and or, sodium (also a lot of other things) that many of us don’t want in our food. Servings are more expensive than making your own foods from fresh, frozen or canned. Controlling what is put into what you eat is a choice many choose to make. Calories are calories though, your choice. No wrong or right.
Yes I would agree that many (not all) processed foods have added sugar and/or added salt. That said that is only "bad" if you want to avoid those things and not everyone does or needs to avoid those things. If you are a very active person then extra salt and sugar would actually be a good thing. If a person wishes to avoid salt because they have high blood pressure or they wish to avoid added sugar because they struggle with overeating or feeling satisfied within a calorie limit then yes it might be advantageous to avoid certain processed foods for that reason. But that is a specific case, I was trying to be as general as possible.6 -
janejellyroll wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »Processed foods almost always have added sugars, and or, sodium (also a lot of other things) that many of us don’t want in our food. Servings are more expensive than making your own foods from fresh, frozen or canned. Controlling what is put into what you eat is a choice many choose to make. Calories are calories though, your choice. No wrong or right.
I have plenty of processed foods in my pantry that don't have any added sugar and many that don't have added sodium (I'd probably have more if I made it an object to avoid sugar and sodium, which I don't).
Expense is completely variable. There are plenty of budget-friendly processed foods (as well as some whole foods that have a price that is completely bonkers). I can control the amount of money I spend by avoiding the foods that I think aren't worth it and purchasing the ones that I think are.
People who choose to include processed foods in their diet are no less controlling about what they eat than those who avoid them. We are just potentially using different criteria to control what we eat.
I said ALMOST always5 -
Great post, Aaron.missysippy930 wrote: »Processed foods almost always have added sugars, and or, sodium (also a lot of other things) that many of us don’t want in our food.
No, they really don't. Read labels. Processed foods are extremely varied.
One example is dried pasta, which is basically just wheat and water. Another is juice, which has no added sugar (the sugar is from the fruit, and this is so whether you make it at home or not). Others are protein powder or Soylent. I choose protein powders without added sugar or sodium, but that doesn't make them not processed, of course they are (and I prefer to get protein from other sources, but don't think some protein powder occasionally is a bad thing).
But one question -- one Aaron highlighted -- is what are we referring to with "processed foods." One thing many call "processed" foods are simply meals made with whole foods that you would process in a similar way if cooking them at home. Those tend to be the most varied, but occasionally (or even often) buying something you could make yourself may not be worse than what you'd make if you look at the ingredients (and the tradeoffs).5 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »Processed foods almost always have added sugars, and or, sodium (also a lot of other things) that many of us don’t want in our food. Servings are more expensive than making your own foods from fresh, frozen or canned. Controlling what is put into what you eat is a choice many choose to make. Calories are calories though, your choice. No wrong or right.
Yes I would agree that many (not all) processed foods have added sugar and/or added salt. That said that is only "bad" if you want to avoid those things and not everyone does or needs to avoid those things. If you are a very active person then extra salt and sugar would actually be a good thing. If a person wishes to avoid salt because they have high blood pressure or they wish to avoid added sugar because they struggle with overeating or feeling satisfied within a calorie limit then yes it might be advantageous to avoid certain processed foods for that reason. But that is a specific case, I was trying to be as general as possible.
I'll add that many people who cook with whole foods will sometimes use salt and sugar to accent the flavor of their food, so faulting processed foods for containing these things doesn't make sense to me unless one is also eliminating them in their own kitchen.
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Awesome post.
Aaron, if you ever decide to start some kind of logic commune, or a secret society, maybe even a cult, please send me an invite.18 -
Very well said. Another point in favor of 'whole foods' is that in some cases, processing a food can reduce its satiety level for the amount of calories it is. Classic example: eating a whole apple vs. drinking a cup of apple juice.1
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Very well said. Another point in favor of 'whole foods' is that in some cases, processing a food can reduce its satiety level for the amount of calories it is. Classic example: eating a whole apple vs. drinking a cup of apple juice.
Yeah, often processing means removing fiber -- happens with the isolating of sugar (or juice), with the refining of grains (although grains are all processed somewhat), and the isolating of protein (although often there there wasn't much fiber to be removed and you are also removing other things that may be less satiating like sugar or starch or fat).
Other common ways to process would be removing fat (skim milk, egg whites, boneless, skinless chicken breast), isolating fat (oils), preserving (smoked salmon, pickled vegetables, canned foods, cheese, bacon), preparing or pre cooking (dried pasta, frozen meals, restaurant meals, prepared bread, sausage), and so on.
Processing is so varied I am always puzzled when people generalize about it.
I do think that often whole foods are better because of the reasons you and Aaron said, but when people proclaim this as an absolute or ignore the varieties of processed food is why the pushback happens.3 -
missysippy930 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »Processed foods almost always have added sugars, and or, sodium (also a lot of other things) that many of us don’t want in our food. Servings are more expensive than making your own foods from fresh, frozen or canned. Controlling what is put into what you eat is a choice many choose to make. Calories are calories though, your choice. No wrong or right.
I have plenty of processed foods in my pantry that don't have any added sugar and many that don't have added sodium (I'd probably have more if I made it an object to avoid sugar and sodium, which I don't).
Expense is completely variable. There are plenty of budget-friendly processed foods (as well as some whole foods that have a price that is completely bonkers). I can control the amount of money I spend by avoiding the foods that I think aren't worth it and purchasing the ones that I think are.
People who choose to include processed foods in their diet are no less controlling about what they eat than those who avoid them. We are just potentially using different criteria to control what we eat.
I said ALMOST always
But it isn't almost always. Here are some processed foods I have at home -- off the top of my head -- that don't have added sugar: pasta, white rice, tofu, tempeh, apple butter, applesauce, protein powder, canned tomatoes, coconut milk, cashew milk, pita chips, nutritional yeast, almond butter, peanut butter, quick oats, cocoa powder, rice cereal, sauerkraut, refried beans, white flour, dill pickle relish, soy sauce, hot sauce, mustard, and spelt flour.
Here are some processed foods I have at home that have no more added sugar than they would if I was making them myself: rye bread, a Thai noodle dinner kit, and bread and butter pickles.
These are just off the top of my head, if I was at home looking I think I could share more. If I went into a store right now, I could find you dozens and dozens and dozens of processed foods with no added sugar. If you're going to claim that they "almost always" add sugar to processed food and I can find hundreds of exceptions, then "almost always" means something differently to the two of us.13 -
The !>>process<<! of soaking whole wheat flour in a slightly acidic water for several hours actually increases the nutritive value of the flour in the cooked bread.
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janejellyroll wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »Processed foods almost always have added sugars, and or, sodium (also a lot of other things) that many of us don’t want in our food. Servings are more expensive than making your own foods from fresh, frozen or canned. Controlling what is put into what you eat is a choice many choose to make. Calories are calories though, your choice. No wrong or right.
I have plenty of processed foods in my pantry that don't have any added sugar and many that don't have added sodium (I'd probably have more if I made it an object to avoid sugar and sodium, which I don't).
Expense is completely variable. There are plenty of budget-friendly processed foods (as well as some whole foods that have a price that is completely bonkers). I can control the amount of money I spend by avoiding the foods that I think aren't worth it and purchasing the ones that I think are.
People who choose to include processed foods in their diet are no less controlling about what they eat than those who avoid them. We are just potentially using different criteria to control what we eat.
I said ALMOST always
But it isn't almost always. Here are some processed foods I have at home -- off the top of my head -- that don't have added sugar: pasta, white rice, tofu, tempeh, apple butter, applesauce, protein powder, canned tomatoes, coconut milk, cashew milk, pita chips, nutritional yeast, almond butter, peanut butter, quick oats, cocoa powder, rice cereal, sauerkraut, refried beans, white flour, dill pickle relish, soy sauce, hot sauce, mustard, and spelt flour.
Here are some processed foods I have at home that have no more added sugar than they would if I was making them myself: rye bread, a Thai noodle dinner kit, and bread and butter pickles.
These are just off the top of my head, if I was at home looking I think I could share more. If I went into a store right now, I could find you dozens and dozens and dozens of processed foods with no added sugar. If you're going to claim that they "almost always" add sugar to processed food and I can find hundreds of exceptions, then "almost always" means something differently to the two of us.
I said added sugars, and or sodium, and if you bothered to actually read what I posted, no wrong or right. Personal choice, and whatever works for each of us10 -
missysippy930 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »Processed foods almost always have added sugars, and or, sodium (also a lot of other things) that many of us don’t want in our food. Servings are more expensive than making your own foods from fresh, frozen or canned. Controlling what is put into what you eat is a choice many choose to make. Calories are calories though, your choice. No wrong or right.
I have plenty of processed foods in my pantry that don't have any added sugar and many that don't have added sodium (I'd probably have more if I made it an object to avoid sugar and sodium, which I don't).
Expense is completely variable. There are plenty of budget-friendly processed foods (as well as some whole foods that have a price that is completely bonkers). I can control the amount of money I spend by avoiding the foods that I think aren't worth it and purchasing the ones that I think are.
People who choose to include processed foods in their diet are no less controlling about what they eat than those who avoid them. We are just potentially using different criteria to control what we eat.
I said ALMOST always
But it isn't almost always. Here are some processed foods I have at home -- off the top of my head -- that don't have added sugar: pasta, white rice, tofu, tempeh, apple butter, applesauce, protein powder, canned tomatoes, coconut milk, cashew milk, pita chips, nutritional yeast, almond butter, peanut butter, quick oats, cocoa powder, rice cereal, sauerkraut, refried beans, white flour, dill pickle relish, soy sauce, hot sauce, mustard, and spelt flour.
Here are some processed foods I have at home that have no more added sugar than they would if I was making them myself: rye bread, a Thai noodle dinner kit, and bread and butter pickles.
These are just off the top of my head, if I was at home looking I think I could share more. If I went into a store right now, I could find you dozens and dozens and dozens of processed foods with no added sugar. If you're going to claim that they "almost always" add sugar to processed food and I can find hundreds of exceptions, then "almost always" means something differently to the two of us.
I said added sugars, and or sodium, and if you bothered to actually read what I posted, no wrong or right. Personal choice, and whatever works for each of us
Yes, I'm referring to added sugars. I read what you posted, that's why I responded to it.
I'm not interfering with or talking about anyone's personal choice or discussing "right or wrong."
I'm challenging the factual basis of the claim that processed foods almost always have added sugars. It isn't true. Anyone who wants to limit or avoid added sugar can choose from hundreds of processed foods that don't have them.12 -
Very well said. Another point in favor of 'whole foods' is that in some cases, processing a food can reduce its satiety level for the amount of calories it is. Classic example: eating a whole apple vs. drinking a cup of apple juice.
This is a good point. Juice is one of the first things I eliminated when I started comparing calorie costs to satiety!
I tend to eat a fair amount of "processed" food for convenience, but almost always either mix it with or eat it alongside veggies or a protein, because I do value whole foods AND because it makes it more filling. Win - win
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Very well said. Another point in favor of 'whole foods' is that in some cases, processing a food can reduce its satiety level for the amount of calories it is. Classic example: eating a whole apple vs. drinking a cup of apple juice.
Yeah I think there probably is something to the idea that essentially pre-digesting foods via processing (ie refined white sugar versus starches) leads to less satiety for the same calories perhaps because the sugar goes straight into the blood rather than having to be broken down beforehand over time. So a fast release versus a slow release. I just don't know exactly how that works and not sure how much of a difference that really makes so just want to make it clear that is a "feeling" that that is likely true but not something I've really studied.
I think people hear the claim "a calorie is a calorie" and think the person means "satiety is satiety" when no, that is not what is meant. I believe a calorie is a calorie because a calorie is a unit of measurement of energy so it is the same by definition, I do however believe that 100 calories of refined sugar is a lot less satisfying for hunger than 100 calories of potatoes even though the end product is largely the same after digestion.5 -
Thanks Aaron. My very favorite processed food is: EVOO--1st press. Without it I'd be dumping olives in my pan.6
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Brilliant, as always
Aaron_K123 wrote: »The reason I believe whole-foods are better is not because they have less ingredients, but rather the opposite, because they have thousands and thousands MORE ingredients than a processed food. The point of processing is to take the one thing you want out of a food and purify it so it can be put into food products. You process corn to make high-fructose corn syrup which is almost entirely a single molecule, fructose, because that is the sweet component of corn and you want to sweeten things. A food product that has pieces of sweet corn will have thousands more ingredients that are part of what makes up "corn" compared to something sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. This is because corn, or any whole food, is biochemically very complex and has thousands of molecules in it to the point a full ingredients list would be impractical and impossible. So the issue with processed foods is not that they have too many ingredients, it is that they potentially have too few. They are extremely reductionist.
Maybe a bit off-topic, but the sentence I highlighted reminds me of a study (older) I recently skimmed. They administered beta carotene and retinol (highly processed extracts) to smokers because of the suspected anti-carcinogenic effects. They had to stop the study early because the participants in the intervention group (those getting the supplements) ended up having a higher incidence of cancer. High dosage in isolation seemed to have the opposite effect from what they were hoping for. The extracts on their own ended up being more dangerous than the amounts found in whole-foods.
So my take away: eat those 5-a-day, in as wide a range of colors as possible, with as much of the fruit/veggie included as is palatable to the taste buds, to get the most benefit from that extremely long list of bioactive substances found in plants
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missysippy930 wrote: »Processed foods almost always have added sugars, and or, sodium (also a lot of other things) that many of us don’t want in our food. Servings are more expensive than making your own foods from fresh, frozen or canned. Controlling what is put into what you eat is a choice many choose to make. Calories are calories though, your choice. No wrong or right.
Whelp. Didn't take long for it to go straight to woo-land.9 -
Aaron: This. Is. Brilliant. I'm missing the old 'awesome' button (I might just have to 'hug' you instead . . . it's OK, I'm prolly old enough to be your granny, or at least auntie
).Aaron, if you ever decide to start some kind of logic commune, or a secret society, maybe even a cult, please send me an invite.
Yup.
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I think trans fats were a big contributor to processed foods getting a bad name.1
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Aaron: This. Is. Brilliant. I'm missing the old 'awesome' button (I might just have to 'hug' you instead . . . it's OK, I'm prolly old enough to be your granny, or at least auntie ).Aaron, if you ever decide to start some kind of logic commune, or a secret society, maybe even a cult, please send me an invite.
Yup.
Hah thanks, although I don't know....I'm older than I look.3 -
candylilacs wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »I said added sugars, and or sodium, and if you bothered to actually read what I posted, no wrong or right. Personal choice, and whatever works for each of us.
No matter what, lemurcat, anvilhead, and jellyjaneroll take a [dump] on it. Processed food, by and large, have unnecessary sugars and sodium.
I can take the heat!
My A1C is 6.3! Three months ago it 7.0!6 -
I ended up learning to make my own sauces and stews when family members were sent home long forbidden lists from their doctors.
At various times I’ve had to avoid MSG, tomatoes and salt. Just try and buy a commercial dinner without one of these ingredients.
I would peruse the ingredients lists of the commercial products to see if I could match with my home made versions. Because of this scouting I add mustard to my cheese sauce and xanthan gum to my breads.
Along the way I learned to cook. Nice side benefit. Sometimes I can even do it cheaper.
I love how you point out how people often get it “backwards”. Like avoiding fruit because of “sugar” losing out on all the good things fruit does.
I think cheeses as a rule are improved by processing. I’m not talking processed cheese here but the raw art of turning milk in to cheese. I’ve made a soft cheese from scratch exactly once.
I think because of our improved food transportation system and ready availability of refrigeration people have forgotten the vital role that sugar, salt and vinegar have had in protecting our foods from spoilage.
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Aaron_K123 wrote: »Finally I think it is important to recognize that processed food-stuffs serve an important and vital role in our communities as well as globally and shouldn't be viewed as "bad". Not everyone has the luxury to be able to afford or even find the variety of whole foods one would need to have a well rounded diet and those people greatly benefit from cost-effective cheaper mass produced processed foods that provide some of the absolute essentials for a fraction of the cost. Protesting the existence of processed foods in general I feel is a very elitist and myopic view. Proccessed foods are good, we need them to be available and I would never mock them. I just think if you have the time and the money that it is a good idea to have some fruit, some vegetables and a salmon filet worked into your diet just to cover your nutritional bases...just recognize not everyone does and you don't need to be a prick about it.
I think that should be pinned at the top of every Message Board category: "Not everyone does or think [whatever] and you don't need to be a prick about it."6 -
Also good labels can be way off so it's much harder to track accurately with processed foods.1
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candylilacs wrote: »missysippy930--
No matter what, lemurcat, anvilhead, and jellyjaneroll take a [dump] on it. Processed food, by and large, have unnecessary sugars and sodium.
I can take the heat!
My A1C is 6.3! Three months ago it 7.0!
Did you review the list of foods that janejellyroll provided above? Do you think those products have unnecessary sugar and sodium in them?
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It's "taking a dump" to point out that many processed foods don't have added sugar or high sodium?
It's "taking a dump" to point out that processed foods are quite varied?
I pointed out the many different ways that foods can be processed.
I'd love to understand why I'm supposedly wrong here, and not just be accused of "taking a dump" on things, which is a vulgar turn of phrase I certainly don't use on MFP when not quoting someone.
And it's a ridiculous way to describe janejellyroll's and anvilhead's excellent contributions.8 -
candylilacs wrote: »No matter what, lemurcat, anvilhead, and jellyjaneroll take a [dump] on it. Processed food, by and large, have unnecessary sugars and sodium.
I can take the heat!
My A1C is 6.3! Three months ago it 7.0!
Processed foods that have added sugar and sodium in them have on their ingredients labels the amount of sugar and sodium that they contain. There are many other processed foods that do not have added sodium or sugar. One can avoid added sodium or sugar by selecting certain processed foods.
I think that if you eat processed foods mindlessly without paying attention to their ingredients and then decide to switch to nothing but whole foods in your diet you are likely to see a large reduction in your sodium and refined sugar intake. But it depends on what processed foods you were eating and that depends on the person. It would also be possible to reduce ones sugar and sodium intake by simply paying attention to the ingredients labels and just selecting different processed foods that do not have added sugar or sodium.
Sugar and sodium is not an inherent property of processed foods so statements (not made by you but certainly by others) that processed foods are high in sodium and sugar and should be avoided is oversimplifying and mischaracterizing in I guess a means of simplifying the statement to save the couple of extra sentences it would take to explain it in a more accurate way.
As a side note when making a post with quotes make sure every [*quote] header has a [*/quote] terminator or what you write will get swallowed into the quote and buried.6
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