What are Processed Foods? Any and all foods include cut, washed, heated, pasteurized, canned, cooked, frozen, and dried foods.
Putting Processed Foods in Perspective
We need to eat minimally processed foods or plenty of whole foods, to keep our hearts and the rest of our bodies in good shape, and eat less convenience foods and more whole foods. Examples of whole foods are fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, wholegrain, and nuts to name a few. Minimal processing foods are: chopping and freezing fresh fruits and vegetables. Processed foods are canned vegetables packed in water and salt, freshly baked bread, peanut butter, and a lot more.
Highly processed foods have changed so much that sometimes they change their look. Ways to tell if your food is processed or not. These foods have additives such as oil, sugar, salt, preservatives, coloring, and flavoring. Examples of these are breakfast cereals, frozen yogurt, packaged desserts, microwavable dinners, hot dogs, and luncheon meats. However, this is a small list to give an idea of what to look for. Be sure to read your label.
How Processed Foods Affects Our Health
Therefore, more people are eating processed foods than they think. Meanwhile, highly processed foods can lead to health risks. They also contain high amounts of sugar, salt, fat, and oil. On the other hand, this will make these foods more appealing, taste better, and/or longer shelf life. Eating these foods with the above ingredients is harming our bodies and we don’t even realize we have consumed that much but we do. On the other hand, highly processed products tend to have more calories. Eating ultra-processed foods increases our chance of cancer.
Better Options
In other words, to get the most out of your meals, you will want to stick to foods that are in their natural state. Therefore, the less processed the better it is for you to eat. A few examples of foods that can benefit our meals are whole grain, wheat bread, pre-cut vegetables, low-fat milk with added vitamin D and calcium, breakfast cereals with extra added fiber, natural fruit juices, and canned fruits stored in water.
Here are a few ways to ensure you are consuming nutritional food options:
- Read your Labels
- The fewer the ingredients the better
- Choose from the fresh section, you will find better choices there
- Look for less processed meat like seafood or chicken breast
- Stay away from sausage and bacon (heavily processed meats)
- Cook and eat more at home you know what is in there
- Eating out you don’t know what you are getting
The Way of the World Now With all the technology
Most people in the whole world eat way too many convenience foods, by ordering fast foods and using Uber, or DoorDash, to name a few conventional alternatives to cooking at home. All you need is go click click click. Within a reasonable time, it is at your house ready to eat. As they are processing your order it goes through quite a few people handling it. We have to wear masks in public to not pass germs, so how many of the food handlers wash their hands or wear masks and gloves, most likely none
The key to healthier eating begins with you
Meanwhile, processed foods and ultra-processed foods are being blamed for the National rise in Obesity, High Blood Pressure, Cancer, and Diabetes. This article is for reference only, everyone’s bodies are not the same so work with your doctor or dietician
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