Here's how to sort the nutritious from the not-so-nutritious. Any time we cook, bake or prepare food, we're processing food. Processed food can help you eat more nutrient-dense foods. Milk and juices sometimes are fortified with calcium and vitamin D, and breakfast cereals may have added fiber.
Canned fruit packed in water or its own juice is a good option when fresh fruit is not available. Some minimally processed food such as pre-cut vegetables and pre-washed, bagged spinach are quality convenience foods for busy people.
If you want to minimize your intake of processed food, aim to do more food prep and cooking at home. Base meals on whole foods including vegetables, beans and whole grains.
This category also includes extracted food, like honey from combs, sugar from cane, and syrup from maple trees. Processed foods are items that get infused with ingredients like sugar, salt, and fat to help keep them edible longer. Canned fruits, fermented breads which most breads are, as they're made with yeast , alcohol, cheese, pickles, and salted nuts all make this list.
Finally, there are ultraprocessed foods. These items are designed to be ready to eat and ready to heat at a moment's notice.
To make that possible, these foods are often made in a factory, broken down from their whole or fresh form and treated with thickeners, colors, glazes, and additives.
They may be fried before they're packed in cans or wrappers. They might contain high-fructose corn syrup, protein isolates, or interesterified oils replacements for trans fats , which are now widely banned. Examples of ultraprocessed foods include packaged granola bars, carbonated soft drinks, candy, mass-produced breads, margarine, energy drinks, flavored yogurt, chicken nuggets, and hot dogs. These are the items researchers are referring to when they say that ultraprocessed foods are linked to more cancer cases, early deaths, and weight gain.
Of course these items also tend to be more convenient and cheaper than less processed food, since they're less perishable. It sticks around for a while. You don't have to have all the fresh ingredients on hand, which might spoil. You don't have to have all the equipment to prepare these meals from scratch. But experts, including Hall, said that if you can afford it, cutting back on ultraprocessed food is a good strategy for maintaining a healthy weight and staying disease-free.
The Institute of Food Technologists includes additional processing terms like storing, filtering, fermenting, extracting, concentrating, microwaving, and packaging. Types of food processing A popular system to classify processed foods was introduced in , called the NOVA classification.
Unprocessed or minimally processed foods Unprocessed foods include the natural edible food parts of plants and animals. Minimally processed foods have been slightly altered for the main purpose of preservation but which does not substantially change the nutritional content of the food. Examples include cleaning and removing inedible or unwanted parts, grinding, refrigeration, pasteurization, fermentation, freezing, and vacuum-packaging.
This allows the food to be stored for a greater amount of time and remain safe to eat. Many fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, meats, and milk fall into this category. Processed culinary ingredients Food ingredients derived from a minimally processed food by pressing, refining, grinding, or milling. They are typically not eaten on their own but used to prepare minimally processed foods.
Examples include oils from plants, seeds, and nuts, or flour and pastas formed from whole grains. Processed foods Foods from either of the two previous groups that have added salt, sugar, or fats.
Some canned fruits and vegetables, some cheeses, freshly made bread, and canned fish are examples. These foods usually are made from at least ingredients and can be readily eaten without further preparation. Several processing steps using multiple ingredients comprise the ultra-processed food. It is speculated that these foods are designed to specifically increase cravings so that people will overeat them and purchase more.
They are typically ready-to-eat with minimal additional preparation. Not all but some of these foods tend to be low in fiber and nutrients. Examples are sugary drinks, cookies, some crackers, chips, and breakfast cereals, some frozen dinners, and luncheon meats. One study using data from the U. Decoding the ingredients list on a food label Being aware of specific ingredients in a food is a good general practice for everyone but may be especially useful for those with food allergies or intolerances, diabetes, or digestive diseases.
In many cases, the longer the ingredients list, the more highly processed a food is. However, an ingredient that is not recognizable or has a long chemical name is not necessarily unhealthful. When scanning the Ingredients listing on a food package, consider the following: The ingredients are listed in order of quantity by weight.
This means that the food ingredient that weighs the most will be listed first, and the ingredient that weighs the least is listed last. For example, alternative terms for sugar are corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, agave nectar, cane sugar, evaporated cane juice, coconut sugar, dextrose, malt syrup, molasses, or turbinado sugar.
Other terms for sodium include monosodium glutamate or disodium phosphate. If the food is highly processed, it may contain several food additives such as artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
Their ingredient names may be less familiar. Some preservatives promote safety of the food by preventing growth of mold and bacteria.
Most pre-packed foods have the nutrition information on the front, back or side of the packaging. If the processed food you want to buy has a nutrition label that uses colour-coding, you will often find a mixture of red, amber and green. When you're choosing between similar products, try to go for more greens and ambers, and fewer reds, if you want to make a healthier choice.
High: more than 1. If you are trying to cut down on saturated fat, try to limit the amount of foods you eat that have more than 5g of saturated fat per g. Red and processed meat can be high in saturated fat. We are advised not to eat more than 70g a day.
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