Some of the most reviled consumption commodities in the current store shelves are processed foods and many reasons as to why they are highly undesirable. Any person that takes as little time as reading product nutrition labeling will cringe to think of what some people daily take in.
There is some advice that you might have heard, such as to confine your shopping in a grocery store to the perimeter because this is where the most healthy stuff can be found. Theoretically, that is right. Fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, cheese, fish, poultry and beef are obtained in the produce, dairy and meat side of the supermarket.
But also here you will get processed frozen food, processed baked goods, processed packaged luncheon meat and sugar infested yogurt among other things. The fact that the item is placed along the edges of the store does not mean it is healthy. Along the grocery aisles, you also have plenty of good food choices to choose (that is, of course, when and where to look).
What are the processed foods?
Processed food can be any product which was changed in any way before reaching the grocer. Processing may be done in a lot of ways, with some of them being straightforward and others too complicated.
The simplest forms of food processing entail the following:
- Canning/jarring
- Juicing
- Freezing
- Dehydrating
In these two methods, the food item is hardly modified. Newly harvested vegetables and fruits are usually canned, frozen or jammed whole or cut. Dehydration is done by the removal of water in food to increase the shelf life. The drying is possible in the sun, by air, in the oven, or using the electric types of dehydrators. Commonly dried foods are fruits, vegetables, cooked lean (jerky) meat, herbs, and sauces.
Advanced food processing processes are:
- Baking
- Stewing
- Boiling
- Sauteing
- Roasting
- Frying
- Steaming
- Grilling
- Tempering
Under these techniques, preparation of the ingredients is carried out by being prepared, washed, cut and made ready to start the cooking process. After cooking, whether by a given method, the food is cooled and put in some packages. Certain foods would need an addition of preservatives so that they can avoid spoilage. Shelf stable foodstuffs are packed in boxes to be transported. Other foods are better kept refrigerated or even in the freezer and their chances of spoilage or bacterial growth increase with too long on the bench or repeatedly thawed and refrozen.
The Reason Behind Badness of some Processed Foods
Even the word processed introduces to your mind complex cooking procedures, humongous mixing vessels, grinders, conveyor systems, and various processes of food processing prior to being packaged and shipped to your grocery shop. Yes, when foods are prepared in this way, they stand a chance of being bad to your health. The competing manufacturers rely on fancy wrappings, stimulating ads and commercials, coupons, and buy one–get one (BOGO) tricks to attract you. They are aware how addicting their packaged and processed foods are.
This is the most important ingredient of convenience since most of the people in the US do not have the time to shop and prepare their foods. By spending a few more minutes at the store reading the labels, one can easily figure out which among the processed foods to choose.
Genetically modified foods is another issue. Wines, non-GMO, organic and pesticide-free are safer to take in.
Are you able to identify each of the ingredient listed, or some of these sound like chemical jargon?
Is it giving sodium nitrate, monosodium glutamate, guar gum, food colorings, sodium benzoate, carrageenan, high-fructose corn syrup and others?
Does the ingredients list stretch a mile or does it contain just some few whole food stuff?
Take a bag of frozen vegetables, do they contain peas, carrots and green beans or also modified food starch, natural flavors (what are they?), salt, xanthan gum, whey powder, and some others? In case you prefer vegetables covered with cheese sauce, consider getting a plain frozen vegetable and shred a piece of your favorite type of cheese by hand, and then melt it on top.
Is it possible that the food is healthy, yet the packaging poses an annoyance?
Well, certainly, not all types of packaging are safe or may be hazardous to health, e.g., cans, and any packaging made of bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine disruptor. Unless a can contains the statement BPA-free, it probably is not.
Some of the reasons why most processed foods are bad to you are as follows:
May have lots of sugar May have a lot of sugar
Sugar when added in processed foods is added in order to bring sweetness to the meal, extend shelf life of the food, provide capability of the food to brown, food color, texture and body. This is the reason why other foods that are not regarded as sweet contain sugar in the list of ingredients. A high amount of sugar is widely used in many gluten-free foods.
Foods that are already prepared and contain extra sugar, and even saddler, high fructose corn syrup distort the metabolism and may predispose one to the threats of possessing high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, and heart illnesses. The hormonal imbalances such as deficiency of HGH expensive can likewise aggravate health conditions such as these. HGH treatment will assist in that problem. It is expensive to use HGH? To know more about HGH and its prescription on-line, visit our web-site.
Stuffed with synthetic and redundant products
Artificial colors and flavors, chemical names, preservatives, and artificial sweetners in the product labels are other concerns that may cause serious health issues particularly when it is on a regular basis.
Calorie dense
Refined foods are capable of raising the number of calories taken by a great magnitude. Having chemicals that excite the so called feel good sensors in the parts of the brain related to dopamine, we desire to take more. It is very hard to have only one potato chip or cookie. That will not make people hungry or crave. Nevertheless, the less unhealthy ones become as much as much smaller, the less calories they produce.
Digest quicker
Processed foods are easier to digest by the body as compared to whole and unprocessed foods making us feel hungry faster. Our body burns less calories in order to digest such foods, which in effect results in weight gains.
Rid of surplus sodium
Sodium levels in most of the processed food are very high and they may raise blood pressure, loss of calcium in the bones, heart ailment, and stroke. Red meat deli products are usually full of sodium. It is important to read tags and to avoid overusing such products.
Refined carbohydrates high
The refined carbs are processed grains which are not dense with nutrients as the whole grains. Processing of these grains kills short shelf life, however, other essential nutrients are lost. The foods like white bread, rolls, bagels, buns, pizza dough, white rice, pancakes labeled with waffles, crackers, pretzels, baked goods, and certain cereals are all refined carbs that may increase blood sugar concentration.
Trans fatulous
Trans fat To increase the shelf life of any processed food, the hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils are filled with trans fat. Nevertheless, trans fat predisposes to heart diseases, heart attacks and strokes.
Though all the fats are not as bad as the trans fat, they still carry the right amount of calories which can lead to increase in weight gain, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart diseases.
Non-nutritional values
Most of the vitamins, fiber, and nutrients contained in food are processed out of them. Some firms replace them by supplementing their foods. Naturally, it is always preferable to take in such nutrients.
Healthy Processed Food
The most ideal types of foods that you should purchase are the minimally processed foods. A small modification in the looks of the food, the better. An example of that is that flash-freezing food is a rapid way of freezing food so that the food can freeze quicker in a bid to form ice crystals which in essence protects the internal processing of the food in terms of cell structure breakdown. The flash freezing is used to minimize food water loss by companies in the frozen food industry.
Bagged salad greens belong to one of the most popular kinds of minimally processed food. Such foods are usually washed repeatedly, put in packets or plastic boxes and are cooked to serve. Even precut fruit cups or squash or broccoli are another good choice. The food remains natural; they have done nothing to it except the part of making it easier to use.
Fruit and ready-to eat vegetables
Prepacked, prewashed and precut, processed fruits and vegetables are highly nutritious and found in the produce section.
Canned beans
Canned beans will be a super processed food to include in your diet because they take little time to make, contain a lot of protein and fiber. Search the products that are the least in sodium and rinse them thoroughly before consuming. Refried beans become more tasty by adding ingredients to the beans, and thus labels need to be checked. The canned beans are able to be added to salads, chili among other dishes. There is one caution and it is to make sure that you find the food cans (of any kind) that have written BPA-free on them.
Pickled vegetables
Picked vegetables such as pickles, kimchi, and other vegetables offer high fiber and probiotics supplements to your diet. Watch out on the extra sugar and salt; consume products with fewer and healthy constituents.
Spice and herbs, dried
Fresh herbs are expensive to buy, and they do not take long. You can grow them in your home organic soil. It is a good idea to purchase jarred herbs and spices and the best thing to do is to buy organic. But watch out for those spice blends and seasoning mixes that contain sugar, salt and chemicals.
Frozen vegetables and Berries
Vegetables and fruits are frozen when they are as fresh as they can get and they are usually fresher to prepare than any you may find in the produce department of your grocery store. Organic frozen produce can be cheaper than the fresh ones, especially when you do bulk purchase in times of sale. Other items available that can also reduce complex carbohydrates include cauliflower rice and vegetable noodles that are spiralized.
Oils of olives and the others
Good examples of healthy processed foods include extra virgin olive, coconut and avocado oil. Purchase olive oil in dark glasses and do not take any low-quality brand because they are always not of high-quality.
Bread, cereals and whole grain pasta
Whether it is pasta, cereal or bread, the option that contains whole grains and does not include sugar, salt, and chemical elements is the most suitable one.
Canned fish
Fish canned or in pouches are easy and cheap to acquire and can serve as healthy fast foods. Tuna found in cans might be rich in mercury, thus finding brands that offer safer ones.
Seeds and nuts and nut butter
Raw or organic nuts and seeds or raw nut and seed butter are also something to be bought and used in daily food to increase the amount of heart-healthy fats and protein in your foods. The money can be saved by bulk shopping. Do not get roasted nuts and seeds since they will go bad rapidly. Homemade Roasting is more flavored, and you can change the options with the help of various seasonings. Avoid jars of nut butter containing anything but a little salt. Nut butter is ready to be eaten without adding any oil or sugar to it.
Dried fruits
Being suitable to use out-of-season or in certain recipes, dried fruit has conventionally been prepared by means of dehydration. Although it is preferable to do it at home, these products are good to purchase without extra oil, flour, sulfites, and sugar. Do not forget to look at portion sizes since they increase a large number of calories in the diet. Dried fruits can be used to deal with digestion due to their increase in fiber.
Gluten-free grains, oats and pasta
Make exotic side dishes using wild rice, amaranth, quinoa and other grains that are only one ingredient. Currently, the varieties of gluten-free pasta are broad; the types contain chickpea, quinoa, beans, lentils, rice, hearts of palm, and corn. Keep away goods having adding in packets or the products that have the extra sugar, sodium, and other chemical elements and tastes. Not every oat is gluten-free, and you should make sure that yours have a certification in their label twice. It is also advisable to purchase organic corn pasta; there are so many products made of corn, which are genetically modified.
Dark chocolate
Dark chocolate is a processed food (which you are not going to eat a raw cacao bean) and it is capable of delivering huge health benefits. Search for high-quality, organic, fair-trade chocolate, which does not contain much other additives, like soy lecithin, natural or artificial flavors and food dyes.
Milk
Any form of milk has to be processed unless you are in a farm and have direct intake. Non-dairy milk alternatives are the best alternatives to people who are not consuming dairy products; however, one should read the labels carefully. Choose products that have no added sugar and a few ingredients e.g. gums and preservatives. The most desirable is to use nothing but nuts and water to make some nut milks.
Tomato and tomato paste
Easy recipes: the opposite of fresh tomatoes are in cans, boxes or jars, there is a choice of chopped tomatoes, diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, sauces or tomato paste. Look out at the BPA-free labeling and avoid other ingredients such as extra virgin olive oil and spices.
Conclusion
A national study of healthy aging conducted by the University of Michigan indicates that around 13 percent of all adults aged 50-80 years are addicted to the processed foods. The overweight women and the elderly who lack the company of others or are not healthy are more likely to consume more foods that have been processed.
Individuals who answered that they had fair or poor health were over two times more likely to declare processed food addiction as compared to individuals who gave high grades regarding their health tastes, good, very good, or excellent. A quarter of them said they experienced a highly intense processed food craving at least once in a week.
Food addiction is an issue since the brain is extremely sensitive to such over processed foodstuffs whose high components are the fat, sugar, starch, and salt. Anyway, the majority of humans do not need one single potato chip.
The more processed food one consumes, the more likely to get involved in such problems as:
- Ovarian and brain cancer (particularly)
- Death caused by heart disease
- Dementia
- Diabetes type 2
You can learn how to read product labels and how you can check sodium, trans fat, and carbohydrate level so as to make better choices. Do not eat anything that has a long list of ingredients, chemical names, artificial flavours and colours, preservatives and the likes. Even such term as natural flavors is misleading because you are not aware of what it contains.
Minimally processed foods or even those in its natural form are healthier. When you are short of time, plan to prepare a week of food bundled together, divided into containers and frozen to use, and create your own grab-and-go meals.
Using the grocery store is the third way to initiate a healthier dietary lifestyle by shopping around the store. The only thing you must do is to read carefully the labels and stay away from foods that are over processed and are heavy in sodium or sugar.
