What Are Processed Foods, and Are They All Bad? Which Are Actually Healthier For You and Which To Avoid
Turns out some minimally processed foods can still fit into a healthy diet
While the snack aisle at the grocery store is fun, it’s also full of processed foods that aren’t always the greatest for your health. And if you’re focusing on a balanced diet, want to lose weight or need to lower your sugar and sodium intake, then it’s best to avoid them. But what are processed foods, and are all of them unhealthy? Here, learn about the different types and which ones you can consume regularly.
What are processed foods, and can they be healthy?
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, processed food is anything that’s been cooked, canned, frozen, packaged, fortified, preserved or prepped. That includes things we don’t usually consider as “processed,” like bags of leafy greens and pre-cut fruit and veggies. Of course, these are minimally processed and undeniably healthy options.
Many minimally processed foods, like canned or frozen fruits and vegetables, are still considered healthy and nutrient-rich. In fact, these can be even healthier sometimes than some fresh options because they’re typically preserved at peak freshness. Meanwhile, certain pasta sauces, salad dressings and baking mixes can also find themselves under the “healthy” umbrella, despite having ingredients added for flavor, texture and shelf-life. The same goes for cooking oils, bread, pasta and dairy products.
The important thing is to check the ingredients list for added salt or sugar. For example, canned fruit in water or its own juices is perfectly fine and part of a healthy diet — but extra sweeteners like concentrated juice or high fructose corn syrup make them less healthy. It’s also a good idea to look for low-sodium or no salt added options when picking canned veggies, soups and sauces.
What are unhealthy processed foods?
As you can probably guess, ultra-processed foods like frozen pizza, chips, candy and soda are what experts consider unhealthy. They often contain higher levels of added sugar and sodium (though even heavily processed foods can still be enjoyed in moderation from time to time).
Researchers observed more than 100,000 participants over a five-year span and found that diets that consisted of just 10 percent of ultra-processed foods greatly increased the risk of cardiovascular diseases like high blood pressure and strokes. These results are especially troubling considering that the researchers say ultra-processed food currently makes up as much as 60 percent of the average daily diets across the globe.
Another study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that higher levels of ultra-processed food consumption lead to more rapidly aging cells. And that’s on top of the fact that highly processed food is know to cause weight gain, too.
Look out for food additives
According to the World Health Organization, “Food additives are substances primarily added to processed foods, or other foods produced on an industrial scale, for technical purposes, e.g. to improve safety, increase the amount of time a food can be stored or modify sensory properties of food.”
Additives used in ultra-processed foods like cakes, baked goods and prepackaged snacks make our food tasty. But French researchers caution that eating them too often can raise the risk of type 2 diabetes. That’s because the additives in these foods cause inflammation that disrupts insulin signaling.
Bottom line: Although most food is processed in some way or another, we should try to balance our shopping carts with unprocessed or minimally processed foods and avoid ultra-processed foods as much as we can.
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