Pop quiz. Which of the following
is considered a processed food: Kellogg's Corn Flakes, homemade greek yogurt,
bagged baby spinach? (Answer: All of them.)
The point here, is that
"processed foods" includes a much wider variety of products than most
consumers typically associate with the term. Secondly, not all processed foods
are evil. Processed foods can provide convenience, like in the case of bagged
baby spinach, or safety, as in the case of pasteurized eggs, and can even --
gasp -- be healthy.
"The idea of saying just
avoid processed foods is crazy," Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, CSSD, LDN, told
The Huffington Post. "Yogurt is a processed food. It’s actually been
cultured and packaged. Canned beans, with no other ingredient besides beans, is
processed because [the beans] have been cooked and they have been canned."
Where Blatner draws the line with her endorsement is with extremely processed
foods, which logically enough, is also where things start to get murky for
consumers.
And while this may seem like an
issue of semantics -- after all, when most people say "processed,"
they expect others understand this to be a colloquial term for
"unhealthy" -- the lack of a clear and official definition for what
qualifies as a heavily processed foods is extremely controversial in the
nutrition community. A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition in May, has set out to clarify and define what, exactly, is meant by
the term.
The U.S. government defines
processed food as "any food other than a raw agricultural commodity and
includes any raw agricultural commodity that has been subject to processing,
such as canning, cooking, freezing, dehydration, or milling." That seems
clear enough. But there's no agreed upon definition for extremely processed
foods, the stuff that nutritionists like Blatner say we should be avoiding at
the grocery store.
As the researchers write in the
study, "The U.S. government’s definition of 'processed food' -- any food
other than a raw agricultural commodity -- includes a diverse array of foods
ranging from frozen vegetables, dried fruit, and canned beans to whole-wheat
bread, breakfast cereals, prepared meals, candy and soda." Basically, any
category that includes both soda and frozen vegetables is too broad to help
consumers make healthy eating choices.
To help break things down, the
researchers divided 1.2 million food products into four distinct categories:
minimally processed, basic processed, moderately processed and highly
processed. In the study, highly processed food were defined as
"multi-ingredient industrially formulated mixtures processed to the extent
that they are no longer recognizable as their original plant or animal source."
Americans are buying highly
processed foods in large quantities. According to the study, 61 percent of our
calories come from these highly processed foods, including refined bread, lunch
meat, soda, alcohol, and condiments like salsa and hummus. These foods were
also higher in fat, sugar and sodium than their less-processed counterparts.
Outside of the research world,
dividing your shopping chart into four processing categories probably isn't
realistic. So what should a health-conscious shopper do? For starters, Blatner
recommends reading nutrition labels from the bottom up, starting with the
ingredient list. Shoppers should keep an eye out for nutritional red flags:
chemicals they don't use in their own kitchens; refined sugar and flour;
artificial sweeteners, flavors and colors; and preservatives (ingredients
starting with a string of letters, like BHA and BHT).
The more of these red
flags on the ingredient list, the higher the chance that the item is highly
processed and probably not a smart purchase from a nutritional standpoint.
The important takeaway here is
that people are using the same word to mean two very different things. Food
manufactures choose to say that every food is processed, ignoring the fact that
not all processed foods have equal health profiles. Health food advocates, on
the other hand, may toss the term around incorrectly, as a catchall for
anything they consider unhealthy.
"It’s not demonizing
processed foods," Blatner said. "Let’s put an actual word ahead of
that –- extreme processing -- and then let’s define that together."
So here, a few surprisingly
processed -- but still healthy -- foods:
Pasteurized eggs
Level of processing: Minimally
processed. Eggs are heated to a temperature high enough to kill bacteria found
in the food, making it safer for consumers.
Why it's healthy: Eggs are
considered the gold standard for high-quality protein, and can increase the
body's levels of HDL, the "good" cholesterol.
Cold-press juice
Level of processing: Basic
processed. Fruit is crushed and pressed to extract its juice, without producing
any heat that could break down nutrients.
Why it's healthy: A diet high in
fruits and vegetables can ward off stoke and heart attack and prolong your
life. Still, you're better off reaching for whole fruits than juice -- a 2013
study found that while eating whole fruits decreased participants risk of Type
2 diabetes, drinking fruit juice actually increased their risk.
Plain Greek yogurt
Level of processing: Basic
processed. Live yogurt cultures are added to strained and pasteurized cow's
milk and then strained to remove the whey, which makes the yogurt thicker.
Why it's healthy: The natural
probiotics in Greek yogurt help promote a healthy gut. Greek yogurt is also
packed with protein.
Canned green beans
Level of processing: Basic
processed. Green beans are washed and canned under pressure to prevent
food-borne botulism. Canned green beans are affordable and easy to cook with.
Why it's healthy: Canned green
beans are packaged at the height of freshness and contain calcium and vitamins
C, K and A (although fresh green beans have higher levels of vitamins and
minerals than canned). Just make sure you aren't buying the kind with added
sugar or sodium.
Dried apricots
Level of processing: Minimally
processed. Pitting and drying apricots preserves the fruit and makes it easier
to transport.
Why it's healthy: Dried apricots
are a good source of dietary fiber, and contain even higher levels of iron and
potassium than fresh apricots.
100-percent, whole-wheat bread
Level of processing: Moderately
processed. Bread is somewhat removed from its original raw ingredients. Wheat
is converted to flour, without removing the bran and germ, and combined with
water, yeast, eggs, oil, salt and sugar.
Why it's healthy: Whole grains
are a good source of fiber, as well as selenium, magnesium and potassium.
Frozen turkey
Level of processing: Minimally
processed. Freezing meat preserves it and stops bacteria in the food from
multiplying.
Why it's healthy: Turkey contains
vitamin B, which aids brain development during pregnancy, as well as the
mineral phosphorus, which helps build health teeth and bones.
Extra-virgin olive oil
Level of processing: Basic
processed. Making olive oil is a multi-step process, including washing the fruit,
pressing it and extracting the oil from the resulting olive pulp.
Why it's healthy: Olive oil
contains monounsaturated fatty acids, which are considered heart healthy and
could lower your risk of heart disease.
Cheese
Level of processing: Moderately
processed. From testing for a "clean break" to separating the curds
from the whey, making cheese is not a simple process. Here's one professor's
21-step illustrated recipe.
Why it's healthy: A recent study
linked a diet rich in cheese to a decreased risk for obesity and a faster
metabolism. That said, like all good things, cheese is probably best enjoyed in
moderation.
Green tea
Level of processing: Minimally
processed. Tea leaves are steamed, rolled and dried, causing oxidation.
Why it's healthy: Green tea
contains catechins, which have been linked to lower body fat and a decrease in
obesity.
Pre-shelled almonds
Level of processing: Minimally
processed. Shelling makes almonds easier and more convenient to eat. Following
two salmonella outbreaks in California in the early aughts, the USDA has
required all almonds (even "raw" ones) be pasteurized before being
sold to the public.
Why it's healthy: Almonds contain
more calcium than any other nut, as well as protein and hearty-health fats.
Courtesy of: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/26/what-counts-as-processed-food_n_7368534.html
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