I don’t know if this is behind a paywall or not but it just confirms what we know about processed foods. What I didn’t know is that some of this stuff should be called something other than food. My beloved Spam is mentioned as the granddaddy of them all lol
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Sad, isn't it. One of the reasons I frequent this website is to improve my cooking skills to turn real food (the stuff on the outer perimeter of grocery stores) into something delicious to eat. I have no doubt that a rack of ribs smoked with a homemade (non-preservative, non-processed) rub is better for you than a hot dog on a processed bun with a Coke. -
Coincidentally, I watched the Air episode of the Michael Polland Netflix series Cooked last night. It's about bread and he points out that many of the gluten issues that people actually suffer from (vs the faddish avoidance of it), may well be due to the ultra-refinement of wheat into a flour that is stripped of nutrients and then has them artificially added back, combined with the use of simple yeast vs natural leaven which has a much more complex set of microorganisms.Comment
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ecowper - there's also anecdotal evidence that some older forms of wheat and older wheats are better tolerated by gluten sensitive folks. Not aware of any studies, but again, these are things closer to what we've eating for millennia than the highly refined flours pushed on us. -
rickgregory absolutely. Mssive spikes in gluten intolerance is not something that just happened spontaneously. If gluten intolerance had been that common historically, wheat wouldn't be a normal part of our diet.
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Great article, we eat as natural as possible most often cooked on one of the grills!!Comment
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Spam isn't all that bad, in terms of being ultra-processed, and it certainly isn't what I think of when I hear ultra-processed.
6 ingredients: "pork with ham meat added, salt, water, potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrite"
The article also claims:
"Sugar isn't even the worst problem in the American diet. More damaging still is the consumption of processed grains, used in corn flakes, white bread and many other products.These grains are stripped of their outer shell, known as the "bran," and their inner germ, which contains fiber, fatty acids and nutrients, leaving only the carbohydrates. The human body digests these liberated carbohydrates much faster than when they're locked inside the grains."
Sugar is way worse a problem than refined grains. Guess what gets digested even faster than refined grains? Sugar. They just spent 10 paragraphs explaining how bad sugar is (likely true) to conclude that white bread and pasta are a worse problem? That does not jive with anything else I have read on the topic.
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For the record, I avoid refined grains wherever possible myself. I also avoid sugar. I am not arguing that refined grains are "good" or even "not harmful" only that they are not as big a problem as sugar. Neither are a good dietary choice when consumed in excess. -
Maybe they are saying the refined grains are worse because they have been processed more than the sugar? The point of the article is that it's not just about the calories, it's about the amount of processing.
That said, I thought it was laughable when they said that calories from sugar was up to 57% in recent years, where it was only 54% in 2001. That's hardly a significant increase. Both bad but not much difference.
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Thought provoking article. I feel very fortunate to have grown up as I did where both of our parents cooked regular 'ol food. There simply wasn't an over abundance of processed foods at our house, save for a few boxes of Hamburger Helper on those busy weeknights (man, that stuff was delicious!).
I'm a pretty wholesome cook, and although I will occasionally go to the box of instant mashed potatoes, I make it a point to use fresh ingredients for our meals. That said, we have no children, my career choice was one of shift work with alternating days off, and now that I'm retired every day is a Saturday cook day. Couple that with a moderate income and very little home expense overhead and it's pretty easy for us to take our meals up a notch.
That is not necessarily the case for many people, and whether consciously or unconsciously they often take the food shortcut for expediency's sake and timesaving. I think the article does well to point out the dark downside of processed foods (in a 'Duh' sort of way), but only seems to point the finger at the "Supply" side of the equation while largely ignoring the "Demand" side. I think we can all agree that processed foods are not the best source of sustenance, everyone knows that awful, bloated, nasty feeling after caving in to a fast food crave, but this, to me, is a multi-layered issue with a lot of nuances. And this is where the article, like most, if not all, "news" and "opinion" pieces these days comes abruptly to their universal conclusions and recommendations: Government regulation. And that rarely, if ever, is the panacea they hope it to be.Last edited by CaptainMike; January 6, 2022, 02:52 PM.Comment
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This is why I love (ok, maybe not actual love) you guys. You get down into the weeds, while I am pretty superficial like Panhead John (couldn't resist). I took away the point that some of this stuff shouldn't be classified as "food" and pretty much ignored the social commentary. Of course gov'mt regulation is going to be called for. The regulators have to be able to eat junk food too lol -
Well, unlike you poor working slobs, we retirees have plenty of time to dig in the weeds!! -
Government regulation is certainly no panacea; however, it's really the only effective check and balance on corporate power. But-for regulation, we would not know what is in our food (unless we produced it all ourselves), much less have nutritional information readily available.
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I practice Keto, so by definition is no processed foods. Lots of confusion about Keto out there, it’s just extremely low carb (not zero, we have lots of vegetables) high fat (healthy fat) way of eating. It’s all about real food, not stuff from a can, package or wrapper. Also need to get enough protein, but if you are on this site, I doubt that’s a problem. 🤣Comment
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ultra-processed and refined grains are bad. But refined sugar, whether traditional white table sugar or corn syrup, is really bad! Over the past 200 years, the average American's sugar intake has gone from a couple pounds per year to OVER 130 pounds per year. A 1000% plus increase.
And literally any "food" you buy that is not a primary source, has sugar in it. If it is in a can, box, bag, or any other container from a food factory, it has sugar. THe only way to avoid extra sugar in your food is to buy primary food sources .... .meat, vegetables, and starches, and cook them yourself.
https://brandongaille.com/27-awesome...d%20sweeteners.Comment
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klflowers LMAO ..... I was in a bar with a couple friends one night and one of us ordered a dirty martini and I ordered a martini not dirty. The server brought our drinks, realized my martini wasn't dirty. She thought I also wanted a dirty martini, apologized for the mistake, stuck her finger in the martini and said "now it's dirty" -
Well crap, I barely got through half a bottle, that was a bust....
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I am not getting any younger, so I'm going to try to tackle reducing sugar this year. Actually, when I look at my plan....what I am really doing in large part is reducing processed foods.
What is really interesting is that if you reduce processed foods....you automatically reduce a lot of other suboptimal things: salt, refined carbs, saturated oils, etc. (Not to mention calories.)
I've noticed that when I don't plan my meals, I end up eating a lot more processed foods (cereals, canned ravioli). It's one of the reasons I've been experimenting with stir-fries as they are quick to prepare and can often be done with things just grabbed from the refrigerator. (One must be careful here....Asian condiments can be very salty, one of the reasons I am also branching out to Thai-style stir fries, which seem to be less salty.)Comment
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Very interesting read, and makes me regret a few of the foods in my pantry. I for one almost CAN'T have breakfast cereal in the house for example, as I'll find myself having one or more bowls as a midnight snack. I hardly ever want it for breakfast though.
I've made a conscious decision to try and shed my "holiday weight" this year by avoiding sugar as much as possible until I drop the 15 pounds I put on from Thanksgiving to New Years. It's hard to make yourself snack on carrots and celery sticks rather than chips and pretzels, but I'm going to try and do even better after reading all this.
One thing it has me wondering after reading that is whether I need to switch my home bread making over to something more whole-wheat. I've been using King Arthur all-purpose or bread flour, and they mention in the article how much nutrient is stripped from that stuff. I don't add sugar to my recipes, but it is white flour when all is said and done. That's the other thing - I gotta cut back on bread as well as sugar...
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CaptainMike that's why I've pretty much stopped buying any store bought bread. I know MY bread only has 4 ingredients - flour, salt, yeast and water. I make the same basic no-knead bread recipe, and either form it into long loaves, or drop it in a dutch oven if I want a round "boule" or whatever its called... -
Jim, I lost 8 lbs from 11/15 to today. I did NOT go on a diet of any sort. Instead, I weighed myself every day. That led to me being very thoughtful about eating. I stopped having snacks, didn't drink as much. I still ate like a pig on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. I also enjoyed a couple holiday dinners with friends and a couple of evenings with Christmas Cheer involved :-) -
I'm also in the process of dropping some covid pounds. I find that a diet high in lean protein helps to keep me satiated.
I think it's pretty clear whole grains are what we want. Mixing all-purpose with whole wheat 50/50 is a good strategy to get those whole grains without the bread being too dense.
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I try to maintain in my diet a steady supply of nuts, peanuts, many wrapped in chocolate with a thin candy shell.
Breakfast is Wheaties or Cheerios. Or an egg, sausage and cheese biscuit, croissant or muffin.
Never had tea and crumpets.
Always compliment sweets with whole milk.Comment
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Excellent kill! I was stunned to find such an article in Newsweek let alone any member of main stream press. Very familiar with many of those quoted in the piece. If one digs deeper as far as the money trails and how all these "respected" associations such as American Heart Assoc., ..Diebetes Assoc. … Assoc. etc. you will find it gets more sinister to diabolical as you dig.Last edited by FireMan; January 6, 2022, 05:38 PM.Comment
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Excellent article and far better than I expected considering the source.Comment
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The area of any food group in a pyramid or other official diagram seems to be generally proportional to the study funding provided over time by the organization associated with each group.
When has any diet plan told you to eat less without telling you to eat more of the stuff they produce instead?Comment
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Moderation is also key here, I think. I mean, do I never want to eat pizza again? I know for me, I'm making my own pizzas and no longer ordering out. Also trying to keep them to 2-3 a month. Also, like tonight, I used one Italian hot sausage link instead of two. (And I really need to cut down on that pepperoni, too, but that is for next time.)
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I’ve been trying to cut out the processed meats when I make pizza at home, and use chicken, pulled pork, and other meats that are usually leftover bbq of some sort. I love pepperoni and such, but know it doesn’t love me. And unless I made the sausage on the pizza, I don’t know what’s in it.. -
I'm guilty if eating pepperoni on homemade pizza on the regular. Ive nearly given up salami though.
When I went down to the cabin recently we grabbed a frozen pizza to try in our new air fry convection range since we had driven for 8 hours and wanted something easy. We never do that. As I ate it I wondered what the calories were. When I looked I couldn't believe it.1000 calories for half the pizza. Meanwhile the pizza I make at home is about half the calories even with plenty of pepperoni.
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