Why Processed Food Is Bad For Health/ Weight; How To Make Unprocessed Food Simple.

WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT PROCESSED FOOD?

On average, about 50% of Americans’ dietary consumption is food that has been highly altered from its original form found in nature. Most foods in North America have been processed in some way by the time they’ve reached the plates. The concern about processed food isn’t over items like canned tomatoes or frozen broccoli, which are processed to lock in freshness and nutrients. The concern is over more heavily processed foods like cookies, cakes, crackers, chips, muffins, donuts, buns, aerosol cheese like sauces or long lasting meats. Heavily processed, factory, and lab created “foods” remain shelf-stable, can be more colorful, flavor enhanced, chemically altered and may include artificials, additives, gums, and other scientific inventions. Certainly more convenient, definitely more stimulating, however this flavor packed time saver comes at a cost.

HEALTH RISKS OF HEAVILY PROCESSED FOODS

Ultra Processed Foods Negatively Affect Health:

• Increased cancer risk. Higher consumption of ultra processed foods leads to higher cancer risk.
• Unhealthy Levels of Sugar, Sodium and Fat leads to serious health issues like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes
• Low Nutritional Value. Heavy processing strips away nutrients such as fiber, vitamins and minerals.
• Calorie Dense and Addicting. Processed foods are high calorie foods yet designed to stimulate our brain’s “feel-good” dopamine center, making us crave more than needed now and remembered for the future.
• Processed Calories Matter More. It’s estimated we burn twice as many calories digesting natural unprocessed foods compared to processed foods. Therefor, fill your belly with unprocessed foods each day and shed some pounds.
• Artificial Ingredients. There are about 5,000 allowed substances that may get added to food. Ingredients like preservatives, sweeteners and additives are used to change color, texture, flavor and odor. Most of them have never been tested by anyone other than the company using them.

REDUCE PROCESSED FOODS

You Can Do It and Your Health and Waistline Will Thank You:

• Check Labels. The longer the ingredient list, the more processed the food. If most of the ingredients are hard-to-pronounce chemicals instead of actual food just say, “No”.
• Shop Perimeter of Market. Most grocery stores stock the center isles with packaged, ready-made and other heavily processed items. Aim to buy more produce and bulk-bin foods such as dried beans and whole grains.
• Markets Help. If you’ll eat salad, stir fry vegetables, or melon, for example, if someone else did the chopping then buy it that way. Many grocery stores have a section in produce for pre-washed, chopped, or both plant foods. You’ll save money if you do the produce prep yourself but you’ll save your life and health if you eat produce period.
• Keep it Simple.
  • Start with a salad.
  • Then eat (for example):
    • Rice & beans topped with salsa
    • Quinoa & lentils cooked in broth
    • Curry powder & coconut milk simmered veggies over potato
    • Veggies & organic protein with fresh herbs
  • Finally, snack and dessert on ripest in season fruit
• Cook More. Cook in larger batches and freeze the leftovers for healthy, clean, fast, unprocessed meals later.

No need to wait; you can make whole food choices at each meal. Go ahead and transform your energy, health, and life today! 🙂