What's the Deal with 'Processed Food'?

Diet and Nutrition
1

I’ve been on this website for quite a while and still consider myself a beginner. I learn new things everyday on these forums and articles. Every time I have a question, I get great answers. So I just want to say thanks, first.

One thing that keeps popping up in my mind, however, is something I see in pretty much all diet articles (on this site and pretty much any other nutrition expert). This is the avoidance of “Processed foods” and eating only “Natural foods”.

Now bare with me here because I might sound a bit crazy or “out there”. What exactly is the problem with processed food? I get the fact that unnecessary stuff is added in there, some things that aren’t wanted in a diet, but to me it seems to go a bit overboard.

For example, I remember one article on here about simple diets and it mentioned avoiding processed turkey and stuff you buy from a packet or a fast food restaurant and instead getting a whole turkey and cutting that up. To me, the difference between the two is just so negligible.

Again, I am probably totally wrong here, but how big is the difference between eating a turkey you cut yourself and the turkey packets you buy at the store. I understand the difference in taste, but when it comes to pure nutrition, I honestly don’t see the huge difference that seems to be made, in this case.

Then my brain moves to supplements. I take supplements and I understand that supplements aren’t exactly key to a proper diet, but they do play a role and pretty much everyone here uses them. The first thing that comes to mind is fish oil. Are fish oil and any other supplements not considered “processed”?

I mean, when people say don’t eat turkey or chicken that is cut mechanically, then on the same token recommend supplements that are extracted from an animal and mechanically made into gel caps or pills, why does no one have a problem with this sort of thing? There are chemicals that are added to these supplements that it seems like no one has a problem with, yet people have a problem with stuff that is added to food we eat?

Again, this might seem like a rant, but I assure you, it is not. I just want to understand what exactly the problem with processed food is, and if it is really that bad that I am buying turkey from packets in the supermarket instead of a whole turkey from a farm or store.

I really appreciate your advice and help on this matter. Have a great day!

2

I think a large part of it is about having control over what you eat: you buy a whole turkey, you know pretty much what you’re putting in your mouth: you buy processed meats and you’re probably getting loads of salt, additives, and lovely cuts of meat like nipple and eyelid (not sure turkeys have nipples, but you get the point), and all of those ingredients you can’t pronounce probably aren’t great for you.

Then there’s the story about the Twinkie that was edible after 20 years, or the time-lapse photos of a homemade burger vs a fast food burger. Things that stay edible for that long are basically plastic and indeed, there’s even a commonly used emulsifier that leaves the body in the same state it entered it, if it leaves at all. By eating “natural” foods you’re avoiding all that stuff.

Not to mention taste. I recently made the switch from supermarket meat to butcher’s meat and the difference is noticeable. The chicken breasts are huge and contain no water (chicken pumped with water is in the news in the UK at the moment), and the red meat tastes much better. It’s cheaper, too: I actually save about 40% on my weekly shop by buying from the market compared to the supermarket.

I agree that supplements are definitely processed, but for purity rather than for profit and an extended shelf-life.

Just my 2p.

3

processed is anything that is beyond natural means, like pre packaged foods, flash frozen, refined, and anything that contains additives, and preservatives… Usually if you really wanted to go all natural your best bet could be purchasing from farmers markets.

When things are processed usually it means they are broken down, processed, and refined from their natural state. It is the added chemicals, and loss of nutrients that people tend to err on. As well as issues with intestinal digestion that could arise from eating a processed diet for too long.

4

Michael Pollan has a good rule, and I’m paraphrasing: Don’t eat grocery store stuff that your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.

5

Compare a grain of rice with Rice Krispies.

Corn with Corn Flakes.

A Macdonalds bun with a freshly made, just grounded, whole wheat bun.

Ever left a loaf of bread on the counter for 3-5 days and it is still fresh?

The nutritional values are far from “negligible”.

I was raised on hand made bread, milk almost straight from the cow, veggies from a garden and we raised our meat. I never had a problem with “gluten” or “lactose” or “pesticides” until I left home. All of a sudden, I have bad hay fever and farting all the time.

6

Try go organic with animal produce whenever you can…

7

Thanks for the replies everyone. I really appreciate it.

I guess one of the big things that bothers me is trying to manage all of the nutritional information that comes with buying a whole turkey, cutting it up, or buying something else and trying to figure out how correct the nutritional values are?

It’s easy to look at the back of a pack of turkey, see that 3 slices equals a specific number of calories/fat/etc, whereas I wouldn’t have any idea what that fresh turkey would equal. I suppose I could weigh it but it seems as though that is more of an estimate that wouldn’t be all that close to it’s true caloric value. I mean, nutrition websites tell me different things when looking up nutritional information if I was to look up a certain food, whereas the food you buy has an easy to use chart.

I’m willing to go all natural and clean. But I guess it would be nice to know what all you pro guys do out there when trying to micro manage nutritional information.

Thanks and have a great day.

8

A big deal in this is your bacterial and fungal flora. Food that has been sufficiently processed will present an easy fuel source for parasitic bacteria and fungi, which live off you and not only don’t give anything back, but actually harm your health by increasing infections and inflammation. Also, empty calories deplete nutrients required for their assimilation rather than adding them. That’s a net negative. So, any way you slice it, whole food should constitute as much of your total intake as possible.

9

There really is a difference between processed meat and cuts/whole animals. Google pink meat paste. That’s what your turkey and chicken from McDonalds is. Personally the more connection you have with your food including preparation the better you will feel about what you eat which in turn leads to better results.

10

[quote]man bear pig wrote:
Personally the more connection you have with your food including preparation the better you will feel about what you eat which in turn leads to better results. [/quote]
True this. I always feel better about what I am eating when I prepare it from scratch myself.

tweet

11

[quote]Majin wrote:
A big deal in this is your bacterial and fungal flora.[/quote]

Slight derail, but I’m glad you brought this up. Intestinal flora is one reason why you’re probably just estimating when it comes to calories anyway. Differences in the relative sizes of various microbial communities (e.g. firmicutes and bacteroidetes) have been found in the guts of obese and regular people.

This difference is thought to influence nutrient absorption, which isn’t really such a far-fetched theory since we already know they influence absorption of some vitamins (and produce vit K). IIRC, there’s even one mutualistic microbe that signals your body to release fucose (a sugar) to feed it.

And the things you shove down your gullet can most definitely affect your intestinal ecology, favouring some microbes over others.

The point is while tracking calories and macros is a good thing to do, you’re still playing a guessing game anyway, and experience with how your body reacts is probably the best anyway.

12

[quote]TC wrote:
Michael Pollan has a good rule, and I’m paraphrasing: Don’t eat grocery store stuff that your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.

[/quote]

That’s great advice indeed… And it’s kinda like Paleo Jr.!

13

The good thing is that in order to avoid processed foods, one doesn’t really have to change their lifestyle too much. Still want to eat deli meat? Go to a trusted butcher and get cuts that you know are fresh and don’t contain any additives. Find a good bakery if you eat bread. If you can’t avoid eating prepared foods, take frozen meals over “fresh” meals, since the latter typically contain many more preservatives and flavour agents.

The only time I find it tricky to avoid processed ingredients is when I eat fast food or street meat, which is fairly seldom.

14

One way around this is to do a bit of research online to see what macros are in the foods that your want to or normally eat. If you keep it simple you will soon learn what 100g of turkey looks like and roughly how much protein is in it. The nutritional breakdowns on food packets are only estimations so I wouldn’t rely too heavily on them.

A good example of ‘natural’ foods over processed is peanut butter. If you buy 100% natural peanut butter with one ingredient: peanuts, then that’s what you’re eating. If you get the processed stuff it’s got palm oil, peanut oil, salt and often sugar added. I know which one I’d rather eat.