Every bite contributes to or takes from the body’s energy stores. So, how do you choose the foods you eat, and by what standards do you measure their nutritional value? Adults often choose foods that are easy to prepare during a busy work week. We also tend to choose foods we know our children will eat. But overly processed foods lack important nutrients our bodies need.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study about ultra-processed food (UPF) in the modern diet. Dr. Carlos Monteiro of Brazil’s Ministry of Health asserted that an “increased intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with poor-quality diets and with increased morbidity and mortality from several chronic diseases.” A debate ensued about how to classify these foods in the store. Apples, for example, are a fresh whole food. Condiments, at the other end of the continuum, come from unrecognizable food sources and are ultra-processed. Foods lose nutritional value as they are diced, baked, strained, frozen, boiled, aged, or in other ways altered from their original state.
Over decades of fast food franchising, Americans have developed a taste for the sugars, flavor-enhancing chemicals, and preservatives that have made food industries profitable by addiction. UPFs are easy to store and last longer thanks to these additives. Ironically, fresh food has become more expensive than a processed meal. But public health experts agree – eating fresh is cheaper in the long-run in terms of health care savings and quality of life.
It’s time to look inside your lunch box. The Center for Disease Control urges American to eat healthy by avoiding sugars, saturated fats, and salt that are mostly found in processed foods. Eat the apple picked from the tree, rather than baked into a pie. Flavor foods with fresh herbs rather than spice packets that may contain preservatives and flavor-enhancing chemicals. Choose single-ingredient foods rather than foods with ingredients you cannot pronounce. Eating healthy means whole food prepared by you in your kitchen rather than factory-made.
Live your best life,
Dr. Jerry Strohkorb