I feel like the term “processed food” gets tossed around a lot. We aren’t supposed to eat processed food, ever. But isn’t the act of cooking your food processing it? What specifically is wrong with processing?
What's wrong with processed food?
barti
#2
Processed doesn’t mean always the same.
For instance If you buy processed meat that means you buy something with the whole Mendeleev tablet.
Generally a lot of preservative in diet is associated with health problems.
The same is with sweetners, sugar etc.
In essence processing food generaly contain less fiber and of course it depends on kind of food but if you buy highily processed oil it’s likely that you will buy oil with trans fat which are very unhealthy.
On the other hand if you will heat fresh meat, vaccum packed or frozen you can call it processed meat but it doesn’t contain any harmful substances. Moreover baked,fried generally heated meat has better digestibility.
By heating you also protect yourself from patogens (these days everything is tested but from time to time you can hear that one part of eggs contained salmonella etc.)
daddyoh
(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!)
#3
Think of processed foods and food that comes in a bag or box. Maybe cans as well.
Much processed food has carbs (starches, sugars, sugar alcohols,…) in them. I think I read recently that there are 63+ different names for these carbs. Carbs become glucose in the bloodstream except for fructose which is already a sugar / carb that can be in your blood stream.
The second thing wrong with processed foods is many have an abundance of PUFA (Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids). So called nuts and seed oils that are highly processed to make them edible. At one time these were industrial grade oils that industry figured out how to process more and in doing make them “edible”.
Consumption of PUFAs lead to inflammation and other problems in our body. PUFA have an excess of Omega 6 Fatty Acids. The standard american diet (SAD) has a Omega 6 to Omega 3 FA ratio of as much as 20:1 or more. It should be more like 2:1.
Listen to Nina Teicholz - ‘Vegetable Oils: The Unknown Story’ https://youtu.be/Q2UnOryQiIY talk about this problem.
Eating whole foods helps reduce carb intake but also PUFA.
Cooking meat is the same thing as processing food in this regard.
mememe
#5
The problem isn’t with the processing of foods, it’s with the WAY they’re processed. Often taking away good nutrients, and adding a load of rubbish we don’t need. the rubbish is added for things like taste and preservation.
So, you can get processed food which is ok, but not often. This is for any way of eating, not just keto.
Brunneria
#6
Haha! Just a few posts in this topic, and already several different people giving different interpretations of what they think processed food is.
The reality is that we are all going to draw the line slightly differently, depending on our own personal preferences.
Me? I try not to eat much processed stuff. But I am always going to eat things with this order of priority:
1 blood glucose control
2 carnivory
3 sensible ‘healthier’ options (lower processing, additives, sweeteners, etc)
That means that in certain cercumstances I may eat processed and non-carnivore, in order to maintain my blood glucose level where I want it. However, as a general goal, i eat carnivore and non-processed because when applied sensibly, these give me the best long term health benefits for my current situation.
Shortstuff
(Allie)
#7
Processed foods aren’t really foods tbh, they’re food like substances made out of chemical additives.
LeCheffre
(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman )
#8
Technically, yes. And technically, slicing an apple and putting it on a plate is cooking.
When I talk about processed food, I am talking about industrial processes for cooking that generally do some set of four things that I don’t do when I cook things:
- Remove good fats
- Add bad fats, like trans fats and seed/soybean oil
- Add unnecessary sugar and or starch.
- Add all manner of chemical agents to improve shelf life, appearance and texture.
When I process food at home, I may add good fats, add a certain amount of necessary sweetness or acid, avoid inflammatory junk fats like the plague they are, and slow pasteurize for safety if that’s necessary.
Don’t think avoiding the center aisles of the store is remotely the same as going raw food only.