You don’t have to count calories or carbs to improve your eating habits this year. Instead, focus on how much your food is processed before it reaches your table.
If you’re like most people, you’re eating a lot of ultra-processed foods and you don’t even realize it. Many of these foods seem like healthy options, such as protein bars, granola bars, low-fat yogurt, and breakfast cereals.
But ultra-processed foods are concoctions of industrial ingredients designed by manufacturers to achieve a certain “bliss point,” which causes us to crave them or eat too much of them. Become. Ultra-processed foods make up a large portion of the calories most people consume, and scientists believe they are the driving force behind multiple diet-related diseases that are shortening our lifespans. It says that there is.
“It’s important to empower yourself by knowing what you’re going to eat or what you’re going to feed your family,” said Nicole Abena, a visiting professor of health psychology at Princeton University. ” he says.
So how can we break free from the shackles of ultra-processed foods? Start by reading the food labels in your refrigerator, pantry, and grocery store aisles. We’ve created a simple guide to help you spot nine red flags that indicate your food may be ultra-processed.
1. Three or more ingredients
Many ultra-processed foods contain long ingredient lists that may sound like a high school chemistry experiment. For example, if you love bread, choose brands that contain only simple ingredients such as wheat flour, barley flour, sourdough starter, salt, nuts, and raisins. Many ultra-processed breads contain sugar, vegetable oils, artificial sweeteners, multiple preservatives, emulsifiers, and shelf-life extenders such as sorbic acid, calcium propionate, Detem, and monoglycerides.
“You can still buy the food you want,” said Stephen DeVries, adjunct associate professor of nutrition at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and executive director of the educational nonprofit Gapples Institute. Stated. “But we need to find the least modified versions of those foods with as few ingredients as possible.”
2. Thickeners, stabilizers or emulsifiers
Look for ingredients like soy lecithin, guar gum, xanthan gum, carrageenan, mono- and diglycerides, or carboxymethyl cellulose. Ultra-processed foods include dyes to make them look more appealing, preservatives to extend their shelf life, and ingredients to improve texture and prevent ingredients from separating while on the shelves for weeks or months. They often contain thickeners, stabilizers, and emulsifiers. time.
3. Addition of sugar and sweeteners
Avoid foods that contain corn syrup, sugar, malt syrup, or molasses on the label. If you want more sweetness, add sugar or honey.
“Most people will use less honey or sugar than the packaged version,” DeVries says. “It’s much healthier than relying on yogurt companies to tell you how much sugar, honey, and additives you should consume.”
4.Ingredients ending in “-ose”
Check the label for sucrose, maltose, dextrose, fructose, or glucose. These are other names for added sugars.
5. Artificial or “fake” sugars
Look for aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame K, saccharin, or stevia. Sweeteners and artificial flavors are another hallmark of ultra-processed foods. Sugar and sweeteners are often added “to mask the unpleasant taste of added preservatives and other ingredients,” said Abena, author of the new book “Sugarless.”
For example, many commercial English muffins contain various emulsifiers, preservatives, and sweeteners. But you can’t tell unless you look at the ingredients. “It’s not sweet, but it has added sugar,” Abena says.
6. Health claims
Ultra-processed foods often have promotional claims on their packaging. Many products advertised as nutritious actually contain sweeteners and other additives. These products include breakfast cereals, granola, flavored yogurt, snack bars, salad dressings, canned soups, and more.
7. Low Carb Promise
Does the label say it has less added sugar? This can be a red flag, as manufacturers often replace added sugar in their products with artificial sweeteners.
8. Instant and flavored types
“If it’s instant, it’s usually mechanically modified in a way that degrades it,” DeVries said. If you like oatmeal for breakfast, buy a product that only contains oatmeal and nothing else.
Don’t be tempted by foods with different fruity or other flavors. If you like fruit-flavored yogurt, buy plain yogurt and add your own fresh fruit. Many fruit-flavored yogurts contain not only fruit but several other additives, such as cane sugar, cornstarch, “natural flavors” and fruit juice concentrate. Yogurt should contain only two ingredients: milk and cultures (that is, probiotics).
9. Can you make it in your kitchen?
When in doubt, look at the ingredient label and ask yourself if you can make it at home. Ultra-processed foods contain additives that are not normally used in home kitchens. They are often transformed into textures and shapes not found in nature, such as frosted cereals, donuts, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets.
Certainly, you don’t need to avoid all processed foods. Instead, think of food processing as a spectrum from minimally processed foods to ultra-processed foods. Minimally processed foods are those that have undergone minimal processing from plants or animals. Think whole grains, vegetables, eggs, milk, and meat. Processed culinary ingredients are used to prepare and season food at home and in restaurants. This includes things like butter, sugar, spices, salt, and olive oil.
Processed foods include canned vegetables, bacon, cheese, smoked fish, canned tuna, and fresh bread. Most processed foods can be made in your own kitchen. Usually they contain two or three ingredients, but are still recognizable as versions of those found in nature. Examples include unsweetened applesauce, tofu, hummus, tomato sauce, and jars of frozen fruits and vegetables.
Most ultra-processed foods are found in the center aisles of grocery stores. Shop around stores that stock fresh, whole foods, says Albert Laszlo Barabasi, a professor at Northeastern University and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School who studies ultra-processed foods. . “Most fresh foods are good for you,” he said.
When purchasing ultra-processed foods, avoid “family sizes” and choose single-serving items. Marion Nestle, professor emeritus of nutrition, food research, and public health at New York University and author of “Soda Politics,” says large packages are designed to encourage overeating. “If you can’t stop eating big packages, don’t buy them,” she added.
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