What are processed foods?
by Shereen Jegtvig
Processed foods have been altered from their natural state for safety reasons and for convenience. The methods used for processing foods include canning, freezing, refrigeration, dehydration and aseptic processing.
We tend to think of processed foods as bad, but it turns out that many processed foods are not bad foods. For example, milk would be considered a processed food because it is pasteurized and homogenized. While some people prefer to drink raw milk, most of us are content with the "processed" version we find in our grocery stores. Another healthy example of food processing would be freezing vegetables. While fresh may be best, freezing vegetables preserves vitamins and minerals and makes them convenient to cook and eat all year around. Fruit and vegetable juice would also be healthy processed food, and in fact some orange juice is fortified with calcium to make it even a bit healthier.
Of course there are a lot of processed foods available that aren't good for you. Many processed foods are made with trans fats, saturated fats, too much sugar and large amounts of sodium. These types of foods should be avoided or at least eaten sparingly.
Unhealthy processed foods include:
>canned foods with lots of sodium
>white breads and pastas made with refined white flour
>packaged high calorie snack foods like chips and cheese snacks
>high fat foods like cans of ravioli and spaghetti
>frozen fish sticks and frozen dinners
>packaged cakes and cookies
>boxes of meal mixes
>sugary breakfast cereals
>processed meats.
The processed meats might be some of the worst of the processed foods. Eating these meats may increase your risk of colorectal, kidney and stomach cancer. Processed meats include hot dogs, bologna, sausage, ham and other packaged lunch meats.
Processed foods and prepackaged meals are very convenient and popular. If you do shop for a lot of processed foods, be sure to look for products with lowered sodium, no trans fats, more whole grains and fewer calories. Make sure you pay attention to serving size too and balance out the processed foods with a delicious fresh salad and some whole grain bread.
