How much processed food do you eat in a week?

[Anonymous]

What kinds?

[Anonymous]

What is your definition of processed? Like a jar of spaghetti sauce? Or doritoes?

[Anonymous]

I’m so proud to say almost zero. It’s been a long road but I’ve changed my relationship to food entirely and am now consuming mostly whole foods and just some very minimally processed foods like tinned tomatoes, shelled walnuts, salsa, etc.

This weekend I made my first batch of refried beans from scratch! I used to eat them from a can but I’m working to reduce the salt content in my diet and scratch cooking is the best way. Next up I will get ambitious and make my crushed tomatoes from scratch instead of buying them in a can.

[Anonymous]

Is ice cream a processed food? Because I’m fit and thin and eat a lot of ice cream. Otherwise very little processed food.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Well, cheese and salted nuts is kicking me right down the wrong path I guess. I eat a lot of cottage cheese.

[Anonymous]

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the NOVA food classification system:

https://ecuphysicians.ecu.edu/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/78/2021/07/NOVA-Classification-Reference-Sheet.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, cheese and salted nuts is kicking me right down the wrong path I guess. I eat a lot of cottage cheese.

I look at ingredients listed of foods that I’m buying if they have them. Daisy brand cottage cheese is what I buy because it seems the most natural but also cheaper than other brands. If the ingredients has a bunch of weird things, I don’t buy it.

[Anonymous]

I don't eat meals, but eat fruit + snacks instead. Some of the snacks are processed.

[Anonymous]

We’re an “ingredient” household. I make my own bread (local, organic spelt flour) but not my own pasta. I buy natural peanut butter and a very short list of canned goods (tuna, crushed tomatoes) and some condiments. You will never find me churning my own butter. Mainly it’s because I’m a curious cook and I like to try to make things and see if the home version is worth it.

[Anonymous]

I eat cheese and canned beans a few times a week. Once in a while I’ll get a frozen pizza.

[Anonymous]

If it wasn't for cheese, I would say not much at all (I don't count processed ingredients). I'm fit and healthy and you'll have to pry cheese away from me.

[Anonymous]

I don’t really do snack foods or prepackaged meals or anything but have a bit of bread and or pasta nearly every day.

[Anonymous]

I had Grape-Nuts for dinner, and you aren't going to convince me that a steak would have been somehow a better choice.

I find the term "processed" pretty useless anyway. I also cut up a peach to go on my Grape-Nuts. Chopping is a process. And then I added pasteurized milk. Pasteurization is also a process, and turning "processed" into a scary thing is one reason idiots are keeping the raw milk market going.

[Anonymous]

Zero.