Eliminating ultra processed foods per WSJ

[Anonymous]

The kids are the hardest. I'd eat a salad of chopped veg and rice or buckwheat and an egg.
One kid will eat lentil soup etc and one only wants bread and cheese sticks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids are the hardest. I'd eat a salad of chopped veg and rice or buckwheat and an egg.
One kid will eat lentil soup etc and one only wants bread and cheese sticks

I don’t think it is realistic for a kid to never eat processed food. I would go for “better” vs. perfect. We try to give a fruit and vegetable with each meals and I don’t serve processed food at dinner or breakfast. They have a mix of snacks but I try to focus on no added sugar while also allowing processed stuff for convenience. That’s the normal/usual but they have the Cheetos, Doritos and all of that at parties, aftercare, etc. and school lunch is a sandwich.

[Anonymous]

You can go animal style and have a bun that's lettuce leaves for your burgers, or you can make your own burger buns. Same with crackers - you can make your own in bulk.

I think cheese with fewer ingredients is okay. We get almost all our dairy from either Tillamook or Straus Family. But yes, it goes through a process, though at least I know what all the ingredients are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So we're thinking of experimenting with eliminating ultra processed foods, as described in the Wall Street Journal.
https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/my-family-went-off-ultra-processed-foods-for-a-month-the-results-surprised-us-ac8015b1?mod=lifestyle_trendingnow_article_pos1

We already do pretty well but there are a few items in regular rotation that I think will have to go, for a while anyway, and I wondered if folks had come up with good replacements.

Buns: we turn lots of things into burgers-- beans, lentils, ground turkey-- and we love brioche buns
Lunch: gotta be quick! and portable! No more frozen pizza
Snacks: I love cheese and crackers. But I think both cheese and crackers are UPFs
Breakfast: Cold cereal has to go. Steel cut oats seem minimally processed, but they take so long to cook. How about rolled oats?

Tl;dr: What substitutions have you made that worked to remove highly processed foods from your kitchen?

Less than 5 minutes, what are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that snacks and packed lunches are hardest. I still eat things like yogurt and hummus that are technically processed, otherwise I would not be able to get enough food volume.

I recommend getting a cookbook for inspiration and ideas.

Snacks are the easiest! Only eat fruits and veggies.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the desire to avoid processed foods. Do you avoid medicine, too? What other scientific advances do you shun?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For buns, only sub I can think of is to bake your own bread. Quick and easy, IF you have a breadmaker. And with so many going carb free these days, you can probably pick one up free or super cheap

Lunch - leftovers from dinner, or, make big pots of various stew and/or soups over the weekend and take for lunch, or a salad

Snacks - for me it's veggies or fruit

Breakfast - yogurt or cottage cheese

So processed is OK as long as we process it ourselves? Including the flour?

Read this -- it explains unprocessed, minimally processed, processed, and high or ultra processed foods. The latter are the ones to avoid.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-are-ultra-processed-foods-and-are-they-bad-for-our-health-2020010918605

So bread made simply with flour, water, and yeast is processed, but bread can also be ultra processed when nutrients like the germ is removed from the flour, and salt, oil, and chemicals are added to prevent it from going stale. Green beans might be processed by cutting and freezing the beans, but if canned with chemicals, added salt, oil and maybe even sugar then it is ultra processed.

No shït… carrot cake isn’t as healthy as carrots? You don’t say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So we're thinking of experimenting with eliminating ultra processed foods, as described in the Wall Street Journal.
https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/my-family-went-off-ultra-processed-foods-for-a-month-the-results-surprised-us-ac8015b1?mod=lifestyle_trendingnow_article_pos1

We already do pretty well but there are a few items in regular rotation that I think will have to go, for a while anyway, and I wondered if folks had come up with good replacements.

Buns: we turn lots of things into burgers-- beans, lentils, ground turkey-- and we love brioche buns
Lunch: gotta be quick! and portable! No more frozen pizza
Snacks: I love cheese and crackers. But I think both cheese and crackers are UPFs
Breakfast: Cold cereal has to go. Steel cut oats seem minimally processed, but they take so long to cook. How about rolled oats?

Tl;dr: What substitutions have you made that worked to remove highly processed foods from your kitchen?

Less than 5 minutes, what are you talking about?

I use my Zojirushi rice cooker at least once a week, and it’s awesome for steel cut oats (which definitely take more than five minutes, PP). Set the timer the night before and they’re ready when you wake up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So we're thinking of experimenting with eliminating ultra processed foods, as described in the Wall Street Journal.
https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/my-family-went-off-ultra-processed-foods-for-a-month-the-results-surprised-us-ac8015b1?mod=lifestyle_trendingnow_article_pos1

We already do pretty well but there are a few items in regular rotation that I think will have to go, for a while anyway, and I wondered if folks had come up with good replacements.

Buns: we turn lots of things into burgers-- beans, lentils, ground turkey-- and we love brioche buns
Lunch: gotta be quick! and portable! No more frozen pizza
Snacks: I love cheese and crackers. But I think both cheese and crackers are UPFs
Breakfast: Cold cereal has to go. Steel cut oats seem minimally processed, but they take so long to cook. How about rolled oats?

Tl;dr: What substitutions have you made that worked to remove highly processed foods from your kitchen?

Less than 5 minutes, what are you talking about?

Were these magic grits?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For buns, only sub I can think of is to bake your own bread. Quick and easy, IF you have a breadmaker. And with so many going carb free these days, you can probably pick one up free or super cheap

Lunch - leftovers from dinner, or, make big pots of various stew and/or soups over the weekend and take for lunch, or a salad

Snacks - for me it's veggies or fruit

Breakfast - yogurt or cottage cheese

So processed is OK as long as we process it ourselves? Including the flour?

Read this -- it explains unprocessed, minimally processed, processed, and high or ultra processed foods. The latter are the ones to avoid.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-are-ultra-processed-foods-and-are-they-bad-for-our-health-2020010918605

So bread made simply with flour, water, and yeast is processed, but bread can also be ultra processed when nutrients like the germ is removed from the flour, and salt, oil, and chemicals are added to prevent it from going stale. Green beans might be processed by cutting and freezing the beans, but if canned with chemicals, added salt, oil and maybe even sugar then it is ultra processed.

The link you provided is clear that canned green beans would be considered processed not ultra processed.

Depends on the brand and what else is in the can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For buns, only sub I can think of is to bake your own bread. Quick and easy, IF you have a breadmaker. And with so many going carb free these days, you can probably pick one up free or super cheap

Lunch - leftovers from dinner, or, make big pots of various stew and/or soups over the weekend and take for lunch, or a salad

Snacks - for me it's veggies or fruit

Breakfast - yogurt or cottage cheese

So processed is OK as long as we process it ourselves? Including the flour?

Read this -- it explains unprocessed, minimally processed, processed, and high or ultra processed foods. The latter are the ones to avoid.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-are-ultra-processed-foods-and-are-they-bad-for-our-health-2020010918605

So bread made simply with flour, water, and yeast is processed, but bread can also be ultra processed when nutrients like the germ is removed from the flour, and salt, oil, and chemicals are added to prevent it from going stale. Green beans might be processed by cutting and freezing the beans, but if canned with chemicals, added salt, oil and maybe even sugar then it is ultra processed.

It is way easier to think of it as just eating whole foods vs. trying to understand and categorize every kind of processed food.

Not if it makes you think you can't eat yogurt or hummus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So we're thinking of experimenting with eliminating ultra processed foods, as described in the Wall Street Journal.
https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/my-family-went-off-ultra-processed-foods-for-a-month-the-results-surprised-us-ac8015b1?mod=lifestyle_trendingnow_article_pos1

Good idea in general, but DO NOT take anything to heart from the WSJ, as they are incredibly inept and just a propaganda rag. You risk your health listening to them about anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can go animal style and have a bun that's lettuce leaves for your burgers, or you can make your own burger buns. Same with crackers - you can make your own in bulk.

I think cheese with fewer ingredients is okay. We get almost all our dairy from either Tillamook or Straus Family. But yes, it goes through a process, though at least I know what all the ingredients are.

I think the issue is highly processed versus processed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the desire to avoid processed foods. Do you avoid medicine, too? What other scientific advances do you shun?

Oh come on. You know darn well many 'food' items are not food at all and contribute significantly to disease which makes you need medicine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For buns, only sub I can think of is to bake your own bread. Quick and easy, IF you have a breadmaker. And with so many going carb free these days, you can probably pick one up free or super cheap

Lunch - leftovers from dinner, or, make big pots of various stew and/or soups over the weekend and take for lunch, or a salad

Snacks - for me it's veggies or fruit

Breakfast - yogurt or cottage cheese

So processed is OK as long as we process it ourselves? Including the flour?

Read this -- it explains unprocessed, minimally processed, processed, and high or ultra processed foods. The latter are the ones to avoid.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-are-ultra-processed-foods-and-are-they-bad-for-our-health-2020010918605

So bread made simply with flour, water, and yeast is processed, but bread can also be ultra processed when nutrients like the germ is removed from the flour, and salt, oil, and chemicals are added to prevent it from going stale. Green beans might be processed by cutting and freezing the beans, but if canned with chemicals, added salt, oil and maybe even sugar then it is ultra processed.

No shït… carrot cake isn’t as healthy as carrots? You don’t say.

Not sure what you are responding to here. I'm just helping pp with the definitions. You can eat whatever you want. Why are you even on this thread if you don't have help for OP's question?