Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The website in the article that lets you look up food to see how processed it is was eye opening. Lots of products from Whole Foods and similar that seem less processed are actually more processed than their counterparts from Giant.

Yeah I noticed this too- some of it was counterintuitive to me. I usually buy Dave’s killer bread as it’s whole grain but the version I get got bad marks.

A -lot- of the products marketed as virtuous alternatives are just as processed as your standard big brands. Many of them are produced by the same conglomerates.

Anonymous wrote:The website in the article that lets you look up food to see how processed it is was eye opening. Lots of products from Whole Foods and similar that seem less processed are actually more processed than their counterparts from Giant.

Yeah I noticed this too- some of it was counterintuitive to me. I usually buy Dave’s killer bread as it’s whole grain but the version I get got bad marks.

The website in the article that lets you look up food to see how processed it is was eye opening. Lots of products from Whole Foods and similar that seem less processed are actually more processed than their counterparts from Giant.

It appears to me that there are more ultraprocessed foods than ever before - often branded as "health foods." Not the Twinkies or whatever we grew up with, which aren't great but new nut butters or protein bars. The list of ingredients is long and contains chemical formulations that I can't decipher. If I need to be a chemist to understand what I'm eating, I'm not eating it.

To me this is common sense but I was lucky my mother was big on serving homecooked meals and sending healthy lunches for me to school. Not in an obsessive way - we also ate ultraprocessed foods, but the bulk of our calories came from unprocessed foods. She always talks about how unhealthy most of the stuff that comes in a box at the grocery store is.

My DH and his siblings though grew up on ultraprocessed foods. He has a very different mindset, very into all the ultraprocessed things and buys into the bogus health claims on the boxes. To him a muffin is a great breakfast for DD.

So while these types of news articles won't change my mind, I hope they help him understand, but his instinct to go for the ultraprocessed things is very ingrained.

Anonymous wrote:This has been a concern for at least a decade or so. It wasn't really on my radar until I noticed that a loaf of bread (pepperidge farm or something) NEVER went bad. When I was a kid, they'd all get mold in about a week. So I can understand improvements that help bread stay better for a bit longer.....but for WEEKS? The stuff was still soft.

Homemade bread, on the other hand, will mold in days.

So that made me start paying attention. What the heck was in there to make it stay good forever????

That, and then having a kid. I started cooking from scratch so that would be the primary influence his taste preferences. And it largely worked. Not perfectly. But he is way better than I was in my 20s and 30s.

And homemade food does really taste better. The problem of course is it takes longer to prep.

We bake our own bread in a bread maker since 2020. It's amazing. But it needs to cure on counter for 1 day before slicing, then we freeze and pop in toaster as needed.

Here's my recipe if anyone wants:

1 cup lukewarm water
1.5 tbsp avocado or olive oil
3 cups bread flour
3/4 tbsp sugar
1 1/8 tsp salt
1.5 tsp instant yeast

Add ingredients in that exact order, and for the yeast, make 2 shallow wells and pour in. Use French bread 1.5 lb setting. Don't rock the table while baking.

This has been a concern for at least a decade or so. It wasn't really on my radar until I noticed that a loaf of bread (pepperidge farm or something) NEVER went bad. When I was a kid, they'd all get mold in about a week. So I can understand improvements that help bread stay better for a bit longer.....but for WEEKS? The stuff was still soft.

Homemade bread, on the other hand, will mold in days.

So that made me start paying attention. What the heck was in there to make it stay good forever????

That, and then having a kid. I started cooking from scratch so that would be the primary influence his taste preferences. And it largely worked. Not perfectly. But he is way better than I was in my 20s and 30s.

And homemade food does really taste better. The problem of course is it takes longer to prep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw this study, and yes, I want to cut down processed foods in my families diets. We regularly pack granola bars or things like Cher it’s or chips in kids lunches and also sandwiches with cold cuts. Here’s what I struggle with personally. I grew up 100 percent vegetarian, not vegan. My mother, who was even more orthodox than I (for instance not eating eggs), made and ate mostly home cooked meals. We are South Indian, so those meals included white rice, whole wheat chapatis (rotis), veggie stir fries, stews etc. my mom died of stomach cancer. Ever since she got sick, I’ve been questioning a lot. I let my kids eat meat, cold cuts etc, but I do want to cut back. I just don’t think a vegetarian home cooked alternative is that much better. Plus, diabetes runs in my family. It is highly genetic and I am prediabetic already, though not overweight.

Cancer link is with sugar, carbs. I have been trying to follow a person who advocates - PBWF, IF, 10K steps a day and green juicing. Only drinking water and coconut water.

We are non-veg n.Indians. I think that rotis, bread, white rice is somewhat dicey in our food. We have moved to organic quinoa, millet, barley, amaranth etc, and when we do eat rice, we make it traditionally taking out the starch and then adding a lot of veggis in it. Similarly the chappatis has a lot of oat flour, millet, besan, flaxseed etc added to it. I have moved away from cold cuts, pepperoni and bbq stuff. I will frequently make curry's and kebabs with organic meats.

My inlaws are also non-veg n.Indians. The eat all the traditional foods, including tons of rotis, etc., as well as American processed foods like bologna. They are both still active, strong, and sharp and pushing 90. On the one hand, I want to encourage them to eat more "healthy" food. On the other hand, whatever they are doing is clearly working for them! So, I just keep my mouth shut and ask them to please pass me another roti.

I’m the pp. that is amazing. I think a lot of it is luck, genetics and also enjoying life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp here— also my mom made homemade yogurt every single day. And she ate out much less often than we do.

Our power over diseases like cancer is so limited; lots of people get sick despite doing everything "right." Fate dealt your mom a cruel hand. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Thank you.

I make an effort within reason. My goal is not to totally eliminate processed foods.

The “ultra processed” foods they talk about are the things everyone knows are not that nutritious. I’m not buying Frosted Flakes, processed snack cakes and muffins, Stouffer’s pizzas and the like generally no matter what. I don’t need a study in 2022 to tell me these things are loaded with preservatives, sugar, and sodium.

But I’m less worried about processed foods with fewer ingredients. We have a young child and I buy cheerios pretty much continually— I don’t think they are going to kill us. Also many pantry foods and frozen foods that are somewhat processed but not loaded with tons of preservatives or ingredients that change the look and texture of the food. I read food labels and ingredients lists. If something has a bunch of ingredients I’ve never heard of, I might avoid it altogether or buy it as a one off, but it’s not a regular part of our diet. And lightly processed foods like whole grain breads, peanut butter, dried pastas, canned fruits and veggies, etc, are staples in our diets and I am fine with it. They have short ingredients lists and minimal added ingredients, plus tons of nutrients we actually want.

There is a vast middle ground between obsessively eating whole foods and just eating any and all very processed things. We live in that middle ground.

It's funny in the study that people ate more of the processed version of the same foods. I'm the opposite. If I was served Kraft Mac and cheese I'd probably eat the minimum amount to satisfy hunger in the moment. But given access to a pan of fresh homemade Mac and cheese out of the oven, it tastes so good it's hard to stop.

A processed hot dog? In a grocery store bun with a zillion ingredients? No thanks, I'll pass. But a farmers market sausage where the only ingredients are pork, salt, rosemary, pepper? In an artisanal roll made only from wheat, yeast, water, and salt? Bring it on.

Of course there's a lot of privilege in that answer, since the less processed versions cost so much more.

Yes. Ever since we decided to eat lower carb about 8 years ago, we have also been cutting out industrial oils like soybean and canola. We only use butter, olive oil (reputable brands from Italy or that have been certified by the studies at UC Davis) and Chosen Foods avocado oil.

That being said, this is much easier for us now that we are empty nesters and don't have to feed our children.

We are not perfect and occasionally snack on crackers or chips or eat out and don't worry about it too much. But for breakfast, lunch and dinner when cooking at home we pretty much stick to this.

Memba "correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation?"

Well, while that saying was often misused, it's highly applicable in this case. Here, what's suggested in the original post is highly processed foods cause cancer. But consider for a moment the demographic who may be eating, on the whole, the most ultra processed food? The poor. With lack of access to proper nutrition and medical care. So I'm not bought in 100% that the ingredients of ultra processed foods, by itself, is what causes the cancer.

Anonymous wrote:meh. we're all going to die anyway. rather i enjoy life and eat the things i want (in moderation obviously) than get too worried about this stuff

+1 We eat some ultra-processed foods and some not. I just can’t obsess over this stuff anymore. I’ve been through some periods of moderate orthorexia in my life and that really wasn’t so great for me, either.

I couldn’t access the article (have reached my limit of free Washington post articles) but if the study is like the one that came out a few years ago, the mice in the sample were fed strictly processed food. Sure - that’s terrible but I think most people eat a mix of processed and unprocessed. It also depends on exercise and how much food you burn versus store. Genetics play a huge role too. Imo, it’s not any one thing - just try your best to eat a wide variety of foods and exercise (or at least walk) as much as possible.

My Dad basically lives in bread and cheese and maybe one piece of fruit a day. I try to get him to eat more veggies but he won’t. He’s 83 though, mentally fit (retired professor still publishing papers), and plays tennis 3-4x a week. So I guess it works for him! His parents lived to their mid-90s and barely ate. There have been some studies showing that restricting calories can be healthy so maybe their longevity can be attributed to that.

I also think people are different. I’m in great health so will just continue eating as I do: mix of processed/unprocessed, alcohol, evening snacks or dessert, coffee, carbs.