Choosing a nutritious food group is a process
AH, PROCESSED foods. The term has become a sweeping generalisation for anything that comes in a bag or a box. Even my nutrition advice usually includes the general statement “eat less processed food and choose fresh food instead”. But that sentence really simplifies a more complex story.
How we process the food matters. Some ingredients can undergo changes – like being frozen, fermented or sprouted – that makes them equally or more nutritious than they once were. Not all processes are detrimental.
The more processed a food is from its original state, the less healthy it becomes. To make it easier to discern how processed a food is, researchers have developed categories for four distinct groups of foods.
Group 1 – Unprocessed and minimally processed foods: This includes basic whole foods such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, eggs, meat and milk. If processing is used, it’s to preserve shelf life, such as freezing vegetables and vacuum-sealing meat. This group makes up about 30% of the calories we eat.
Group 2 – Processed culinary ingredients: These foods enhance the flavour of meals and include olive oil, salt, honey and dried herbs. Some like olive oil are more nutritious than others like sugar, but they only account for 3% of our calories when used in basic cooking.
Group 3 – Processed foods: Foods that undergo some processing and contain two or three ingredients fall into this group. Examples are canned fish, salted nuts and sour dough (fermented) bread. We get about 10% of calories from these foods.
Group 4 – Ultra-processed foods: If you take processed (Groups 2 and 3) foods such as enriched flour, sugar and high fructose corn syrup, add food colouring, and put them into a Pop-Tart, you get an ultra-processed food. The foods in this group are the result of industrial formulations of five or more usually cheap ingredients. These foods provide almost 60% of our calories. People who consume more ultra-processed foods have a greater risk of obesity, hypertension and high blood sugar levels, which can lead to heart disease and diabetes. Other examples of ultra-processed foods are candy, instant soups, ice cream, breakfast cereals, soda and hot dogs.
But not all processes are bad – some forms of preserving food are very smart.
Sprouted foods are nutritious: Whole grains and beans are living seeds, and a little “processing” with the right moisture level and temperature can make them sprout.
Fermented foods contain pro-biotics: The recent focus on fermented foods such as yoghurt and kimchi is because of the beneficial pro-biotics they provide.
Frozen foods retain more vitamins: If fresh vegetables wilt in your crisper, use frozen options instead. They are blanched and quick-frozen, which isn’t detrimental to their nutrients. So, stock up on frozen mango, kale and blueberries.
My nutrition counselling comes with a revised message. Rather than avoid all processed foods, I explain the different groupings. I recommend eating less ultra-processed food and replacing it with fresh food and some slightly processed (not ultra-processed) items. – The Washington Post