If we shouldn’t eat ultraprocessed foods, what should we eat instead?

[JohnS]

If you live in a first-world developed country (and chances are that you do), then you're diet is likely to include a decent proportion ultraprocessed foods. What can we eat instead?

If we shouldn’t eat ultraprocessed foods, what should we eat instead?

By Katia Hetter, Sat May 11, 2024

01:43 - Source: CNN

CNN — Many people love their ultraprocessed foods.

Sodas, chips, ice cream, lunch meat and other prepared foods are staples of the American diet. They are hard to avoid, too. More than 70% of the US food supply is made of ultraprocessed food.

But a diet heavy in ultraprocessed food isn’t good for us, science has shown. Eating ultraprocessed foods raises the risk of developing or dying from dozens of health conditions, according to a February review covering nearly 10 million people.

Science has also shown that when you eat Mediterranean meals, which focus on vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and fish, you can reduce the risk of some cancers, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol and stroke. Adopting this approach to eating can also improve brain health, strengthen bones and ward off depression and dementia.

Hot dogs and cookies are delicious, though. So, what to do?

Spot the troublesome ingredients

Many ultraprocessed foods have very long lists of ingredients and include additives, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. If you can’t pronounce the names in your food’s ingredient list, that’s a warning sign.

The list may include preservatives designed to resist mold and bacteria; emulsifiers to keep incompatible ingredients from separating; artificial colorings and dyes; anti-foaming, bulking, bleaching, gelling and glazing agents; and added or altered sugar, salt and fats designed to make food more appealing. All are signs that the food is ultraprocessed.

Skip eating out when you can’t tell what ingredients are in your food, and note that many items on fast-food restaurant menus can be ultraprocessed (such as hot dogs, hamburgers, nuggets and fries).

Start with breakfast

Breakfast may be the easiest meal to change. Instead of sugar-fortified cereal or toaster waffles, have some warm and filling ancient grains such as quinoa, sorghum or wheat berries cooked with milk, honey, nuts and fruits. No time in the morning to prepare breakfast? Prep these overnight oats the night before. Or have a simple small bowl of plain Greek yogurt with fresh fruit and a sprinkle of sliced nuts to go.

How processed is your lunch?

Instead of a loaded deli sandwich or slices of pizza every day, try to bring your own plant-based lunch once or twice per week. I love adding roast chicken leftovers to this kale ricotta salad (sub in feta if you can’t find the ricotta). Or make this dish by registered dietitian Rahaf Al Bochi, founder of Olive Tree Nutrition. She created her Warm Farro Grain Salad With Pomegranate for CNN’s Eat, But Better newsletter.

Need more ideas? Check out CNN contributor Casey Barber’s ideas for school lunch. Try our interactive to help you buy the least ultraprocessed lunch you can.

Is it time for a snack?

Snacks can be tricky. The no-fly list of ultraprocessed food is loaded with store-bought chips, sugar-packed yogurts and candy-filled trail mix.

Instead, think about apples, oranges, bananas, carrot sticks, and other fruits and veggies.

Protein-packed nuts and seeds are filling while also providing a brain boost and heart-healthy fats.

If you want to get fancy, Al Bochi created this roasted almond snack for CNN that features the Mediterranean spice blend za’atar. Suzy Karadsheh’s avocado salsa dip is also amazing for movie nights, the big game and parties (whichever one you choose).

Dinner during the week

With dinner a rushed affair for many overscheduled families, it can be impossible to cook during the week. Try to avoid fast-food burgers and chicken nuggets when you can.

Instead, consider grilling chicken or cooking ground turkey on the weekend for easy-assemble Tuesday taco night. Karadsheh also has a Mediterranean twist on tuna salad that will convert even the most anti-tuna eaters (which once included me).

May I have dessert, please?

Baked goods and ice cream are fine for special occasions, but for an everyday dessert that’s not highly processed, Al Bochi’s recipe for Strawberry Ricotta Granola Parfaits is next level.

For something grown-up, try poaching pears with pomegranate juice or port and serve them over yogurt or bake pears and other fruits in parchment.

Does this still sound too hard?

Ultraprocessed foods are designed to be fun and taste good. Reducing your reliance on them can be hard. Try one suggestion at a time, for a week at a time.

Need more support on getting on track with a healthier diet? Sign up for our Eat, But Better: Mediterranean style newsletter, and we’ll help you figure it out.

CNN’s Sandee LaMotte and Madeline Holcombe contributed to this story.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/11/health/alternatives-ultraprocessed-foods-wellness/index.html

[RDB]

The simple answer is that you can eat pretty much anything you want, as long as you make it out of ingredients that are not already highly processed.

[BossHogg]

I choose a ketovore diet. Ribeye steaks all day long 😄 

[JoeyBones777]

The food industry has, some how, convinced us that eating the foods we used to eat for thousands of years (meat, eggs, butter, fruit, honey, salt and raw dairy) is bad for us and killing us but the "food" they invented within the past 100 years (seed oils, refined sugars, gmo flours, preservatives, gums, etc...) is good for us.

Nah! I'll stick to whole real foods as close how it is found in the wild. No additives, minimally processed and 1 ingredient food...or a few ingredients if it is something like cheese (raw milk, rennet, salt) or sourdough bread (organic flour, water, salt).

[Bill Hayes]

The irony is that it can cost more to lose weight. My diet flip flops but once I get used to eating less processed foods, I can't get enough of them. I might be blessed though because I've never been a sugar fiend. Always preferred bitter lemon drinks, water or milk. Always asked for nuts over chocolate at Easter but would demolish a pack of salt and vinegar chips or a huge plate of nachos. Ha ha! Not allergic to anything really but heavy grains, wheat and dairy do bloat me a bit. Cutting down on those things helped a lot with weight loss and energy levels. Craft beer is my vice unfortunately. Currently beer festival time in Melbourne. Soon to be in Sydney. Very tempting but ridiculously overpriced ATM.

[teewinot]

Meat is what I eat!!
 

[cnov]

10 hours ago, JoeyBones777 said:

The food industry has, some how, convinced us that eating the foods we used to eat for thousands of years (meat, eggs, butter, fruit, honey, salt and raw dairy) is bad for us and killing us but the "food" they invented within the past 100 years (seed oils, refined sugars, gmo flours, preservatives, gums, etc...) is good for us. Harvard recently released a study saying Lucky Charms is healthier for us than beef and eggs!

Nah! I'll stick to whole real foods as close how it is found in the wild. No additives, minimally processed and 1 ingredient food...or a few ingredients if it is something like cheese (raw milk, rennet, salt) or sourdough bread (organic flour, water, salt).

I think you summed it up really well.

Farmers and their expensive products like meat and dairy are competition to big business. Big business, all the way from soy and gum production through to the big supermarkets would all prefer us to eat the "healthy vegan" products that come in a pretty box that tells us it's healthy as the profits are sky high, they can make almost anything with the right amount of protein, water, oil, sugar and gum, the advertising department will hold their end of the bargain.

I despair for the state of things sometimes, cows turn grass into meat and dairy, grass. Their shit is then used to grow grass or vegetables. It's a pretty good system.

Big business wins again if we get rid of the animals that shit out fertilizer, not only do their UPF products sell well and make that profit, but anyone who wants to grow will be knocking at their doors for the latest chemicals to replace the fertiliser to improve the soil.

I'm going to continue to enjoy eating meat and natural products.

[Lunettesman]

Fruits (soaked with baking soda and the washed to get rid of pesticide).

Non processed grass fed meat.

Non processed dairy.

Almost no vegetables.

Fish, but not much (mercury)

Butter (no oils).

The rest doesn't belong in my kitchen. I have felt any better than while eating like this.

[joeypots]

12 hours ago, JoeyBones777 said:

Harvard recently released a study saying Lucky Charms is healthier for us than beef and eggs!

No, no such study has been published.

That said, last night was a feast at my house.

Reverse sear, 225 in the oven until 120 interior temp. Sear the poop out of it over charcoal. Add ravioli and sauce. GTFOOT. 

[JoeyBones777]

53 minutes ago, joeypots said:

13 hours ago, JoeyBones777 said:

Harvard recently released a study saying Lucky Charms is healthier for us than beef and eggs!

No, no such study has been published

You are correct. I believed someone whom misspoke. It is Tufts food compass. I should have fact checked that one first. Thank you.

[Lunettesman]

In Switzerland we have the nutri-score. The top notch score to evaluate your food. Well... Diet coke was ahead of apple juice. Clown world. 

[Li Bai]

1 hour ago, Lunettesman said:

In Switzerland we have the nutri-score. The top notch score to evaluate your food. Well... Diet coke was ahead of apple juice. Clown world. 

We have the same here in France, but the nutri-score is only calories related so it's "normal" from that point of view. It goes without saying that the apple juice is better for your health.

[treberty]

I now use a really cool app called Yuka that basically scores all foods at the supermarket using the SKU. Really useful and super simple to use. Also works for skin care products.

When the kids want to eat crap I show them the score on the app and tell them to have nuts instead 🙂

I think it's French but it works for me in Canada and the US.

[La_Tigre]

[RDB]

I love eating and cooking with meat, and made steak tartare with roast bone marrow at the weekend. But, it’s not straightforward. Firstly, the vast majority of meat that is consumed in high-income countries has been intensively reared. High quality meat is usually very expensive for people on anything but very high personal incomes. In addition, almost all meat is far more energy and carbon intensive to produce than equivalent vegetable nutrition. And there is the matter of animal welfare. So overall, I’m a lot more restrained than I used to be. But… those steaks sure do look good @joeypots.

[Lunettesman]

On 5/15/2024 at 6:23 AM, Li Bai said:

We have the same here in France, but the nutri-score is only calories related so it's "normal" from that point of view. It goes without saying that the apple juice is better for your health.

Well. I had to get back to you. As I thought, it's not based on calories. It's based on BS only🤣check that pizza. Rated B... It has around 1000kcal for one person... Sick. 

Funny enough the Migros which is one of the big food retail here just announced they wouldn't use that score anymore. Reason? Customer had problem to understand it. 

Well...when a processed food pizza is score B and my dry mango 100% natural is score E... No wonder. 

Going after people's food is for me another of yet too many scams. 

[Li Bai]

1 hour ago, Lunettesman said:

Well. I had to get back to you. As I thought, it's not based on calories. It's based on BS only🤣check that pizza. Rated B... It has around 1000kcal for one person... Sick. 

And you did well ! My bad, I've always assumed it was there to inform about the calories but after your post I dug deeper and found out it's indeed based on BS 🤣😂

It's completely opaque and impossible to read, tbh. I never used it before and never will.

Thanks !

[Lunettesman]

1 hour ago, Li Bai said:

And you did well ! My bad, I've always assumed it was there to inform about the calories but after your post I dug deeper and found out it's indeed based on BS 🤣😂

It's completely opaque and impossible to read, tbh. I never used it before and never will.

Thanks

My pleasure. Maybe France and Switzerland haven't the same rating stuff.  I never used it too. Just every time I see it, it reminds me how much the brainwash is deep in our society. Sickening.

Cheers pal.

[Li Bai]

1 hour ago, Lunettesman said:

My pleasure. Maybe France and Switzerland haven't the same rating stuff.  I never used it too. Just every time I see it, it reminds me how much the brainwash is deep in our society. Sickening.

Cheers pal.

It is the same rating stuff, it was created in France and then it spread across Europe. Tbh if it was based on calories it would make more sense (in a way at least), now I'm really curious as to how they give their ratings 🤔

Of course they have their own agenda but I don't care as I almost never buy any processed food.

[Fuzz]

On 5/15/2024 at 7:36 PM, La_Tigre said:

Yeah, but this stuff tastes different from person to person....

[SingleBarrel]

Go back to the primal times, these are what I, and many others, believe to be the foods to optimize the body. Mentally, Physically, and cognitively.

• Red meat, organ meats: Liver, Heart, Testical’s, spleen, kidney, pancreas 
• Raw dairy
• Organic Fruits and honey, least toxic source of carbs, repetitive studies shown improvement after fruit incorporation. Essential for energy and hormones.

Stay away from poison guys, your body’s a temple, treat it like one.

[RDB]

My body is a temple with a chimney.

[BrightonCorgi]

22 hours ago, Lunettesman said:

My pleasure. Maybe France and Switzerland haven't the same rating stuff.  I never used it too. Just every time I see it, it reminds me how much the brainwash is deep in our society. Sickening.

Cheers pal.

Have to be a careful shopper at Denner.

[Uwiik]

I wonder how come the Germans are healthy and live longer than Americans? They eat ultra processed food all day long and don't drink water, just beer and sparkling water.

[Lunettesman]

On 5/24/2024 at 8:24 PM, BrightonCorgi said:

Have to be a careful shopper at Denner.

You mean cigars I guess😅