This is a question we all should ask. On the radio
and in everyday conversations we hear people talk about processed food. We hear
people talking about news year’s resolution and how they plan to cut down on
the amount of processed food they consume. Before you can truly make good and
informed decisions about the food you eat you need to understand what processed
food is.
The definition of processed food is according to http://www.foodinsight.org/ is: Food
processing is any deliberate change in a food that occurs before it’s available
for us to eat. According to this definition cooking food, chopping food and canning
food is processing food.
There are different levels of processed foods. Below
is a table from http://www.foodinsight.org/
that explains different levels of processed food.
|
Type
of Food
|
Examples
|
|
Foods
that require little processing or production (also called “minimally
processed”).
|
Washed
and packaged fruits and vegetables; bagged salads; roasted and ground nuts
and coffee beans
|
|
Foods
processed to help preserve and enhance nutrients and freshness of foods at
their peak
|
Canned
tuna, beans and tomatoes; frozen fruits
and
vegetables; pureed and jarred baby foods
|
|
Foods
that combine ingredients such as sweeteners, spices, oils, flavors, colors,
and preservatives to improve safety and taste and/or add visual appeal. (Does
not include “ready-to-eat” foods listed below.)
|
Some
packaged foods, such as instant potato mix, rice, cake mix, jarred tomato
sauce, spice mixes, dressings and sauces, and gelatin
|
|
“Ready-to-eat”
foods needing minimal or no preparation.
|
Breakfast
cereal, flavored oatmeal, crackers, jams and jellies, nut butters, ice cream,
yogurt, garlic bread, granola bars, cookies, fruit chews, rotisserie chicken,
luncheon meats, honey-baked ham, cheese spreads, fruit drinks
and
carbonated beverages
|
|
Foods
packaged to stay fresh and save time
|
Prepared
deli foods and frozen meals, entrées,
pot
pies and pizzas
|
It is not as easy as
saying these types of processed foods are good and these processed foods are
not. It depends on who processes them and the ingredients put into them. The
major problems that processed foods impose on America have to do with the ingredients
and the way they are processed. As long as you do it safely making cookies in
your kitchen is fine. This is what people should be doing, processing their own
food. The problems are caused by the mass produced cookies that are made in
huge factories with really cheap ingredients.
In this blog post I am going to talk about three
major problems with overly processed foods:
1) Processed foods are
cheap calories. For the many many Americans who live in food desserts ( areas
where fresh food is not available) or don’t have the money to buy good food for
their family buy the cheapest thing available. At the moment this is processed food.
It is made in large quantities and uses cheap ingredients which are grown in
massive amounts on huge industrial farms. The USDA (United States Department of
Agriculture) subsidizes a certain amount of money to the production of food.
85% of this money goes to commodities which are usually grown on huge massive
farms. These are the ingredients that go into processed foods. Only 1% of this money
goes to fruit and vegetable farms.
Since 1980 the cost of
processed food has gone down 40% and the price of fresh fruits and vegetables
has gone up. Therefore the many Americans lacking enough money to buy fresh
fruits and vegetables buy overly processed foods that do not contain the necessary
vitamins and minerals. Many people in the US are living on only processed
chips, cakes etc. When your diet is composed of only overly processed foods
this can lead to many health problems including obesity. More than 1/3 of the
adults in the US are obese. According to
the CDC obesity it can lead to many more issues including: heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and
certain types of cancer. It is estimated that 147 billion dollars are
spent in the US each year because of obesity. For more about obesity in America:
This is not necessarily the peoples
fault. As a country we need educate the public more and make healthier food
available to the public at affordable prices. Think about what
all that money could do to change our food system and instead it is being used
to pay for the consequences of eating like we do.
2) Overly Processed
food is often made in big factories and then transported across the country. This uses lots of fuel and admits many pollutants
into the air. The actual processing of the food does the same.
We can thank the food
we eat for a lot of the global warming our country is experiencing. Michael
Pollan has a great video on eating local and the effects it has on the environment.
If we ate local a lot of the energy used to make and transport process food
would be saved.
Below is the link to the
video:
3) So far we have
talked about the health effect and the environmental effect but have neglected
one more important reason. Families share recipes and have a connection around
certain foods. In some families food is a big deal. As people have started to
eat more and more processed foods people are starting to stop cooking as much
and they don’t have the same knowledge of where their food comes from. They don’t
have the same connection with food that people have had since the cavemen were
on earth. Michael Pollan talks a lot about his in his book: The Omnivore’s Dilemma.
One thing he mentions is that many Americans no longer eat around the table but
eat fats food on their way to work or on their way home. We are losing our
connection with food.
As you can see
processed food is a huge problem in America. The problem is many Americans cannot
afford anything but processed foods. Our nation needs to make other food more available
and accessible to more people. I watched a great movie recently that talked
about this that I highly recommend called: A Place at our Table. Below is the
link to the trailer:
This is a movie
everybody needs to see that addresses all the problems above as well as many
other flaws in America’s food system.
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