Target #3: Down with processed food! Long live whole (real) food!

Now that sugar has been discussed, the next and arguably most important step to take is to remove as much as possible (if not entirely) processed food.

Conflicting and Confusing Fad Diets & So-called Health Advice

We have been duped in the many years past as we have heard the latest new health fads (and yes, I mean fads).  Over the last several years, we have heard, "Fat is horrible, remove it entirely from your diet, or at least eat low fat."  Or, "Carbohydrates are evil and will turn your backside into a balloon" (ok, maybe not that exactly...).  Or, quite recently (along with the no carbs craze), "Protein from meat and dairy is the end all be all. If you want to lose weight eat all the bacon, steak, cheese, and eggs you want."  Can anyone say, "variety and moderation"??

So, anytime I hear such huge ridiculous, unfounded claims against or in favor of a certain segment of foods, I tend to question.  From such extremes,  you see very harmful outcomes (both in what becomes packaged and advertised to you as "healthy" and in the awful toll these fads take on your body).  When you see low-fat products, the fat is removed/reduced, but flavor is lost, so fillers take the fat's place (usually sugar and sodium).  Even skim milk is not really milk sometimes.  If you look at the ingredients, you sometimes see that it is some sort of processed milk, dried milk (no really!), etc.  To reduce carb and calorie intake, we see "healthy" alternatives of highly processed "100 calorie snack bags."  I could go on and on, but you know exactly what I'm talking about.

We often fall prey to these ploys as we try to be as healthy as possible and then wonder why we can't shed those extra pounds, why our cholesterol and blood pressure are so high, why we get sick so often, or why we just generally lack a feeling of good health and wellness.  I personally feel with all the research I've done that processed foods (from the grocery store as well as fast food) are the biggest epidemic to our health problems.  In the last couple decades, we have seen significant rises in obesity, diabetes, heart problems, and cancer.  Yes, there are most certainly many factors that go into this rise, but nutrition is, in my opinion (through my research), the incredibly overlooked, yet significantly transformative solution to many of these problems. 

Food or Science Experiment?

Currently, we are filling our bodies with things that may resemble food in some sense, that may have began as a food, and that usually taste good (which is how they get us), but it is actually not food at all.  It is someone's science experiment, and we eat it because it's advertised as healthy, right?!  (Soy products--highly refined--are the perfect example of not being healthy while being advertised as being the wonder food).  When you think about it, do you really want to be regularly feeding your children these so-called foods that display an impressive list of who knows what?!  I know none of us would ever purposefully harm our children (or ourselves).  Yet, we unwittingly have them regularly ingest these "foods" in which we have no idea what they are and that are likely slowly killing them (has anyone seen the TV show, "Honey, we're killing the kids"?--they point this out through age progression as they help families make nutrition and lifestyle changes).  I'm sorry to be dramatic, but it's actually true.

Back to Basics

Instead, what we should be doing is getting back to the basics and eating whole foods, real foods.  Food that we know is actually food (not something from the middle isles of the grocery store that comes with a list of unpronounceable ingredients).

Good Sources

Michael Pollan puts it best in his books, In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma, which discuss what processed food really is, where it comes from, the food system, and what we should be eating.  His pithy recommendation to "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." nails it precisely.  Another (and supremely reliable source ;) ) is, as we Mormons follow, the Word of Wisdom.  It is interesting to realize, for those of us who are LDS, that D&C 89 only speaks of no harmful substances in just a couple of verses, whereas the bulk of the section discusses nutrition.  The recommendation to eat plants plentifully and meat sparingly is brilliant.

What to Include in a Healthy Diet

We are finally, as a society, realizing that the problem isn't so much that we should be excluding or promoting one particular food category (e.g., fat, carbohydrates, or other) but that we should be eating real, whole foods (unrefined, unprocessed) in their natural state, healthy fats (instead of no fat), complex carbohydrates (instead of simple), sparing amounts of meat (I will discuss in another post), and as much veggies and fruit as possible.  We still have a long way to go (and may never get there because this wise and healthful advice is the opposite of what certain companies in the food industry want you to believe so they can profit from your misunderstanding).

How to Grocery Shop

The bottom line is that when we grocery shop, we should try to do most of our shopping on the outside isles--only venturing into the center isles to get healthy grains, dried beans, whole grain pastas, spices/vinegars/healthy oils, or such.

When/if we do have any processed food (which is fairly inevitable when you live in the real world), a good rule of thumb is to do it only on occasion, to not buy anything that has more than 5 ingredients (unless they are real foods that you know what they are--which usually means "pronounceable names"), and to not buy processed foods that have any kind of sugar as the first or second ingredient.  Learn to read absolutely everything (and I mean everything) on the list of ingredients for foods that comes in a bag, box, or can--until you get it down and know what healthful things you can buy.

Here are a couple examples.  Canned beans.  You may think that they are all good, but check out the ingredients list--not only are they loaded with sodium, they often include fillers too (sugar and unpronounceables).  You can buy canned beans that are low sodium and only include beans and a tiny bit of salt--that's it.  Or, you can make your own from dried beans (I'll give you simple, easy tips for how to make these, while not having to spend much time at all).

Another example is chips.  I must admit, chips are my achilles.  So, I allow myself the treat on occasion.  But, instead of just buying any bag of chips, or even my favorites (Pringles--sooo not real food at all), I read the ingredients and buy chips that follow the rule of thumb.  Good old-fashioned Lays are great on occasion (let's not go overboard--I'm speaking to myself), and I love Rice Works brown rice chips.  Yummo (as Rachel Ray would say).  Once you read the ingredients list for Nachos, you may suddenly lose your hankering for them (I know I have).  Yikes.

Overcoming the Excuses:

Finally, you may think, this is a great idea and the optimal way to eat but that it is too expensive to eat healthfully or that you are too busy to make your own beans, to make brown rice, or to chop and cook all those veggies, etc.

Excuse #1 - Healthy Eating Costs Too Much:

My answer to you first of all is to ask yourself how much you spend on packaged food (e.g., cold cereal, snacks of any kind, canned and boxed dinners/foods, frozen ready-to-heat-and-eat foods, etc.).  When you eliminate these (often expensive) foods and instead by real food (dried beans, brown rice and other whole grains, fruits, and veggies), you may find that you actually save money.  I did.  Don't do one-to-one comparisons, like the price of a bottle of soda to the price of broccoli (you'll be too sad to realize that soda is cheaper).  But, when you consider the whole paycheck after making the change to whole foods, you'll be presently surprised.

Excuse #2 - I don't have the time to cook whole/real foods:

This may take care of the cost, but you may think that cooking this whole food will take time that you don't have.  My answer to this complaint is that we need to come up with all kinds of ways to make our own "fast food" at home that reduces the amount of time spent in the kitchen but that provides the same convenience as reaching into that freezer to pull out a bag of chicken (or so they proclaim...) nuggets.


Tips & Tricks to Come...

As part of this blog, I will be posting many tips and tricks for the kitchen that I've compiled from all kinds of sources and have come up with myself.  I will do a tips and tricks post and will also include tips at the end of every recipe I post as well.  Additionally, I would absolutely LOVE to get ideas from you.