“Processed food to the rescue?!”
Hey everyone, so let’s go straight into part one as a starter to smash processed food phobia.
1. What makes a food processed? Defining “bad for you”.
I like Dr. Greger’s definition from a health standpoint. He doesn’t count the actual part of processing as the critical difference – thereby acknowledging and implying that processing per se to a degree has always part of the natural human diet. He defines a whole food as a food in its natural form without anything good taken away from it and bad added to it. He defines fiber and nutrients as the necessary good things that have to remain in the food – water in his eyes is more acceptable (even though not optimal) to be lost during the process as things would dry in nature as well. So he would consider sugar, oil, white flour, as something bad here. But he WOULDN’T consider a muffin made with whole wheat flour, nut butters and raisin paste as a non-whole food even though it’s highly processed. For him, it’s just about if the fiber, nutrients or any parts of the plant have been lost during the processing or not. So as long as nothing is isolated, he counts it as whole enough to call it a whole food. Which I like. Because some people would even call whole wheat flour or instant oats (normal oats powdered to flour) unhealthy and put it on the same level as a donut. Which is a stupid thing to do. Truth is you can have really healthy processed foods. Especially if you make them yourself. The processing itself is NOT the damaging, problematic, degrading part about processed foods.
2. Not all processed food is equal.
Actually there are huge differences. Processed food does NOT equal junk food. DId you know that processed food can even be VERY healthy food?! Just the peeling off of any rough skin off your potatoes or vegetables is processing… Which is why processing fundamentally is in fact very natural. There’s a day to night difference between a smoothie or agave syrup. Or between porridge made of whole grain groats, or even flour, and a white bread. Or a freshly squeezed sugar cane juice and sugar. All of these are not whole foods. But it’s always just a difference either in the amount of nutrients, fiber and water. We go too far when we say that a smoothie, a finely ground oatmeal or whole wheat pasta is not good for you anymore because it’s been processed. They’re not comparable with a vegan donut made of white flour, sugar and margarine. It’s FAR more processed, FAR more highly palatable, and has FAR less nutrients, fiber and water. But. Nevertheless. What if I tell you that even a vegan muffin will be made of these same plants, just with some nutrients, fiber and water taken away? Yes, factually and theoretically that makes it less optimal. And it will practically be digested differently and less optimally. But added to a base of whole foods, these denser delicious plant foods are still made up of real food components – just not their whole package. Yes, it doesn’t have the same nutrition but no, it also won’t do you any harm per se. There’s nothing bad added.
The whole thing will look different with processed foods made with animal products or animal protein (or even “whole food animal products”). Because there certainly are harmful substances naturally contained in them like their natural hormones and protein which scientifically are contributing to all kinds of human diseases. They’re acid-forming and robbing your body of more nutrients than they can provide. The natural animal hormones are proven to mess and interfere with our own hormones. And then harmful substances added to them like antibiotics, exogenous hormones, pesticide-loaded feed, inflammatory substances due to horrible livestock regulations, non-species-appropriate circumstances. That’s why a cheeseburger does have harmful effects on you. And that’s why a vegan burger without all that stuff – despite highly processed and “unnatural” – will not have these harmful effects on you. It will ONLY not have the additional benefits of micronutrients, fiber and water that would have come with the whole food package. But that doesn’t make it bad for you. What makes something bad for you is food that has bad stuff added TO it. — Can you follow me, do you see my point? I really hope it can transform any strict thinking about food rules and the whole evil processed foods hype.
3. Here comes the ACTUAL Issue with processed food.
The real problem is NOT that the foods that make up the processed food were processed or taken away from, not even GOOD stuff taken away from. The actual problem is that BAD stuff is ADDED TO IT. I’m talking about pesticides, glyphosate, additives and preservatives such as artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, stabilizing agents, anything that starts with an E, stimulants like caffeine (coffee) or theobromine (cocoa, chocolate) etc. Which I think we can all highly agree on that these would never be part of our natural food that we were naturally designed to eat. Which makes it understandable that they can cause digestive and immune problems.
I personally react to emulsifiers and artificial sweeteners quite noticeably digestive-wise. As long as I eat an abundance, meet my minimum daily without exception (!), and choose organic when it comes to at least the commonly glyphosate-laden foods (like grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, dried fruits) without things starting with an E added – my digestion could not be more optimal. And the good news is that there’s tons of processed foods without crap added. Especially when you make processed food yourself. So in conclusion: Plant compounds, isolated or not, have always been part of our natural way to eat. Chemicals that I just mentioned never have been. So if there’s a health issue with processed foods, it most primarily would be this.
The real problem is NOT that the foods that make up the processed food were processed or taken away from, not even GOOD stuff taken away from. The actual problem is that BAD stuff is ADDED TO IT. I’m talking about pesticides, glyphosate, additives and preservatives such as artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, stabilizing agents, anything that starts with an E, stimulants like caffeine (coffee) or theobromine (cocoa, chocolate) etc. Which I think we can all highly agree on that these would never be part of our natural food that we were naturally designed to eat. Which makes it understandable that they can cause digestive and immune problems. I personally react to emulsifiers and artificial sweeteners quite noticeably digestive-wise. As long as I eat an abundance, meet my minimum daily without exception (!), and choose organic when it comes to at least the commonly glyphosate-laden foods (like grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, dried fruits) without things starting with an E added – my digestion could not be more optimal. And the good news is that there’s tons of processed foods without crap added. Especially when you make processed food yourself. So in conclusion: Plant compounds, isolated or not, have always been part of our natural way to eat. Chemicals that I just mentioned never have been. So if there’s a health issue with processed foods, it most primarily would be this.
By the way, organic produce is not the new marketing hype how they like to view it but really just what humans have grown since we’ve been on this planet. It’s a shame that it costs more than toxin-loaden conventional produce – but that doesn’t make organic any less originally right and the most logic and natural thing to eat and vote for with your dollar. I’ll get into the topic of glyphosate, round-up and pesticides in the 3rd reason for vegan gut, immune and period issues.
Next part of the series will be on the kings and queens of processed foods: SOS – sugar, oil and salt. There’s literally a phobia and fear-mongering around them and the nutrient and fiber obsession and why it’s unnecessary and a big harm to veganism and all people who want to stay healthy overall. Now I know that might be the exact opposite of what you’ve heard anyone else say. But it’s true. So I bet I see you in my next post! Leave me a comment, I love to read from you. 🙂