Ultra-processed foods should be avoided

Published 3.10.2016
This article in The Atlantic is timely. Not because anything in it is surprising or life changing, but because it solves a nomenclature issue. In the piece I wrote just prior to this, I laid out my rules for a healthy diet. And then I went into a bit of detail as to what my diet looked like. I tend to say that I avoid processed foods— or industrially processed foods, but both those formulations are problematic because almost everything that is eaten is in some way processed.

Aside Rant: If you ever find yourself arguing with some "bro" on a site such as My Fitness Pal about what makes a healthy diet, that fact will be cited endlessly if you try to assert that avoiding processed foods is a healthy choice. Whatever dude, much on your bag of "cheesy poofs" all you want. It doesn't change the fact that there are healthier choices that can be made. (end rant)

In the Atlantic article, the term "ultra-processed" is used, and I think that term reflects much more precisely what most people mean when they say "Avoid processed foods." The article is reporting on the findings of a study where the definition of ultra-processed is give as:

Formulations of several ingredients which, besides salt, sugar, oils, and fats, include food substances not used in culinary preparations, in particular, flavors, colors, sweeteners, emulsifiers and other additives used to imitate sensorial qualities of unprocessed or minimally processed foods and their culinary preparations or to disguise undesirable qualities of the final product.

So using that definition, a can of tomato paste (ingredient list: organic tomatoes), although certainly processed is not what is meant by the admonition "avoid processed foods." I like this term very much, and will begin to use it myself when trying to explain my own diet. We do try to avoid ultra-processed foods, as much as possible.

The Atlantic article (short and well worth reading) is really about the fact that although people like to quote Michael Pollan's pithy "eat real food, mostly plants, not too much," the reality is that most people in the US eat a boat load of ultra-processed foods. And in that boat load of ultra-processed foods is where you find the bulk of the salts and fat that make up the standard American diet.

To eat a low salt diet, all you really need to do is avoid ultra-processed foods, Unfortunately, as many chain and smaller restaurants try to cut costs and improve consistency, they choose to increase the number of ultra-processed foods used in their menus. The salt shaker is not likely the culprit for most of the salt in your diet. And unless you're doing some extreme low carb high fat diet, chances are more of your fat comes from ultra-processed foods. For that matter, ultra-processed foods are an excellent source of unrefined carbohydrates (those with the fiber removed).

Bottom line: In future, rather than referring to industrially processed foods, I will sue the term ultra-processed foods to mean those engineered to be tasty and manufactured in a factory.

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