A 2002 study published in the Environmental Health Perspectives reported that nearly a quarter of all the energy used in the US food systems comes from the processing and packaging of food. All of the extra packaging, particularly plastics, ends up in the waste stream and can leach into our food.
The energy used to process and package the food we eat makes up 23% of the total energy used in the US food system. Processed foods make up approximately 70% of what most of us eat (according to Melanie Warner, the author of Pandora's Lunchbox) and there are an estimated 5,000 different additives allowed by the FDA into our food.
Frozen foods in particular are convenient, but they have several downsides. First, the energy (and fossil fuels) it takes to process, package, transport, display (in the grocery store) and store (in your home freezer) those convenience frozen food is much greater than fresh food. Second, most frozen food comes in plenty of plastic packaging — even those eco-friendly packaged items made from cardboard are actually coated in a thin layer of plastic. Finally, the nutritional value of frozen processed food is significantly less than fresh.
Here are five easy tips for avoiding processed foods:
Avoid boxes, bags and cans. Obviously, if something comes pre-packaged, it has been touched. Commonly, food manufacturers dehydrate, bleach, enrich, salt, sweeten, and fatten food to compensate for the nutrition lost during the process it took to put the food into the box. Though boxed, canned and frozen foods are very convenient, they're not healthy for you in the long run.
Stay away from anything white. Your best bet is to buy products that are whole-grain, and contain unbleached, enriched grains like whole wheat, brown rice, oats or quinoa.
Shop on the outside edge of the store. One of the easiest places to find unprocessed, healthy, whole foods is to purchase most of your groceries on the outside edge of the store. The edges are where you'll find produce, meat, eggs, dairy and seafood. These items are not processed, or if they are, they're minimally processed.
Don’t buy if the label has more than five ingredients. The more ingredients the food has in it, the more it has been processed.
Don’t buy if any of the first three ingredients end in “ose.” "Ose" stands for sugar. Many sugars used in the food industry are highly processed and high in calories. Sugar is added back into foods when the food is processed so much that the flavor is removed.
The energy used to process and package the food we eat makes up 23% of the total energy used in the US food system. Processed foods make up approximately 70% of what most of us eat (according to Melanie Warner, the author of Pandora's Lunchbox) and there are an estimated 5,000 different additives allowed by the FDA into our food.
Frozen foods in particular are convenient, but they have several downsides. First, the energy (and fossil fuels) it takes to process, package, transport, display (in the grocery store) and store (in your home freezer) those convenience frozen food is much greater than fresh food. Second, most frozen food comes in plenty of plastic packaging — even those eco-friendly packaged items made from cardboard are actually coated in a thin layer of plastic. Finally, the nutritional value of frozen processed food is significantly less than fresh.
Here are five easy tips for avoiding processed foods:
Avoid boxes, bags and cans. Obviously, if something comes pre-packaged, it has been touched. Commonly, food manufacturers dehydrate, bleach, enrich, salt, sweeten, and fatten food to compensate for the nutrition lost during the process it took to put the food into the box. Though boxed, canned and frozen foods are very convenient, they're not healthy for you in the long run.
Stay away from anything white. Your best bet is to buy products that are whole-grain, and contain unbleached, enriched grains like whole wheat, brown rice, oats or quinoa.
Shop on the outside edge of the store. One of the easiest places to find unprocessed, healthy, whole foods is to purchase most of your groceries on the outside edge of the store. The edges are where you'll find produce, meat, eggs, dairy and seafood. These items are not processed, or if they are, they're minimally processed.
Don’t buy if the label has more than five ingredients. The more ingredients the food has in it, the more it has been processed.
Don’t buy if any of the first three ingredients end in “ose.” "Ose" stands for sugar. Many sugars used in the food industry are highly processed and high in calories. Sugar is added back into foods when the food is processed so much that the flavor is removed.
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