Look for these 9 red flags to identify food that is ultra-processed. Free yourself from the grip of ultra-processed food by looking for these signs on the label.
By Anahad
O’Connor - Writer at The Washington Post
January 2, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST
To improve your eating habits, there is more to do than just counting calories or carbs. You can begin right in the grocery store by focusing on how much your food has been processed
before it gets to your dinner table.
If you’re like most people, you eat a lot of ultra-processed
foods and don’t even realize it. Many of these foods — protein and granola
bars, low-fat yogurts and breakfast cereals — sound like healthful choices.
But ultra-processed foods are formulations of industrial ingredients that are
designed by manufacturers to achieve a certain “bliss point,” which causes us
to crave and overeat them. Ultra-processed foods make up a majority of the
calories most people consume, and scientists say they are a driving force
behind the multiple diet-related illnesses that are shortening our life spans.
“Empowering yourself with the knowledge of what you’re about
to eat or what you’re about to feed your family is critical,” said Nicole
Avena, a visiting professor of health psychology at Princeton University.
So how can you free yourself from the grip of
ultra-processed foods? Start by reading the labels on the foods in your fridge,
pantry and the grocery aisle. We’ve created a simple guide to help you spot
nine red flags that signal a food probably is ultra-processed.
1: More than three ingredients
Many ultra-processed foods have long lists of ingredients
that can sound like a high school chemistry experiment. If you like bread, for
instance, choose a brand that contains only simple ingredients, such as wheat
flour, barley flour, sourdough starter, salt, nuts or raisins. Many
ultra-processed breads contain sugar, vegetable oil, artificial sweeteners, and
multiple preservatives, emulsifiers and shelf-life extenders such as sorbic
acid, calcium propionate, datem, and monoglycerides.
“You can still buy the foods you want,” said Stephen
Devries, an adjunct associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan
School of Public Health and the executive director of the educational nonprofit
Gaples Institute. “But you should find the least-altered version of those foods
with the fewest ingredients possible.”
2: Thickeners, stabilizers or emulsifiers
Look for ingredients such as soy lecithin, guar gum, xanthan
gum, carrageenan, mono- and diglycerides, or carboxymethylcellulose.
Ultra-processed foods often contain dyes to make them look appealing,
preservatives to give them a long shelf life, and thickeners, stabilizers and
emulsifiers to improve their texture or to keep their ingredients from
separating as they sit on store shelves for weeks or months at a time.
3: Added sugars and sweeteners
Try to avoid foods with corn syrup, cane sugar, malt syrup
or molasses on the label. If you want extra sweetness, add your own sugar or
honey.
“Most people would add less honey or sugar than you will
find in the packaged versions,” said Devries. “That’s much healthier than
relying on the yogurt company to determine how much sugar or honey or additives
you should eat.”
4: Ingredients that end in ‘-ose’
Examine the label for sucrose, maltose, dextrose, fructose
or glucose. These are other names for added sugars.
5: Artificial or ‘fake’ sugars
Look for aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-k, saccharin or
stevia. Sweeteners and artificial flavors are another hallmark of
ultra-processed foods. Sugar and sweeteners often are added “to mask the
off-putting taste from the preservatives and other ingredients that are added
in,” said Avena, author of the new book “Sugarless.”
Many store-bought English muffins, for instance, contain an array of emulsifiers, preservatives and sweeteners. But you wouldn’t know that unless you looked at the ingredients. “They don’t taste sweet and yet they have added sugar,” said Avena.
6: Health claims
Ultra-processed foods often have buzzy marketing claims on
their packages. Many products that are marketed as nutritious are actually
laden with sweeteners and other additives. These products include breakfast
cereals, granola, flavored yogurt, snack bars, salad dressings and canned
soups.
7: Low-sugar promises
Does the label say that the product is low in added sugar?
That can be a red flag, because manufacturers often replace the added sugar in
their products with artificial sweeteners.
8: Instant and flavored varieties
“When it’s instant, it’s usually mechanically altered in a
way that degrades it," said Devries. If you like oatmeal for breakfast,
buy the product that has only oats in it and nothing else.
Don’t be tempted by foods offered in a variety of fruity or
other flavors. If you like fruit-flavored yogurt, buy plain yogurt and add your
own fresh fruit. Many fruit-flavored yogurts contain not just fruit but several other additives such as cane sugar,
cornstarch, “natural flavors” and juice concentrates. Yogurt should have just
two ingredients: Milk and cultures (i.e. probiotics).
9: Could you make it in your kitchen?
When in doubt, look at the ingredient label and ask yourself
whether you could make it at home. Ultra-processed foods contain
additives that are not typically used in home kitchens. They are often
transformed into textures and shapes not found in nature — things like frosted
cereals, doughnuts, hot dogs and chicken nuggets.
Conclusion:
To be sure, you don’t have to avoid all processed foods.
Instead, think of food processing as a spectrum, ranging from minimally processed
foods all the way to ultra-processed foods. Minimally processed foods come
from plants or animals with minimal alteration. Think whole grains, vegetables,
eggs, milk and meat. Processed culinary ingredients are used to cook
and season food in homes and restaurants. They include butter, sugar, spices,
salt, and olive oil.
Processed foods include items such as canned
vegetables, bacon, cheeses, smoked fish, canned tuna and freshly made breads.
Most processed foods are things you can make in your own kitchen. They
typically contain two or three ingredients, but they’re still recognizable as
versions of things found in nature. Some examples would be a jar of unsweetened
apple sauce, tofu, hummus, tomato sauce, and frozen fruits and vegetables.
Most ultra-processed foods are found in the middle aisles of
a grocery store. Shop the perimeter where stores stock fresh, whole foods, said
Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, a professor at Northeastern University and a lecturer
at Harvard Medical School who studies
ultra-processed foods. “Most of the foods that are fresh are good for you,”
he said.
If you choose to buy ultra-processed foods, avoid “family
size” and choose single serving items. Large packages are designed to make you
overeat, said Marion Nestle, an emeritus professor of nutrition, food studies
and public health at New York University and the author of “Soda Politics.” “If you can’t stop eating
from big packages, don’t buy them,” she added.
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Have a great week, everyone, and thank you for your support!
Blessed be… and happy cooking!
Chef Michael R