There’s a new buzzword on the block and it’s causing a lot of questions and adding some food anxiety.
Read on to find out the difference between ultra processed and processed foods and what eating them means for your health.
In the ever-evolving landscape of modern nutrition, terms like “processed” and “ultra-processed” have become buzzwords, but what do they actually mean and what place do they have on your plate?
Fish and chips; a British culinary masterpiece that can be a taste sensation but falls into the ultra processed camp – does that mean you should never eat a chippie again?
What about Maccie D’s? Last time I had one was 2003 downtown Manhattan – cheeseburger, fries, coke and an apple pie thing. Cost me less than $5. The low cost of my-happy-for-me-at-the-time meal was a big factor in me eating it cos I was an intern earning not very many dollars.
Pizza; What would life be without my second favourite Italian export (my first being tiramisu) ? And no cauliflower pizza is NOT pizza, neither is a mince pizza (yes, I tried one – do not recommend).
Lets Get Technical
Processed foods and ultra-processed foods are distinct categories in the classification of food products based on their level of processing. These categories are commonly used by nutrition professionals, and researchers to evaluate the nutritional quality and potential health impact of foods.
Karma Chameleon: Processed Foods
You’ve got your tinned chickpeas, your canned tomatoes, turmeric, nut butter and oatcakes. They’ve kept it semi real but have undergone a little glow up – washing, chopping, cooking, freezing, and maybe a bit of pasteurisation. But here’s the deal – they manage to keep it real, maintaining a link to their natural roots.
Processing isn’t just about show; it’s got a purpose. We’re talking shelf life extension, safety upgrades, and maybe some enhancement of flavour and texture. Sure, there might be a sprinkle of added salt, lemon or they might be crushed, but these foods keep it modest in the additive department. They’re like the cool, down-to-earth cousins at the culinary family reunion.
The Kardashians of The Culinary World: Ultra Processed Foods
Maccie D’s, Pepsi Max, Monster Munch crisps, haribos, your Saturday night takeout, ready meals. These are “multi-ingredient industrial formulations” and are considered ultra processed foods that undergo extreme makeovers to make them palatable and addictive. If you look at the ingredients they’ll most likely have ingredients that you wouldn’t generally find in your kitchen These foods can be a taste sensation on a flavour rollercoaster but the health implications of making these a core part of your diet may not be so thrilling.
School lunches in the UK are 80% made up of ultra processed food (that sugar free yoghurt isn’t sugar free!). Our diets are 57% ultra processed foods with the most common ones being bakery goods, sugar sweetened drinks and sausages.
Do you never eat a baked good or a sausage again?
No is my answer to that.
My approach is always to get the best that you can afford.
I remember when I worked in a large bank someone bringing in cupcakes; now this may sound really snobby and that is not my intention, the cupcakes had an expiry date 2 years in the future. No way! Cakes are not meant to last that long.
Another time my type 2 diabetic mum bought some hideous pastries from a local shop, we hid them on top of the kitchen cupboards so she wouldn’t eat them. Promptly forgot about them for 18 months. Uh oh. When I climbed up to get them thinking they’d be ready to walk down by themselves; no they looked exactly the same as the day she bought them.
Contrast that with a cake I bought for my husband’s 40th, the last slice was hard within 48 hours (we still ate it!).
Confusion can come when we start to apply strict rules. I’ve seen suggestions not to eat anything with more than 7 ingredients or don’t eat anything you can’t pronounce. And chuck in how some supposed unprocessed food is now produced, its a mixing bowl of confusion, strict rules and overwhelm that can lead to food fear.
Almost all the food that we eat in 2024 could be considered processed, it’s the level of processing that we need to take into account and how much of it makes up our overall diet.
My recommendations, if you’re going to eat sausages, pizza and cake make them the best that you can find and afford.
Decide what’s worth it to you.
For meat go to a butcher if you can. For fish go to a fishmonger. With fish I would strongly recommend you avoid or minimise eating farmed fish. As a teenager, one of my university summer jobs was at a salmon processing plant; it wasn’t pretty.
Ask yourself where can you add more kitchen cupboard ingredients on to your plate; sure it needs a more planning and prep but your health and your bank balance will thank you.
If trying to figure out what to eat is stressing you out and is making your wary of food. Take a breath and take it back to basics, because you know really that ready meals are ok once every now and then (I mean they taste pretty crappy anyway) and you know that frozen Findus pizza and potato croquettes aren’t the basis of a healthy, energy producing diet (it took me till my mid 30’s to learn this one) and that water not diet coke needs to be your main source of hydration. If you then need support to devise a way of eating that’s not restrictive, works for the whole family, helps you be your best self, stops you being tired all the time and makes space for eating for pleasure, then book in to learn more about my signature 1:1 Flat to Fabulous Framework is focused on getting your energy from flat to fabulous by making small simple achievable changes that add pleasure and don’t eliminate fun and joy.
References:
- Poti, J et al (2018) Ultra-processed Food Intake and Obesity: What Really Matters for Health – Processing or Nutrient Content?
- Baker P at al (2020) Ultra-processed foods and the nutrition transition: Global, regional and national trends, food systems transformations and political economy drivers
- Henney A et al (2023) Ultra-processed food and non-communicable diseases in the United Kingdom: A narrative review and thematic synthesis of literature