Does processed food have to be "junk food"?

Reference News Network reported on May 17 that according to the Buenos Aires Economic News Network in Argentina on May 8, in recent years, news about processed foods has been flying all over the sky. Some people say that the food industry is evil and constantly deceives you and encourages you to eat unhealthy products. Any packaged food is not good for your health, and you can only have good eating habits if you buy fresh food. In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of information, either with good intentions, or out of some implicit interest (as is the interest of having more followers or being favored by algorithms), that manages to convince you that nothing that has been processed cannot be nutritious and healthy. However, this is not the case.

I don't want to defend the food industry. In fact, the food industry is largely dedicated to manipulating your palate, creating chaos in the most distorted ways, delivering unhealthy products to you, convincing you that it is a healthy option and then buying them, or even influencing public policy for its own benefit. Even if it comes at the expense of the health of society, the food industry has to create misconceptions in order to stuff you with real junk food.

However, I refuse to provide indiscriminate information such as "processed food equals junk food". In this kind of information, the entire context loses its role as a solution to complex environments. Because it will be you who will suffer in the end, because in the context of this dichotomy, you can only swing between two ideas like a seesaw. One thought that the only option was to shop frequently in order to have fresh food at home. But this kind of thinking can make your life very tiring, unless you have a lot of free time. Another option is to abandon selective shopping altogether and break cans and put instant noodles, bagged salads or breakfast cereals in the trolley.

Processed foods can also be healthy and affordable

Fortunately, part of the food industry is also doing the right thing, providing us with products that are valuable for both health and life efficiency. Of course, they are not charities and are also after profits. But they also open up a third path for us: a healthy and affordable list of high-quality processed foods that can make our lives easier.

You'll say that freezers take up space in the kitchen, and that frozen food has lost its nutritional value and doesn't taste good. Then get rid of these misconceptions, because the nutritional value of food is constantly changing, from harvesting to slaughtering to cooking, but freezing methods maintain its nutritional value well.

Fresh and frozen vegetables, such as artichokes, peas, green beans, etc., are most recommended, as well as pre-cut vegetables such as chopped onions, etc., to prevent skin irritation.

These include mixed dishes of beans, mushrooms, and vegetables, or frozen dishes such as scrambled eggs with garlic and pan-fried prawns with asparagus. All you need to do is add your favorite spices in a matter of minutes to make a dish. I highly recommend preparing a microwave steamer, so that you can cook any frozen vegetables in two minutes, add your favorite toppings and seasonings.

In the same vein, you can also buy pre-made frozen vegetables with instructions on the packaging for how they are processed. You'll even find pre-cooked beans. Of course, care must be taken with the way these ingredients are cooked, as there are differences, such as those that contain only vegetables and those that contain other ingredients such as cream, flour, milk powder, starch or sugar.

High-quality canned food can be reasonably "stocked"

Some people will laugh at the hoarding of toilet paper during the pandemic, when people are filling carts with canned goods. A lot of people love canned food, and they often save busy people from involuntary intermittent fasting. Is there anything better than this food that can be kept at room temperature for years and eaten as soon as you take it out? No.

It's worth noting that sterilized foods are very versatile, and you can find a wide variety of foods in cans, but not all of them are recommended. What foods can fill your pantry? The author especially recommends cooked beans, such as canned chickpeas, lentils, etc. They are usually untouched and have no ingredients other than water, salt, and some preservative additives.

Canned beans can be used to make delicious dishes such as stir-fried kale with chickpeas. If you can follow the recipe to make delicious hummus with cooked hummus in five minutes, then you will definitely not buy ready-made hummus anymore.

Canned vegetables are also popular: asparagus, artichokes, corn, green peppers, peas, green beans and mushrooms. They are ready to be a delicacy on the table along with natural fish and seafood. In the same way, if you don't even have the time and energy to combine different cans together, there is a solution: ready-made canned dishes, such as chickpeas with spinach, are not problematic in terms of nutrition.

How to consume fruits and vegetables with limited conditions

If you're traveling, bring only one bag with a tablet, notebook, all the basics, clothes, and a toiletry kit. You don't know where you're going to eat, but because the luggage is so heavy, there's no room for an extra banana. Then the author's suggestion is: dried fruits.

There are some of the most common dried fruits, such as dried apricots, raisins, or prunes, but you can also find bagged dried apples, pineapples, melons, or mangoes, which will save you from hypoglycemia.

While it is true that dried fruit is more expensive than fresh fruit, it can help you consume fruit in very specific situations. In fact, eating dried fruit is just as healthy as eating fresh fruit, but only if the only ingredient is fruit and does not contain other ingredients such as fat or sugar.

Although bagged vegetables aren't the cheapest or most environmentally friendly, washed and eaten bagged vegetables are sometimes a lifesaver when we're lazy. Nutritionally, they're just like the vegetables you bought right away, as long as you're buying a plain vegetable salad and not one that's already high in salt and fat.

You can make any dish with fresh, unwashed vegetables, and it will be more efficient. You can even combine several different processed vegetables to make a delicious salad. Admittedly, a large percentage of the approximately 10,000 foods that can be found in supermarkets are ultra-processed, but we can't ignore those that are completely healthy, affordable, easily accessible, and versatile just because some are packaged.

Simple distinction between machining and ultra-machining

Under the bombardment of "anti-ultra-processed foods" information, we can get lost and mistakenly identify any processed food as ultra-processed. In this article, we will simplify the classification into machined and ultra-machined.

Here's a clue to find ultra-processed foods: they're not made, they're designed. To be more specific, the reasons why you can identify them are:

1. The ingredients are unfamiliar, and there is no one in the kitchen;

2. After a technical process that you can't complete at home;

3. Contains additives, the purpose of which is not to maintain the properties of the food, but to change the characteristics of the food to make it more attractive, such as flavor enhancers, sweeteners, pigments;

4. It's so irresistible that you can't stop once you start eating it;

5. The aim is to replace unprocessed foods: replace natural yogurt with dairy desserts, replace plain oatmeal with breakfast cereals, and replace cod meat with cod sticks.

Are all ultra-processed foods unhealthy? With the exception of milk powder and the like, we can say yes.

Here's the question: If it's not ultra-processed, it's healthy? Of course not. There are many foods that are "just" processed but best avoided such as cured hams, flavored sausages, alcoholic beverages, salted or sweetened nuts, fruit juices and canned fruits, etc., and the less we eat these foods, the better. (Compiled by Liu Lifei)