Written by Carina Sanchez on April 3, 2014
My nephew works for a local Safeway here on the east side and I often see him restocking the shelves. On a recent shopping trip to the store I asked him what is was that he restocked the most. His response to me was that he usually works in the drink aisle and pre-packaged foods such as mac n’ cheese, canned fruits and vegetables, and easy make dinner options. At first my thoughts were of the wear and tear on his back but, the more I thought about what he was stocking I realized that he is stocking those items the most because those are the things that people are purchasing. Today I texted him and asked him about what percentage of the back storage of the store is fresh items (dairy, produce, etc) and what percentage is processed or packaged foods. He stated that about 70-80% is packaged (which does include brown rice’s and healthy packaged food options) and the other 20-30% was fresh foods (which also includes the frozen foods and not all those foods are considered non pre-packaged).
With the concern over chemically altered foods, non GMO foods and people making an effort towards clean eating I began to think about a way that people can start cutting out the c-r-a-p (c-carbonated drinks, r-refined sugars, a-artificial sweeteners and colors, and p-processed foods). A cornerstone of clean eating is to limit or better yet cutting out all the junk that our bodies just don’t need. The carbonated drinks which are full of refined sugars and artificial sweeteners and colors are a processed food so for a lack of a better term we will just place all of this under the large umbrella known as processed foods.
Let’s begin by defining what processed foods are; they are any food item that has been altered from its original state usually through a chemical process. This is done in order to enable the food to sit on a shelf for an extended period of time. What are some processed foods you might ask? White bread, flour (of any kind), non-organic “smooth” peanut butter, soda, soy products and even baby carrots. Figuring out what is not processed can be complicated, take time and a willingness to do some research.
Knowing all of this, why would food manufacturing companies decide to process foods? They do this in order to make their foods able to withstand decomposing, thus it has to be altered. This requires that one valuable part of the food be removed: fiber. Fiber is the part of the food that helps a person feel full along with fiber helping to move things along in the system to make room for more food. Most fibers have a tough time lasting on a store shelf (there are some exceptions such as brown rice) thus, they need to be removed and replaced with chemicals which allow the foods to sit on a shelf or in a cupboard for extended amounts of time.
Another way to avoid processed foods is to look and how and where you shop. Are you shopping at stores that are know for their whole foods, organic options, and foods that offer all the nutritional value possible? When you enter your favorite supermarket, where do you head first? Do you walk to either your left or tight towards the produce and fresh meats, or do you head for the aisles? I promise you if you are heading for the aisles, you are heading towards to processed foods. Unprocessed foods tend to reside on the outermost walls of the grocery store as these items spoil easily. So next time you head into shop for groceries, be conscious of what direction you head in first.
Here are a few pointers for you as to what to look for in when determining if the food might be processed or not.
Start with the ingredient list. Almost every processed food originated from a traditional recipe–which means the food item should be easily recreated in your home. This means that the ingredient list should read or look like a traditional recipe. If it contains ingredients that any normal person would not keep on hand in their kitchen, leave it alone!
Avoid the magic potions. If it has a “Just add water! Ta-da!!” label on it, leave it! The problem with processed foods is that once you have eaten them they tend to disintegrate and revert to the chemical yuck that was put into it. If it feels like a ton of chemical bricks or a blob has just taken up residence in your stomach, well it’s because they have.
If the bugs don’t want it…you don’t want it. Humans were made to compete with animals (yep-even bugs) for food and resources. Bugs are attracted to meats and produce because these items are natural, nourishing, and they decompose. We too should be attracted to these nutrient rich foods. If you go to an open air market and have to swat away a fruit fly or two to get to your tomatoes consider it a nutritional victory won.
The reality is, that you want your foods to come to you as un-manipulated as possible. You want foods that have limited chemical interference. So, that means you are going to have to embrace those fresh unprocessed, limited ingredient foods and dig in.
Here are some great resource websites for those trying to starting eating more whole foods:
Why Cut Processed Food
http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6442471055
http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/processedfoods.htm
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