A Dietitian’s Take on Processed Foods

What are processed foods? 

Let’s get one thing out of the way: not all processed foods are bad for health. In fact, some are actually important for maintaining a nutritious diet. 

According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a processed food is one that has been “cooked, canned, frozen, packaged or changed in nutritional composition with fortifying, preserving or preparing in different ways.”

So, as great as it would be if we could eat mostly whole ingredients that we grow ourselves or purchase from a farmer’s market, avoiding all processed foods isn’t realistic – nor is it a healthy option. 

After all, foods like whole grains, frozen vegetables, nut butters, ground flax seeds, and unsalted canned beans can add a lot of nutrition to our diets. 

However, there is a spectrum of minimally to heavily processed foods, with heavily processed ones often containing added sugars, sodium, hydrogenated oils, and/or artificial colorings, additives, and preservatives. 

Generally speaking, ready-to-eat foods, such as chips, pre-packaged deli meats, and microwavable dinners, are going to be the most heavily processed.

And it’s these food items that are usually being referred to when you hear a health professional recommending limiting the intake of processed foods. 

Why highly-processed foods can be bad for health 

Diets high in highly-processed foods have been linked with a handful of negative health consequences, including weight gain and an increased risk for chronic diseases. 

Granted, most of the studies on highly-processed foods are observational only, so they can show a relationship but not prove cause and effect. 

However, one small randomized controlled trial in 20 weight-stable adults found that participants consumed an average of 500 more calories per day when they were on the ultra-processed food diet (83.5% of calories from ultra-processed foods) compared to when they were on the unprocessed diet phase (83.3% of calories from minimally processed foods). 

While interesting, it’s still a small sample size and there was a large variation in how individual participants responded to the two diets, so take the results with a grain of salt. 

Still, why would consuming large amounts of highly-processed foods possibly lead to weight gain or increased risk of chronic disease? 

One theory is that these foods are often higher in sugar, sodium, and fat, while being low in fiber. 

Yet, results from the NutriNet-Santé observational study found that even when nutrient quality was controlled for, processed foods were still significantly linked with a higher risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer risk (including breast cancer).  

Another theory is that the artificial ingredients found in these foods may be causing changes to our gut bacteria. And, while much more research is needed, our gut health likely plays a big role in our weight and risk for diseases. 

Tips for identifying and cutting down on highly processed foods

Again, I want to reiterate that not everything that comes in a package is bad for us, and some items are in fact very healthy options. 

But how can you differentiate more nutritious options from heavily processed ones? Below are a few tips when grocery shopping.

1. Look for a short ingredient list with recognizable ingredients. 

While this isn’t true 100% of the time, generally the more processed a food is, the longer (and more unrecognizable) the ingredient list will be. 

For example, let’s compare two chocolate peanut butter protein bars, both with around 12 grams of protein and 200 calories: 

RX Bar: Dates, Peanuts, Egg Whites, Cacao, Natural Chocolate Flavor, Natural Peanut Flavor, Cocoa, Salt.

Balance Bar: Protein blend (soy protein isolate, whey protein, isolate, milk protein isolate, casein, calcium caseinate), Fructose, Peanut Butter, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Water, Whey Protein Concentrate, Fractionated Palm Kernel and Palm Oil, Partially Defatted Peanut Flour, Cocoa, Natural Flavor, Glycerine. Contains less than 2% of Maltitol Syrup, Nonfat Milk, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Maltodextrin, Heavy Cream (Cream, Milk, Cellulose Gel, Carrageenan, Cellulose Gum), Butter (Cream, Salt), Butterfat, Sodium Citrate, Tocopherols added to protect flavor, Soybean Oil, Carrageenan, Dextrose. 

As you can see, both are technically processed and are nutritionally very similar, yet the RX bar is the healthier option as it’s made with a mostly whole, more nutritious ingredients.

2. Pay attention to the order of ingredients in the ingredient list.

In addition to looking at what ingredients are in the food, paying attention to the order in which they’re listed can also give you a better idea of what you’re eating. 

Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. In the RX bar example above, this means that dates make up a greater percentage of the bar than salt does. 

So, an item with sugar (or another word for sugar, such as dextrose or corn syrup) as one of the first few ingredients is likely going to be high in added sugars and a less healthy option.

3. Find more nutritious swaps. 

Yes, I know this sounds obvious. But once you’ve identified a food as being more heavily processed, the next step is to figure out a healthier swap. 

Depending on what the item is and how much time you have, the swap can be either store-bought or homemade. 

Here are examples of healthier alternatives for a few commonly highly processed foods: 

• Breakfast cereal: Swap out traditional breakfast for muesli – a combination of oats, nuts or seeds, and dried fruit. Bob’s Red Mill Old Style Muesli is a good option, or you can make your own.
• Canned soup: Making a large batch and freezing leftovers is an easier, healthier alternative to canned soups. Pacific Foods’s organic reduced sodium soups are a good store bought option.
• Frozen dinners: A healthy option is simply freezing individual portions of leftovers for DIY frozen dinners. However, Evol’s line of frozen meals are a good store-bought alternative.
• Instant oatmeal packets: Instead of buying pre-sweetened instant oatmeal packets, make your own by placing a serving of rolled oats (either 1 or 5-minute cooking oats) in a bag along with a sprinkle of cinnamon. After cooking, add fresh fruit and a sprinkle of nuts on top. If in a pinch, Bob’s Red Mill Organic Classic Oatmeal Cup is a good convenient option. Again, you’ll still want to add your own toppings. 

• Ketchup: Usually packed with added sugars and sodium, it can be hard to find a healthier ketchup option. Primal Kitchen and Elevation Ketchup are two brands to keep your eyes out for.
• Microwave or Pre-popped Popcorn:  The healthiest option is to simply pop whole kernels yourself either on the stove or in an air popper. For a store-bought option, look for Lesser Evil Pink Salt Popcorn.

• Sandwich bread: Unless you’re an avid baker, chances are you’ll be wanting a store-bought bread option. Two healthier brands to look out for include Dave’s Killer Bread and Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread.
• Tomato sauce: Either make your own, or look for brands with minimal ingredients and no high fructose corn syrup, like Cucina Antica. 
• Fruited yogurt: Rather than buying packages of yogurt filled with artificial colorings and added sugars, make your own fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt by placing frozen or fresh berries in the bottom of a few small mason jars, add a serving of plain Greek (or regular) yogurt on top, and store for an easy grab-and-go snack.

4. Let yourself enjoy your favorites in moderation. 

Of course, just because it’s beneficial to cut back on highly processed foods doesn’t mean you can never eat them again. 

Instead, I recommend finding healthy swaps the majority of the time and then letting yourself enjoy a few of your favorite items from time-to-time. 

The bottom line 

The majority of the foods we eat have been “processed” in some way. Whether it’s a bag of pre-cut frozen vegetables or a can of unsalted beans, processing isn’t always a bad thing and can actually make eating healthier foods easier. 

However, other foods like snack cakes, frozen dinners, chips, pre-packaged deli meats, and breakfast cereals can be more highly processed, meaning they have higher levels of added sodium, fats, sugars, and/or artificial ingredients. 

And research suggests that diets high in these overly-processed items are linked with a higher risk of conditions like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. 

So the next time you go grocery shopping, be sure to take a look at the ingredient list to find healthier, less processed options.