Would be interesting to see the fractions by mass rather than number of products. The latter could just be that we have many many varieties of chips and soda and only a few varieties of flour.
I don't think it's as bad here as in the US, however I see more and more of this type of foods in the store and it's usually quite cheap compared to food made from fresh produce at home. And this should really be an alarm bell as there is far less processing needed for fresh foods and it should be cheaper.
Personally I stay away from them and make almost all of my food from scratch. It seems quite scary to radically change the diet of the human in this way in so short of a time.
I think there's something missing from the equation and I'm not sure what. In Tokyo, for example, I'm astonished by the amount of cheap, fresh food is available at grocery and convenience stores. Certain items (like imported fruits) are more expensive than in the US, but locally-produced vegetables / meats / etc seem to be widely available.
It's possible that Tokyo is an example where due to the high density of people / restaurants, the "economy of scale" takes over and makes good food much cheaper.
I might go one step further and make the claim that fresh food is so expensive in the US precisely because infrastructure is designed for cars, rather than people.
> It's possible that Tokyo is an example where due to the high density of people / restaurants, the "economy of scale" takes over and makes good food much cheaper.
I don't think it's just Tokyo, you get this all across Europe too. I think there might be an economy of scale just in the fact that almost everyone in Japan/Europe buys fresh food as the primary component of their diet.
I live in the UK, and the idea that you could live somewhere where there isn't a local (aka walking distance) grocery store or supermarket that sells reasonably priced fresh produce is completely alien to me (if you live a rural area, then I suppose you might have to drive, but then you would need to do that to get to any shop at all).
Frozen vegetables and fruit can work pretty well too. Some will have a different texture after thawing (eg berries) and cannot be used for everything but in cooking it's almost the same as fresh. How is the frozen food situation in the US?
Preserved fruits and vegetables are extremely cheap and available in the US. Food in general of any type is actually very cheap in the US unless you live in NYC or downtown SF. These prices are for average chain grocers, HEB, Krogers, Wegmans, etc. Not bulk shops like Sam's or Costco. Some grocers also tend to focus on lower costs and will be cheaper than this such as Fiesta.
Frozen typically runs between $1 and $2 a lb depending on what you want. Some cheaper mixes can be had around $0.50/lb.
Canned typically comes in between $0.25 and $1.00 a can depending on brand. The chain grocer near me also routinely has sales on canned vegetables for $0.15/can if you buy 20 or more. A can is typically about 15 ounces. It can make up the bulk of a meal for 1 person, or serve as a side for about 3.
Dried bulk products such as rice or pinto beans are also reasonably cheap though more expensive now than they used to be. Beans run about $0.25 to $0.50/lb depending on how much you buy at once and rice is about half of that.
Fresh produce varies a lot by time of year and location but can typically be had for under $1/lb if you aren't choosey. Double to triple for anything labeled organic.
Meats start around $1 to $2/lb for chicken thighs and pork shoulder and goes up to about $20/lb for premium beef cuts.
I routinely make stuffed bellpeppers (bell pepper, rice, hamburger, tomato, and spices) for lunch and then end cost comes out to around $1.50/lb.
I think some of the reason is that we have become pickier.
Most of the food that is counted "bad" is not really, like apples that have shrunk a bit. You can use them perfectly for something like an apple pie or ingredients in a dish.
Fish is an issue because it can become "fishy", i.e. you get a strong taste of fish blood if not kept properly. I try to buy them from companies that freeze on the boat and transport around in trucks and sell directly to people.
Most meats though is usually better tasting after the expiration date (to a certain extent!)
But none of that can last for years in storage, I guess that lowers the cost a bit. Also the processed foods have more filler ingredients like corn starch etc which is cheap.
An increasingly large percentage of Americans live in "food deserts" where the only options are small convenience stores or somewhat larger Dollar Generals where there are no fresh foods except perhaps milk and eggs. We can blame people for making bad decisions but a lot of times the only decision they can make is between one package and another..
You make a great point, plus in the US we use fast food as a substitute for a lot of meals. It’s been eye opening once you start looking at ingredients, made me rethink what we feed our kids.
What the flipping heck a digestive biscuit is "ultra processed" its not like chicken nuggets made of mechanically recovered meat or CMOT Dibbler brand beef burgers is it.
I think the previous commenter who thought this was hyperbolic click bait - which is actually counter productive is right.
It's really simple - good food is food prepared by yourself from raw ingredients (some exceptions for pasta, bread etc - use whole grain). If you do that, you will be good - it's really hard to eat bad with food you prepare yourself. On the contrary, it's extremely hard to eat well with eating processed food.
I've traveled recently to US and the amount of shit food available was amazing. I've seen several small grocery shops without a single fresh veggie available. What a contrast with France (where I live) !
> some exceptions for pasta, bread etc - use whole grain
Why should we use whole grain? They have more nutrients, but if your nutrient needs are met from other ingredients, what are the benefits of whole grain?
I believe that in general(, the more fibre you get whilst eating the better. So sure if you are getting most of your fibre during other meals and are about to eat a sandwich. It is better to also have fibre during that eating session.
As with anything it is just general, but less processed / higher fibre / whole grain food is better and (subjectively) much tastier. After only eating higher whole grain food, going back to the more processed version, you realise just how lacking it is (opinion)
It's outdated advice. The GI difference between white and whole wheat bread is negligible. It's also virtually impossible to find affordable, off-the-shelf bread loaves that don't have added sugar (in the US), it's ridiculous. The solution is to reduce/eliminate processed carb consumption.
Can't get off bread? At the very least, get a bread machine and make your own.
> It's also virtually impossible to find affordable, off-the-shelf bread loaves that don't have added sugar (in the US), it's ridiculous.
I'm not sure this is the case if you look. I live in the upper Midwest and we have many options to buy fresh (daily baked) at many locations around my metro. I just looked at their nutrition guide [0] for their breads and most of the standard, non-dessert breads (except "white") don't have added sugar and only a handful of whole ingredients.
I look at most labels these days and don't buy bread used for sandwiches or toast with sugar. I can't remember the last time I had an issue finding something. As for price I guess that's subjective but I don't find those breads much more expensive in general.
As a note, "sugar" isn't the only added sugar ingredient you'll find in bread, or really any packaged food. For instance, I read through the nutrition guide for Breadsmith's breads and rolls, 28 of their 44 offerings have some form of an added sugar (see: malt syrup, honey, granulated sugar, molasses). I wouldn't qualify that as "most" although it's certainly not slim pickings overall.
Put into large bowl.
Mix. Cover. Wait 30 minutes.
Knead. Cover. Wait 60-120 minutes.
Knead. Shape. Wait 60-120 minutes.
Preheat to 250C. Bake for 20 minutes.
Let cool.
It's the case with all these products in the exploding nascent meat alternatives market. Being vegan doesn't automatically equate to healthy. These processed products have an exhausting list of ingredients.
False equivalence. Beyond Meat's burgers are carefully synthesized in a food lab. Apples have been around for millions of years (excluding the GMO part).
I started cooking my own meals for the last year and my energy level is way up. Another thing that had a good effect is reducing a lot sugar and carbo hydrates (bread). I have grown up in France too and we are used to eating way too much bread.
Still, I havent figured out how to keep eating as healthy as home when I travel for a long time.
I had thought of targeting vegetarian restaurants as a proxy for healthy food.
We also started moving to a more home-cooked approach in the last couple of years. I'm trying to use boredom with the few dishes I know to drive me to learn more about cooking.
One "rule" is that we try to eliminate most things that requires freezing, canning or shelf-stable packaging. I've grown a much better understanding of what fruits and vegetables need to be used quickly vs those that can sit for a week or more and it's helped with meal planning and shopping. We shop more frequently, but stock up much less.
I've actually ended up enjoying the "multi-threaded" nature of cooking a nice meal. Learning how long each dish will take and planning my prep around that is actually an enjoyable challenge. Bonus if the outcome is tasty.
The goal wasn't necessarily to eat more healthily, just to eat more fresh. The side-effect is that you end-up eliminating tons of garbage from your diet anyways. Another interesting side-effect is that since we're starting with raw ingredients, we're finding that we're being much choosier about the quality we're selecting.
Ever since then we went with a pantry full of stuff and freezers packed with "heat-and-eat" premade food to a few cans, some dried seaweed and noodles and virtually empty freezers and a fridge that's packed full of vegetables.
> I'm trying to use boredom with the few dishes I know to drive me to learn more about cooking.
Start with a handful of recipes. Then add a new one to the mix each week. If it is a keeper, add it to the list of recipes. After you have about a months worth of recipes, organize them into menus (and save the shopping lists). Then you can start rotating menus. You will eat the same recipe once per month and it will not get boring as fast and you've save the shopping lists so the planning/shopping is much faster as well. Finally, once you have that in place, swap in a new recipe every now and then. If you like it, keep it in the rotation for a month, then swap the old recipe back in for a month. It make the burden of finding new recipes lighter and keeps things fun and fresh. Obviously, adjust the scheduling above to suit you, this is just an example.
The whole modern city life is based on impatience and quick satisfaction. You shall buy flavour enhanced shitty premade food so you can do more. Obvious economic bonus right ?
Sorry this is BS, a city like NYC has many more healthy fast options than your average small city. The affluent neighborhoods have healthy grocery stores. The poorer parts of cities do lack good grocery options but this has little to do with impatience and quick satisfaction.
I used to eat mainly processed to ultra-processed.
My neighbor came over for some of my famous no-packaging vegetable stew yesterday. She said she was overwhelmed with how delicious it tasted. I made two stews. Here are the ingredients:
Both were topped with onion, nuts, cucumber, and nuts. Salt to taste.
The beans, peas, nuts, and salt were from bulk from my local coop (filling containers I brought). All other ingredients from my CSA or the local farmers market.
Maybe a quarter cup of scraps to compost. Zero to a landfill.
Dessert was nectarines that I couldn't help but say, "I can't believe anyone eats ice cream" they tasted so good. Appetizers were tomatoes from my CSA and greens from my windowsill garden.
Total cost: maybe $10 worth of food, enough to eat for 7 to 10 meals.
Now I eat like this all the time. Anyone in or around Manhattan interested in sampling, I'm easy to find. Email me and come over for some famous no-packaging vegetable stew. Especially mid to late summer when I have trouble keeping up with all the CSA vegetables.
If you are stew / soup fan and just getting into it. I cannot recommend a pressure cooker enough. Reduces cooking time by 60-80%.
Just throw in a load of veg and you can have pretty much a weeks worth of food to freeze ready in 10minutes incredibly cheaply.
If you also eat a lot of dried beans / lentils / chickpeas it is a godsend for how quickly it is ready and thoroughly cooked all the way through and dried beans at probably (here at least) 20% of the cost of tinned beans (even less if you buy in bulk).
Yes, my pressure cooker changed everything! I bought it used from Craigslist, not knowing what to expect.
My neighbor came over because she got a pressure cooker, heard of my reputation cooking with mine, and asked for a lesson. Here are reviews: http://joshuaspodek.com/food-world-reviews.
While my public speaking is mostly on business leadership and entrepreneurship, I increasingly speak on sustainability and sometimes include making my famous no-packaging vegetable stews.
On Earth Day this year I cooked for about 2 dozen at Lululemon's flagship store on 5th Avenue and spoke on sustainability. Last year I cooked for 50 or 60 at Brooklyn North Farms for Faherty clothing, another time at Assemblage coworking space, and I forget where else.
The nuts are the only fat I put in, which adds incredible texture and flavor, so I add them liberally. If I'm in a place where avocados grow, I'll use them, and they taste amazing.
I haven't eaten ice cream in years. I grew up eating tons of it and couldn't stop myself from always having some in my fridge through graduate school, maybe into my 40s, but I've lost the taste for foods where the main pleasure comes from added salt, sugar, or fat. There is a Van Leeuwen across the street from me, often with a line down the block, but it doesn't register as food for me. Meanwhile, I walk miles to pick mulberries, juneberries, raspberries, and blueberries, knowing where some grow wild, even after I've eaten pounds already. OMG, the burst of the fruit juice and all its flavor is like a religious experience.
Would adding lard be an acceptable fat to throw in?
I grew up on a farm, my grandma and my family in general never stopped using fats in recipes. I use it for making cornbread alllllll the time.
Quote from my late grandma: "Its almost impossible to use too much fat when cooking"
I've since learned how to use duck fat as well in French cuisine. It dramatically reduces how much sugar you need to use in recipes.
And have you ever made home made ice cream? Its waaaaaay better than the ice cream you buy in stores. Then again, we made it from fresh cow milk we milked that morning, my god do i miss that. The ice cream, the cows can go suck eggs. :)
Yes - kind of like the monthly boxes that were super popular a few years ago that would give you a grab bag offering for a monthly fee. I’ve also heard them referred to as co-op (short for cooperative). There are a few different types and ways that they work. Some ship to you and others you have to go pick up, the one I was a part of was affiliated with the local farmers market. The farmer who ran it would bring his goods to sell individually at the farmers market, but at the same time, you could pay a monthly fee to take home a selection of stuff that was in season. So instead of buying 3 tomatoes, 4 onions, or 5 apples individually from him, you would get a basket that had either 3 tomatoes and 4 onions or 3 tomatoes and 5 apples (your choice) that was cheaper than buying individually.
Good raw ingredients are also hard to get/expensive. If most stuff is artificially inflated/grown for productivity/financial gains, what can one do?
Examples: chicken grown in 6 weeks 23h/day in light with antibiotics & growth hormones, fruits & veggies with fertilisers, pesticides, insecticides and preservatives so it lasts longer. When only monetary incentives matter, this is what we get.
> Good raw ingredients are also hard to get/expensive.
In general good raw ingredients can have better taste, iow the price per taste is lower or better priced than processed foods. And as the most Western people don’t need the quantity, you could argue that Good raw ingredients are cheaper.
What is "ultra processed" food? According to [1] it is stuff like:
Soft drinks
Packaged bread and buns
Chips
Candy
Store-bought ice cream
Boxed cake mix
Instant noodles
Infant formula
Breakfast cereal
Energy bars
Flavored yogurt
Chicken nuggets
Fast food burgers
Hot dogs
Some of these make sense... other don't. But clearly the actual degree
of processing required to obtain a given food item isn't the main factor
to label it "ultra processed".
You're gonna tell me my muesli energy bar is "ultra-processed"? It's literally just a bunch of grain sticking together.
Besides, those qualifiers are really weird: linking the category of an
item to the place it was purchased instead of its actual ingredients
(Fast food burgers, store-bought ice cream, packaged bread and buns)?
This smells like bullshit, clickbait, and health-craze pseudoscience.
Some grain bars are museli stuck together, others are akin to a paste mixed with all kinds of binding agents, sugar and other things to improve their shelf life. I’d cal those ultra processed.
Sure, you can find exceptions to each of those groups, but most people are not eating whole-foods handmade-by-grandmothers 100% natural foods, are they.
Apart from the added water, every ingredient is a processed extract. Condensed milk, whey powder, etc. It's a list of industrially produced ingredients.
If you actually wanted to know, all you had to do was click on the link to the underlying study.
Ultra-processed food is food that meets the criteria according to the NOVA
classification system.
"Processes enabling the manufacture of ultra-processed foods include the fractioning of whole foods into substances, chemical modifications of these substances, assembly of unmodified and modified food substances, frequent use of cosmetic additives and sophisticated packaging. Processes and ingredients used to manufacture ultra-processed foods are designed to create highly profitable (low-cost ingredients, long shelf-life, emphatic branding), convenient (ready-to-consume), hyper-palatable products liable to displace all other NOVA food groups, notably unprocessed or minimally processed foods. A practical way to identify an ultra-processed product is to check to see if its list of ingredients contains at least one item characteristic of the NOVA ultra-processed food group, which is to say, either food substances never or rarely used in kitchens (such as high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated or interesterified oils, and hydrolysed proteins), or classes of additives designed to make the final product palatable or more appealing (such as flavours, flavour enhancers, colours, emulsifiers, emulsifying salts, sweeteners, thickeners, and anti-foaming, bulking, carbonating, foaming, gelling and glazing agents)."
Ultra processed or not does not matter. What does matter is that beside raw ingredients most food is somewhat processed. i.e a lot of ingredients were added, especially sugar (even in food where the least expect it).
A lot of these ingredients are nefarious, including sugar, especially if too much is consumed. (most people consume several time the recommended dose of sugar a day, even without eating very sweet - courtesy of the food industry for putting sugar everywhere).
Ultra processed looks like a misnomer since they appear to be talking about the nutritional content. By their criteria, it appears as though homemade breads and ice cream would qualify as ultra processed even though they use fairly basic ingredients that are combined in very conventional ways.
Yet their point is still valid. I recall a doctor talking about how unhealthy yogurt is due to its sugar content. If your a person like myself, who either makes their own yogurt or carefully selects brands of plain yogurt, the broad generalization is nonsensical. If you look at what's available on the store shelves, then over 90% of what they have is based on sugary flavoring. I suspect people buy yogurt since they are usually told that it's healthy, but usually end up reaching for the stuff that this study describes as ultra processes because that's the stuff that industry invests a lot of effort into making desirable (either through its formulation or advertising).
I suspect that there are a number of factors that are contributing to this pseudoscience based health-craze:
- It is easier to demonize food products based upon an overgeneralized label than it is to tell people to check the nutrition labels.
- Most grocery stores dedicate most of their shelves to food with dubious nutritional value, may that be because the food is formulated to sell (which typically has high sodium or sugar content) or longer shelf life.
- Most grocery stores are a poor option for the health conscious because of manipulative sales tactics. This ranges from the store layout, placement of particular products, and over generalized as well as likely misrepresenting of products as healthy.
- A segment of the population feels like they are loosing control over dietary options. Some areas are surrounded by food sold by places convenience/dollar stores and restaurants, yet grocery stores that would support traditional home cooking are more difficult to access.
When some people are faced with something that does not reflect their dietary values, or worse, does not meet their medical needs, is it surprising that they would start adopting extreme viewpoints?
Re: stores that promote home cooking, their prices make them largely inaccessible to the broader market (and those who make less) since they tend to be branded "health food stores" and the markup is 50% or more.
Heck, even the difference between two (differently named) grocery stores in my area, owned by the same larger company, can be that bad and neither is touted as a health food store.
I personally can't stand the term "processed" when applied to food. Everything from harvesting/slaughtering/milling to prep and cooking is a process. I prefer the term "mass manufactured food", because that is exactly what it is, food mass produced in a factory.
I would posit that even mass manufactured is slightly off point. For instance, if you can produce bread dough of the same consistency and quality with 4 ingredients (flour, water, salt, yeast) how does scaling it, in a factory or by hand, make it less healthy?
As a UK home baker I was surprised to see that the majority of US bread recipes i found seem to need sugar as a substantial ingredient (see https://www.thebrewerandthebaker.com/archives/17796) . Bearing in mind that bread basically consists of flour, water and usually yeast, the need for sugar is puzzling, especially as it doesn't really add to the flavour.
It depends on the recipe. Most breads I make are flour, water, salt and yeast. But if I make something like a honey-wheat bread, I'll use, well, honey.
Also, there are still a lot of people in the US who like to use soft white bread for sandwiches and, yeah, the traditional recipes for that style contain some sugar. A lot of us try and avoid that style of bread because it is really not much better for you than cake.
The honey-wheat bread sounds interesting and although honey's a sugar it's very different to the refined stuff. I did make a Hokkaido Milk Loaf out of curiosity though and it was delicious. Mind you, with 60 g (scant 1/3 cup) sugar it should be!
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 147 ms ] threadEdit: Forcing poor towards unhealthy food choices.
I don't think it's as bad here as in the US, however I see more and more of this type of foods in the store and it's usually quite cheap compared to food made from fresh produce at home. And this should really be an alarm bell as there is far less processing needed for fresh foods and it should be cheaper.
Personally I stay away from them and make almost all of my food from scratch. It seems quite scary to radically change the diet of the human in this way in so short of a time.
It's possible that Tokyo is an example where due to the high density of people / restaurants, the "economy of scale" takes over and makes good food much cheaper.
I might go one step further and make the claim that fresh food is so expensive in the US precisely because infrastructure is designed for cars, rather than people.
I don't think it's just Tokyo, you get this all across Europe too. I think there might be an economy of scale just in the fact that almost everyone in Japan/Europe buys fresh food as the primary component of their diet.
I live in the UK, and the idea that you could live somewhere where there isn't a local (aka walking distance) grocery store or supermarket that sells reasonably priced fresh produce is completely alien to me (if you live a rural area, then I suppose you might have to drive, but then you would need to do that to get to any shop at all).
Fresh food has significantly higher storage and shipping costs. It tends to go bad.
You can reasonably expect to sell a pallet of mustard before any of it expires. How much of a pallet of bananas will end up unsellable?
Frozen typically runs between $1 and $2 a lb depending on what you want. Some cheaper mixes can be had around $0.50/lb.
Canned typically comes in between $0.25 and $1.00 a can depending on brand. The chain grocer near me also routinely has sales on canned vegetables for $0.15/can if you buy 20 or more. A can is typically about 15 ounces. It can make up the bulk of a meal for 1 person, or serve as a side for about 3.
Dried bulk products such as rice or pinto beans are also reasonably cheap though more expensive now than they used to be. Beans run about $0.25 to $0.50/lb depending on how much you buy at once and rice is about half of that.
Fresh produce varies a lot by time of year and location but can typically be had for under $1/lb if you aren't choosey. Double to triple for anything labeled organic.
Meats start around $1 to $2/lb for chicken thighs and pork shoulder and goes up to about $20/lb for premium beef cuts.
I routinely make stuffed bellpeppers (bell pepper, rice, hamburger, tomato, and spices) for lunch and then end cost comes out to around $1.50/lb.
Fish is an issue because it can become "fishy", i.e. you get a strong taste of fish blood if not kept properly. I try to buy them from companies that freeze on the boat and transport around in trucks and sell directly to people.
Most meats though is usually better tasting after the expiration date (to a certain extent!)
But none of that can last for years in storage, I guess that lowers the cost a bit. Also the processed foods have more filler ingredients like corn starch etc which is cheap.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/02/ultra-proces...
The countries consuming the most ultra-processed foods are UK, Germany, Ireland and Belgium.
I think the previous commenter who thought this was hyperbolic click bait - which is actually counter productive is right.
I've traveled recently to US and the amount of shit food available was amazing. I've seen several small grocery shops without a single fresh veggie available. What a contrast with France (where I live) !
Why should we use whole grain? They have more nutrients, but if your nutrient needs are met from other ingredients, what are the benefits of whole grain?
As with anything it is just general, but less processed / higher fibre / whole grain food is better and (subjectively) much tastier. After only eating higher whole grain food, going back to the more processed version, you realise just how lacking it is (opinion)
Can't get off bread? At the very least, get a bread machine and make your own.
I'm not sure this is the case if you look. I live in the upper Midwest and we have many options to buy fresh (daily baked) at many locations around my metro. I just looked at their nutrition guide [0] for their breads and most of the standard, non-dessert breads (except "white") don't have added sugar and only a handful of whole ingredients.
I look at most labels these days and don't buy bread used for sandwiches or toast with sugar. I can't remember the last time I had an issue finding something. As for price I guess that's subjective but I don't find those breads much more expensive in general.
[0] http://breadsmithmn.com/nutrition.html
The label may not say "sugar" but it can be there in many different ways. See https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/56-different-names-for-..., one of the first results I came across that only lists a fraction of the possibilities.
Though, I agree that one should make their own, it's really enjoyable.
500g flour 300g lukewarm water 10g salt 7g yeast
Put into large bowl. Mix. Cover. Wait 30 minutes. Knead. Cover. Wait 60-120 minutes. Knead. Shape. Wait 60-120 minutes. Preheat to 250C. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool.
Total working time: about 20 minutes
They’re probably not as problematic as foods high on sugars, salt, fats and diverse fillers.
Alpha-Linolenic-Acid, Asparagine, D-Categin, Isoqurctrin, Hyperoside, Ferulic-Acid, Farnesene, Neoxathin, Phosphatidyl-Choline, Reynoutrin, Sinapic-Acid, Caffeic-Acid, Chlorogenic-Acid, P-Hydroxy-Benzoic-Acid, P-Coumaric-Acid, Avicularin, Lutein, Quercitin, Rutin, Ursolic-Acid, Protocatechuic-Acid, Silver, Vitamin A, B1, B2, and B6, Niacin, Pantothenic acid, Folic acid, Vitamin C and Vitamin E, Calcium, Copper, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorus, Pottassium, Selenium, Sodium, and Zinc. Lipids, saturated, unsaturated and monounsaturated fats, Tryptophan, Threonine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lycine, Methionine, Cystine, Phenylalanine, Tyrosine, Valine, Argenine, Histidine, Alanine, Aspartic Acid, Glutamic Acid, Glycine, Proline, and Serine. Trace amounts of Boron and Cobalt. Soluble and insoluble fiber (cellulose, pectin and lignin). Sugars of fructose and sucrose. Malic, tartaric, and citric acids. Tannins, Amygdaline, Cyanide.
yes.
Eat real food. Mostly greens. Eat little. Eat often. The end
I started cooking my own meals for the last year and my energy level is way up. Another thing that had a good effect is reducing a lot sugar and carbo hydrates (bread). I have grown up in France too and we are used to eating way too much bread.
Still, I havent figured out how to keep eating as healthy as home when I travel for a long time.
I had thought of targeting vegetarian restaurants as a proxy for healthy food.
One "rule" is that we try to eliminate most things that requires freezing, canning or shelf-stable packaging. I've grown a much better understanding of what fruits and vegetables need to be used quickly vs those that can sit for a week or more and it's helped with meal planning and shopping. We shop more frequently, but stock up much less.
I've actually ended up enjoying the "multi-threaded" nature of cooking a nice meal. Learning how long each dish will take and planning my prep around that is actually an enjoyable challenge. Bonus if the outcome is tasty.
The goal wasn't necessarily to eat more healthily, just to eat more fresh. The side-effect is that you end-up eliminating tons of garbage from your diet anyways. Another interesting side-effect is that since we're starting with raw ingredients, we're finding that we're being much choosier about the quality we're selecting.
Ever since then we went with a pantry full of stuff and freezers packed with "heat-and-eat" premade food to a few cans, some dried seaweed and noodles and virtually empty freezers and a fridge that's packed full of vegetables.
Start with a handful of recipes. Then add a new one to the mix each week. If it is a keeper, add it to the list of recipes. After you have about a months worth of recipes, organize them into menus (and save the shopping lists). Then you can start rotating menus. You will eat the same recipe once per month and it will not get boring as fast and you've save the shopping lists so the planning/shopping is much faster as well. Finally, once you have that in place, swap in a new recipe every now and then. If you like it, keep it in the rotation for a month, then swap the old recipe back in for a month. It make the burden of finding new recipes lighter and keeps things fun and fresh. Obviously, adjust the scheduling above to suit you, this is just an example.
My neighbor came over for some of my famous no-packaging vegetable stew yesterday. She said she was overwhelmed with how delicious it tasted. I made two stews. Here are the ingredients:
Stew 1: Black beans, potatoes, cabbage, nutritional yeast, epizote, zucchini, water.
Stew 2: Split peas, chard, zucchini, nutritional yeast, water.
Both were topped with onion, nuts, cucumber, and nuts. Salt to taste.
The beans, peas, nuts, and salt were from bulk from my local coop (filling containers I brought). All other ingredients from my CSA or the local farmers market.
Maybe a quarter cup of scraps to compost. Zero to a landfill.
Dessert was nectarines that I couldn't help but say, "I can't believe anyone eats ice cream" they tasted so good. Appetizers were tomatoes from my CSA and greens from my windowsill garden.
Total cost: maybe $10 worth of food, enough to eat for 7 to 10 meals.
Now I eat like this all the time. Anyone in or around Manhattan interested in sampling, I'm easy to find. Email me and come over for some famous no-packaging vegetable stew. Especially mid to late summer when I have trouble keeping up with all the CSA vegetables.
Just throw in a load of veg and you can have pretty much a weeks worth of food to freeze ready in 10minutes incredibly cheaply.
If you also eat a lot of dried beans / lentils / chickpeas it is a godsend for how quickly it is ready and thoroughly cooked all the way through and dried beans at probably (here at least) 20% of the cost of tinned beans (even less if you buy in bulk).
My neighbor came over because she got a pressure cooker, heard of my reputation cooking with mine, and asked for a lesson. Here are reviews: http://joshuaspodek.com/food-world-reviews.
While my public speaking is mostly on business leadership and entrepreneurship, I increasingly speak on sustainability and sometimes include making my famous no-packaging vegetable stews.
On Earth Day this year I cooked for about 2 dozen at Lululemon's flagship store on 5th Avenue and spoke on sustainability. Last year I cooked for 50 or 60 at Brooklyn North Farms for Faherty clothing, another time at Assemblage coworking space, and I forget where else.
Here's a video of me cooking: http://joshuaspodek.com/20-minute-vegetable-stew from about 3 years ago.
Minor nit: the best nectarines are still worse than the best ice cream. ;-)
The nuts are the only fat I put in, which adds incredible texture and flavor, so I add them liberally. If I'm in a place where avocados grow, I'll use them, and they taste amazing.
I haven't eaten ice cream in years. I grew up eating tons of it and couldn't stop myself from always having some in my fridge through graduate school, maybe into my 40s, but I've lost the taste for foods where the main pleasure comes from added salt, sugar, or fat. There is a Van Leeuwen across the street from me, often with a line down the block, but it doesn't register as food for me. Meanwhile, I walk miles to pick mulberries, juneberries, raspberries, and blueberries, knowing where some grow wild, even after I've eaten pounds already. OMG, the burst of the fruit juice and all its flavor is like a religious experience.
I grew up on a farm, my grandma and my family in general never stopped using fats in recipes. I use it for making cornbread alllllll the time.
Quote from my late grandma: "Its almost impossible to use too much fat when cooking"
I've since learned how to use duck fat as well in French cuisine. It dramatically reduces how much sugar you need to use in recipes.
And have you ever made home made ice cream? Its waaaaaay better than the ice cream you buy in stores. Then again, we made it from fresh cow milk we milked that morning, my god do i miss that. The ice cream, the cows can go suck eggs. :)
Examples: chicken grown in 6 weeks 23h/day in light with antibiotics & growth hormones, fruits & veggies with fertilisers, pesticides, insecticides and preservatives so it lasts longer. When only monetary incentives matter, this is what we get.
In general good raw ingredients can have better taste, iow the price per taste is lower or better priced than processed foods. And as the most Western people don’t need the quantity, you could argue that Good raw ingredients are cheaper.
You're gonna tell me my muesli energy bar is "ultra-processed"? It's literally just a bunch of grain sticking together.
Besides, those qualifiers are really weird: linking the category of an item to the place it was purchased instead of its actual ingredients (Fast food burgers, store-bought ice cream, packaged bread and buns)?
This smells like bullshit, clickbait, and health-craze pseudoscience.
[1]: https://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/nutrition-101/what...
Sure, you can find exceptions to each of those groups, but most people are not eating whole-foods handmade-by-grandmothers 100% natural foods, are they.
Here are the ingredients for the first Tesco branded energy bar I clicked on (Tesco is the UKs largest food retailer).
" literally just a bunch of grain sticking together" is perhaps not typical.
INGREDIENTS: Milk Chocolate Coating with Sweetener (25%)[Sweetener (Maltitol Syrup) , Cocoa Butter, Dried Whole Milk, Cocoa Mass, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins), Vanilla Extract], Milk Proteins, Hydrolysed Beef Protein, Caramel layer with fibre (11%)[Polydextrose, Condensed Milk, Cocoa Butter, Humectant (Sorbitol Syrup), Emulsifier (Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids), Flavouring, Salt, Colour (Plain Caramel)], Humectant (Glycerol), Whey Protein Concentrate (Milk), Peanut (6%), Water, Coconut Oil, Peanut Paste (1.5%), Tripotassium Citrate, Tricalcium Citrate, Magnesium Hydroxide, Flavouring, Colour (Plain Caramel), Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Vitamin C, Ferric Diphosphate, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Folic Acid, Biotin.
Are you claiming that none of those things are processed? Because that's what the OP was about, not good or bad.
Ultra-processed food is food that meets the criteria according to the NOVA classification system.
"Processes enabling the manufacture of ultra-processed foods include the fractioning of whole foods into substances, chemical modifications of these substances, assembly of unmodified and modified food substances, frequent use of cosmetic additives and sophisticated packaging. Processes and ingredients used to manufacture ultra-processed foods are designed to create highly profitable (low-cost ingredients, long shelf-life, emphatic branding), convenient (ready-to-consume), hyper-palatable products liable to displace all other NOVA food groups, notably unprocessed or minimally processed foods. A practical way to identify an ultra-processed product is to check to see if its list of ingredients contains at least one item characteristic of the NOVA ultra-processed food group, which is to say, either food substances never or rarely used in kitchens (such as high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated or interesterified oils, and hydrolysed proteins), or classes of additives designed to make the final product palatable or more appealing (such as flavours, flavour enhancers, colours, emulsifiers, emulsifying salts, sweeteners, thickeners, and anti-foaming, bulking, carbonating, foaming, gelling and glazing agents)."
A lot of these ingredients are nefarious, including sugar, especially if too much is consumed. (most people consume several time the recommended dose of sugar a day, even without eating very sweet - courtesy of the food industry for putting sugar everywhere).
Yet their point is still valid. I recall a doctor talking about how unhealthy yogurt is due to its sugar content. If your a person like myself, who either makes their own yogurt or carefully selects brands of plain yogurt, the broad generalization is nonsensical. If you look at what's available on the store shelves, then over 90% of what they have is based on sugary flavoring. I suspect people buy yogurt since they are usually told that it's healthy, but usually end up reaching for the stuff that this study describes as ultra processes because that's the stuff that industry invests a lot of effort into making desirable (either through its formulation or advertising).
I suspect that there are a number of factors that are contributing to this pseudoscience based health-craze:
- It is easier to demonize food products based upon an overgeneralized label than it is to tell people to check the nutrition labels.
- Most grocery stores dedicate most of their shelves to food with dubious nutritional value, may that be because the food is formulated to sell (which typically has high sodium or sugar content) or longer shelf life.
- Most grocery stores are a poor option for the health conscious because of manipulative sales tactics. This ranges from the store layout, placement of particular products, and over generalized as well as likely misrepresenting of products as healthy.
- A segment of the population feels like they are loosing control over dietary options. Some areas are surrounded by food sold by places convenience/dollar stores and restaurants, yet grocery stores that would support traditional home cooking are more difficult to access.
When some people are faced with something that does not reflect their dietary values, or worse, does not meet their medical needs, is it surprising that they would start adopting extreme viewpoints?
Heck, even the difference between two (differently named) grocery stores in my area, owned by the same larger company, can be that bad and neither is touted as a health food store.
A guy wouldn't eat Quaker quick oats because it was processed.
It is literally the regular Quaker oats chopped up in smaller pieces. I got a good laugh out of it.
Every time i go to America' toast / sandwiches are inedible because it tastes closer to what i call cake.
Why corn syrup?
Also, there are still a lot of people in the US who like to use soft white bread for sandwiches and, yeah, the traditional recipes for that style contain some sugar. A lot of us try and avoid that style of bread because it is really not much better for you than cake.