What does processing do to my food? Food processing is any deliberate change in a food that occurs before it’s available for us to eat. When food is processed it loses valuable nutrients, like vitamins and minerals, and gains not-so-valuable nutrients like salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats.
For example, check out the ingredients in an AtkinsTM Triple Chocolate Bar. It’s actually marketed as a low-carb friendly health food!
d e s s e c o r P y l Minimal Win
Fruits & Veggies canned or bagged s rrie be , as pe ts, carro
Re
Dairy eese regular milk & ch
ood al F
e
Meat & Seafood en canned tuna & chick
Beverages 100% fruit juice, wine
Seasonings Nuts & Seeds real mayo, olive oil, s roasted nuts & seed r tte salt, bu
Fruits & Veggies frozen or fresh apples, berries, grapes, carrots, greens, squash
Obviously, most foods we eat are processed in some way- apples are cut from trees, ground beef has been ground in a machine and butter is cream that has been separated from the milk and churned.
Dairy unsweetened raw milk & cheese, Greek yogurt, whole eggs Meat & Seafood fresh chicken, beef, shrimp Nuts & seeds raw nuts & seeds Whole Grains brown rice, oats, quinoa, 100% whole wheat bread
Highly Processed
Beverages & Seasonings water, tea, coffee, raw honey
mechanical processing Vs chemical processing
Processed Meats deli meats, jerky, hot dogs
CHIPS
Ready-to-Heat Entrées frozen TV dinners, pizza, chicken patties, nuggets Refined Grains sugary cereals, white bread, cookies, cake mixes, chips, crackers, pies, candies Sweetened Beverages soda, fruit drinks, lattes, energy drinks Seasonings margarine, bottled dressings, broth
If it’s a single ingredient food with no added chemicals, then it’s been mechanically processed and is still real food. Foods that have been chemically processed and made solely from refined ingredients and artificial substances, are what is generally known as “processed food.” 3
What is clean eating? At its simplest, clean eating is about eating whole foods, or “real” foods — those that are un- or minimally processed, refined, and handled, making them as close to their natural form as possible. 1
If you see a bunch of strange ingredients you can’t pronounce, you’ve probably left the land of clean eating! 2 savvyfam.com 15