SECRETS FOOD MANUFACTURERS DON”T WANT YOU TO KNOW

SECRETS FOOD MANUFACTURERS DON”T WANT YOU TO KNOW

Did you know that most processed foods, such as ready meals, baked goods, and processed meats, can have negative health effects?   Manufacturers add ingredients that make you want to eat more of there food even when you are full!  These companies making highly processed foods have mastered ways to get around FDA regulations developed to protect you.

Referred to as ultra-processed foods, tend to be high in sugar, artificial ingredients, refined carbohydrates, and trans fats. Because of this, they are a major contributor to obesity and illness around the world.

In recent decades, ultra-processed food intake has increased dramatically worldwide. These foods now account for as much as 60% of a person’s daily food intake throughout much of the world.

Read on to learn how processed foods affect your health and what to avoid.

 

What are processed foods?

The term “processed food” can cause some confusion because most foods are processed in some way.

For example, mechanical processing — such as grinding beef, or heating vegetables, does not necessarily make foods unhealthful. If the processing does not add chemicals or ingredients, it does not tend to lessen the healthfulness of the food.

It is important to understand the difference between mechanical processing and chemical processing because the difference is HUGE when it come to you & your family’s health.

Chemically processed foods often only contain refined ingredients and artificial substances, with little nutritional value. They tend to have added chemical flavoring agents, colors, and sweeteners.  Most if not all these ingredients are added to enhance your experience with eating the food and NOT added to improve the nutritional benefits of the food.

These ultra-processed foods are sometimes called “cosmetic” foods, as compared with whole foods.

Some examples of ultra-processed foods include:

• frozen or ready meals
• baked goods, including pizza, cakes, and pastries
• packaged breads
• processed cheese products
• breakfast cereals
• crackers and chips
• candy and ice cream
• instant noodles and soups
• reconstituted meats, such as sausages, nuggets, fish fingers, and processed ham
• sodas and other sweetened drinks

 

Are processed foods bad for you?

Ultra-processed foods tend to taste good and are often inexpensive.  However, they usually contain ingredients that are absolutely harmful to you. Things like saturated fats, added sugar, and salt. These foods also contain no nutritional benefits, no dietary fiber and little to know vitamins.  So why are manufacturers allowed to put these types of things in our food?  That is a whole other article😊

One large study, involving more than 100,000 adults, found that eating 10% more ultra-processed foods was associated with above a 10% increase in the risks of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and cerebrovascular disorders.

The researchers reached this conclusion after accounting for saturated fat, sodium, sugar, and fiber intake.

Another large study, involving almost 20,000 adults, found that eating more than 4 servings of processed food daily was linked with an increased risk of all-cause mortality. For each additional serving, all-cause mortality risk increased by 18%.

Other research indicates that eating highly processed foods can lead to weight gain.

Wouldn’t it seem obvious that eating ingredients like this would cause weight gain?

 

6 Things Food Manufactures Don’t Want You To Know About Because It Decreases Health & Well-Being!

1. 1. Added sugar

Processed foods tend to contain added sugar and, often, high fructose corn syrup. Added sugar contains no essential nutrients but is high in calories.  HFCS spikes insulin.  When you insulin spikes it cause your body to store FAT.  And with any SPIKE there is always a VALLEY.  When you hit these valleys, your hunger automatically increases.  So you eat more! So, you eat more of the same types of processed foods, you get more excess added sugar and this leads to compulsive overeating.

 

2. Artificial ingredients

The ingredients list on the back of processed food packaging is often full of unrecognizable substances.  The old saying goes, if you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn’t eat it!  Some are artificial chemicals that the manufacturer has added to make the food more palatable.   In fact, there is a process called EMULSIFICATION.   This process enhances the texture of food, making it smoother and more luxurious in our mouth.  This emulsification process became popular during the FAT FREE phase of food industries efforts to convince the population that fat was bad for us.  This could not be farther from the truth.

Our body’s need fat, specifically monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are known as the “good fats” because they are good for your heart, your cholesterol, and your overall health.

Types of ‘’good fats’’ include:

Monounsaturated fat : (ON PLAN)

• Olive, and sesame oils
• Avocados
• Olives
• Nuts (almonds, cashews)
• NUT Butters – almond & Cashew

Polyunsaturated fat : (ON PLAN)

• Sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin seeds, Flaxseed
• Fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines) and fish oil
• Tofu

The best way to avoid refined oils and trans fats is to avoid processed foods. A person can replace these with healthful alternatives, listed above.

Preservatives, which keep the food from going bad quickly.  IF IT PRESERVVES FOOD take a guess at what it does to your body when you consume it?   I promise you it does not make you live longer!

Artificial coloring & Chemical flavoring that amplifies the taste with adding more nutrition.  These amplifications fires off signals to parts of the brain that respond to pleasure.  And much like a drug, our brains continue to look for this extra stimulation and this leads to eating more of these horrible foods.

Artificial Flavorings – processed foods can contain dozens of additional chemicals that are not listed on their labels.  This term ‘’artificial flavorings’’ is a proprietary blend. Manufacturers do not have to disclose exactly what it means, and it is usually a combination of chemicals.  Are you ‘’ok’’ with eating foods that you have no idea what’s really in it?

 

3. Refined carbohydrates

Carbohydrates get a bad rap!  Carbohydrates are an essential component of any diet. However, carbs from whole foods provide far greater health benefits than refined carbohydrates.   The body breaks down refined, or simple, carbohydrates quickly, leading to rapid spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels.  And as I mentioned in the previous page, when you blood sugar levels bottoms out due to the spike, a person will experience food cravings and low energy.

These ultra-processed foods are LOADED with refined carbohydrates.  These types of foods should be eaten rarely if ever.  Honestly , the less I eat of them the less I want them.  It is amazing how addictive these foods are.

The Healthy (ON PLAN) sources of carbohydrates include:

• vegetables
• fruits

THE MORE FIBER THE BETTER – it fills you up , it keeps your blood sugar level, it regulates your cholesterol ALL Sorts of benefits.

 

4. Low in nutrients

Ultra-processed foods are very low in essential nutrients, compared with whole or minimally processed foods.

In some cases, manufacturers add synthetic vitamins and minerals to replace nutrients lost during processing. However, whole foods provide additional healthful compounds that ultra-processed foods do not.

Fruits, vegetables, and grains, for example, contain healthful plant compounds with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticarcinogenic effects. These include flavonoids, anthocyanins, tannins, and carotenoids.

 

The best way to get the full range of essential nutrients is to eat whole, unprocessed foods.

5. Low in fiber

Dietary fiber has a wide range of health benefits.

Fiber can slow the absorption of carbohydrates and help people feel more satisfied with fewer calories. It also acts as a prebiotic, feeding the friendly bacteria in the gut, and can help boost heart health.

Most ultra-processed foods are very low in fiber, as natural fiber is lost during processing.

Healthful high fiber foods (OP PLAN) include:

• vegetables
• fruits
• nuts and seeds

6. Quick calories

The way that manufacturers process foods makes them very easy to chew and swallow. Because much of the fiber is lost during processing, it takes less energy to eat and digest ultra-processed foods than whole or less processed foods.  As a result, it is easier to eat more of these products in shorter periods. In doing so, a person consumes more calories — and uses fewer in digestion — than they would if they had eaten whole foods instead.  This increases a person’s chances of taking in more calories than they use up, which can lead to unintentional weight gain.

In recent decades, ultra-processed foods have become common in diets worldwide. , eating any amounts of these foods increases risks to your health, cause obesity in the long term shortens your life or at least decreases the quality of your life.

To rebalance the diet or make it more healthful, a person can replace ultra-processed foods with whole foods, including nuts, seeds, lean meats, fruits, & vegetables.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PLEASE LISTEN TO WENDI’S PODCAST ON NUTRITION.  Link is HERE