We all know it’s unhealthy…But what is processed food, anyway???
It’s nothing to take a quick trip to visit a friend who lives an hour or so away and load up the passenger seat with snacks for the ride.
Junk food.
Processed food.
It’s cheap, quick, and easy to get and eat…and it’s incredibly bad for us.
Back in May of this year, the National Institutes of Health did a study and found out that what we suspected was true actually IS true.
- People on a diet of processed food gain more weight than people who ate a whole food diet with the same amount of calories.
- People eating processed food gain weight FASTER that people do if they’re on a whole food diet with the same amount of calories.
- Our bodies simply weren’t meant to consume junk food. Period.
And it doesn’t matter how good it tastes, either.
The groundbreaking study discovered that the way our bodies take in processed food is wildly different from what happens when we eat things that are healthy for us.
For example, processed food doesn’t satisfy. It actually makes you hungry again – until you’re just sick of eating that bag of chips or that box of doughnuts.
Ultimately, junk food makes our hormones do things they don’t normally do…
…and this leads to all sorts of health issues like…
- Heart problems…
- Problems sleeping…
- Problems paying attention for any length of time…
- Problems in the bedroom…and even…
- Cancer, stroke, and death.
The food you eat provides energy for your muscles, that “spark” that keeps your heart beating, and the sugar that provides energy so your brain keeps working so you don’t die.
Sorry to be so blunt.
But What Are Processed Foods Anyway??
This might seem like a silly question, but it’s really not.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked someone what they had for lunch or dinner, and they’ve rattled off a chicken patty, fries, and a drink from the local fast food joint.
(Meanwhile, the chicken was made from God-knows-what parts of the bird, the fries are fried in unhealthy oil, and the drink has more sugar in it than 2 candy bars.)
And then there are the times when I’ve talked to people who really believe it doesn’t matter if they eat a sweet treat from the grocery store.
Store bought snack cakes, most candies, and salty treats have so many chemicals, colorants , and preservatives in them…
…and those things are incredibly hard for your liver to handle. Did you realize…there’s a direct link between packaged foods and cancer/early death.
What’s even crazier is that some of the things we make at home are processed foods, too…and we don’t even know it.
Your homemade pizza could be just as unhealthy as a fast food option you could get at your local chain pizza place.
To help lessen the confusion about what’s processed and what’s not, nutrition experts and scientists have come up with a system to figure out what’s what.
I want to share that with you so you can easily make better choices about what you consume on a daily basis.
Levels Of Processed Food
- Unprocessed or minimally processed – edible parts of plants, animals, herbs, fungi, seeds, roots, nuts and algae. They’ve been treated with NO additives, whatsoever – not salt, oil, or preservatives.
- Processed culinary ingredients – made from unprocessed foods. These include things like honey, cane sugar, oil, butter, etc.
- Processed foods and drinks – food that’s “infused” with processed culinary ingredients. Canned fruit, alcohol, pickles, and salted nuts would fit in this category.
- Ultra processed foods and drinks – are manufactured to be eaten at a moment’s notice. These foods are broken down from their original form and mass packed in a factory and later sold in stores for quick, convenient consumption.
People eat processed foods and ultra processed foods all the time…
…and if you stop and think about it for a second, it’s scary when what’s going in your body isn’t even actual food.
No wonder so many people are sick and dying in our world, now. Few eat real, whole food, exclusively.
And I get it. This stuff is convenient, cheap, and it lasts a long time.
You can hold onto a bag of cheese puffs for six months and it’ll be just fine. There’s literally ZERO lifegiving value in cheese puffs….
…but we still eat them. 🙁
It makes me sad. That’s why I’m sharing information like this with you. It does me no good in life to know this information and keep it all to myself.
Look…there’s a huge gap between those who have money, good food, and abundant opportunity.
The way I see it, the fastest way to close that gap is to eat better. When you eat better, you’ll sleep better at night.
And when you sleep better, you’ll think better during the day and be more available for the people you have relationships with.
And when you can think better, you’ll naturally make better choices for your life.
If everyone just ate whole food and strived to be their absolute healthiest, I believe we’d see a massive shift in society.
But you’ll have to make the decision.
It all starts with food.
P.S. Thanks for reading this. If you enjoyed it, drop me a line and let me know. Also…if you have any hacks or tricks to stop eating junk and processed food, tell me about it!
