Are Processed Foods Bad for Your Health? 

Poor nutrition is one of the leading causes of health burdens worldwide. Processed foods contain high amounts of added sugar and salt, poor-quality fat, and a low amount of dietary fibers that are bad for your health. Higher consumption of these foods increases the risk of many diseases and elevates the mortality rate. In this article, we will look at how processed foods affect your health and why you should avoid them.

What Are Processed Foods?

To some people, the term “processed foods” can cause confusion because, in some way, most foods are processed. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, processed foods are foods that have been cooked, frozen, packaged, and their nutritional composition changed. They range from minimally processed to more heavily processed.

Minimally Processed: 

These are minimally processed foods that only undergo mild processing steps for packaging and preserving purposes. Their nutritional composition remains unaltered. Foods that fall into this category include canned tomatoes, tuna, frozen fruits, or pre-cut veggies.

Ultra-Processed Foods: 

Highly processed foods are ready-to-eat foods formulated industrially from ingredients obtained from additives and foods. In addition to unhealthy fats, sugar, and salt, heavily processed foods contain artificial flavor, color, and preservatives and undergo many processing steps. The final product lacks nutritional value. Examples of heavily processed foods include:

• Breakfast cereals
• Frozen or ready meals
• Baked good, including cakes, pastries, pizza
• Crackers and chips
• Processed cheese products
• Instant noodles and soups
• Candy and ice cream
• Sodas and other sweetened beverages
• Reconstituted meats, such as nuggets, processed hum, sausages, and fish fingers

These foods are blamed for being the leading cause of poor nutrition. To identify any processed food with ease, take a look at the label. If you see a list of ingredients with unrecognizable names, then it is safe to say it is processed.

Here are 8 Reasons Why you Should Avoid Processed Foods

1. Weight Gain and Obesity

Sugar is the leading factor that causes obesity, which puts you at risk of life-threatening chronic diseases. Most manufacturers fool their customers by not including sugar on the ingredients list, convincing you the product is healthy to consume. However, processed foods are loaded with sugar, leading to increased weight gain.

Because these foods are dense in calories, people tend to overeat them for satisfaction. What’s more, eating more heavily processed foods puts you at a higher risk of obesity and weight gain – something evident in most fast-food restaurants where most individuals buying those foods are obese.

So, how much sugar is too much? The recommended added sugar intake should be limited to no more than 10% daily calories. This is the same as about 12 teaspoons of sugar per day, which is pretty generous compared to the sweetened drinks you take containing about 10 teaspoons per beverage.

2. Contains Added Sugar

Processed foods contain added sugar which is unhealthy. Added sugars have no essential nutrients but are very high in calories. Consuming excess sugar regularly leads to eating fast and overeating. Furthermore, it is also linked to severe health conditions such as inflammatory diseases, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.

Sweetened drinks are among the major sources of added sugar. People tend to consume a lot of sugar in these soft drinks, but they can’t realize it. The best way to cut on added sugar is to avoid sweetened beverages. Instead, drink sparkling water. Water has many benefits for your health.

3. Includes Artificial Ingredients and Preservatives

It is always easy to recognize processed foods. They have unrecognizable ingredients and substances on the back of the packaging. Manufacturers use artificial chemicals to make the food more palatable, but that is something they can’t mention to you. Some even use sweeteners that make you crave more of what you have just eaten. Highly processed foods contain the following unhealthy types of chemicals:

• Chemical flavoring
• Texturing agents
• Artificial coloring
• Additives and preservatives which prevent the food from going bad

Also, processed foods can have extra chemicals not listed on their labels. For instance, consider the term “artificial flavor” in most processed foods. Manufacturers don’t disclose what it means, but it is a combination of chemicals. Protect your body from these chemicals by not eating processed foods. They bring zero value to your body.

4. Processed Foods Compromise your Gut

A healthy gut has a diverse number of bacteria. When you start eating processed foods or an unhealthy diet, the composition of the healthy bacteria in the gut starts to change. The gut has healthy and unhealthy bacteria.

Diets high in fiber content and fermented foods promote the growth of healthy bacteria and reduce gut inflammation. On the other side, eating a diet high in processed foods makes the unhealthy bacteria thrive in the gut, compromising your gut. When your gut is compromised, you will start experiencing skin irritation, unintentional weight gain, food intolerances, sleep disturbances, and stomach disturbances.

5. Processed Foods are High in Processed Carbs and Low in Fiber

Carbohydrates are an important component of any diet. However, processed foods contain refined carbs, which causes blood sugar to spike quickly. You experience a drop a few hours later, making you feel even hungrier, and a drop in energy levels. Because of the frequent increase and decrease in blood sugar levels, you can be at a high risk of type 2 diabetes.

Healthy sources of carbohydrates include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans.

What’s more, processed foods are deficient in fiber. Fiber has many benefits to the body. For example, it slows down carbohydrate absorption and makes you satisfied with only a few calories. Furthermore, dietary fiber feeds healthy bacteria in the gut, and it is suitable for heart health.

The reason most processed foods are low in fiber is because most of it is lost during processing. Some healthy sources of fiber foods include legumes, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and fruits.

6. Puts You at a Higher Risk of Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases occur when the body’s immune system is affected and attacks its own cells. There are many autoimmune diseases, but the most common ones are lupus, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and Crohn’s disease. In these autoimmune diseases, the immune system takes the healthy cells as unhealthy and prompts an attack on the body cells.

70% of the immune system is located in the gut, and if the gut is compromised, the body’s defense becomes weakened and allows the exposure of harmful antigens into the body.

The additives in processed foods can damage the tight conjections in the protective membrane, increasing intestinal permeability. This opens the door for toxins to harm your body, putting you at risk of an autoimmune disease.

The commonly used additives in processed foods are organic solvents, salt, glucose, emulsifiers, nanoparticles, microbial transglutaminase, and gluten.

7. Colon Cancer

Processed foods put you at high risk of developing colon cancer. This time, the culprit is processed meats, including bacon, sausage, meat, beef jerky, hot dogs, sausage, or any other meat that has been chemically treated to make it last longer or much more delicious. Also, there is a higher risk of consuming red meat such as pork or beef.

Eating as few as 50 grams of processed meat daily has been liked to increase the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%. What increases the risk are the chemicals used to preserve the meats or the cooking process, both of which have high exposure to carcinogenic compounds.

8. Increases Your Risk of Depression and Anxiety

Also, diets rich in processed foods put you at a high risk of depression and anxiety. Exposure to the added sugars in these foods causes problems in the gut, where serotonin production occurs. Serotonin is a crucial mood stabilizer. When you eat processed foods high in chemical additives and preservatives, the body’s ability to maintain healthy levels of serotonin is affected.

Summary

Overall, taking a diet high in processed foods means you are taking a diet with less real food. These foods have lower amounts of antioxidants, minerals, fiber, and essential nutrients needed to support emotional health, mood, and overall wellbeing.

Although it can be difficult to eliminate processed foods from your diet, it is important to be mindful of how much you eat. Reducing or eliminating processed foods in your diet will promote a healthy diet and prevent many other medical ailments.