While junior Shiloh Gordon has always loved eating minimally processed foods, she became even more health-conscious during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One of the biggest things that people say about working out is there’s not enough time, same for healthy eating,” said Gordon. “They say, ‘There’s not enough time to make a healthy meal,’ and over quarantine, there was a lot of time to do all of those things.”
According to registered dietitian Nicole Nalepa, processed food refers to any food that is altered from its natural state.
“Milk could be a processed food where it’s not necessarily a negative,” said Nalepa. “They’re actually pasteurizing it to take away bacteria, so that would not be considered negative, but for the most part, processed foods have a bad reputation because they’re not necessarily the most natural form of the food.”
According to Jennifer Burton, professor of food science and nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, processed foods are classified into four groups through a system called NOVA.
“Cutting [foods], washing them, cooking them, any of those steps count as processing,” said Burton. “So even something like [what] you see in the produce section of the grocery store, if it’s been cut, washed and put into a package, it’s going to count as that [NOVA group] one process.”
The second group of NOVA includes processed culinary ingredients.
“This is going to be your oils, fat, salt and sugar, and it pretty much sums it up like a very specific category for things that you’re not going to eat on their own right, like butter, coconut oil, honey,” Burton said.
Group three features foods that are not only washed, cut and dried but also include additives, Burton said.
“[Group three is] things like beans that are canned with salt in the canning as well,” said Burton. “Things like ketchup, that’s got some added salt or sugar to it.”
Group four includes ultra-processed foods that are distinct from their natural form, such as convenience foods, cookies, chips and sodas, Burton said.
Processed foods can be part of a healthy diet, but it is important to focus on a food’s nutrient content, Burton said.
“If you dry a fruit, it doesn’t change the nutrient content of that fruit,” said Burton. “It just preserves. It makes [the fruit] more stable. That’s not necessarily a bad thing … versus if you’re adding a lot of salt and sugar to a food, then that is going to change the nutrient content.”
There is a lot of fear or shame surrounding foods from the canned or frozen sections of the grocery store, Burton said.
“Frozen vegetables, especially if they don’t have anything added, are one of the most healthful options that you can get, because they’ve been picked at a peak readiness, versus the stuff in the fresh section is going to be picked and then stored and shipped,” said Burton. “So [the food in the fresh section] actually loses a lot of nutrients that way, whereas the frozen ones don’t.”
Burton suggests investing some time into finding healthy and easy options that family members like, she said.
“I buy snacks for my daughter,” said Burton. “I spend some time, I read the labels and say, ‘Which snacks are going to be higher in protein and fiber? Sure, it is technically an ultra-processed food, but vegetables are the first ingredient on this little muffin.’”
Gordon finds it easy to maintain a diet that includes unprocessed foods, she said.
“I think it’s more about balancing the two, yeah?” said Gordon. “So I don’t think it’s hard, especially when you are keeping a good balance. It’s fine to have processed foods every so often. It’s just making sure you’re getting a little bit of unprocessed foods as well.”