Due to changed lifestyle most of the time we prefer eating Processed foods, as those are ready to eat, long storable and easily available in local grocery store. Hence this article will help you to know methods so you can choose processed food for healthy diet.
Processed foods are foods which are made with such ingredients which can be stored for longer time without affecting its quality. But there is also study on processed foods which may increase threat of cancer, heart attack, diabetes and excessive weight gain.
Food processing is prepared by similar way of cooking, just the difference is that those are added with preservatives and processed by following ways so those can last longer.
Various Food processing Methods are as below:
- Freezing – in which product is packed and freeze on specific temperature
- Canning – Product is canned in Airtight container with some preservatives
- Baking – In which product is backed in a specific temperature to increase shelf life
- Drying – In which product is Sun Dried of Air Dries to remove excess moisture.
- Marinating – Using preservative marinates to increase product shelf life
- Adding Preservatives – adding preservatives to increase product life and taste
- Pasteurization – Pasteurize to product such as “Milk”, which remove bacteria to improve shelf life.
all processed foods made in a healthy way which made by licensing from local Food Authority. But some processed foods may become unhealthy due to high levels of salt, sugar and fat & contaminated chemical-based preservative which may harm our health on long run.
What are Examples of common processed foods?
- Breakfast cereals
- Canned seafood
- Canned pickles
- Cheese, mayonnaise, sauces
- Snacks such as Chips, Triangles, Papadum etc.
- Cooking oils
- Tinned Vegetables
- Bread, Piza Base & Tortilla
- Savoury snacks, such as crisps, sausage rolls, pies and pasties
- meat products, such as Bacon, sausage, ham, salami and pâté
- microwave meals or ready to eat meals
- cakes, confectionery, Toast and biscuits
- Preserved Drinks, such as milk or soft drinks and juices
- Chocolates
Processed Foods goes through few processing to make it safe and can use it for longer time. such as perishable milk needs to be pasteurized which removes harmful bacteria so this can be refrigerated and used for a longer time.
Few food items such cooking oil, in which seed pressing process don’t harm its nutrition until and unless it used for deep frying or added preservatives to make it useful for longer run.
Which makes processed foods unhealthy?
Preservative Ingredients such as salt, sugar, preservative, food coloring agents makes the food more tasty, flavorful and also extend their shelf life. or sometimes few ingredients are used to give the food a texture and taste such as baking soda in bread and cookies.
Not checking label of processed may land our family in consuming more than the recommended amounts of sugar, salt and fat. And this may lead to impact on health if it continues consuming that unhealthy food for a longer time.
Such food may increase extra calories intake with high amounts of sugar or fat in it.
Now let’s see, how to choose processed food for healthy diet.
Can a processed foods be added in healthy diet?
- we should. Always watch a salt, sugar and fat in processed food and choose wisely.
- Reading nutrition labels can help you choose between processed products and keep a check on fat, salt and sugar content.
- On Most of the pre-packed foods have the nutrition information on the front, back or side of the packaging. We must see it once to confirm the nutrition and our health requirements.
- When you’re choosing between color coded nutrition products, try to go for more greens and ambers labels, and less red labels to make your diet healthier.
- Some chemical preservatives such as Nitrate in Preserved meat products may produce cancer risk hence it must be watched. We must limit processed food which have high contains of preservatives such as such as Salt, Sugar, Fat, Sodium Nitrate, Sulfate, Sodium Benzoate, Benzene etc., to avoid its harmful impact on our health for long run.
- There are also given guidelines to tell you if a food is high or low in fat, saturated fat, sugar of salt.
Following things to be watch on food labels of every processed food.
Total fat
High: more than 17.5g of fat per 100g
Low: 3g of fat or less per 100g
Saturated fat
High: more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g
Low: 1.5g of saturated fat or less per 100g
Sugars
High: more than 22.5g of total sugars per 100g
Low: 5g of total sugars or less per 100g
Salt
High: more than 1.5g of salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium)
Low: 0.3g of salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium)
You always carefully choose your food by considering your body and lifestyle need.
As per above guidelines If you are trying to cut down on saturated fat, try to limit the large portion of foods you eat that have more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g.
Non-veg canned processed food such as Red and processed meat can be more with saturated fat. We are advised not to eat more than 70g a day.
Canned foods may give allergies to few people due to its process or contents, hence it is advised to add it as per recommendations of your doctor.
Ther is no harm in eating processed food until and unless you should know about its health benefits to you apart from fulfilling your tongue and stomach needs.
We hope you like above articles on choosing processed food for healthy diet. and will be useful for your health goals.
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Prashant V @Gymbag4you@gmail.com
