4 ms·

Processing foods is what likely helped Homo to get enough energy to evolve big brains. So, processing foods isn’t all that bad, and it may even be hard-wired in

by afpx 7y ago

Processing foods is what likely helped Homo to get enough energy to evolve big brains. So, processing foods isn’t all that bad, and it may even be hard-wired in many of us. But, Humans tend to take things too far, and inventing new ways of processing is really fun! So, most food today is over-processed. It’s acceptable to grind, dice, tear, smash, smush, squeeze, ferment, spice, salt, and cook veggies, lightly. Any more than that is risky territory.

me_me_me 7y ago
I think that is slight miss-use of term processed food. Process food (at least to me) is anything that has been artificially adjusted by factory processing, like injecting meat with some solutions in order to 'make' more meat. I would hardly qualified lets say smoked bacon as processed food in that sense. But all of those microwave ready meals et al. large content of it is cheap filler masqueraded as actual product.
- matthewmacleod 7y ago
  It is not a mis-use. Bacon is absolutely a processed meat. “Microwave ready meals” are typically just pre-cooked meals prepared for reheating - they’re probably not the best meals in terms of ingredient quality or cooking methods, and low-quality ones might have some plant starches as filler, but most of them are pretty straightforward.
  - ianai 7y ago
    Anything prepared for the microwave like that is high in sodium. We’re talking over a days worth of sodium all at once. Very far from healthy. Actually, most meat nowadays is injected with huge amounts of sodium. It’s like we’re all eating log term storage foods-even that raw meats.
    - matthewmacleod 7y ago
      Of course there exist low-quality or over-salted meals. But I just took a look in my freezer at two bog-standard ready meals I have there just in case - macaroni and cheese, and a beef lasagne. They’re each about 1.5g of salt, and there’s nothing notable about the ingredients.
      - ianai 7y ago
        Anything more than like 700-900 mg/day is less than ideal. 1.5g leaves you no budget for the rest of the day. (Though some sources say you just need to be below 2.5g. Still, that’s not much higher than 1.5g when we’re talking an entire rest of the day to eat.)
        matthewmacleod 7y ago
        What does “less than ideal” mean? NHS guidelines in the UK are <6g of salt (2400mg sodium) per day. US guidelines are 2300mg. Salt and sodium are not the same; 1.5g of salt is about 600mg sodium, or about 1/4 of the recommended daily limit. That seems entirely reasonable for a main meal.
- Broken_Hippo 7y ago
  Here is the thing: I can make my own microwave-ready meals. I might put "cheap filler" in some things: beans and lentils and whatnot. It is still processed food, even if I'm not adding chemical additives or having food scientists add aromas and testing for peak yumminess. To that end, plain frozen peas are processed. Smoked bacon is exactly the sort of thing they warn to eat sparingly because it is a highly processed food. It doesn't really matter that we've been making it for some time, it is still highly processed. I'd argue that most of it has added chemicals and things like the meat you describe upfront. Even without, the actual curing and smoking is what makes it more harmful.
lm28469 7y ago
> Processing foods is what likely helped Homo to get enough energy to evolve big brains. Hm cooked food maybe; processed food, not really, at least according to the current definition of it. https://www.foodindustry.com/articles/the-4-categories-of-processed-foods/ https://www.foodindustry.com/articles/the-4-categories-of-pr...

by afpx 7y ago

me_me_me 7y ago

I think that is slight miss-use of term processed food. Process food (at least to me) is anything that has been artificially adjusted by factory processing, like injecting meat with some solutions in order to 'make' more meat. I would hardly qualified lets say smoked bacon as processed food in that sense. But all of those microwave ready meals et al. large content of it is cheap filler masqueraded as actual product.

matthewmacleod 7y ago
It is not a mis-use. Bacon is absolutely a processed meat. “Microwave ready meals” are typically just pre-cooked meals prepared for reheating - they’re probably not the best meals in terms of ingredient quality or cooking methods, and low-quality ones might have some plant starches as filler, but most of them are pretty straightforward.
- ianai 7y ago
  Anything prepared for the microwave like that is high in sodium. We’re talking over a days worth of sodium all at once. Very far from healthy. Actually, most meat nowadays is injected with huge amounts of sodium. It’s like we’re all eating log term storage foods-even that raw meats.
  - matthewmacleod 7y ago
    Of course there exist low-quality or over-salted meals. But I just took a look in my freezer at two bog-standard ready meals I have there just in case - macaroni and cheese, and a beef lasagne. They’re each about 1.5g of salt, and there’s nothing notable about the ingredients.
    - ianai 7y ago
      Anything more than like 700-900 mg/day is less than ideal. 1.5g leaves you no budget for the rest of the day. (Though some sources say you just need to be below 2.5g. Still, that’s not much higher than 1.5g when we’re talking an entire rest of the day to eat.)
      - matthewmacleod 7y ago
        What does “less than ideal” mean? NHS guidelines in the UK are <6g of salt (2400mg sodium) per day. US guidelines are 2300mg. Salt and sodium are not the same; 1.5g of salt is about 600mg sodium, or about 1/4 of the recommended daily limit. That seems entirely reasonable for a main meal.
Broken_Hippo 7y ago
Here is the thing: I can make my own microwave-ready meals. I might put "cheap filler" in some things: beans and lentils and whatnot. It is still processed food, even if I'm not adding chemical additives or having food scientists add aromas and testing for peak yumminess. To that end, plain frozen peas are processed. Smoked bacon is exactly the sort of thing they warn to eat sparingly because it is a highly processed food. It doesn't really matter that we've been making it for some time, it is still highly processed. I'd argue that most of it has added chemicals and things like the meat you describe upfront. Even without, the actual curing and smoking is what makes it more harmful.

lm28469 7y ago

> Processing foods is what likely helped Homo to get enough energy to evolve big brains. Hm cooked food maybe; processed food, not really, at least according to the current definition of it. https://www.foodindustry.com/articles/the-4-categories-of-processed-foods/ https://www.foodindustry.com/articles/the-4-categories-of-pr...