5 ms·

Something that has been mushed up from its original form to the point of being unrecognizable, bonus points for a bunch of different things mixed together, extr

Something that has been mushed up from its original form to the point of being unrecognizable, bonus points for a bunch of different things mixed together, extra bonus points for containing things that were once in a big reaction vat.

balfirevic 7y ago
> Something that has been mushed up from its original form to the point of being unrecognizable So it does include flour and pasta? Edit: olive oil and butter would also seem to fit the bill.
- AlanSE 7y ago
  Flour is like the granddaddy of all processed foods. Yes, it is processed. Modern nutrition studies tend to suck, because they are laughably narrow. Flour is probably the biggest thing we have been capable of studying on a population scale. Throughout history, flour has made many populations unhealthy and fat. Olive oil is hugely controversial. Don't expect an answer on that. Processing foods tends to remove the stuff which is good for you. That's why "whole" grain is advocated. You would do even better to selectively eat the wheat germ! So let me make the controversial but empirically true statement that it's possible to make a food more healthy by processing it. The reason processed foods are bad is because of our taste bud and business incentives. That's why it's extremely problematic to focus on food processing, as opposed to an underlying nutrient understanding. The first thing that goes when we process foods is the fiber, and this is missing nutrient number 1 in the American diet. As long we lack an ability to talk about the truly root issues with diet, reducing processed foods will do nothing (given sufficient time). Companies will figure out a way to call something unprocessed, but still give the same bad composition of nutrients.
  - ses1984 7y ago
    What's controversial about olive oil?
    - forgotmypw 7y ago
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil_regulation_and_adulteration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil_regulation_and_adulte... http://www.google.com/search?q=olive+oil+controversy http://www.google.com/search?q=olive+oil+controversy
      - Uberphallus 7y ago
        How the controversy is basically labeling and fraud, not the oil itself, got it.
        AlanSE 7y ago
        Even beyond that, it has lots of omega-6s. This is supposed to be competitive in cell chemistry with omega-3s, and the ratio is massively tilted in the omega-6 direction today. And there's always the anti-fat faction. It's also a high calorie-density food. Like many of these topics, some people will argue that calorie density is irrelevant, but other people will disagree with them.
        forgotmypw 7y ago
        Maybe olive oil, without doing much research, might be an exception where it is not harmful, as long as you know where it is coming from and has not been adulterated or diluted. One of the problem with processed food is that it allows large quantities, which often means lower quality. Also, you don't see what it's actually being made of. For example, in the olives article, it cited an instance of sub-standard, damaged olives being used to make olive oil
- forgotmypw 7y ago
  >So it does include flour and pasta? Yes, it does. >Edit: olive oil and butter would also seem to fit the bill. Indeed they would, unless you're making them yourself, or at least have an inkling of how, where, and by whom they were made.
  - balfirevic 7y ago
    Ok, fine, but do you realize you stepped in to make a clarification for what other commenter might have meant by "processed" where that commenter (ChuckNorris89) explicitly said to both: 1. not eat processed food, 2. eat pasta and olive oil?
iikoolpp 7y ago
> Something that has been mushed up from its original form to the point of being unrecognizable Sauces are the enemy!
- forgotmypw 7y ago
  Yes they are. Sauces are some of the worst offenders, rarely less than 10 ingredients.
andrewksl 7y ago
So no chocolate or coffee, then.
- forgotmypw 7y ago
  Coffee is hard to give up. I consider it a gray area if whole beans.

balfirevic 7y ago

> Something that has been mushed up from its original form to the point of being unrecognizable So it does include flour and pasta? Edit: olive oil and butter would also seem to fit the bill.

AlanSE 7y ago
Flour is like the granddaddy of all processed foods. Yes, it is processed. Modern nutrition studies tend to suck, because they are laughably narrow. Flour is probably the biggest thing we have been capable of studying on a population scale. Throughout history, flour has made many populations unhealthy and fat. Olive oil is hugely controversial. Don't expect an answer on that. Processing foods tends to remove the stuff which is good for you. That's why "whole" grain is advocated. You would do even better to selectively eat the wheat germ! So let me make the controversial but empirically true statement that it's possible to make a food more healthy by processing it. The reason processed foods are bad is because of our taste bud and business incentives. That's why it's extremely problematic to focus on food processing, as opposed to an underlying nutrient understanding. The first thing that goes when we process foods is the fiber, and this is missing nutrient number 1 in the American diet. As long we lack an ability to talk about the truly root issues with diet, reducing processed foods will do nothing (given sufficient time). Companies will figure out a way to call something unprocessed, but still give the same bad composition of nutrients.
- ses1984 7y ago
  What's controversial about olive oil?
  - forgotmypw 7y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil_regulation_and_adulteration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil_regulation_and_adulte... http://www.google.com/search?q=olive+oil+controversy http://www.google.com/search?q=olive+oil+controversy
    - Uberphallus 7y ago
      How the controversy is basically labeling and fraud, not the oil itself, got it.
      - AlanSE 7y ago
        Even beyond that, it has lots of omega-6s. This is supposed to be competitive in cell chemistry with omega-3s, and the ratio is massively tilted in the omega-6 direction today. And there's always the anti-fat faction. It's also a high calorie-density food. Like many of these topics, some people will argue that calorie density is irrelevant, but other people will disagree with them.
      - forgotmypw 7y ago
        Maybe olive oil, without doing much research, might be an exception where it is not harmful, as long as you know where it is coming from and has not been adulterated or diluted. One of the problem with processed food is that it allows large quantities, which often means lower quality. Also, you don't see what it's actually being made of. For example, in the olives article, it cited an instance of sub-standard, damaged olives being used to make olive oil
forgotmypw 7y ago
>So it does include flour and pasta? Yes, it does. >Edit: olive oil and butter would also seem to fit the bill. Indeed they would, unless you're making them yourself, or at least have an inkling of how, where, and by whom they were made.
- balfirevic 7y ago
  Ok, fine, but do you realize you stepped in to make a clarification for what other commenter might have meant by "processed" where that commenter (ChuckNorris89) explicitly said to both: 1. not eat processed food, 2. eat pasta and olive oil?

iikoolpp 7y ago

> Something that has been mushed up from its original form to the point of being unrecognizable Sauces are the enemy!

forgotmypw 7y ago
Yes they are. Sauces are some of the worst offenders, rarely less than 10 ingredients.

andrewksl 7y ago

So no chocolate or coffee, then.

forgotmypw 7y ago
Coffee is hard to give up. I consider it a gray area if whole beans.