3 ms·

I'm not sure I get the whole "processed food" scare. If I cook an egg, have I not "processed" it with a thermal treatment, and made it better and safer than raw

I'm not sure I get the whole "processed food" scare. If I cook an egg, have I not "processed" it with a thermal treatment, and made it better and safer than raw egg? What is this "processing" exactly that everybody is so scared about?

stronglikedan 6y ago
In a literal sense of the word, yes cooking and egg is processing it. However, when people are talking about processed food, it's usually in the context of the industrial processes involved. For instance, boiling a ton of vegetables in a giant vat, then draining the water that all the nutrients leeched into during the cooking process, and only using the vegetables sans nutrients. Sure, they're still vegetables, but they're less filling, leaving the body more hungry, which can lead to overeating.
- wcoenen 6y ago
  I boil vegetables and tip them into a strainer when cooking at home. I don't see how the same process done at a larger scale would be worse for nutrition.
  - stronglikedan 6y ago
    It's not, if you boil them and then throw out the water. That's one of the worst ways to cook vegetables. Most people steam their veggies to get the full nutritional value, unless they're making a soup or something, where they'll be keeping and using the broth. Besides, like I said, that's just one example.
    - wcoenen 6y ago
      The literature seems to agree with you on the effect of boiling vs steaming.[1] But that paper is from 2009, and the references are not much older. Older people's cooking habits were formed before this was well known, so I'm not so sure that "most people steam their veggies". I don't even own the equipment for steaming, and I had no idea about the benefits. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722699/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722699/
      - stronglikedan 6y ago
        > Most people steam their veggies to get the full nutritional value You're correct. I should have said, most people steam their veggies when they're looking to get the full nutritional value.

stronglikedan 6y ago

In a literal sense of the word, yes cooking and egg is processing it. However, when people are talking about processed food, it's usually in the context of the industrial processes involved. For instance, boiling a ton of vegetables in a giant vat, then draining the water that all the nutrients leeched into during the cooking process, and only using the vegetables sans nutrients. Sure, they're still vegetables, but they're less filling, leaving the body more hungry, which can lead to overeating.

wcoenen 6y ago
I boil vegetables and tip them into a strainer when cooking at home. I don't see how the same process done at a larger scale would be worse for nutrition.
- stronglikedan 6y ago
  It's not, if you boil them and then throw out the water. That's one of the worst ways to cook vegetables. Most people steam their veggies to get the full nutritional value, unless they're making a soup or something, where they'll be keeping and using the broth. Besides, like I said, that's just one example.
  - wcoenen 6y ago
    The literature seems to agree with you on the effect of boiling vs steaming.[1] But that paper is from 2009, and the references are not much older. Older people's cooking habits were formed before this was well known, so I'm not so sure that "most people steam their veggies". I don't even own the equipment for steaming, and I had no idea about the benefits. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722699/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722699/
    - stronglikedan 6y ago
      > Most people steam their veggies to get the full nutritional value You're correct. I should have said, most people steam their veggies when they're looking to get the full nutritional value.