What do you consider processed food to be?

[monkeybug]

What about things like chocolate for baking? Some of this confuses me... We're trying to make a lot of our own food now, including bread and baking. But when dealing with basic ingredients, what do you do?

I do buy just regular chocolate chips (for budget reasons) and bakers chocolate. Sometimes I buy the really expensive chocolate (like schoffenberger) for baking, but that's more for taste than anything else.
If you really are looking eat only whole foods (and can afford it) you could buy those things at a whole foods store. They don't sell anything with preservatives, or artificial flavors, and they sell everything! Even chocolate chips!

 

[monkeybug]

What about things like chocolate for baking? Some of this confuses me... We're trying to make a lot of our own food now, including bread and baking. But when dealing with basic ingredients, what do you do?

I have a friend who grinds her own wheat for flour. It's actually cheaper in the long run, but the initial investment (getting the grinder) is expensive. She makes the best bread I've ever eaten! I really want a grinder, and now that I have a basement for storing wheat, I'm thinking about it.
I buy pre packaged flour to bake bread with, as well as yeast. I also buy milk, butter, chocolate, eggs, and cheese (because making those things would just be too much!! And I don't own a cow or cocoa tree). There are some things that just taste better store bought, or are too much work to make at home (like crackers, yogurt, frozen juice (I don't have a juicer, or room for one), and pasta)
I don't buy things like cookies, pancake mix, bisquick, margarine, bread, salad dressing, pudding, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti sauce...those sorts of things.
I'd say 90% of the time we eat things that I made from scratch. But I don't work, so I have time to devote to things like making my own marshmallows, graham crackers, pie crust...pop tarts! Plus it's fun for me, and that's the reason I do it! The fact that we don't get a lot of chemicals and stuff is sort of just the icing on the cake. I just like making things!

 

[suejai]

I think it is possible to get too wrapped up in trying to make EVERYTHING from scratch. It's just not practical or possible to create every ingredient you use; unless you have a farm and can devote your whole life to living this way. So you do what you can to the best of your ability, and budget. In our case that means avoiding packaged, pre-prepared foods that contain many chemicals and food colouring. Things like Kraft Dinner, prepared sauces, frozen dinners, pre-seasoned things. As long as it is a whole food, as monkeybug is saying, I think it's fine.

 

[Mamu]

From Micheal pollen's book InDefense of Food this is what I am trying
nothing with HFCs
nothing with more than five ingredients
nothing your great grandma wouldn't recognize as food
nothing with unrecognizable ingredients
more plants
if we animal products they are grass fed
eggs from free range birds

it's hard

I agree totally and try to follow these rules.

 

[bicker]

So what do you think of when you think of processed foods?

Arbitrary and capricious categorization.

You process food when you chew it, so technically nothing makes it into your stomach unprocessed.

It is better to learn about the foods you're eating, and their specific qualities, rather than to rely on categories that could result in your eating lots of "natural" junk and very little "processed" nutrition.

 

[PeterPan09]

Arbitrary and capricious categorization.

You process food when you chew it, so technically nothing makes it into your stomach unprocessed.

It is better to learn about the foods you're eating, and their specific qualities, rather than to rely on categories that could result in your eating lots of "natural" junk and very little "processed" nutrition.

I used canned and frozen veggies and technically both are "processed".

Read the labels and the ingredients and then you can make an informed decision.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I guess your right. They do call it "processing" when you can something.
I guess we eat processed foods, but they are whole foods (for the most part).

We do. The thing with processing foods and that includes cooking, you are changing the vitamins & nutrition.

If you overcook, fresh or frozen, you are breaking down the nutrition of the food.

Not only do you need to look at how a food is processed you need to learn how to optimally cook each food item.

Example....

Preparing Vegetables and Fruit

To retain vitamins, cook fruit and vegetables as soon as possible after preparation – don’t leave them to soak in water, as the water-soluble vitamins will begin to dissolve in the water.


Avoid peeling fruit and vegetables if possible – this will help retain nutrients and fibre, and use as much as possible – for example, cook the leaves of broccoli and cauliflower as well as the stalks and florets. Keeping vegetables in larger pieces reduces the loss of vitamins (however, this will increase the cooking time).

http://www.explorevitamins.co.uk/cooking-preserve-vitamins.html

 

[bicker]

It goes beyond cooking: There's even a difference between different grinds of oatmeal. Steel-cut oats have more cholesterol lowering soluble fiber than other oatmeal, and takes longer to digest so you stay fuller longer.

 

[MIGrandma]

I consider processed food to be anything that has man made stuff/chemicals in it. Canned food, boxed food, frozen dinners/casseroles, etc.

Since I have gone wheat free and I'm diabetic I'm a lot more careful in the foods I eat. I try to mostly eat whole grains (rice, oats mostly), lots of fresh (or some frozen with no additives) fruits and vegetables, and leaner meats (mostly chicken, turkey, occasionally red meat).

I do still like junk food occasionally, hey I'm human! But for the most part I cook regular meals at home (we go out to eat far less than we used to) using fresh ingredients.

 

[npmommie]

It is better to learn about the foods you're eating, and their specific qualities, rather than to rely on categories that could result in your eating lots of "natural" junk and very little "processed" nutrition.

I agree, a lot of people get things that are "organic" or "natural", but they are still what I call frankenfoods, and totally fake and processed.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

It goes beyond cooking: There's even a difference between different grinds of oatmeal. Steel-cut oats have more cholesterol lowering soluble fiber than other oatmeal, and takes longer to digest so you stay fuller longer.

I know but for the average person here, cooking is where you lose the nutrition. It would be the major problem with nutrition loss, food preparation.

It is nice to go and buy the freshest, organic stuff at the fancy store. However if you boil the crap of out it you might as well have bought it at WalMart.

 

[bettymae1121]

I think it is possible to get too wrapped up in trying to make EVERYTHING from scratch. It's just not practical or possible to create every ingredient you use; unless you have a farm and can devote your whole life to living this way. So you do what you can to the best of your ability, and budget. In our case that means avoiding packaged, pre-prepared foods that contain many chemicals and food colouring. Things like Kraft Dinner, prepared sauces, frozen dinners, pre-seasoned things. As long as it is a whole food, as monkeybug is saying, I think it's fine.

That's about where DH and I am. For instance, Trader Joe's just came out with it's own brand of taco shells and taco packet seasoning. After reading both packages, everything in them is pronounceable and recognizable as "food", so we had tacos for dinner last night (organic ground beef, organic cheese, organic salsa, organic lettuce, and organic sour cream were used as filling). So sure, I got some help from "processed" taco shells and seasoning, but it wasn't any different from if I'd made my own shells or used seasonings from my spice rack.

 

[monkeybug]

It goes beyond cooking: There's even a difference between different grinds of oatmeal. Steel-cut oats have more cholesterol lowering soluble fiber than other oatmeal, and takes longer to digest so you stay fuller longer.

And steel cut oatmeal tastes extra yummy!!! We are all about the yummy around here!!

I actually can my own food because I think it's fun, from the picking to the canning, but I've read that some canned things (like tomatoes) are better canned than fresh. (in tomatoes the lycopenes are more "available" if the tomatoes are cooked). I also just read that commercially canned tomatoes can have bpa in them because of the can lining. Glad I can mine straight from the garden to the glass container.
Even though cooking veggies/fruits the wrong way can have an impact on their healthfulness, eating them the wrong way is still much better than not eating them (or enough of them) at all!!!

 

[bicker]

... I've read that some canned things (like tomatoes) are better canned than fresh. (in tomatoes the lycopenes are more "available" if the tomatoes are cooked).

This kind of thing really puts a fine point on it: Categorically saying "this" or "that" is better is misguided. Everything is its own thing.

...Even though cooking veggies/fruits the wrong way can have an impact on their healthfulness, eating them the wrong way is still much better than not eating them (or enough of them) at all!!!

True!!