Health is a popular topic these days. People who are adequately informed about healthy living are likely to seek ways to improve their diet and lifestyle. Those who have had a health scare may also be inclined to seek better ways of eating. One of the contributors to heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure is processed food.
Whats is processed food?
According to Dr Frankie Phillips in his article ‘What is processed food?’, processed food is commercial food prepared by methods such as pickling, smoking, heat treatments such as pasteurising, fermentation, freezing, packaging. They are also ingredients added, which may change the characteristics of the flavour, shelf-life and even nutritional content of food. In layman terms, processed food is food that doesn’t look like its original version. It has been distorted in shape and form and its flavours have been enhanced in a way that it tastes far different from the original form.
Let’s take chicken nuggets for example. They certainly don’t look like chicken. They taste far better than plain, non-marinated chicken because of its salt content and other flavouring.
Interestingly, processed food doesn’t have to come from animal origin. Cheese slices are termed processed food because they contain salt, food dyes, preservatives, extra dairy, emulsifiers, or other artificial ingredients.
What triggered the question?
The question of whether we can avoid processed food came to my mind recently when I came across Yumi’s Spinach dip on the supermarket shelf. ‘Spinach,’ I thought. ‘Must be healthy.’ I placed it in my shopping basket straight away.
Upon reaching home, I tore open the ‘healthy’ Spinach dip packaging and eagerly tried it with Ceres Brown Crackers. By the way, I have been having these healthy crackers for some time and love them. They are not too salty and can be eaten on their own. Back to the subject, the Spinach dip was very tasty and addictive. Tiny brown bits in it didn’t escape my notice. I was curious to know if they were onions flakes.
So I googled for the ingredients online. I discovered that other than vegetables, one of its ingredients is Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein. My thought was ‘Is this similar to hydrogenated vegetable oil?’ You guessed what I did next. I googled up Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein and found out it is the cousin of monosodium glutamate (MSG).
What is Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein?
According to CBC News, Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein is an enhancer used in processed foods like soups, sauces, gravies, dips, potato chips, stews and some meat products like hot dogs.
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) is produced by boiling soy, corn, or wheat in hydrochloric acid and then neutralizing the solution with sodium hydroxide. The acid breaks down the protein in vegetables into their component amino acids. If you’re sensitive to HVP, you may develop headaches and severe allergic reactions. Doesn’t sound good, does it?
Can we avoid processed food?
Personally for me, the answer is no. Unless I live in the countryside, away from supermarkets and delis and grow my own produce.
I love my low fat cheese slices, occasional baked beans, commercial hummus dip (No, the Yumi brand Hummus doesn’t contain HVP…Phew) and occasional smoked salmon. I don’t see myself going without them.
Bottom Line
The crucial point to note is that we should not take words printed on commercial packages at face value. ‘Healthy’ doesn’t mean it is. ‘Spinach’ doesn’t mean it is pure healthy vegetable. It may have been freeze dried and other enhancers may be added. After all, the food isn’t prepared in grandma’s kitchen. ‘Reduced or low fat’ is a trick. It usually means more salt to enhance the flavour due to lack of fat. ‘No added sugar’ means it does contain sugar. It’s just that the item contains lots of natural sugar or natural enhancers have been added. Isn’t this tricky?
The only way to fit into the commercial world is to keep processed food consumption to a minimum. I guess the way to go is to eat such food sparingly and occasionally. The best way is, of course, to consume whole food. This means more preparation time invested. But I guess it’s worth it in the long run.
Also, spend some time reading food labels and ingredients used. If there is at least one strange ingredient listed that sounds like some form of lab created process, forgo it. You’re not missing out.
Look out for home-made dips using fresh whole ingredients in my upcoming posts.