Every "processed food" definition is incredibly arbitrary, and not necessarily correlated to health.
What about rolled oats or steel cut oats? They're clearly "processed", oats don't look like that when they come off the plant.
Potato chips + fries are just cut potatoes dropping into a vat of oil. Oil itself isn't very much processed either. But we all know that potato chips / fries are unhealthy and shouldn't be eaten all the time.
Cheese or butter require incredible amounts of processing to get done. But when properly portioned, they are part of a healthy diet (more so than potato chips anyway).
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Is honey any healthier than sugar? Is juice healthier than soda? From an obesity perspective, not really. You really want to be cutting back on these empty calories. (Sure, juice is __slightly__ better than soda cause juice has vitamins in it. But... its actually not that good for you)
Do you really think we can't come up with some definitions that at least push in the right direction? They don't have to be perfect, but just start somewhere and keep evolving in the right direction. Let's not pretend we have to get it perfect before we try anything.
Instead of banning (or discouraging) "processed foods", lets start with banning/discouraging "unhealthy foods".
Because "unhealthy" is a better starting point than the arbitrary metric "processed".
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You're going to do more for your health by cutting back on your rice portions, rather than worrying about what is or isn't processed. (And rice is barely "processed" at all... but its incredibly calorie dense with high glycemic index).
Switching out bread portions (since bread is highly processed) for rice portions won't do you jack diddly squat. Both are high calorie / high glycemic index foods.
> You're going to do more for your health by cutting back on your rice portions, rather than worrying about what is or isn't processed. (And rice is barely "processed" at all... but its incredibly calorie dense with high glycemic index).
And yet Asia has basically no obesity problem. We clearly need better nutrition science.
Citation: I'm Asian-American. Also, Filipino. We're not obese, but erm... Americans might be healthier, no joke. The amount of lechon we consume (incredibly fatty pig) + other fatty foods is a big problem to heart health, despite the fact that it doesn't cause obesity.
Oh, and Filipinos generally eat fresh foods. Fresh fish, fresh pork, fresh chicken. Relatively low processed foods (our Halo-Halo is similar to your "ice cream", except Halo-Halo is just milk poured over shaved ice + fruits + ube mixed in. "Low processing", but we all know its a desert and unhealthy).
That's the thing. Being Filipino gives me more insight into this "processed food" craze going on. Halo-halo has almost no processing involved and is made out of fresh ingredients. That doesn't make Halo-halo any healthier.
> And yet Asia has basically no obesity problem. We clearly need better nutrition science.
We all know beer and soda is bad for us, and yet we drink it all the time as a society. I'm not sure what nutrition science is beneficial when so many people choose to ignore it.
Cut back on high calorie foods. Watch your portion sizes. Count calories. Eat more fibrous meals to fill up your stomach ("tricking" your brain into thinking you're more full). Avoid non-fibrous foods (such as soda) because they miss out on the stomach/brain psychology.
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Its hard in America because of stupid little things. Plates are bigger in America, so when you're in America you trick yourself into putting more food into your plates.
Plates are literally smaller in the Philippines. So you end up eating less. Stupid cultural differences like that make a big difference.
Because American culture subtly forces you to overeat (bigger plates, bigger glasses, bigger drinks), you need to explicitly count calories. That's just the facts, if you aren't counting calories in America, you're going to overeat.
What about rolled oats or steel cut oats? They're clearly "processed", oats don't look like that when they come off the plant.
Potato chips + fries are just cut potatoes dropping into a vat of oil. Oil itself isn't very much processed either. But we all know that potato chips / fries are unhealthy and shouldn't be eaten all the time.
Cheese or butter require incredible amounts of processing to get done. But when properly portioned, they are part of a healthy diet (more so than potato chips anyway).
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Is honey any healthier than sugar? Is juice healthier than soda? From an obesity perspective, not really. You really want to be cutting back on these empty calories. (Sure, juice is __slightly__ better than soda cause juice has vitamins in it. But... its actually not that good for you)