Processed foods aren't just microwave meals and other ready meals. The term 'processed food' applies to any food that has been altered from its natural state in some way, either for safety reasons or convenience. This means you may be eating more processed food than you realise. Processed foods aren't necessarily unhealthy but anything that’s been processed may contain added salt, sugar and fat.

If it's boxed, bagged, canned or jarred and has a list of ingredients on the label, it's processed. Methods used to process foods include:

Canning

Freezing

Refrigeration

Dehydration

Aseptic Processing

Processed foods have been altered from their natural state for ‘safety’ and convenience reasons. And scary as it seems, about 90 per cent of the money that Americans spend on food is used to buy processed items. 

Processed foods are more convenient - that's what it comes down to. It's so much easier to bake a cake by opening up a box, pouring out a dry mix, and adding an egg and some oil than starting from scratch.

But convenience isn't the only thing you get when you eat processed foods. There's a whole list of ingredients that manufacturers add to.

Colour - It gives your orange soda that neon glow

Stabilise - So your gravy isn't watery

Emulsify - Who says oil and water can't mix?

Bleach - Let's disinfect and deodorise

Texturise - Nothing's worse than soggy cereal

Soften - It's as if the ice cream was churned twice

Preserve - What if you want to eat the cupcake six months from now?

Sweeten - Sugar is sweet but saccharin and aspartame is sweeter

Hide Odours - Do you really want to smell the fish paste in your instant Pad Thai?

Flavor - Nothing like having the sweet taste of watermelon all year round

One advantage of cooking food from scratch at home is that you know exactly what is going into it, including the amount of added salt or sugar.

However, even homemade food sometimes uses processed ingredients, Most shop-bought foods will have been processed in some way.

Examples of common processed foods include:

breakfast cereals

cheese

tinned vegetables

bread

savory snacks, such as crisps 

meat products, such as bacon

convenience foods, such as microwave meals or ready meals

drinks, such as milk or soft drinks

Freezing fruit and veg preserves most vitamins, while tinned produce (choose those without added sugar and salt) can mean convenient storage, cooking and choice to eat all year round, with less waste and cost than fresh.

Ingredients such as salt, sugar and fat are sometimes added to processed foods to make their flavour more appealing and to prolong their shelf life, or in some cases to contribute to the food's structure, such as salt in bread or sugar in cakes.

This can lead to people eating more than the recommended amounts for these additives, as they may not be aware of how much has been added to the food they are buying and eating. These foods can also be higher in calories due to the high amounts of added sugar or fat in them.

Furthermore, a diet high in red and processed meat (regularly eating more than 90g a day) has also been linked to an increased risk of bowel cancer. Some studies have also shown that eating a large amount of processed meat may be linked to a higher risk of cancer or heart disease. 

The word ‘processed’ often causes some confusion.

Obviously, most foods we eat are processed in some way. Apples are cut from trees, ground meat has been ground in a machine and butter is cream that has been separated from the milk and churned. But there is a difference between mechanical processing and chemical processing.

If it’s a single ingredient food with no added chemicals, then it doesn’t matter if it’s been ground or put into a jar. It’s still real food. However, foods that have been chemically processed and made solely from refined ingredients and artificial substances, are what is generally known as ‘processed food'.

Processed Foods are usually high in sugar and fructose corn syrup

Processed foods are usually loaded with added sugar or its evil twin, High Fructose Corn Syrup. It is well known that sugar, when consumed in excess, is seriously harmful. As we all know, sugar is ‘empty’ calories – it has no essential nutrients but a large amount of energy. But empty calories are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the harmful effects of sugar Many studies show that sugar can have devastating effects on metabolism that go way beyond its calorie content . It can lead to insulin resistance, high triglycerides, increased levels of the harmful cholesterol and increased fat accumulation in the liver and abdominal cavity . Not surprisingly, sugar consumption is strongly associated with some of the world’s leading killers including heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer. Most people aren’t putting massive amounts of sugar in their coffee or on top of their cereal, they’re getting it from processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages. Processed foods and beverages are the biggest sources of added sugar (and HFCS) in the diet. Sugar is very unhealthy and can have serious adverse effects on metabolism when consumed in excess.

We all want to eat good food. That’s just human nature. Evolution provided us with taste buds that are supposed to help us navigate the natural food environment. Our appetite gravitates towards foods that are sweet, salty and fatty, because we know such foods contain energy and nutrients that we need for survival. Obviously, if a food manufacturer wants to succeed and get people to buy their product, it has to taste good. But today, the competition is fierce. There are many different food manufacturers, all competing with each other. For this reason, massive resources are spent on making foods as desirable as possible. Many processed foods have been engineered to be so incredibly ‘rewarding’ to the brain, that they overpower anything we might have come across in nature.

We have complicated mechanisms in our bodies and brains that are supposed to regulate energy balance (how much we eat and how much we burn) – which, until very recently in evolutionary history, worked to keep us at a healthy weight.

There is quite a lot of evidence that the reward value of foods can bypass the innate defense mechanism and make us start eating much more than we need, so much that it starts to compromise our health. This is also known as the food reward hypothesis of obesity.

The truth is, processed foods are so incredibly rewarding to our brains that they affect our thoughts and behavior, making us eat more and more until eventually we become sick. Good food is good but foods that are engineered to be hyper rewarding, effectively short circuiting our innate brakes against overconsumption, are not good. Food manufacturers spend massive amounts of resources on making their foods as ‘rewarding’ as possible to the brain, which leads to overconsumption.

Processed Foods contain all sorts of artificial ingredients

If you look at the ingredients label for a processed, packaged food, chances are that you won’t have a clue what some of the ingredients are.

That’s because many of the ingredients in there aren’t actual food they are artificial chemicals that are added for various purposes.

Preservatives: Chemicals that prevent the food from rotting.

Colourants: Chemicals that are used to give the food a specific color.

Flavour: Chemicals that give the food a particular flavor.

Texturants: Chemicals that give a particular texture.

Keep in mind that processed foods can contain dozens of additional chemicals that aren’t even listed on the label. For example, ‘artificial flavour’ is a proprietary blend. Manufacturers don’t have to disclose exactly what it means and it is usually a combination of chemicals. For this reason, if you see ‘artificial flavour’ on an ingredients list, it could mean that there are 10 or more additional chemicals that are blended in to give a specific flavor. Most highly processed foods are loaded with artificial chemicals, including flavourants, texturants, colourants and preservatives.

Many people can literally become addicted to processed junk foods

The 'hyper rewarding' nature of processed foods can have serious consequences for some people. Some people can literally become addicted to this stuff and completely lose control over their consumption. Although food addiction is something that most people don’t know about, I am personally convinced that it is a huge problem in society today. It is the main reason why some people just can’t stop eating these foods, no matter how hard they try. They’ve had their brain biochemistry hijacked by the intense dopamine release that occurs in the brain when they eat these foods. This is actually supported by many studies. Sugar and highly rewarding junk foods activate the same areas in the brain as drugs of abuse like cocaine .

For many people, junk foods can hijack the biochemistry of the brain, leading to downright addiction and cause them to lose control over their consumption.

There is a lot of controversy regarding carbohydrates in the diet. Some people think that the majority of our energy intake should be from carbs, while others think they should be avoided like the plague. But one thing that almost everyone agrees on, is that carbohydrates from whole foods are much better than refined carbohydrates. Processed foods are often high in carbs but it is usually the refined variety. One of the main problems is that refined, ‘simple’ carbohydrates are quickly broken down in the digestive tract, leading to rapid spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels. This can lead to carb cravings a few hours later when blood sugar levels go down again. This phenomenon is also called the ‘blood sugar roller coaster' – which many people who have been on a high-carb diet can relate to. Not surprisingly, eating a lot of refined carbohydrates is associated with negative health  The carbohydrates you find in processed foods are usually refined, ‘simple’ carbohydrates. These lead to rapid spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels and cause negative health effects.

Processed foods are extremely low in essential nutrients compared to whole, unprocessed foods.

In some cases, synthetic vitamins and minerals are added to the foods to compensate for what was lost during processing. However, synthetic nutrients are not a good replacement for the nutrients found in whole foods. Also, let’s not forget that real foods contain much more than just the standard vitamins and minerals that we’re all familiar with.

Real foods like plants and animals, contain thousands of other trace nutrients that science is just beginning to grasp. Maybe one day we will invent a chemical blend that can replace all these nutrients, but until that happens the only way to get them in your diet is to eat whole, unprocessed foods. The more you eat of processed foods, the less you will get of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and various trace nutrients.  There are many nutrients found in whole foods that are not found in processed foods. The more processed foods you eat, the less you will get of these nutrients.

Processed Foods are often high in trans fats or processed vegetable oils

Processed foods are often high in unhealthy fats. They usually contain cheap fats, refined seed- and vegetable oils (like soybean oil) that are often hydrogenated which turns them into trans fats. Vegetable oils are extremely unhealthy and most people are eating way too much of them already. These fats contain excessive amounts of Omega-6 fatty acids, which can drive oxidation and inflammation in the body. Several studies show that when people eat more of these oils, they have a significantly increased risk of heart disease, which is the most common cause of death in Western countries today. If the fats are hydrogenated, that makes them even worse. Hydrogenated (trans) fats are among the nastiest, unhealthiest substances you can put into your body. The best way to avoid seed oils and trans fats is to avoid processed foods. Eat real fats like butter, coconut oil and olive oil instead.

However, even healthier ready meals may be higher in fat and other additives than a homemade equivalent. That's not to say that homemade foods can't also be high in calories, fat, salt and sugar but if you make the meal yourself, you'll have a much better idea of what's gone into it. You could even save yourself some money, too.  Every family has to find their own balance of convenience, cost, and health when it comes to food.