Processed food is a lot less healthy than unprocessed food. Gosh, you’re probably thinking now, tell me something new. Yet ultra-processed food is really a lot less healthy than you probably realize now. This is evident from newly presented research. The contradiction is that it is made very difficult for us in the supermarket to avoid processed food. Fortunately, there are certainly ways to do this, says food scientist Jaap Seidell The parole.
The new research was discussed at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Amsterdam. This shows that people who eat a lot of ultra-processed food have a whopping 24 percent higher risk of a heart attack or stroke. The figures on the risk of high blood pressure are even higher: 39 percent.
Ultra-processed foods
So what is ultra-processed food? It is about food that has been extremely processed in the factory. Everything has been added, from coloring agents to flavor enhancers. This is to make the product visually more attractive and to make it taste better, so that we only eat more of it.
Disc of Five
You probably also understand that it is better to grab an apple from the shelf than a box of Ligas. Yet it is made much easier for us to reach for those processed cakes than for a healthy nest egg. The reason: no less than 70 to 80 percent of the products in the supermarket fall outside the Wheel of Five. Nutrition scientist Jaap Seidell disagrees The parole. With such figures, it seems that you cannot ignore the unhealthy, ultra-processed food.
Avoid the inner hallways
Nevertheless, Seidell has a number of tips for this. In The parole he says that it is best to just ignore the inner aisles of the supermarket. All unhealthy, processed products are displayed there. From ready-made meal kits to bouillon cubes and from soft drinks to those infamous boxes of Liga cakes. It is precisely in the outer edges that you will find the healthier products from the store, such as fruit, vegetables and dairy products. Extra nice: also saves you a lot of time with shopping. From now on you’ll be through that store in no time.
Do discount
Another tip from Seidell: avoid the bucket of offers. Yes, it’s very tempting, especially with this terrible inflation that has haunted us for I-don’t-know-how-long. But remember that no less than 90% of the products you can pick up at a discount are ultra-processed. Think about it, isn’t it almost always 1+1 free on soft drinks and 25% off on cakes?
Call your grandmother
Do you doubt whether a product is ultra-processed or not? There is a rule of thumb, coined by American publicist Michael Pollan: food is ultra-processed if it contains at least 5 unpronounceable ingredients, or if your grandmother has no idea what kind of food you have in your hands. So you can do 2 things with it. The first: read the product packaging and look at the ingredients list. And the second: Facetime your grandmother from the supermarket.
Instinkers
Finally, it is good to realize that you should not fall for everything. Some products still have such tasty promises on the packaging (100% whole wheat! Without fragrances, colorings and flavourings!), but those who take a good look at the ingredients list know better. There are so many products with tempting and promising names and messages that still have a huge amount of sugars added to their product. Another thing: meat substitutes are not as healthy as you may think. You can also see this on the packaging. Well, it might just be a new way of shopping. But we would rather not belong to the club of 24 and 39 percent, right?
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Source: Het Parool, image: Albert Heijn
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2023-09-01 14:22:21
#supermarket #expert #walk #outer #edges #supermarket
