Reduction of dietary junk – bionicoldguy

I’ve just read the book Ultra-processed peopleby Chris van Tulleken about the large amount of highly processed foods in our modern diets that I recommend. I always knew about obvious types of processing how to turn wheat into white flour by removing germs and bran and then ground the rest. But the author emphasizes the things in our food that sound rather as if they came from a test tube than in a garden, such as Xanthan Gum or Monoglycerides. Highly processed foods have three main effects. The first is the distance of nutritious components such as wheat germ. The second is “presentation”, for example the fruits in a smoothie that breaks off the cell walls. The third are the additives. I always thought that the first two are more important, which is why brown rice is preferred to white or apple over apple juice. But the author provides convincing evidence that the additives are not good for us either. He also follows the story of how large food companies like Nestle recently opened a new market for their products in Brazil and how this led to a significant increase in obesity among the population.

It is difficult to completely free your diet from ultra -decorated food, unless you are a good cook and can prepare most meals from scratch. But it is definitely possible to cut back. A large contribution of excessively processed foods in my diet is “treats” such as cookies or sweets, and I can definitely try to be more disciplined if you eat less often. There are also “boutique” brands of commercial foods such as soups and chilli with higher quality ingredients and fewer additives. These can be used directly or as the beginning of stews or casserole. Boutique brands are more expensive, but the money I can save to eat fewer treats can make the difference. Reading this book motivated me to try such measures more.