The problem(s) with processed food

By: Brad Tripp

Lying on the couch, you get bored, which makes you a bit hungry. Instead of preparing a nice lunch, you decide to order some fries and munch on them until dinner. The fries go down your throat and then to your stomach. What happens next? Well, the food is further digested and then circulated through the blood. Depending on what you just ate, this can lead to clogged arteries and, eventually, death. This is one of the main problems with fatty, fast and fried food.

When you sit down at the dinner table, what do you see? Food loaded with fats and salts, straight out of a box, or a meal of balanced nutrition that wasn’t unfrozen 20 minutes ago? To many people, food should be fast and easy, but in the long run is that making us faster or slowing us down and harming us to near fatal consequences?

According to jonbarron.org, a site that examines the impact of fast food, on average, (between 2007 and 2010), 10% of American overall meal intake was fast food. What, exactly, is fast food? This is food from any restaurant that fries food to make it fast for a quick meal and often on the go. How bad is this for you? The little bit of extra fat and calories can add quite a few pounds after a while, which can lead to diabetes, clogged arties or even death when eaten regularly.

Alright, now picture yourself walking down the aisle of a market. What are the main things you see in your cart? Do you see more fruits and vegetables, or out of the box, processed goods? According to market place.org, over 70% of Americans’ annual food intake is “processed,” or factory made food. Is this good for us? No. The flavors may be delicious, but, according to marketplace.org, in all of our pre-made food there is in excess of over 5000 different additives added. All of these additives have various (mostly negative) impacts on our health. Believe it or not, not all ingredients have to be revealed to the FDA (Federal Department of Agriculture), so next time you take a bite of a cookie from the store, think of what might have been added to make it that good. 

When you eat, think about where it comes from. From a fryer to a conveyor belt, you never know exactly what is in that burger or processed snack. Single ingredient, non- processed, food choices (fruits, vegetables, etc.) are not only simple and quick, but typically much healthier than processed snacks. With each bite, it never hurts to wonder, is this really helping or harming me?