Processed Food Essay

Processed foods make up 70% of the U.S. diet. Over the past century, a gradual revolution continues to increase the average consumer’s intake of highly processed food products. Everyday, new food-like substances are replacing real food on supermarket shelves and companies continue to fuel this epidemic by mislabeling products. Consumers must learn how to avoid processed food substances, which have been associated to numerous health concerns, and select healthier alternatives.

Processed foods dominate a large area of the modern food world. Food processing is any intentional change in a food item before it is available to consume, and could be as simple as freezing or drying food to preserve it to formulating a complicated food product with

Sugar or its evil twin, high-fructose corn syrup, is commonly packed into processed foods. The consumption of sugar is associated to devastating diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. On top of that, processed food substances, high in sugar and artificial ingredients, can lead to overconsumption and become addictive. Food companies know that people’s appetites gravitate towards food that are sweet, salty, and high in fat, therefore they generate more “desirable” food, knowing that consumers will continue to eat these foods. Individuals need to avoid highly processed foods and search out healthier

It is up to the consumer to proactively search out healthier alternatives. Unfortunately, it is difficult to do so in today’s day in age. Pollan provides beneficial advice such as analyzing the product’s ingredient list for unfamiliar or unpronounceable ingredients, products comprising of more than five ingredients or that contain high-fructose corn syrup are strong indications that a food substance has been highly processed. He continues by explaining, “Most supermarkets are laid out the same way: Processed food products dominate the center aisles of the store while the cases of ostensibly fresh food - dairy, produce, meat, and fish - line the walls. If you keep to the edges of the store you’ll be that much more likely to wind up with real food in your shopping cart.” This strategy, however, isn’t flawless as items such as Go-Gurt do in fact include high-fructose corn syrup. Possibly the best approach for avoiding processed food products is to merely escape the supermarket whenever possible. Elaborated imitation food products, unpronounceable ingredients, or debatable health claims aren’t going to be found at a farmers’ market or in a