A Food Spectrum ~ From Whole to Processed
Differentiating between whole food and processed food is not black and white. Food exists on a spectrum between extremes, entirely whole food on the left and entirely processed food on the right. Most of the food we consume exists somewhere in between. The eating focus should be toward the left of the spectrum, selecting whole foods and lightly processed foods while minimizing more processed foods and eliminating highly processed food. The image below represents the spectrum from whole foods to processed foods, with an apple representing whole foods and a gummy bear representing ultra-processed foods.
Whole food is on the left and with every step of processing a food shifts to the right; with processing comes nutrient loss and food additives.
The shift from left to right is important, because with every step of processing there is nutrient loss. With every step of industrial processing, food additives are added in. Fewer nutrients -> less healthy. More foods additives -> potentially detrimental to health.
The foods on the far left still retain part of the original food. Apple juice may retain many nutrients, but it's lost it's fiber, resulting in a sugar-bomb beverage. This results in it's shift to the right. Apple bars may have some whole apple, but it's infused into a processed, cookie-like bar. Apple is barely recognizable in apple roll-ups, although homemade versions would shift this product to the left. Apple crunch cereal and apple puffs have apple flavoring, food additives, sodium and/or sugar, putting them on the far right of the spectrum, next to the green apple gummy bear, an ultra-processed food-like product. The key is to recognize that the word "apple" implies whole, it implies natural and it implies health. But, in many cases it's a mistaken identity. Many products do not actually have apple in them, but only an artificially created apple flavor and equally as artificial apple color.
How do we define whole food? A whole food is a food that resembles how it appeared in nature. Whole foods are whole vegetables, whole fruits, whole beans and unprocessed meats or animal parts. When trying to figure out if a food is whole, ask yourself,
Did it grow on a tree or a bush? Was it pulled from the ground? Did it roam in the wild?
Do granola bars grow on trees?
If the answer is no, it’s not a whole food. Lightly processed food is part of a healthy diet. Some types of processing actually increase the nutrient value of food while other processes remove portions of a plant that are toxic to humans. Some processing is necessary to ensure the safety of the food supply. With 323 million people (1) to feed in the United States, it's reasonable to accept some of these processing steps.
To assess the degree of food processing, ask yourself, was it a part of a plant or animal and is it still a recognizable part of that plant or animal? The second part of this question is key. You may able to rationalize that a portion the wheat plant makes up most of your bagel, but it’s not a recognizable part of that plant. Bagels do not grow on trees, plants or bushes and bagels are not pulled from the ground. You can easily figure out that a bagel is not a whole food no matter what the label tells you. The wheat plant does require a process to remove the husk, an inedible part of the plant. This leaves the seed, which is the edible part of the grain. These seeds, also called kernels, contain the endosperm, germ and bran and when eaten in their entirety, are considered a whole grain (2).
When we get into items such as dairy, it gets more complicated, because even yogurt, which most might consider “healthy”, has gone through a number of processes. Milk does not exit the cow and arrive in your grocery store in it's natural state. It is homogenized and pasteurized, vitamins are added and it is packaged, stored and shipped. Most soy is processed and other milks, such as almond milk are go through many stages of processing. If entirely whole food is on the left of the spectrum, these foods shift to the right. To choose the better option, look for recognizable ingredients, preferably food products with one or two ingredients. Avoid products with food additives. Hint: if you don’t recognize an ingredient, it’s a food additive. The goal is to choose lightly processed foods over moderately processed and heavily processed foods.
To assess the degree of food processing, ask yourself, was it a part of a plant or animal and is it still a recognizable part of that plant or animal? The second part of this question is key. You may able to rationalize that a portion the wheat plant makes up most of your bagel, but it’s not a recognizable part of that plant. Bagels do not grow on trees, plants or bushes and bagels are not pulled from the ground. You can easily figure out that a bagel is not a whole food no matter what the label tells you. The wheat plant does require a process to remove the husk, an inedible part of the plant. This leaves the seed, which is the edible part of the grain. These seeds, also called kernels, contain the endosperm, germ and bran and when eaten in their entirety, are considered a whole grain (2).
When we get into items such as dairy, it gets more complicated, because even yogurt, which most might consider “healthy”, has gone through a number of processes. Milk does not exit the cow and arrive in your grocery store in it's natural state. It is homogenized and pasteurized, vitamins are added and it is packaged, stored and shipped. Most soy is processed and other milks, such as almond milk are go through many stages of processing. If entirely whole food is on the left of the spectrum, these foods shift to the right. To choose the better option, look for recognizable ingredients, preferably food products with one or two ingredients. Avoid products with food additives. Hint: if you don’t recognize an ingredient, it’s a food additive. The goal is to choose lightly processed foods over moderately processed and heavily processed foods.
Once there is more than one ingredient in a food, it is no longer a whole food.
It is a food-product
It is a food-product
The far right side of the spectrum includes highly processed and ultra processed foods. These foods are not actually food, but food-like products. Luckily, these products are easy to identify, for example, Twinkies®, Pop-Tarts® and Ding Dongs®. These are dessert foods and the beauty of these foods is they don’t try to masquerade as anything but that, a dessert.
The foods that fit on the middle of the whole to processed spectrum are the most difficult to assess. These are the foods that have been through some processing and provide some nutrients, but at the same time contain substances that are detrimental to health. These are the foods that are wrapped in colorful and playful packaging and boast of high nutrients and have health claims on the product label. These are food-products that allow us to believe that they are healthy, when they are actually unhealthy. These are the foods that lead us to believe they are natural, when they are unnatural, lead us to believe they are whole when they are processed. These are the foods that create nutritional doublethink.
The foods that fit on the middle of the whole to processed spectrum are the most difficult to assess. These are the foods that have been through some processing and provide some nutrients, but at the same time contain substances that are detrimental to health. These are the foods that are wrapped in colorful and playful packaging and boast of high nutrients and have health claims on the product label. These are food-products that allow us to believe that they are healthy, when they are actually unhealthy. These are the foods that lead us to believe they are natural, when they are unnatural, lead us to believe they are whole when they are processed. These are the foods that create nutritional doublethink.
References
- US and World Population Clock. US Census Bureau. Last accessed March 29, 2016. https://www.census.gov/popclock/world
- A Kernel of Wheat. California Wheat Commission. Last accessed March 28, 2016. http://www.californiawheat.org/industry/diagram-of-wheat-kernel/
- From whole to processed image by Christine Dobrowolski using Green apple by GoodFreeArt on OpenClipArt and Halloween candy gummy by cgbug on OpenClipArt.
- Granola bars on trees image by Christine Dobrowolski using whispytree by dear_theophilus on OpenClipArt and granola bar image by Christine Dobrowolski.
Last updated April 8, 2016