Welcome to your Processed Foods Challenge! Your mission: Swap a “highly processed” food for a healthier processed food. Try this once a day for 5 days.
Easy food choices are not always unhealthy ones. Plenty of little- or no-effort foods are good for you. This challenge will teach you about foods that are simple and healthy.
Highly Processed Foods
The term “processed food” means that someone changed the food from how it grew in nature. Sometimes those changes are small. Small changes create a “lightly processed food.” Frozen veggies, canned fish (like tuna), plain yogurt, and whole grain breads are all lightly processed foods. These processed foods are good for you.
But sometimes those changes are pretty big. The people making the food may add sugar and salt. They might take out nutrients like fibre. These big changes create what we call “highly processed foods.” Soft drinks, hot dogs, chips, white bread, and packaged cakes are all highly processed foods. And these foods aren’t as good for you.
What’s Wrong with Highly Processed Foods?
Many processed foods have a lot of added sugar and salt. They may also be high in saturated fat. Foods that are high in sugar, salt, and saturated fat can up your risk of heart disease. They can also make it hard to manage your blood sugar and weight.
Good news! It’s easy to swap highly processed foods for less processed, healthier versions. Plain yogurt with berries instead of berry-flavored yogurt is one example. Steel cut oats instead of granola is another. It’s simple!
Keep Coming Back
For the next 5 days, we’ll show you how to trade highly processed foods for healthier, lightly processed options. Check in every day to learn more about easy ways to make healthy changes.