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Roots to Health with Dr. Craig Keever
Welcome to Roots to Health—where we dig deep into the foundation of lifelong wellness! Hosted by Dr. Craig Keever, Northwest Arkansas’ first and only plant-based pediatrician, this podcast unearths the power of nutrition, lifestyle, and holistic health to help kids, families, and adults thrive.
What can you expect?
Dr. Keever breaks down the science of nutrition and disease prevention in a way that’s simple, practical, and life-changing. From raising healthy kids to optimizing adult wellness, each episode delivers key insights that challenge conventional wisdom and empower you to take control of your health.
Whether he’s debunking nutrition myths, explaining how food shapes long-term well-being, or sharing actionable tips for disease prevention, Roots to Health is your go-to guide for vibrant living—one bite, one step, and one conversation at a time.
Get ready to rethink everything you thought you knew about health—and discover just how powerful roots can be!
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Roots to Health with Dr. Craig Keever
Beyond the Label: Decoding Processed Foods for Better Health
Confused about what "processed foods" really means? You're not alone. In this eye-opening conversation, we unpack the critical distinctions between different levels of food processing and why they matter for your health.
Most of us have heard we should avoid processed foods, but the reality is more nuanced. Processing exists on a spectrum – from minimally altered foods like frozen vegetables (which are perfectly healthy) to ultra-processed products engineered with additives, preservatives, and flavor enhancers designed to maximize "craveability" and profits rather than nutrition.
We explore how to navigate grocery store aisles with confidence by decoding food labels and identifying red flags. Those long ingredient lists with unpronounceable chemicals? That's your first clue you're dealing with an ultra-processed food. Even terms like "organic" or "plant-based" can be misleading if you're not looking at the complete nutritional picture.
The health stakes are high. Research shows clear connections between ultra-processed foods and increased risks of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. Some processed meats are even classified as carcinogenic by the World Health Organization – information that rarely makes headlines due to industry influence.
But this isn't about perfection or deprivation. We share practical strategies for creating delicious, satisfying meals without relying on ultra-processed ingredients. Whether you're plant-based or an omnivore, understanding the processing spectrum empowers you to make informed choices that support long-term health.
Ready to transform your relationship with food? Listen now to gain clarity on what processed foods really are and discover simple ways to build a healthier plate.
Thanks for listening to Roots To Health!
The information provided in this video is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have seen or heard in this video. Dr. Craig Keever is a licensed pediatrician, but the content shared here is general in nature and may not be applicable to your individual health needs.
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Good afternoon out there in podcast land.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:This is Dr Craig Kiever, I'm your host today for Roots to Health, and this is my lovely wife and vegan chef, amy. The next topic we've decided to attack today is one we've addressed a few times, in smaller amounts, in previous episodes, but the whole concept of processed foods, and what exactly are they and what do we need to worry about.
Speaker 1:It's a little confusing for people, I feel it certainly can be, until you get used to the lingo and you know what's going on here. So what exactly is the definition of processed food? We have here a definition. Let's see where'd that go. Anything altered from its natural state, that's pretty wide open.
Speaker 2:So the word process doesn't necessarily always mean it's a bad food, that's correct. Or a bad thing.
Speaker 1:That is correct. So the question is that is correct. So the question is how much processing are we comfortable with and where should we draw the line? So suffice it to say at the beginning here that even something as simple as peeling an apple, that's a form of processing.
Speaker 2:I didn't think about this in the beginning of our journey. That's right.
Speaker 1:That's right. Interestingly, I mean, peeling an apple is not necessarily a terrible thing, obviously, but the skin of the apple has some valuable nutrients, so it's possible that you may not want to get rid of those. On the other hand, if the skin bothers you, then certainly getting rid of it is reasonable, whereas like a dry bean would not at all be something that you'd want to do.
Speaker 2:Exactly, that's raw form. Not necessarily. That is quite true. Some of them can be actually pretty dangerous if they're not go through that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, yeah. So our first segment. Here we talk about what are processed foods, and that's pretty much where we start. There's actually some kind of divisions in the level of processing. So you've got a category we call whole foods, which would be just eating the apple all by itself. Then the next step would be minimally processed, and that would be like eating that peeled apple. That would be like eating that peeled apple, or, yeah, that would probably be it there. And then the next level we would call processed, which would be, as a, for instance, making applesauce out of the apple.
Speaker 2:And we don't tend to freeze apples, but freezing something could be in that as well. Definitely it helps to see one item, like you're doing, that's right.
Speaker 1:Freezing, steaming, boiling those are all a form of process. You are processing them.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And then, last but not least, is the ultra-processed foods, and that is, for the most part, where we kind of want to draw the line If you're talking about your health.
Speaker 2:Because you're adding things to this at this point. Yes, bad chemicals and things like that preservatives yes sugar, yes, sodium maybe exactly.
Speaker 1:So yeah, um other examples of minimally processed foods we've already kind of addressed. You know, any bag of frozen veggies or fruits from the freezer at your grocery store that's considered a form of processed food. We use those all the time.
Speaker 2:And you know, something that I didn't think about in the very beginning of this is, yes, a raw form like a vegetable is good, but a potato, if it has like a coating, if it has like a spicy coating, is going to have oil in that frozen potato. So it's like just watch your labels because we can sneak those things in with sodium. We've we've experienced that with veggie broth. I mean, oh yeah, one's got 260 milligrams of salt. Another one has three times that per serving, so that's a big difference that's huge, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then to that end, in the category processed foods, some people would also put canned beans. And, to your point, exactly that's where we've found you know a quick, easy way If you've got high blood pressure and you're trying to decrease the amount of sodium in your diet, it is uber important to look at the amount of sodium, particularly in things like canned beans and just about anything. Really, Look for that no salt label, no salt added label, and then you're going to be much better off. I mean, most cans will tell you there's like 300 milligrams of sodium and I think that's a per serving basis, and a can usually has about three to four servings in it. So, yeah, you're probably talking about 1,200 milligrams of sodium in one can of beans.
Speaker 2:And it can even be in things like Rotel and things like that. Oh yeah, by the time you cook with it, you've had veggie broth that's high sodium, your beans are high sodium. You know, we really try to salt at the very end because you lose that taste that way, and it's just. That's right.
Speaker 1:And then on the flip side of that, in terms of reading labels, very often you'll find no salt added cans of the same bean and they'll have like 10 or 20 milligrams of sodium per serving. I mean that's just astounding. And if you're like I said, really particularly the sodium in relation to high blood pressure, if you're dealing with that, there's going to be things that sneak in like that all the time if you're not really watching.
Speaker 2:Like refried beans. They can add lard and really add the fat. It's like it's real important to read your labels for sure. Yes, yeah, that's its own education. When you see, when it's bigger than your grocery list of what's in that can or whatever it is, that's a good indicator. This is not a good food.
Speaker 1:Very much, it's not all food. That's exactly right. If you see words that are bigger than you almost can pronounce, or yeah, or a list of 10 or more ingredients, you know the reading the label is definitely the key to. The shorter the list of things in it, the better. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean simple things like gummy bears. We don't think that's gelatin just made from bones and skin of animals, exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I never thought about gelatins being from that kind of source. Yeah, well, and one of the most commonly abused, I should say, forms of processed food is something that we generally may not think of as a processed food it's soda.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean that's an ultra processed food with all the additives and sugar.
Speaker 2:Food is actually not a really good word for it.
Speaker 1:That's a stretch, that's a big stretch. Chemical drink that's exactly right and I've mentioned before on the podcast. You know, in my checkups with kids and if I'm talking about nutrition, that's one of the first things to come out of my mouth is soda is really should be, for the most part, off the table. There are zero nutritional value. There's zero nutritional value to soda and it's all sugar and chemicals and diet is all super easy to add so many calories to your diet.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, calorie count not to mention what all that sugar does to your teeth and the problems with developing cavities, particularly as kids. But it doesn't stop there, because as adults we drink too much soda and we can have the same troubles. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Not good stuff.
Speaker 1:Not good stuff, all right. So yeah, we've kind of beat that to death. On what our process is, I don't know, I don't know. We may not have.
Speaker 2:I feel like people don't really know what that, even when it's just a generic term that people say like get away from processed foods, Right, but you know.
Speaker 1:Well, and I get that same reaction in a lot of my families in the checkups at work. You know it's like you know I'll just kind of blandly go past the okay, yeah, let's avoid processed foods, and I don't often go into what does that mean? Because you know a lot of families, particularly young families but not just young families and people that just haven't spent much time thinking about what they're putting in their mouth and how that affects their health. Yeah, we all hear about processed foods, but really pretty much anything from a fast food store.
Speaker 2:Every commercial while you're watching TV is going to be about processed foods Pretty much. Yeah, it's not thought of for sure.
Speaker 1:And there is a pretty wide range. Within the plant-based healthy eating world there's a relatively wide range of approaches to this One that I would call. At one end of the spectrum there's a significant group of people that just eat raw, yeah, and there are good reasons for that. It's a difficult path to take, really hard, but some people with certain issues medical issues, inflammatory problems and things of that nature there are reasons to potentially go completely raw Absolutely, and doing that actually really does help many medical conditions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if someone's sick, that's really the highest form of eating. Yeah, but it's a very disciplined form.
Speaker 1:It's a very disciplined form. It's a very disciplined form.
Speaker 2:So we grew up on these warm foods, and that's not so much the case that's exactly right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, and then at the other end of the spectrum, you know, is you know what, probably what I was used to. I mean, pretty much everything's cooked, unless I'm eating an apple or you know a piece of fruit or something like that. But but most part I didn't really think much about. You know, prior to becoming plant-based, I didn't think much about how much am I processing this food.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean we're on autopilot really truly. Like it's just crazy how we're not in school you know there's not one part of really that we're taught of as far as like, but in school you know there's not one part of really that we're taught of as far as like OK, this is something to be really considerate of.
Speaker 1:So what are the primary foods to watch for in terms of avoidance? And we've kind of gone over a list of a few of these, but again, like she's mentioned, I just don't know if we can talk about it enough. That's true, she's mentioned, I just don't know if we can talk about it enough.
Speaker 2:That's true.
Speaker 1:Because unless you're really focused on what you're wanting to do for your health, and sometimes, even when you're focused, things can slide in without even realizing it.
Speaker 2:That is what I've realized with the sodium, the fat and the sugar. It's like, even on what looks like, just because the label says plant based doesn't mean that it's it's, it's all vegan and it doesn't mean that it's healthy.
Speaker 1:That's right. Well, and to that point too, in terms of label reading and pay attention, paying attention to things that are not just marketing ploys, the words organic or vegan, the words organic or vegan, you know, they're probably way overused. Yep, Right, and primarily it's just a marketing tool.
Speaker 2:One of the veggie broths, I think was organic and it was very high in sodium.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So you know, I've known plenty of vegan eaters that are incredibly unhealthy, which?
Speaker 2:is where this stigma came from yeah.
Speaker 2:Like to think that, oh, if you eat vegan you're not going to be healthy, it's because people were not really looking at the nutritional side of it. Right, you can do it. There's all kinds of spectrums and you know to that point. If we ever have any kind of decadent foods, it's like there's all levels of the standard diet and you know vegan foods. You can go on some things that really are it's too much fat in your diet, but it's all. If you break it down, it's all healthy things, right, but so that's maybe you know more than people are really prepared to have to deal with.
Speaker 1:But it's super easy once you get into it and it it definitely becomes easier once you're paying attention and learn a few things. But, like we've said before, oreo cookies are vegan, Twinkies are vegan. I'm not eating any of those, not with a history of high blood pressure and high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.
Speaker 2:Which is where the whole food plant-based word comes in.
Speaker 1:That's exactly right and that's why, when I tell people how I eat, the quick and easy way would be to say vegan, right, but that's not exactly accurate. What I do is vegan. It's the big umbrella. Yeah, vegan is the big umbrella and whole food plant-based is a more restrictive, a water droplet effect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, I don't know, that doesn't exist. Water drop yeah, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1:So as we've kind of mentioned, the first category of things that are to be really avoided or minimized is just refined sugar. Yeah, any label that has that on it. I mean that is an addictive substance. I've heard it, and I don't know if there's any scientific backing to this statement, but I've heard it said that refined sugar is 19 times more addictive than heroin.
Speaker 2:And I believe it, I really do. And the kicker is there's animal products in the white refined sugar, because the bones are what creates you know. And again, that may be too much in the water and too much muddying the water for some people, but I wanted to know that, like I did not know that for the longest time so.
Speaker 1:So they use that for a whitener to make the sugar white. Yeah, they filter it through ground bones and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um and for, like I knew someone who had alpha gal like they can't even touch something like that because of it, because it's significant enough in it that it would cause a reaction, yeah, so Next category that we might think.
Speaker 1:So, as we've mentioned, I just want to make sure we cover the sugar thing. That's kind of a duh but, as we mentioned, there's soda, there's the sweet cereals. You know very few cereals on the cereal aisle really pass the check, you know, in terms of is this something that's good for me?
Speaker 2:And that gets back to the whole food, like 100% maple syrup. The body metabolizes that differently because it has fiber. It breaks it down. The body knows what to do with it the body knows what to do with the whole fruit, but this is kind of dissecting a food and it doesn't know.
Speaker 1:And of course, any kind of candy falls in that. Refined sugar. The next broad topic to pretty much avoid or minimize are the refined flours, refined grains so they enrich those, you know, and then they. But the problem is in the process of making the refined flours. So so the the grain itself is actually a really healthy thing for us, but the grain itself has several layers to it and those layers contain all the fiber and nutrients and other good things for us and, like you've alluded to, with processing it strips away a lot of those things. And so when we strip away all those things from the grain, you're left with a glob of starch, basically sugar, right.
Speaker 2:And so that's what Dr Bolschwitz does call it. It's just like a sugar.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Is it true that, like a grain, is going to have both a soluble and insoluble?
Speaker 1:Yes, there are two types of fiber.
Speaker 2:So one kind of helps you go all the way through the body where you don't actually you know it's not like it's a calorie. It's not actually counted as some calories counted as some calories.
Speaker 1:I mean some of it. I don't know how you define that, but it goes all the way through. Fiber is something that we ourselves, as the human aspect of our gut, don't really digest.
Speaker 2:Which is a good segue for our next series. That's right.
Speaker 1:And so, yeah, the fiber, both soluble and insoluble fibers, are important and do and play different roles, but our gut microbiome then will digest those.
Speaker 2:And you're losing some of that when you get that that's exactly right.
Speaker 1:You're losing a lot of the fibers, whether it's soluble or insoluble, when by the process of refining these flowers. So those are not really good for us. So what does that look like? Well, any kind of cookies, crackers, chips.
Speaker 2:White pasta.
Speaker 1:Yeah, pasta. Those are all things that, particularly as a diabetic, are either off or really minimized on my eating plan, because my body does not handle that well and it spikes my sugar.
Speaker 2:And that's not to say like for me it doesn't do that, but that's not to say like I couldn't occasionally have that, but it's something just to monitor, because ultimately it does kind of dink your microbiome a little bit.
Speaker 1:Well, right and and as with really all of this stuff that you know, as I've gone through this process of figuring out what to eat and what not to eat, um, it's, it's really all about test and measure, as a, for instance, you know, my first year and a half, and more plant-based most every day I woke up and had a bowl of oatmeal right with fruit on it. Yeah, it's great food, good whole food. It's a grain. So you know, um, and come to find out as I went further and further down the road.
Speaker 2:Uh, it was helping spike my blood sugars for you, and not necessarily that would it be a problem for anybody else, that's absolutely correct. You would not at all compare it to like white pasta or a cookie.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no. But my metabolism, the way it handles it is it spikes my blood sugars and there are people like that, and then there are people that can handle oatmeal.
Speaker 2:So really, in terms of Because we both wore a continuous blood. What would we call? It blood sugar monitor yeah, and so that was interesting to see when we ate. You know the same exact thing. Yours would go and mine would just pretty much stay pretty even yep, so.
Speaker 1:So yeah, for me those are things to avoid, and and for somebody without diabetes, maybe you don't have to be so worried about that. But again, the whole test and measure idea is how we kind of come to what works best for our body's metabolism. Now we're crossing into in terms of these other two areas to briefly discuss about the things to watch out for artificial additivesitives. You know there's all.
Speaker 2:It's just much more serious than I really realized. Oh yeah, it's not good.
Speaker 1:All kinds of chemicals for preservatives and whatever other reasons these companies add them, whether it's to increase the craveability of their food, yeah, which is obviously another word for addictiveness of their food, right. And then this last category is something, as plant-based eaters, we don't worry about in our home, but you really want to pay attention to all the processed meats? Okay, whether you're omnivore or whatever you know, because my job is not to condemn anybody that's a meat eater here, I just but it is important for people to know that carcinogenic wise it's on the same level as cigarettes.
Speaker 1:Exactly, bacon is right on that level.
Speaker 2:Or sliced ham yeah, anything that's like a sliced turkey meat.
Speaker 1:Yep, no, that's exactly right. It's really scary. It is Hot dogs, bacon, deli slices, you know those things all have and have, and it's really documented in the World Health Organization. The meat industry has had a lot of pull here in this country, so we don't hear about it. Yep, you know the meat industry is in big government, as is big dairy and yeah, so I wonder how that goes where they label it like a carcinogenic, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean I wonder who, how that even gets to that level, because you know how a lot of the different industries can stop those things from even being labeled.
Speaker 1:You bet you know. I mean the first example of how that worked. Years ago, when, um science finally decided smoking is bad for you, um, the tobacco industry took multiple approaches to keeping that quiet. Um, I would offer not knowing exactly what techniques were used. Most of them were illegal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I you know I'll tread lightly here, but there's a lot of foundations that are supposed to be for certain cancers and certain heart. You know things that they are backed by the very things that are causing those things.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't know that we need to tread really lightly with that, because there is a documentary out Was that one called what the Health? Yeah, that talks about that. So I would highly recommend watching that documentary what the Health? That'll give you an idea of what we're talking about here. These big corporations get their fingers in the government and can dictate Well, that's exactly what has been dictated to us in terms of, you know, things that come down from the government as far as what's good for us, right.
Speaker 2:The dietary.
Speaker 1:Because we've still got dairy really in there and being strongly pushed.
Speaker 2:They recently changed I don't think it was the food pyramid, but they did something in. Those industries were trying to muffle that, because they were really talking about a lot more grains, a lot more plant-based options.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:Word's getting out there.
Speaker 1:Word's getting out there. So those are the things to primarily avoid, and if you've been eating the standard American diet, that in itself really is overwhelming. Yeah, because those things were the biggest part of my diet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me too, me too. And I've always said I couldn't go two or three hours without. I was like I was almost shaky without food when I was on the standard diet and I don't have that reaction at all. I mean, I might get hungry but I can go. I can even be hungry and not have that.
Speaker 1:That's exactly right.
Speaker 2:Addictive type reaction.
Speaker 1:So. So why is it then that we're on such a bandwagon to avoid all these processed foods? Well, there are very clear links, um, in any kind of real science and observation of of the issues uh, links to obesity, links to heart disease, links to cancer, various types of cancer, and links to type 2 diabetes. All these things are going to feed into all those problems, which is why it's become such a major health crisis.
Speaker 2:It breaks my heart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's rough. It breaks my heart, yeah, it's rough, and it also all these processed foods, as we've kind of hinted at can lead to serious overeating on top of all that, because many of these corporations have entire departments geared towards creating a craveability to their food.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're nutritionally deficit, and then you're actually starving Because you're not actually getting the nutrition.
Speaker 1:That's right, because there's no nutrition to be had.
Speaker 2:I just I want to encourage people to just be curious about what we're talking about because, like, we had a plant based lasagna a couple of days ago and it's like I wish people understood that. You know, we still like those tastes that we have avoided. Now we just make them plant based. We had a oyster mushroom um, now I can't remember what I put in it um, artichoke roasted bell pepper lasagna yeah and it was just really satisfying we've got leftovers that we're munching on all week.
Speaker 1:It's fabulous savoring it. So what are the kinds of, uh, minimally processed foods that we don't even need to think twice about? All right Things, like we mentioned before, the frozen fruits and veggies, roasted nuts. Now, having said that about nuts, if you're on a weight loss plan, if you're on a plan that, for instance, for type 2 diabetes, where I really need to watch my fat intake, the amount of nuts I take in needs to be very minimal, if any at all. I mean, there are some key nutrients in nuts, particularly like vitamin E, you know. So.
Speaker 2:Where you're going to take a big bike ride tomorrow and we're kind of loading you up with some of that.
Speaker 1:Exactly so, you know. But these are things that by and large you don't have to worry about. Canned beans don't have to really worry about those Other than, like we said, really kind of watch that sodium, because that's where it sneaks in now, whole grain breads. You know, we don't necessarily want to encourage Wonder Bread. Right, not to pick on a particular brand. I don't even know if that brand is still out there. That was what it was when I was a kid. But just a plain enriched flour, white bread, those are pretty much garbage.
Speaker 2:And you really have a struggle with any kind of bread, but Ezekiel bread is one that just doesn't affect you at all.
Speaker 1:I really have grown to love Ezekiel bread. It's very good.
Speaker 2:But whatever you do, when you look at the label just minimize the length of the ingredient list and whatever is top of that list is the majority Right, and so if you see corn syrup at all, you probably should avoid that. Yeah, corn syrup is not good.
Speaker 1:That's not good. No, All right, Natural nut butters. That's another reasonable one to watch for or not to over-worry about If you're into using a little bit of dairy. Plain Greek yogurt is supposed to be again something that's actually there's some benefits to that, and all the level of protein not that we're really recommending that.
Speaker 1:I'm I'm I'm a bit more anti-dairy than that, but I'm all anti-dairy for various reasons yeah but all of this to say that again, to just kind of beat a dead horse, all of processing is not um, does not need to be avoided so well and probably for the most part, the things that are healthy.
Speaker 2:People don't even think of those as processed foods actually, right?
Speaker 1:That's right. So, you know, we've kind of also talked a bit about although not directly put this way how to navigate around the grocery store. What does all this information mean to what I do when I pick out my foods? Well, as we talked about, you know, read the label. Yeah, I mean it's highly important.
Speaker 2:And another thing that I meant to mention last time that really helps me is if you're kind of getting your grocery list at home and even if you're going to go to the grocery store. A real good visual is if you'll just pull up the Walmart app. It is so helpful. You can see the label and so you can kind of, if you're putting it together a recipe like oh, do I want to, or if you're ordering it like we do, you know, on the app you can easily see what's in that food and that I go to that all the time. Chronometer is great for like putting your recipes and things, but it's not that visual that I need.
Speaker 1:That's right, and the chronometer is the app that we sometimes use to track our own intake and how we're doing with our macronutrients and micronutrients and calories and all of that.
Speaker 2:And a neat thing about chronometer on the premium app is, if you have custom recipes, you can share them with your family members throughout your app and so like I can put the app in. You don't really like to put in the recipes, you can share them with your family members throughout your app and so, like I can put the app in. You don't really like to put in the recipes, but I'm telling on you, call me lazy, and then it goes to your phone. So if you're looking to see what calories and stuff because a lot of recipe books don't have a lot of cookbooks don't have any of that detail so like that's really handy to have and see what you can, right.
Speaker 1:And I would also then suggest although we've already talked about that, sometimes it may be kind of a marketing ploy in terms of the label including organic or non-GMO or whatever else that says screams. It's not always a market ploy.
Speaker 2:So it's good, but it's definitely there.
Speaker 1:But it's definitely there, but it's good to Don't let it make all your choices. That's right. It's a good label to see and have. But again, pay attention to the rest of the label to see what ingredients.
Speaker 2:The verified vegan sign is good if you're really wanting to make sure you don't have any animal products. The verified gluten-free is a good symbol.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:But beyond that it's all conditional.
Speaker 1:So just a brief recap of what we've covered today. You know to again beat a dead horse. I think it's important. Yeah, we don't need to avoid all processed foods, because processed can be as simple as just dicing it up.
Speaker 2:But by our term. When you hear that word processed foods, they're usually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're usually the ultra-processed foods. That's the big deal. To really avoid is the ultra-processed foods. Prioritize in your eating plan whole foods or minimally processed foods, and then you can figure out with some of these other ingredients. If you're wanting to do something like Amy talked about, some of the more decadent things like a lasagna or something you know, if the recipe calls for something more processed, we can find things in the plant-based world to switch that out. Absolutely yeah, and I should at the tail end here mention because there's always a question about the use of oils Oil is another one of those highly processed foods, just like I was talking about the grains. When you make oil you strip away all the goodness and many of the nutrients and all you're left with is a glob of fat.
Speaker 2:So even the so-called term healthy oils like olive oil Extra virgin olive oil is not always what the label says. Anyway, right, you know, you really don't know the source of it.
Speaker 1:So really we've become very accustomed to just don't use oil on cooking.
Speaker 2:It's so calorie dense.
Speaker 1:I mean three tablespoons.
Speaker 2:There's a chef that I love and I won't name him because I don't. I want people to get you know he's great, but a lot of times there's two or three swigs of oil here, two or three, and that really, and that makes you feel bad. I don't even like the way that feels you know, a light spray with a little thing for, just to, if you need that little kick yeah, well, I think we've covered this fairly well a couple cookbooks.
Speaker 2:I've always wanted to review a couple cookbooks. So the america's text test kitchen. For those of you who can't see, you can see this on um youtube if you'd like to come see us on youtube. But vegan for the for everybody. This is by the america's test kitchen and it was on YouTube. But vegan for the for everybody. This is by the America's Test Kitchen and it was.
Speaker 2:It's really a neat book, especially for people that are new to it, because they kind of talk about in the beginning like this is they really do test out different things, like this was one where they had muffins with cream of tartar, with aquafaba, versus just the plain aquafaba, and they show you know the difference. But in each recipe it'll say why this works and they go into the details of like what and so really good recipes. Really love this book. Uh, another one that I love now this one is called plant forward recipes. I did see an egg on there, but it was easy to admit. There might be times that you have to do something to replace that, but really kind of like a French cooking cookbook. And again it's Love and Lemons by Janine Donofrio and Jack Matthews, but lots of sauce recipes. We did a little health energy bites for you for your bike ride tomorrow out of that. So yeah, really, two neat beautiful books, awesome little health energy bites for you for your bike ride tomorrow, out of that, so yeah really two neat, beautiful books, awesome.
Speaker 1:I want to thank everybody for tuning in and we'll sign off and catch you next time. Take care, thank you.
