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Your Checkup: Patient Education Health Podcast
Ever leave the doctor’s office more confused than when you walked in? Your Checkup: Health Conversations for Motivated Patients is your health ally in a world full of fast appointments and even faster Google searches. Each week, a board certified family medicine physician and a pediatric nurse sit down to answer the questions your doctor didn’t have time to.
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Your Checkup: Patient Education Health Podcast
73: Ultra-Processed Foods Explained: What They Do To Your Body (And Why They Matter)
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Our food choices extend far beyond calories, with recent research showing minimally processed diets outperform ultra-processed diets for weight loss even when nutrient content is identical.
• Ultra-processed foods contain industrial ingredients not found in home kitchens like sweeteners, emulsifiers, and preservatives
• The NOVA classification categorizes foods from unprocessed to ultra-processed based on processing methods
• Signs of ultra-processed foods include long ingredient lists, unpronounceable ingredients, and extended shelf life
• Ultra-processed foods are engineered to be "hyper-palatable," making it difficult to stop eating them
• Plant-based meat alternatives and flavored yogurts often fall into the ultra-processed category despite health claims
• Simple swaps like plain oats instead of flavored packets or homemade dressing instead of bottled options make a difference
• Starting with small, manageable changes like replacing one ultra-processed food at a time is more sustainable
Related Episodes:
Episode 19 Balanced Nutrition
https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/2346940/episodes/15567190-19-balanced-nutrition-the-basics
Episode 69 Mediterranean Diet
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2346940/episodes/17499203
FDA Red Dye Ban
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2346940/episodes/16465476
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Production and Content: Edward Delesky, MD, DABOM & Nicole Aruffo, RN
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Hi, welcome to your checkup. We are the patient education podcast, where we bring conversations from the doctor's office to your ears. On this podcast, we try to bring medicine closer to its patients. I'm Ed Dolesky, a family medicine doctor in the Philadelphia area, and I'm Nicola Ruffo. I'm a nurse and we are so excited you were able to join us here again today.
Speaker 1If you're listening to this episode, you will probably find it relatable to. We numbered our episodes recently to be able to better reference them, because sometimes they do connect with other episodes, actually a lot of times, and so this episode today, when we get to it about ultra processed foods, is going to be connected to episodes 17 through 23 and several other episodes. But if you're on a weight loss journey, that's how this is kind of relatable to you and I just wanted to include that here in the beginning. But before we get too far, you know we have to do our little opener here. Um, something I will never understand is the formation of a line, the mechanics of forming a line at really any establishment, but, from what we saw, an ice cream place.
Speaker 2Yeah, well, it's forming a line when there are the opportunity, like when there's the opportunity for multiple different lines. I think there's like four windows at the place we like to get ice cream at the beach and depending. I don't know like how this happens, but usually people I don't know why they like flock to making one line, usually either at the first window or right in the middle, and then line in front of a window with no people in it, which I think is how it should be. Just have like four shorter lines rather than one really long line. And then people are like wait, is this a line? Does this one not have a line? Can I go here?
Speaker 1people are all confused yeah, you know, I do, I, and I like I don't know when it starts or how it manages, because the people working are behind the like this, like little glass wall or plexiglass, plexiglass, I don't know. That was hard to say. They have no control over, like how it forms outside. It doesn't make any sense. And then you get all these people that there's like a breeding ground for resentment, because all of the people who chose to stand in this one line have just like, abided by what was done before them when yeah, they're followers but they have four different line stanchions.
Speaker 2Well, that's what we did the other night. We went, there was one long line right in front of the first one. The other three windows had no line or like one person behind it.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2So we went up to the one with like no one walked right up. Got our ice cream and we're done and there were like 20 people there before us, but like I don't care, you're waiting in this big long line.
Speaker 1Here's the thing, though they had four different of those like chains and stanchions.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Indicating that people should go in different lines.
Speaker 1They're trying to make it easier on people and they don't listen no, this is great, and this is not isolated to ice cream places. When my car got towed, this was like much before we lived together. When my car got towed, there was one line to like process the ticket and then everyone had to leave and go to their car and get the registration and come back and get in the second line to pay the ticket after you had your registration. After that everyone went back into the original line and like every 10 minutes the line just kept doubling. So I went and asked I was like are you waiting in this? And it turns out there was a second line. So I think this is a huge group think thing.
Speaker 2Yeah, I don't know if the group thinks, though.
Speaker 1So no, the group is not thinking. I'm not sure the group is thinking in these moments. It's. But then you know, this woman, like this woman next to us back to the ice cream, she seemed upset, like someone, this woman next to us back to the ice cream, she seemed upset. Someone went and was like I'll take the next customer, and someone went in front of her in a different line and she seemed flummoxed. Did you see that?
Speaker 1Yeah, but you should have just went to where there was no line in the first place. Babe, you know? Yeah, that's the answer. Let us know if you've ever had an experience like this or if you've thought about the, the mechanisms of line formation in our society. This is important, don't even get me started. When there's like online ordering and then in person as well, like when do you?
Speaker 2oh yeah, like if you are just going there to pick something up, versus okay, that's another thing at the one place where we like to get sandwiches, where if you, if they're really bit, it depends sometimes, like when they get really busy, they put out like the number thing to take yep, yep so if you called ahead and ordered something and you're only there to pick it up and pay, you still have to pick.
Speaker 2They make you still pick a number and like wait until they call your number to just be like hi, like I'm nicole, I'm here for my order right when really the thought of ordering ahead is that you just go there, pick it up and leave.
Speaker 1Right, what do you do Like? I need this number to approach these people who are working here.
Speaker 2They should really. It would be so much more efficient. Maybe I should tell them this next time. I'm in. It would be so much more efficient if they had like, I mean, I feel like every place in Philly I mean not place in philly, I mean not just in philly, like everywhere has like a pickup counter. I feel like that place should do that. And then they just like put the name on it.
Speaker 1Well, I guess that would require you to pay ahead of time that would require ahead of time payment yeah and maybe this is why yeah I don't think they have a mechanism or they have like a separate.
Speaker 2It gets like very busy in there yeah or they have a second person with, like a pickup situation, taking payment oh, like a Chick-fil-a yeah that's the first one that comes to mind.
Speaker 1People in the they're taking orders, they're walking up the line.
Speaker 2I'm gonna have to tell them how to run their biz. What like? What's that guy with a tv show? Oh um the bar rescue or whatever mythbusters no, I forget foster's home for imaginary friends what no?
Speaker 1it's a bar rescue is that what it? The guy goes in and explains how to run a restaurant.
Speaker 2Yeah, bar Rescue. Who is that guy?
Speaker 1Oh, I have no idea his name.
Speaker 2Or no. Gordon Ramsay, is that the guy? Not on Bar Rescue, but he did.
Speaker 1No, that's the guy from Hell's Kitchen. He yells at people.
Speaker 2I know, but didn't he also?
Speaker 1And he's a chef.
Speaker 2He's a good one too. I hear Kitchen nightmares. Is that what it is? Gordon Ramsay is the one that yells at people. I think it's him. He goes into restaurants and stuff and they.
Speaker 1But not children.
Speaker 2Talk about how.
Speaker 1What he doesn't yell at children. I think there are some TV shows where he's on, but he's actually kind to the children.
Speaker 2Okay, well, we're talking about adults here how was I supposed to? Know kitchen nightmares hell's kitchen I need to be whoever that person is on that show about this place that we go to at the beach to make them run more efficiently yeah, I think so they will probably get more business, because there's been times where we walked in there and I'm like, okay, I don't want to sandwich this bad yeah, and then we leave, and then we leave.
Speaker 1Yeah, how many people do that? Yeah, people of this generation, we're losing patience. I saw this one post. It was like so weird. It was like I don't know the how they actually did this, and this isn't on our thing, but, um, it was like this graph of like younger people have decreasing amounts of courtesy and patience and I'm like how is anyone and it decreased amounts of tolerability for things and I'm like how is any of this being measured? You could have just put like arrows on this graph.
Speaker 2I mean, yeah, that's how all internet science is.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2Arrows on graph. Arrows on graph.
Speaker 1Oh, here we go. So we had an enjoyable dinner. I'm switching up here. We went to Shea Frites.
Speaker 2I think it's Shea Frite.
Speaker 1Shea Frite, I think so they were very attentive. A Stephen Starr restaurant, but in Atlantic City, and I got the steak. It was delicious, it was medium and you got the what.
Speaker 2I got the salmon, it was fine. The whole um concept, I feel like this is he built a whole idea on the back of unlimited fries, which, like I love, but it's like a prefix menu, so so you get a salad which actually was very good it was a delicious salad vinaigrette or something like so simple, but it was so good.
Speaker 2And then there are like four appetizer, appetizer type things that you can pick from, and then four main dishes it's like steak, salmon, lobster and like something else and it's just your meat and then a bunch of fries and that's the whole quote-unquote concept of the restaurant, which that's like another tangent. I could go on, um, but yeah, it was good, the vibes were cool inside the restaurant, the dirty martini was excellent and I would go back just for that, I think.
Speaker 2I think if you like sit at the bar, had a drink, ordered some fries which were also very good and then there's like an outside area, not like part of the restaurant, just like at the hotel that it's at. So that was cool. Although we didn't come prepared, because it was like really windy and a little chilly there was no way to predict that. Maybe next time we'll bring another layer and walking out.
Speaker 1Those colors in the sky were so vibrant over the ocean. It was really pretty yeah, it was really pretty. I wasn't expecting that. And using the new camera I don't know if we've mentioned the new camera yet. Um, really fun.
Speaker 2I love that thing oh yeah, I just got a little like kodak point and shoot camera. It was like on sale for prime day I love it. I'm obsessed it takes pretty good pictures it does.
Speaker 1But this it threw me off because the display itself like kind of makes it a little grainy.
Speaker 2Yeah, but then, once it's on your phone, you're like whoa a lot better. Wow, I got it mainly for our honeymoon to take like really cool pictures when we're there, um, and not have to like lug around something big. It's like very small. But that's great yeah, I loved it.
Speaker 1I've been using it been using it a ton um the. So the dinner was great. I was happy with that. Not the best meal we've ever had, but you, we had a great time that night.
Speaker 2Yeah, we did.
Speaker 1And I think maybe it was like the being out factor, you know, like getting dressed up. You looked amazing.
Speaker 2I had to wear a new dress that I got, that I haven't got to worn yet. Yeah To worn yet To wear yet, oh, my God, do I know words.
Speaker 1I don't know Stress-free best man. You could say that easy.
Speaker 2Again.
Speaker 1I can't.
Speaker 2We haven't talked about Trent.
Speaker 1No, we haven't, Is that?
Speaker 2going to be? For how long has this pre-show?
Speaker 1been 12 minutes.
Speaker 2Should we save it for another episode? We can do a Trent recap, sure Okay.
Speaker 1Yeah, we could do that. That sounds good, I like that.
Speaker 2All right.
Speaker 1Yeah, so let's dive in then. Okay, All right. All right. So what are we going to talk about today, Nick?
Speaker 2Today we're talking about ultra-processed foods.
Speaker 1What if I told you that two people could follow the same healthy eating guideline, but one eats mostly fresh, minimally processed foods and the other eats mostly packaged, ultra-processed foods? Would you expect their weight to be the same or different? So it turns out. We are going to briefly review, or introduce the idea, that there was a study that came out recently.
Speaker 2And we mentioned this in I forget what episode. Yeah, we briefly talked about this in episode 22, where we kind of talked about calorie deficits, weight loss, metabolism, those sorts of things, but now we'll just dive deeper into it.
Speaker 1Metabolism those sorts of things, but now we'll just dive deeper into it. Yeah, so it's on the back of this UK-based trial that came out very, very recently, and in prior episodes we really dived deep into the study. Today, I think it's more fruitful if we define a little bit more about ultra-processed foods and talk about them a little bit more. But the study itself had about 55 adults who were overweight or had obesity. It was kind of small 55 is not a lot.
Speaker 1Everyone followed the UK's eating well guideline, but the only difference was one group ate minimally processed food and the other ate ultra processed food, and both groups lost weight. But the minimally processed group lost what they say is twice as much weight, but it was like 2% of their total body weight versus 1%. So that's important. You have to like. I mean, is that a whole lot? I don't know. You decide and they lost more body fat. But it's this study that gets us talking about what ultra processed food is and what it really means and why it matters for health, before we get too far into the fun stuff. This episode combines information from that trial, which was published in Nature Medicine in 2025, and other educational materials based on guidance from the American Heart Association and other peer-reviewed research. Okay, nikki, can you take us through what ultra-processed foods are?
Speaker 2Yes, ultra-processed foods are factory-made products that are using ingredients, more so uncommon. Just that you would have in your kitchen. So like industrial sweeteners. Colorings would have in your kitchen. So like industrial sweeteners colorings, flavorings, emulsifiers lots of steps that the food, or whatever, has to go through before it's in a package and in your store totally um the.
Speaker 1There is a classification of food that is used. It's called the NOVA classification. That's N-O-V-A. It's widespread. Everyone's heard of the food pyramid. That was one we grew up on. Other people in their adulthood they're listening to this. But the NOVA classification breaks down food into four categories and those categories being unprocessed or minimally processed. This includes things like fruits, veggies, plain yogurt, eggs, nuts, fresh meat and fish. Number two processed culinary ingredients. So there's no doubt like these things were made to cook in oil, butter, sugar and salt. Three is a brand of processed foods, which can include things like cheese, canned beans with salt, simple whole grain bread. And four is the ultra processed foods. You know a lot processed foods.
Speaker 2You know a lot packaged snacks, instant noodles, sweetened drinks processed meats and actually many frozen entrees, oh yeah basically anything that's like in a package, if it's something frozen that you're heating up very processed.
Speaker 1Yeah, and the implication of the study, and we didn't dive into it a whole lot. It's an open access study for anyone who's really interested. They were implying that the people in the two groups ate the same nutritional quality Like they ate the same amount of protein, carbs, fats and they tried to imbue that the only difference was the processing and show that these differences happen. So there's a huge reason that this matters. It's because diets high in ultra-processed foods have some pretty significant links to weight gain themselves, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and increased risk of early death. And this evidence is a little tricky, though, because it comes from observational studies which are just big population trends of people, very short trials like the one that just came out. It lasted about eight weeks when people were in each arm of the treatment, because I think people did both. So very short trials. And while they're short, they do show that people eat more calories and gain weight on ultra-processed foods compared to minimally processed foods. But I think there's a lot of burden of scientific proof there that I don't think everyone's jumping at this. I mean the media is.
The NOVA Classification System
Speaker 1I've seen lots of things online saying this study talked about ultra processed foods, like NPR on threads is throwing it out and like NBC news is covering it. It was like a tiny study, but that's because they're hard to do, like food studies are happened most extensively when people are like locked in a hospital wing and fed a certain diet and measured in the entire time. How, like inconvenient, like would you sign up for a study like that? Yeah, maybe, maybe, but like I mean like the logistics of that, like you have to like take off from work, you have family, friends, like how do you even make that happen? So, yeah, you're getting into small people and if you don't have that direct comparison, it's going to be from people from observational studies.
Speaker 1And the big takeaway from this new study is that, like we said, even when ultra processed foods meet nutrient guidelines like these were within the UK's guidelines of what food should be like Minimally processed food still leads to more fat loss. All right, well, thanks for tolerating my little rant with me about there. Can you take us through being our culinary expert on this show? Oh my gosh. Well, it's true, can you take us through how to spot ultra processed foods for your average?
Speaker 2person. Yeah, I can. The first one is at the ingredient list on an ultra processed food will have a lot of ingredients maybe upwards of like 20 on the back of the ingredient label that have things like artificial sweeteners. You'll see things like flavor enhancers, thickeners, preservatives, um. One that I think is pretty like a pretty stark difference is uh, like different kinds of peanut butters or like a skippy or I don't know what's another GIF on the back of their label will have all kinds of things that you can't really pronounce, which is another kind of clue. Like, if you're looking at something and you have no idea what it is or you can't pronounce it, it's something ultra processed.
Speaker 2So the peanut butter on the back of something like a Skippy will have a long ingredient list, but then, like we usually buy the one at like trader joe's or costco has a good one, um, where, like, the ingredients are just peanuts and salt right so that's still something processed like it's in a package, but it doesn't have crap in it yeah, maybe it doesn't like reach that ultra processed level, maybe grade two or three on the nova people like to not get the kinds of peanut butters that are only peanuts because of like the oil and stirring it, but if you just store it upside down in your pantry until you're ready to eat it, it makes it really easy to mix up and then just keep it in your fridge and it like stays solid and doesn't separate.
Speaker 1I really do think people come here for this stuff too. Yeah, specifically.
Speaker 2I think also it might be Wegmans or maybe Whole Foods. I don't know if they still do it, but you can like I actually it might not be either of those stores, so don't quote me on there, but you can they have this entire thing.
Speaker 1They have a thing where you can like grind up the peanuts and then it gives you peanut butter or almond butter or whatever kind of nut butter. That's cool.
How to Spot Ultra-Processed Foods
Speaker 2Yeah, this goes in the theme of I really do think that a lot of health and medicine starts in the grocery store oh yeah truly yeah, like, even in like peanut butter I forget what the ingredient is that's like toxic to dogs, so like, why do you want to eat that?
Speaker 1right? No, I think a lot of it. I think we can afford to have a little bit of a chat about that once we're done spotting ultra processed foods. But, um, you're right, why would you what?
Speaker 2are some other things you can look at. Next one yeah, I'll go on a whole diatribe about the length of ingredients. Well then, also like the salad dressing too.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2That's why we just make our own salad dressing that have five simple things in it. Yeah, and it tastes better than the stuff that you buy at the store.
Speaker 1It does you know, yep.
Speaker 2Anyway, anyway, okay. So we have a long ingredient list. Second one are things on the packaging that say like ready to eat or instant, or like a just add water kind of situation. Mm-hmm, okay, okay.
Speaker 1Could be a sign.
Speaker 2Could be a sign. If something is instantly ready, it's. There's no reason. Like mashed potatoes should not be instantly ready. Yeah, you know, yep, boil a potato, that'll taste better.
Speaker 1It will. It's a little more adventurous too.
Speaker 2Yeah, adventurous.
Speaker 1It is. It's more adventurous. What else you got?
Speaker 2The third thing is the quality of the ingredients. So you'll see things like actually I should say lower quality of ingredients, so things that are added sugars, refined oils and refined starches and the last one kind of goes along with the second one, so just the convenience factor of it all. So, unfortunately, if something is very cheap or inexpensive, it is going to be more processed and bad for you. Um, the long shelf life is also another giveaway that something's ultra processed. Um, I talked about this in the red food diet episode, which was 42, kind of using the comparison of preservatives and food. So like, if you bake a cake at home, the shelf life of you baking a cake. It's not going to last for weeks and weeks and weeks in your pantry, like if you just bought a packaged cake from the store.
Speaker 1Yeah, compared to a Costco cake that can unfortunately last for five days while I pick on it after a graduation party, which was kind of disturbing to me, that that was fine.
Speaker 2Well, it was only disturbing because of like the cream in it.
Speaker 1Oh, OK, great, but you mentioned then the quick prep and then the what?
Speaker 2And the quick prep with you know, going along with like ready to eat instant, those sorts of things.
Speaker 1I have a couple of points that are off the outline here to raise. It's so unfortunate that oftentimes the processed foods and ultra processed foods are more affordable. So I was having this conversation with this person on threads and they were talking about how they were pretty much priced out of healthy foods and so they had to eat processed foods but in more modest portions, which I suppose is a way to do it when you have to.
Speaker 2No one said that this is affordable, cause we I know we were watching some documentary and the one family was basically like oh yeah, like this food is great, because we I know we were watching some documentary and the one family was basically like, oh yeah, like this food is great and I enjoy cooking it and I like eating it, but like in reality, we just can't afford it yeah, it's a very real thing.
Speaker 1It's very expensive. These days, everything is very expensive and then at the same, I would invite people to think about what you spend other money on. And then I see the argument of like it's an investment in your health and it's a long term thing, like you'll be able to do more and live longer and have fewer health expenses later on if you invest in this. Or like if you're going to buy something that's not as healthy for you and you repurpose that and invest it in like healthier food, can you get by fair?
Speaker 1it's a tough situation yeah one other thing is they make this stuff hyper palatable. It is, it tastes, it's like advanced yeah, they.
Speaker 2It's like engineered to make you want like, crave it, yeah, and want more of it, which is messed up.
Speaker 1It's messed up and maybe if you're listening to this like and hope it's validating that you there's a reason you can't put the bag down. Yeah, it was built to do that. There's a a reason I can't put. I'll put myself on the line. There's a reason I can't put the sour cream and onion chips down. If I'm at the store and I'm driving in the car and I haven't eaten, I open the bag and I am. There is a 75% chance I finished the entire family sized bag and if there's a reason, it is designed to do that. So be kind to yourself. But sometimes, like we said, it's all about what's in the grocery store is where all of this starts. So if you can't trust yourself because of what's happening to you, maybe don't buy it. If you can At least those snacks. Maybe don't buy it if you can At least those snacks.
Speaker 1So I'm going to give us some everyday examples of some ultra-processed foods and we've talked about them before but some other ones to think about. To easily identify Soda, easily identifiable ultra-processed food. Perhaps we'll do a whole episode on this. I feel like there's a strong community of people out there who are very against diet drinks. But for someone who has outright metabolic syndrome, trouble with diabetes, trouble with weight. I think in a harm reduction way, diet soda is better for that person than a regular soda. Don sue me. Packaged cookies, instant noodles, hot dogs some people limit their hot dog intake to once a year frozen dinners and sweetened cereals are all examples of ultra processed foods. Can you take us through some things that may be sometimes ultra processed but like it could depend and it's not 100 percent.
Speaker 2Yeah. So things like some yogurts, or mostly the ones that are like flavored, may have some additional additives in their protein bars. I mean, there's a whole spectrum of protein bars where you could go down, but at the end of the day it is something that's processed. Whether or not it's ultra processed, I think, just depends. I think some are worse than others. And then plant based meats are another one, because I mean, at the end of the day, day like they're adding stuff into it to make it like shaped like a burger and may plus or minus maybe taste like a burger.
Speaker 2So that's something that can be ultra processed. Yeah right, like your black beans and corn and, you know, mushrooms and whatever like shouldn't taste like a burger.
Speaker 1Right, and that's where the tough like yeah Right, like you would think it's healthier, but is there? Is there more to it?
Speaker 2And I think like that class of food. It's probably healthier to have the single ingredient of ground beef with, like some onion and seasoning yeah, maybe maybe it depends how you look at it I think it depends, yeah, so there's that.
Speaker 1And then there's foods that are clearly like, not ultra processed fresh or frozen produce can't miss. Plain dairy eggs, whole grains and canned beans with simple ingredients Can't miss there. Those are simple processed or just not ultra-processed foods that you can't miss. And then, just to list a couple health implications many ultra-processed foods are high in sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, refined starch and they're low in fiber. Time and time again, these are found to be implicated in high blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, and, honestly, the higher ultra-processed food intake is consistently associated with worse cardiometabolic outcomes, and so we just introduced a topic here. The same thing is that not all ultra-processed foods are equally bad. Like we talked about sprucing up a burger to make it look like a burger, and like putting a bow on it and putting a sign next to it and said burger as opposed to like a package of ultra-processed cookies that are hyper-palatable. So there is a little bit of wiggle room here, but it's just some stuff to think about. So we have some frequently asked questions on deck for you.
Health Implications and Simple Swaps
Speaker 2Here Are all packaged foods, ultra processed? No, not all packaged foods. So things that are more minimally processed would be like frozen fruits or frozen vegetables, plain oats, um, or like just canned beans with salt. So things that really are again looking back at that ingredient list are just like one ingredient, or like beans and salt, peanuts and salt, things like that yeah, what about whole grain packaged bread or cereals?
Speaker 2so again, some are, but some are not. Ultra processed. If the ingredient list is short again and free of any kind of like weird additives and like things that you can't pronounce, like if you're buying I don't know, like white wonder bread, that's probably going to have a longer list of ingredients than if you just bought like a loaf of sourdough from the bakery section and there are like four ingredients.
Speaker 1Yeah, right, totally. Is it okay to eat ultra processed foods sometimes?
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean I think it's a little bit hard to avoid. An occasional intake is common. I would say the goal is probably to make minimally processed foods, or not processed foods, the basis of your diet most of the time, to kind of support all those other health factors like your heart and metabolic health and then sprinkle in something ultra-processed.
Speaker 1So in this next portion, we're going to bring it back to the study a little bit and talk about the key takeaway from this trial that was just recently published. They both used minimally processed foods and ultra-processed foods to meet the dietary guidelines, and they both led to weight loss. Minimally processed foods led to more fat loss and better control of cravings, and what they think is that the processing itself may matter for weight and metabolic health beyond calories and nutrients, which introduces a very interesting possibility here, and so the study supports that, aiming for mostly minimally processed foods even if the ultra processed food option looks healthier on paper may be better, and so when you're thinking about making those changes, we're going to talk here about some simple changes you can make at home to get a little bit better, but maybe not even perfect. So what things can we do?
Speaker 2So we kind of talked about a couple of these sorts of things throughout the episodes. But one would be again reading the ingredient list, going toward things that are one ingredient or just a few ingredients versus a whole list of things. If you can pronounce everything that's in the ingredient list, that's a good sign. If you can't, maybe, stay away from it, building your meals around the minimally processed foods or not processed foods at all or not processed foods at all, Like maybe you make a salad where, like, every ingredient is just one ingredient and then you're going to make your own dressing and get rid of that like bottle of craft Italian dressing that's in your fridge that's full of crap and canola oil.
Speaker 2This is like one of my things. I have a few food type things that I will die on the hill for, and one of them is that our salad dressing is killing us. Make your own salad dressing, okay. There's no reason. We have salad dressing sitting on the counter right now. It's just like five things, so simple. But all these other ones it's like why do I have to refrigerate this after I open it?
Speaker 1Well, the xanthan gum needs to be hugged in a crisp 37 degree refrigerator.
Speaker 2It's so easy to make salad dressing. Just get rid of your salad dressing in your fridge.
Speaker 1And you can find how to make your own salad dressing in episode 69, the Mediterranean Diet.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's so easy. Um, okay, I'll get off my diet. I feel like I could talk about this for a long time, like I feel like in another life I would be a dietitian and just talk about food all day, um swapping things out, so like water for soda. I know that's a hard one, so it is also killing you is there like a not? To be dramatic like a bridge yeah, you could do like a seltzer or like a poppy, or what are the other ones, olipop, there's a bunch of other what are those?
Speaker 2um, they market them as like healthy sodas. Um, and it's basically, I guess it's soda esque yeah they have all different flavors and they have ones that are kind of like mimicking, like a dr pepper or a root beer.
Speaker 1So if, like, you need that fix, and you're trying to cut back oftentimes they're only like a couple calories too. Yeah, like far less, like 25 calories, something under the order of a hundred, when your average like soda is like 140, 120, something like that. So you're making huge wins there and you still get that type of flavoring.
Speaker 2The soda one's hard, I feel like.
Speaker 1A lot of people have a tough time cutting with soda.
Speaker 2The best thing my mom ever did for us was not let us drink soda, because none of us have developed a taste for it.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's a hard one. It's a really really hard one.
Speaker 2Um, using like plain oats instead of the instant oatmeal packets is one, even though I know you know that brown sugar cinnamon one is really good, but just get regular oats and if you need to sweeten it up, just have brown sugar and cinnamon that you probably already have yeah um plain yogurt versus what I like, this yogurt one oh yeah, plain yogurt versus, um, like really like a flavored one, or ones with fruit in them, which they kind of skeeved me out.
Speaker 2The ones with like fruit in the bottom, yeah, you can like, add your own fruit yeah, that's what I've been doing.
Speaker 1Your own fruit building my own yogurt, adding my granola. I want it a little sweeter. I put my little honey on there. I want my blackberries in there. I put my blackberries in there and it's delicious, instead of buying the one that already has it in it, and this one's like 120 calories. It's the Oikos Oikos Pro. It's like $100, $120 on the calories and like loads of protein. It's a huge win.
Speaker 2Another thing you could do. I know fruits and veggies can be very expensive. We just bought a lot today that was probably really expensive. So you can use like frozen fruits and frozen veggies for convenience If you have to. So ideally, ones that you know are are just like the broccoli, florets or whatever, not ones that are kind of like made with a lot of sauces. The freezing I think I mentioned this before like freezing a vegetable or freezing a food changes like the structure of the fiber in it, so there's not as much fiber in it. But if you're not really worried about that, I don't know why that's also something I like hang up on. I don't know why that's also something.
Speaker 1I like hang up on. And if you are worried about how much fiber you should get in your diet, we have a basic balanced nutrition episode, episode 19.
Speaker 2We do, and then keeping minimally processed snacks ready. So again, fruit plain popcorn. You can make your own popcorn, which is another good way to which we do. But then you can also like control what's in it and you can use like a higher quality single origin olive oil, or like just like a pad of butter and, like you know, that's just the kernel and this butter.
Speaker 1We're pulling the ripcord, getting the engine going.
Speaker 2Yeah, getting the engine going, yeah, and starting small, I think, probably like replacing one thing a day and going from there is more realistic than just overhauling your entire diet overnight, which is not realistic at all.
Speaker 1it's not, it's not at all. I and you're totally right, because this this falls in the line of like any sort of behavior change that people try to do, and I would say we talked about it's Mediterranean try to incorporate fish two times a week. So maybe you just go in your pantry and take a look around, see what's in there and then try to make one of these swaps the next time you go to the grocery store, because it truly is, for it's well known, this is going to be helping your health in the long run get rid of your salad dressing yeah, you do not like salad dressing.
Practical Tips for Healthier Eating
Speaker 1I don't, okay. Well, thank you for coming back to another episode of your checkup. Hopefully you were able to learn something for yourself, a loved one or a neighbor. You could find us on Instagram. You could follow us on threads, which is where we are most active. You could send us an email yourcheckuppod at gmailcom and, most importantly, we look forward to having you come back again. Feel free to share this episode with someone if you learned something, but, moreover, until next time, stay healthy, my friends. I'm Ed Dolesky. I'm Nicole Rufo. Thank you, goodbye, bye.
Speaker 1This information may provide a brief overview of diagnosis, treatment and medications. It's not exhaustive and is a tool to help you understand potential options about your health. It doesn't cover all details about conditions, treatments or medications for a specific person. This is not medical advice or an attempt to substitute medical advice. You should contact a healthcare provider for personalized guidance based on your unique circumstances. We explicitly disclaim any liability relating to the information given or its use. This content doesn't endorse any treatments or medications for a specific patient. Always talk to your healthcare provider for complete information tailored to you. In short, I'm not your doctor, I am not your nurse, and make sure you go get your own checkup with your own personal doctor.
