What processed food do you eat, which one do you avoid, are you also convinced that processed food kills ?

[BritManToo]

On 2/14/2021 at 1:44 PM, salsajapan said:

What about bread ?

Make your own, cheap, easy and without all the chemicals the factories add.

[BritManToo]

On 2/14/2021 at 3:27 PM, ukrules said:

If I take a chicken and run it through some kind of MRM type grinder / extruder / mixer contraption whilst adding various herbs and spices then form small shaped chicken pieces and freeze them dipped in a fine batter (chicken nuggets) does it turn a good piece of chicken into a bad piece of chicken?

Only if you add colourings, preservatives, fungicides and all the other nasty chemical additives.

Processed food usually contains around 20 chemicals you don't really want to eat.

[BritManToo]

14 minutes ago, Asquith Production said:

Almond milk tastes awful. Pistachio milk tastes so much better and is very good for you. Not cheap.

Chocolate milk is the best IMHO.

[Asquith Production]

11 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Chocolate milk is the best IMHO.

To much sugar normally. Pistachio milk you can get unsweetened

[GreasyFingers]

On 2/16/2021 at 12:24 PM, salsajapan said:

Anybody is drinking soy milk ? I am wondering if it's really healthy ?

even lactasoy seems not bad on food facts app, only 1 preservative ?

https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/8850267900153

 

 

Would not soy milk be a processed food? Cannot understand why anyone would drink or eat anything from a GM plant processed to look like a natural product.

[bignbad]

3 hours ago, bojo said:

Found it hard to believe, but saw a programme about mare's milk, apparently horse milk is all the rage in Belgium and Italy, who'd have thought..............

But they eat horse meat too????

[samtab]

4 hours ago, Michaelaway said:

Healthiest Milk

perfectly means nothing, just as saying, the best food in thailand...

 

 

[samtab]

4 hours ago, Asquith Production said:

Almond milk tastes awful. Pistachio milk tastes so much better and is very good for you. Not cheap.

 

Some almond milk tastes exactly like cow milk. Pistachio milk is awful in coffee.

 

 

[Salerno]

48 minutes ago, bignbad said:

But they eat horse meat too????

 

Aroi mak ????‍????

[Chicken George]

I avoid white rice as its processed food. Its just not any good for you in so many ways. Its had all the goodness removed. It strips the body of zinc. Worst of all it can give you lung cancer indirectly. The waste from the crop is burned off contributing to the terrible air pollution in Thailand. 

Edited February 18, 2021 by Chicken George
Spelling

[khunPer]

On 2/14/2021 at 7:44 AM, salsajapan said:

I guess that the ultimate rule is to only eat what you make yourself, but this rule is a bit difficult to apply daily, what do you think ?

It's a question of volume – or rather balance, which it often is – nothing happens if you occasionally should eat some processed food in moderate amount, but something serious might well happen if you eat it every day, and especially if intake of so-called "junk food" is massive.

 

It's like with so much, a balance, like alcohol for grown up men (i.e. 50+), where two glass of wine a day, or similar amount alcohol, has shown to be (very) healthy, whilst (much) more can be extremely fatal. Many products seems to be healthy, cheese has for example scientifically shown to be good for longevity, and coffee up to five cups a day also seems to be healthy, noy to forget cocoa that according to some scientists should be considered as a vitamin.

 

Best is to eat variate and unprocessed food. Deep frozen storage is Okay for a number of products. If you have the facilities it's easy to cook delicious meals from fresh or frozen raw materials, it don't need to be complicated, and it's even very affordable; or visit local Thai restaurants, they normally prepare all their dishes from fresh raw materials, and use a variety of good vegetables.

 

I don't worry too much about food, it's more important to be happy, but whenever I easily can, I stay away from too many processed products and substitutes, and in general I buy "normal" stuff instead of "low fat" and "sugar free", i.e. I for example rather choose sugar than alternatives, but sugar in modest amount; however, should I drink something with artificial sweetener now and then, I'll presumably survive – so far I've successfully managed to do just that...????

[digger70]

On 2/14/2021 at 1:44 PM, salsajapan said:

hi, I often meet healthy old men who never eat any processed food. As a old man, do you also agree that processed food is one of the worst thing for health ?

So, which ones do you eat and which ones you avoid ?

Is frozen chicken from the supermarket processed food ? or can we consider that it's just regular chicken that has been frozen, and consider it healthy ?

What about bread ?

I guess that the ultimate rule is to only eat what you make yourself, but this rule is a bit difficult to apply daily, what do you think ?

thank you.

 

What counts as processed food?

Examples of common processed foods include:

breakfast cereals

cheese

tinned vegetables

bread

savoury snacks, such as crisps, sausage rolls, pies and pasties

meat products, such as bacon, sausage, ham, salami and paté

microwave meals or ready meals

cakes and biscuits

drinks, such as milk or soft drinks

Not all processed food is a bad choice. Some foods need processing to make them safe, such as milk, which needs to be pasteurised to remove harmful bacteria.

Other foods need processing to make them suitable for use, such as pressing seeds to make oil.

What makes some processed foods less healthy?

Ingredients such as salt, sugar and fat are sometimes added to processed foods to make their flavour more appealing and to extend their shelf life, or in some cases to contribute to the food's structure, such as salt in bread or sugar in cakes.

Buying processed foods can lead to people eating more than the recommended amounts of sugar, salt and fat as they may not be aware of how much has been added to the food they are buying and eating.

These foods can also be higher in calories due to the high amounts of added sugar or fat in them. Find out more about calories.

How can I eat processed foods as part of a healthy diet?

You have no control over the amount of salt, sugar and fat in processed food but you do have control over what you to choose to buy.

Reading nutrition labels can help you choose between processed products and keep a check on fat, salt and sugar content.

Most pre-packed foods have the nutrition information on the front, back or side of the packaging.

If the processed food you want to buy has a nutrition label that uses colour-coding, you will often find a mixture of red, amber and green.

When you're choosing between similar products, try to go for more greens and ambers, and fewer reds, if you want to make a healthier choice.

There are guidelines to tell you if a food is high or low in fat, saturated fat, salt or sugar.

The guidelines, which are for adults, are:

Total fat

High: more than 17.5g of fat per 100g
Low: 3g of fat or less per 100g

Saturated fat

High: more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g
Low: 1.5g of saturated fat or less per 100g

Sugars

High: more than 22.5g of total sugars per 100g
Low: 5g of total sugars or less per 100g

Salt

High: more than 1.5g of salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium)
Low: 0.3g of salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium)

If you are trying to cut down on saturated fat, try to limit the amount of foods you eat that have more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g.

Red and processed meat can be high in saturated fat. We are advised not to eat more than 70g a day.

[BritManToo]

10 minutes ago, digger70 said:

Not all processed food is a bad choice. Some foods need processing to make them safe, such as milk, which needs to be pasteurised to remove harmful bacteria.

 

You have no control over the amount of salt, sugar and fat in processed food but you do have control over what you to choose to buy.

If your cows are healthy the milk is healthy.

 

Did you forget the preservatives,  fungicides, flavourings and colourings?

Edited February 18, 2021 by BritManToo

[NoshowJones]

On 2/14/2021 at 2:27 PM, Oldie said:

Not to eat any processed food means that you have to eat raw meat for instance. So what do you regard as processed food? 

A very good question.

[NoshowJones]

On 2/14/2021 at 4:30 PM, Kwasaki said:

Well depends on what young age, all I remember is I couldn't leave the table until I eat my vegetables.

 

Later on an older it was beer, eating a tin of cold bake beans out the can, a pork pie and you was all good to go. 

 

I wouldn't think about aging being the person I am, was, when I was younger I was inviciable it was exceptable to smoke and drink at the time but I never did other drugs.

 

As for taking care when you're young I would say it would be good thing if one really thought about getting older.  

That said everyone has various genes and different metabolisms, I guess all I've done is listened to my body. 

I pack up smoking because of coughing and as I got older eased up drinking spirits.

I get my health checked every 4 months at our local govt hospital. 

Your last paragraph, sounds a very sensible thing to do, especially in a government hospital, I have thought about it myself, but wonder if even in a government hospital, they wouldn't screw you for money.

[4MyEgo]

On 2/17/2021 at 3:50 AM, salsajapan said:

 

BS, not cheap, its 100 thb the cheapest 1 L bottle, so it's at least double the price of soy milk.

 

 

I suppose it all depends on how much money you have budget wise, I recall my parents always saying to me, never skimp on good quality foods and beverages.

 

I eat clean although I do on occasion grab a pack of Pringles to wash down with a light beer, then I'm on the treadmill the next day feeling guilty for putting <deleted> into my temple.

 

Wasn't always a clean eater, best I could be, but love foods of all types, not processed, but the cuisines vary from country to country and being of European descent, love Mediterranean and middle eastern foods, which of course are high in fat, salts etc etc, so occasionally I will have the wife (Thai) cook me up something special and it is made as if it were made from someone from that country, Buddha bless her hands.  

[GreasyFingers]

6 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

I suppose it all depends on how much money you have budget wise, I recall my parents always saying to me, never skimp on good quality foods and beverages.

 

I eat clean although I do on occasion grab a pack of Pringles to wash down with a light beer, then I'm on the treadmill the next day feeling guilty for putting <deleted> into my temple.

 

Wasn't always a clean eater, best I could be, but love foods of all types, not processed, but the cuisines vary from country to country and being of European descent, love Mediterranean and middle eastern foods, which of course are high in fat, salts etc etc, so occasionally I will have the wife (Thai) cook me up something special and it is made as if it were made from someone from that country, Buddha bless her hands.  

You are too serious. Always ate good meat and vegetables but also had junk food once a week to balance the diet.

[BigStar]

On 2/14/2021 at 1:44 PM, salsajapan said:

I guess that the ultimate rule is to only eat what you make yourself, but this rule is a bit difficult to apply daily, what do you think ?

Every poster here is a Nutritionist. And the definition of processed food can be debated ad nauseum. Read something intelligent about it here, skip all the noise:

 

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/processed-foods/

 

Exactly how healthy are the supposedly healthy old men you've met (or hear from on this forum) may be open to question. What you could do, if you're serious, is merely follow the practices of a verified healthy old man as much as possible. Yes, it happens he didn't much believe in processed food.

 

https://modernhealthmonk.com/habits-of-the-jack-lalanne-diet-healthy-and-fit-over-40/

 

Simple, not too difficult. Should be quite good 'nuff, though you can disagree on some points. (We tend to disagree on those points where we'd have to sacrifice something that tastes good or a satiable quantity of it.) Do let us know how you get on.

 

Edited February 18, 2021 by BigStar

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, possum1931 said:

Your last paragraph, sounds a very sensible thing to do, especially in a government hospital, I have thought about it myself, but wonder if even in a government hospital, they wouldn't screw you for money.

Well falangie have to pay and some  Thai people pay 30 baht,  whatever l've paid is reasonable and much cheaper than any private hospital or pharmacy I used before.

[Mark Nothing]

I try to avoid all processed foods after suffering crippling gout attacks that affected all my joints.

 

After analyzing food intake, and changing my entire diet, I realized I also drank lots of bottled water and wondered about the safety of that.  After reading about the benefits of distilled water I bought a 1 gallon water distiller on Lazada for 1,500 baht.  A distiller heats the water and recondenses the steam into 100% pure drinking water.

 

The stone like sedimentation after running 30 liters of bottled water was disgusting.

 

Its been 3 years and no more gout attacks.  Its nice having a body that functions as designed.

[realviking48]

The swedish Dr. Sten Ekberg is the best doctor on You Tube, has made many excellent  You Tube-videos:  

 

 

[rickudon]

Processed foods - depends on your definition. but many are quite safe in moderation. Processing is done for preservation or convenience. Preservation used to be very important before the availability of frozen foods and inports from other countries - in winter in Northern Europe fresh fruit and vegetables were limited, and how did you keep the meat from that cow safe to eat?

 

Just look at the ingredients - how much sugar, fat and salt, also other preservatives. Then work out a safe amount. My uncle lived to over 90 and his diet was very normal. Eat some fresh fruit and vegetables when you can. Don't forget your vitamins.

 

As for Almond milk - yes a big con. They never tell you how much water is added, but it is a lot, yes, maybe even 99% as claimed by someone earlier. If you want the benefits of almonds, just eat a small handful every day instead of a litre of overpriced <deleted>. And much cheaper.

 

Reasonable levels of exercise are more important.

[onebir]

On 2/14/2021 at 8:44 AM, salsajapan said:

Is frozen chicken from the supermarket processed food ? or can we consider that it's just regular chicken that has been frozen, and consider it healthy ?

Don't they use a lot of antibiotics &/ hormones raising (factory farmed) chicken? If so I guess that's kind of pre-processed...

[sirineou]

 

On 2/14/2021 at 3:27 AM, ukrules said:

It's a good question, what exactly is processed food?

 

Does that dry aged steak count as being processed?

 

A cheese?

 

Things like ham, bacon and perhaps sausages where nitrates are used get a lot of stick but I think it's mostly over the top.

 

If I take a chicken and run it through some kind of MRM type grinder / extruder / mixer contraption whilst adding various herbs and spices then form small shaped chicken pieces and freeze them dipped in a fine batter (chicken nuggets) does it turn a good piece of chicken into a bad piece of chicken?

 

Of course all food is processed one way or another. most food is not eaten raw. But  for the purposes of this tread , and the concern of the OP we are discussing food  whose nutritional composition has been changed by someone other than you  or your family. Vegetables, meat or seafood,  that has been prepackaged and  frozen is not IMO considered processed food because it's nutritional composition has not been significantly changed. 

We only eat food we have cooked ourselves, (except when going out to restaurants) , 

[sirineou]

6 hours ago, Mark Nothing said:

I try to avoid all processed foods after suffering crippling gout attacks that affected all my joints.

 

After analyzing food intake, and changing my entire diet, I realized I also drank lots of bottled water and wondered about the safety of that.  After reading about the benefits of distilled water I bought a 1 gallon water distiller on Lazada for 1,500 baht.  A distiller heats the water and recondenses the steam into 100% pure drinking water.

 

The stone like sedimentation after running 30 liters of bottled water was disgusting.

 

Its been 3 years and no more gout attacks.  Its nice having a body that functions as designed.

I like the distilled water idea, I will look for it at Lazada, but be careful that you take mineral supplements,  because as you said the distillation process removes all minerals. 

[4MyEgo]

11 hours ago, GreasyFingers said:

You are too serious. Always ate good meat and vegetables but also had junk food once a week to balance the diet.

 

As the saying goes, you are what you eat. Serious means maintaining a good weight and good blood readings, longevity, we hope for with less diseases caused by eating processed foods which as we all know deliver issues down the track, once a week is good, moderation.  

[tracker]

processed food is garbage for the body. having said that, it will have different effects as nobody is the same, especially older persons. Their bodies have different states of health much bigger than in younger adults. So one person can eat all the processed food without any problem while the other gets already problems smelling it.

 

Having my own problems (@ 60years), I monitor my blood-pressure daily, giving me interesting results on processed food: eat wheat for instance, gives a blood-pressure rise AFTER 24 hours. I have no explanation on that, other than to say I've seen it happen on a regular basis (difficult to ditch bread out of the diet). Other interesting observation is that, having a stone in my galbladder since 2016 (2.5cm), I can use a lot of cold pressed virgin oils over my salads without problems, but eating deep fried food (almost always from processed plant-oils) gives problems... as, unfortunately, also ice-cream.

 

I do not eat much soy products as the amino-acids in them mimick estrogen in the body. Being a man of 60, that seems not beneficial for me. There is one exception: I use the low sugar version of vfit (blue color) germination brown-rice milk, which has 2.5% soy-protein added. This is used with oats/fruits. There is no raw milk available here, so  that seems the best next option.

 

[BigStar]

5 hours ago, tracker said:

processed food is garbage for the body. having said that, it will have different effects as nobody is the same, especially older persons. Their bodies have different states of health much bigger than in younger adults. So one person can eat all the processed food without any problem while the other gets already problems smelling it.

I doubt in general that if a person doesn't feel he's suffering any ill effects from processed food that it means he really isn't. Perhaps it's merely that the ill effects haven't yet shown themselves, perhaps in conjunction with other issues.

 

That said, it's true some people are just born invulnerable. We sometimes get examples here. "My uncle . . . " blah blah. I like to quote George Burns:

 

"Is it true that you smoke eight to ten cigars a day?"
"That's true."
"Is it true that you drink five martinis a day?"
"That's true."
"Is it true that you still surround yourself with beautiful young women?"
"That's true."
"What does your doctor say about all of this?"
"My doctor is dead."
    --George Burns, US actor & comedian (1896 - 1996)

 

Sounds great. It's often said, "Wanna live long? Choose your genes carefully." You think you're George Burns, wanna take that risk, knock yerself out. Me, I figure I'm just an ordinary mortal, and I know what's likely to happen sooner rather than later if I don't make health and fitness a priority. Our "shorter but happier, 6 large Changs a day" crowd typically enjoy making a lot of jokes in diet advice threads. I don't see any joking in the Health forum, however, when the bill's coming due.

[Solinvictus]

Is Nutella healthy? I thought I heard negative things about it before.

[BigStar]

59 minutes ago, Solinvictus said:

Is Nutella healthy? I thought I heard negative things about it before.

Is Nutella Healthy? Ingredients, Nutrition and More