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Trying to cut down onultraprocessed foods (UPFs)or heavily industrialized food productsis clearly a worthy endeavor.
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Examples include potato chips, chicken nuggets, instant noodles, packaged cookies, lunch meats, and sodas.
Still, its important to know that ultraprocessed doesnt universally mean unhealthy.
Two things can be true: UPFs arent generally great to consume en masse.
So the title of UPF, alone, is not always a red flag.
And for much the same reason, lesser-processed foods dontalwaysequate to healthier options.
Read on to find a list of foods in the latter camp that registered dietitians wholeheartedly recommend.
She notes that they also have the same nutritional upsides as the dried varietiesplenty offiberandprotein.
From there, you could pop them right into soups, salads, and stir-fries as is.
Looking for even more ideas?
Weve got easy ones for a can ofblack beans,white beans, orgarbanzos.
saltmaking them group 3 items.
So thats reason enough to stock up on these easy-to-use and budget-friendly items.
Theyre about as minimally processed an item as you might getjust the whole veggie itself frozen in water.
(Looking for specific ideas?
Here arefive easy dinner recipesto get you started.)
), much of them without any markers of ultraprocessing.
Cassetty gives two thumbs up to canned fish.
But if you want to switch it up, weve also got aboatload of other ideas.
And again, even preservatives can be added here without bumping it up to UPF status.
And all of these things would transform the bread into…something ultraprocessed.
Yes, you read that right.
And even a UPF whole-grain bread can help get you there, supplying fiber and key vitamins and minerals.
Plenty ofyogurtsare not ultraprocessed despite being seemingly pretty far removed from nature.
Where things tend to get dicey is with the flavored yogurts marked as low sugar or zero sugar.
You get sweetness from a whole fruit that also contains vitamins, minerals, and fiberversus straight sugar.
Not to mention all the benefits of the yogurt, which containsprobiotics(a.k.a.
friendly bacteria) that can lend your gut a hand, as well as calcium and protein.
Many kinds of dried fruits are just fruit with the water sucked out of it, Cassetty says.
Its about context and what you would be eating instead.
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