The Processing Paradox: What is a Health Food?

Apr 22

In today’s world the term “processed food” is often a label that strikes fear into the hearts of performance and health conscious individuals. We have all heard the advice: stick to whole, natural foods to fuel your body and maintain health. But in reality, the definition of processed foods is not as black and white as you might think. Is your protein powder processed? What about that greens powder that is supposed to improve your health? Do you count that canned pasta sauce as a processed food? Where is the line drawn?

Defining Processed vs Ultra-Processed

Before we dive into the nuances, let’s establish a clear understanding of what we mean when we are talking about processed foods. There are four levels of food processing:

Unprocessed or minimally processed foods: These are the basics — fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, etc. These foods appear in their neatural state with minimal modification.
Processed culinary ingredients: Think oil, sugar, or salt. Items used in cooking that are extracted from raw foods.
Processed foods: These are made by adding processed culinary ingredients to unprocessed foods. Think canned vegetables, cheese, or freshly baked bread.
Ultra-processed foods: This is the category that most people are wary of (even though we usually just call these ones processed foods). These are multi-ingredient industrial formulations. Often high in sugar, saturated fats, and additives with minimal whole-food ingredients. Think energy drinks, fast food, and soda.

Are you Labeling your Ultra-Processed foods as “Clean”?

Greens powders, along with a variety of other supplements are often marked as being “clean” and vital for optimal health. Their intent is often to fill nutritional gaps and “boost” your diet whether it is a fruit and veggie packed powder or a protein supplement. So many people will look me dead in the eye and swear they don’t eat ANY processed foods and then rattle off a list of pills, powders, shakes, and bars that they consume that are all made with “clean” ingredients.

Here is the problem: All of these foods (greens powders included) are undeniably ultra-processed. To create a greens powder, those ingredients are harvested, washed, chopped, and then dried. This drying process typically involves high heat, which can degrade certain nutrients. From there, the dried ingredients are pulverized into a fine powder. That all feels like it is just a processed culinary ingredient, or maybe a processed food, but no additives, right? Wrong! After this most of these powders (whether it is greens, protein, etc) get loaded with additives. Prebiotics and probiotics. Digestive enzymes, Sweeteners and flavorings. Binders and fillers. All of these additions are to improve the taste, texture, and look of your final product, but also definitively puts these products in an ultra-processed category.

Why I, as a Nutrition and Fitness Professional, Don’t Care

So many people think they are telling me exactly what I want to hear by saying they don’t eat any processed foods and everything they put in their body is “clean”.

That is just a lie. As we just discussed, most of these people are eating a TON of ultra-processed food, it is just marketed as being “clean”
Processed and even ultra-processed foods have a time and place in our diet that can be extremely beneficial. I don’t care if you are completely “clean” — and honestly I prefer if you have a few processed foods in your diet because sometimes that supplement is a necessary part of your routine.

What I do Care About:

Prioritize “performance processed” over “ultra-processed” — If it is an ultra-processed food that fits into your performance plan like a bar, gel, electrolyte drink, or protein powder, go for it. All of these items are supplements and intended to supplement your real diet, not take the place of whole food. But if they fit into your needs, there is no shame in using them.
Be selective with other ulra-processed foods — Just because I said it is ok to have processed foods for performance does not open the flood gates to justify eating dino nuggets and Doritos. Those types of ultra-processed foods do nothing for your performance or overall health. We can definitely make better choices at meals and snacks and reduce processed foods overall.
Timing of these foods matters— So many people will be cramping and running out of energy and justify this by saying sports drinks are “processed”, but have no issue with downing a protein shake post workout. If this sounds like you, it is time to do a self assessment of the timing of your processed foods. I would rather you have that processed sports drink DURING activity to give you energy than the processed protein shake post workout when you could have easily consumed regular milk or gone straight to a meal. We also don’t need to be eating energy waffles or chews before bed as a dessert replacement just because it tastes good. Time these processed foods around sport when we need the convenience, not as a replacement for other meals or snacks in your day. Eat real food at those times!

Final Thoughts

As a society, we need to get this stupid chip off our shoulders about “eating clean” and avoiding all processed foods. Sometimes we really need those foods to support everything we are trying to accomplish. Other times we fall for marketing and are actually eating highly processed foods just because it is labeled as “clean”. The important thing is recognizing which processed foods support our goals and which are best minimized in the pursuit of peak health and performance.

If you are making decisions about keeping your greens powder and cutting your pasta sauce because one is “clean” and the other has added sugar it is probably time you reach out for a chat!