Foods You Didn’t Know Were Processed

We are often told about all the processed foods to limit or stay away from because of their unhealthy properties. The issue with this is that there are many foods left out that people don’t realize are processed. For a list of foods you didn’t know were processed, read below.

Oats

While oats might seem like a very natural food, they do go through a certain amount of processing. It generally involves several steps starting with milling, which is comprised of cleaning, purifying, and preserving the oats. There are oats that are part of the steel-cutting variety which are less processed and retain more bran.

Dried Pasta

There are many varieties of pasta out on the market. Several are made through a typical process involving refining which strips the wheat kernel of the bran and germ, resulting in a loss of nutrients. These pastas also use industrial flower which is a very low-grade processed version of the product. When you have more processed ingredients in a food product, the quality will generally be lower.

Ice Cream

You can find ice creams that are more natural, but this depends on what you prefer. You’re likely to meet a large number of people that prefer their ice cream soft. It’s easy to understand why this type is as popular as it is. The smooth, creamy consistency of soft-serve ice cream is incredibly appealing to most people’s palate. However, the only reason this ice cream comes out like that is because it’s heavily processed. It uses compounds known as polysaccharide gums that act as stabilizers which prevent the ice cream from hardening or separating into chunky ice crystals. It also uses emulsifiers which gives soft-serve ice cream its whipped, smooth consistency.

Tofu

This might be a surprising food you didn’t know was processed. Tofu is commonly marketed as a healthy vegetarian and vegan alternative to meat. The truth is, tofu is extremely processed, which means it’s not as healthy as many would lead you to believe. It uses gypsum, calcium chloride, and other similar chemicals to coagulate soy milk which is mixed in with mashed soybeans.

Honey

Honey is frequently described as a natural product that offers countless health benefits. The truth is, it’s actually raw honey that has the majority of health benefits. Regular honey is heavily filtered and then goes through a pasteurization process. Raw honey is only lightly filtered from the hive to extract any debris such as beeswax and dead bees. All the enzymes, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and pollen naturally remain, unlike with regular honey where all of these elements get removed during processing. This is also why honey can vary in taste and color.