3 Reasons To Quit Processed Food

It's easy to see why processed foods are so overproduced and consumed these days. They're cheap, they're fast and they're convenient. You basically don't have to cook or put any real effort in your meals anymore.

But now, so many researchers and doctors have started to look into diet to find explanations for the highest levels of chronic illness the world has ever seen. Over consumption of processed foods has been linked to multiple diseases and conditions including obesity, diabetes, cardiometabolic damage (high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease) and Alzheimers.

Back home, there is an implicit joke that everyone that goes to a western country will almost certainly come back obese. I'm sure I'm not the first to wonder why people are more likely to gain weight in the U.S than in a country like Ethiopia. Although, I do think that a combination of other changes in lifestyle play a role in body composition, I became very interested in the role of nutrition. I'm not yet a nutritionist, but I do like to read and keep up to date with the current research. So today I wanted to share with you 3 reasons I have found for quitting processed food.

1. It's not real food

If you've ever read the ingredient list on a packaged food product, you know what I mean.

This post from Dr Mark Hyman (nutritionist and physician) captures it really well:

This is from the nutrition label on a Twinkie. We would never eat most of these ingredients voluntarily - so why do we eat them when they're in our "food"?

The amounts and combinations of ingredients we eat today would never be found in nature. A cheesecake has 1000 calories - which is around the same amount of calories in a watermelon. When you force your body to regularly eat foods in amounts its not designed to process, it doesn't know how to act.

You may be thinking "but if processed food is not real food then how do I/millions of Americans survive completely fine living off of it?"

Think of a normal car that operates on gas. Imagine you started fueling it with a weird derivative of gas mixed with diesel and chemicals instead. The car may not be at its best but it would actually still work; it may make noises and complain but it will get you around. It won't be at its best performance and it won't move as fast but at least for a while, it will continue to function... until it doesn't.

The spark plug and engine pipes get contaminated with the build up of the unfamiliar substance and they might need to be replaced. And as long as you keep pumping it with diesel, the parts will keep deteriorating until the car will breakdown all together. You may say, that its normal - cars weren't built to last forever. And you may even blame it on the make or model of the car. But the truth is, if you weren't fueling the car with what it was built for, you would never be able to tell how good it could actually run.

Similarly, if you're body is running on refined oils, sugars, carbs and chemicals, it won't ever be at its best and eventually your organs will show the difference.

In her book, Deep Nutrition, nutritionist and physician Dr. Catherine Shanahan studies the diets of the healthiest populations in the world. For example, indigenous tribes in Scandinavia and Thailand where tooth decay is close to non-existent and many people live beyond 100. Or the Maasai tribe in East Africa where the nutrition content of cow milk can be five times that of American cows. She compares what their diets have in common and it's actually not that complicated: they eat real food.

Above: images of the Omo and Hamer people of Ethiopia. Dr. Shanahan even believes that their striking features (symmetric structure, chiseled cheek bones) are due to the health of their genes preserved by the diets they eat.

Our bodies were designed to be fueled by real food; unprocessed, unrefined and from the earth. Real food, like a banana, doesn't have a paragraph of ingredients. It doesn't have a nutrition label, or an advertisement trying to convince you to buy it.

2. It's addictive

Have you ever wondered why you have no control when eating chips or fries or cake but you have no trouble stopping yourself when you get full eating a salad or fruit?

It's because packaged foods are designed to be addictive. The more you buy, the more money they make. The companies that produce them have research labs dedicated to achieving the right ratio of sugars to fat or salty to savory to overstimulate the chemoreceptors in your tongue and fire up the pleasure centers in your brain.

The low cost of producing junk food also makes it very easily accessible. Meaning that even if you decide to quit, there are candy bars, soda machines and bags of chips easy to reach around every corner to tempt you.

The science (skip to 3 if you're not interested)

In a highly controlled nutrition study published in Cell, researchers found that eating processed food directly results in weight gain because it causes overeating. Ten people were made to eat a low processed food diet, and another ten ate a high processed food diet (high in hydrogenated oils, emulsifiers, sugar/ syrup, flavorings and other things that don't exist in nature). They did this for 2 weeks and found that the group that ate a high processed food diet gained 1 lb a week on average (some gained more some gained less). They then switched the groups (the low processed food group now ate high processed food). Again, the group that was now eating high processed foods gained 1 lb a week. FURTHERMORE (lol) the group that had gained 1 lb from eating the high-processed diet lost the weight they gained when they switched to eating low processed foods. THUS (okay I'll stop now) eating high processed causes our bodies to eat more calories than they need.

Explanation of the findings of the study. They are basically saying: processed foods could mess with the normal way your body functions and make you want to eat more

3. It's impossible to develop other healthy habits

If you're body is running on refined carbs and junk food, its almost impossible to "get fit" or develop good sleeping or exercising habits.

Your sugar levels bounce up and down so you're constantly lethargic and don't feel like moving or being active. Like I mentioned, it's designed to be addictive so self-control and reason don't really work. Processed foods are usually low in protein so they always feel you unsatisfied and craving more (plus unable to optimally repair and grow cells). And lastly, you can't appreciate the taste of real food!

When I first tried quitting sugar, it was so difficult because my tastebuds had gotten so used to the overstimulation. Regular, natural food didn't even taste good to me anymore. But after the first week or two, I started to appreciate the texture and diversity in flavor that is already found in nature- without the added sugar, salt or flavor. I started thinking some fruits were "too sweet"! (which is crazy because I rarely ever think anything is too sweet).

So what do I recommend?

Quit. I mean it, go cold turkey. If you ask me or anyone else that has tried it successfully, they will tell you it was the best decision they made for their health.

Like I mentioned, it is only challenging for about the first two weeks - depending on how much of your diet consists of processed food. Feel free to start small: this will build up your momentum and also give you a realistic goal to work with. For instance, try quitting drinks with added sugar for a month.

After your body has readjusted, your blood sugar, your hormones and your digestive system will feel more balanced and your energy will be back. Just make sure you are staying full on whole meals and food. After you're regularly eating natural food, you may still be able to enjoy your favorite deserts (if you want) once in a while in moderation. But trust me, once you go clean, you won't ever feel like going back.

And if you ever need motivation, come back and read this blog post ;) or track the positive changes you see with progress.