December 25, 2022 • 25 mins
12/25/22
The Healthy Matters Podcast
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Digesting the Topic of Processed Foods
Is drinking Apple Juice the same as eating apple sauce? Do canned and frozen foods retain their nutritional content? And where in nature does the color of blue Gatorade come from? (nowhere)
Food is a complicated subject on its own - and processed foods only complicate things further. Thankfully, for this episode, we’ll be joined once again by Dr. Kate Shafto of Hennepin Healthcare to help detangle the conversation a bit. Join us, as we give definitions of what processed food is, discuss their effects on the human body, and explore ways to incorporate less processed foods in our diets. All in time to start the new year off right!
Got a question for the doc? Or an idea for a show?
Email - healthymatters@hcmed.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Healthy Matters podcast with Dr.
David Hilden, primary carephysician and acute care
hospitalist at HennepinHealthcare in downtown
Minneapolis, where we cover thelatest in health, healthcare and
what matters to you.
And now here's our host, Dr.
David Hilden.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey everybody, and welcome to season two, episode
two of the Healthy Matterspodcast.
I'm your host, Dr.
David Hilden, and today we aregonna talk about highly
processed foods and the effectson your health.
Joining me today in studio isDr.
Kate Shafto.
Dr.
Shafto is, uh, triple boardcertified physician in internal
medicine, pediatrics, andintegrative medicine.
(00:43):
Kate, thanks for being back onthe show.
My
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Pleasure.
Thanks so much for inviting me
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Back.
Great to have you here.
Now we're gonna talk today aboutprocessed foods.
First of all, can you helpdefine that for us?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yes, and that's a great place to start because
there's a lot of confusion inour language about processed
foods.
So I don't think we talked aboutthis last time, but I spent a
couple of years recentlylearning how to do organic
farming.
And so processing food issomething that humans have done
for a long time.
And I had personal experiencedoing that with the foods that
we grew, the vegetables that wegrew, you have to actually pull
(01:16):
the leaks out of the soil andget the
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Dirt off of it.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
You get the dirt off, strip off the outer leaves, and
then you have to cut off theroots.
And that's processing.
So most food, if not all food,except for like a banana or an
apple that comes right off thetree needs to be processed.
And so processing food issomething that people have done
for ages.
But what we're talking aboutwhen we say quote processed
(01:40):
foods in our day-to-day life andlanguage, currently, usually
people are referring to ultraprocessed foods or highly
processed foods.
There's actually somedefinitions of processed foods
that have been around for about15 years that define a couple
different categories.
The first one is minimally orunprocessed foods.
(02:01):
That's kind of the example of anapple, a banana that comes right
off the tree.
And you can eat it a carrot, youpull it outta the ground, maybe
you brush off the dirt, maybeyou don't, and you can eat it.
But then the next category wouldbe processed culinary
ingredients.
So this is a type of foodingredient that's derived from a
minimally processed source, andthen it's been refined or ground
(02:26):
up, like grain needs to beshucked out of its hull in order
to be eaten.
Mm-hmm.
.
And that would be like aprocessed culinary ingredient
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Applesauce.
Would that fit?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I would think that makes sense.
Yeah.
So it's been processed veryslightly.
And then the next one isprocessed foods.
Processed foods are from eitherof the two previous groups that
then have added sugar or salt orfats.
They're often made ready to eat.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So it's when they took those ingredients and
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Then and added, added
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Something, add something else to it.
Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And then finally, the fourth category is ultra
processed foods.
And this is also referred to ashighly processed foods.
And these are when often youdon't have much of the original
ingredients that areidentifiable.
So I think of a breakfast cerealas a highly processed food
example.
That
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Surprises
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Me.
Depends on the type of breakfastcereal.
Yeah.
Yes.
Like in a cheerio, it's a littleo shape.
There's no existing plant orfood ingredient that comes from
nature in an O
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Shape.
, you wait a minute.
You mean the Cheerios don't growin Apollo stalk like that?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I don't think they do.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And they cut'em.
They don't
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Think they do.
They don't just chop them upinto
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Little dish.
All right.
Somebody had to make it intothat shape.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Right.
And so the differentingredients, wheat and corn and
some sort of oil and otherthings, and plus added vitamins
and minerals are put into somesort of a soup.
I don't know how this is made,I'm just making this up as an
ingredient.
No, but I get that potentially,but like they're mixed together
in some form and then pouredinto a little shape and then
(04:02):
spit out as a cheerio, forexample.
So other things could be frozenpizza or a donut, some things
that they're very ready to eator already prepared.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
No, you're not going after donuts in this episode,
are you?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Didn't we go over donuts in the
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Last I think we maybe .
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
So we have, uh, I mean, Ido like my donuts.
I do like my frozen pizzas, sowe'll talk about that.
Yeah.
You know, stuff sometimes thatyou like.
So that's a really helpfulframework for me that you've put
the processing of foods intothose four categories.
Do you have a sense, Kate, abouthow much of our typical diet
(04:37):
consists of those highlyprocessed foods and, and how did
we get to that place?
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
.
Well, so one source, the HarvardNutrition Source website says
that in some cases, um, peoplein the US are eating up to 60%
of their diet from these ultraprocessed
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Foods.
I'm gonna guess that's not good.
Not
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Good.
And this would vary widelythough, from communities to
community and, um, certainlyamong even individual
households.
But that's just kind of anaverage or an estimate from the
Harvard Nutrition source.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Is that because it's, it's just cheaper or is it
consumer preference, or why doyou think is
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Oh, I'm sure there's so many different factors that
it's complicated isn't, it'scomplicated.
Our food system is complicated.
And I've, I've started sayingthis to patients when I have
this conversation, so, so thatthey don't feel like it's all on
them or all on you listeners.
It's, it's not so much anymoreabout our individual choices in
this complicated food system.
(05:36):
Our food system is complicatedbecause of the many different
parties that are involved ingetting our food to us.
It's no longer, I think wetalked about this last time,
it's no longer that I know thepeople who, who grow the food
and we have a relationship.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah.
Almost never is
Speaker 3 (05:52):
That, almost never Right.
When we go to the grocery store,it's this huge array of all
these different foods and foodproducts.
And most of the time we have noidea really where they've come
from.
Many times these ultra processedfoods are cheaper because the
ingredients are grown on a hugeindustrialized scale.
And that allows for a greatamount of efficiency in
(06:14):
processing soy or corn or wheatinto lots of different sub
products that can then be usedin many different foods and food
products.
And the word food products orthe term food products is
something that I've seen too inthe literature and even in the
food science world, they'realways developing new food
products.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Doesn't sound very appetizing.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
No,
Speaker 2 (06:37):
No.
Mm-hmm.
I I'm not gonna go home tonightto eat a food product.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Right.
But that's the language that'sused because there's so many
different ingredients, and notjust food ingredients, but
chemical preservative dyes andother ingredients that go into
making these food productspalatable and shelf stable and
able to be transported acrossmany, many miles and to get at
(07:03):
consumers pallets.
There are some terms that thefood science industry uses
methods called the Bliss Point.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
The Bliss point.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Correct.
That is the point at whichpeople can't resist eating
another food product of whatevervariety.
Ah, why You can't just eat one
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Thing.
I never shingled I never heardthat term, but I know what you
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Mean.
It's a thing.
And it is a specificallyengineered point that interacts
with our nervous system and ourpalate to make us crave that
food.
There's another term calledmouth feel.
So when different food productsare created, it's intended to
feel right in our mouth.
Often when food products areengineered with a lot of
different ingredients to make upthe end result, they have to add
(07:45):
different textures so that it'swhat we expect in our mouth when
we're eating that highlyprocessed food.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So yes, it can be made cheaper.
And yes, they're, the foodprocessing industry is actively
looking for those concepts thatyou just mentioned.
The bliss point.
God, that's blowing my mind.
That just that comment and Itotally know what you mean.
Yep.
It's, but it's an thingintentional, uh, yes.
Intentionally engineered thing.
Correct.
To get people hooked, for lackof a a better word.
(08:13):
Yes.
On the, on the highly processedfood.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yes.
The element of cost is a majorfactor in all of this.
And results in an unjust foodsystem in our practices every
day as physicians, we are facedwith the effects of the social
determinants of health.
The factors in our society, thestructural factors in the way
that people live, um, in thehousing, in the food access, in
(08:37):
our environment are builtenvironment, the air, water,
land that we drink and breatheand live on.
All those factors relate to ourfood system also.
And it is not equitable and it'snot just, and so much of the
food and food products that arein our cities and in places that
are termed food deserts, thoughI don't like that term, those
are some of the cheaper, lessnutritious, highly processed
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Foods.
And that's what populates theconvenience stores.
Yes.
And the and the markets that areavailable Yes.
To a good many of our neighbors.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
That's right.
So this is not individualresponsibility here.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
There's no choices.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
No.
That is not something that weshould lay blame on the
individual.
They didn't create thesesystems.
My patients didn't ask to onlyhave access to a convenience
store for their food, and theydidn't design the system that
has led to that.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So, Dr.
Shafta, let's shift if we couldto the actual effects on the
human body Yeah.
Of highly processed foods.
And what does the science andwhat does your, um, background
in that?
Tell us why are highly processedfoods not healthy for the human
body?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah.
Well, so the nature of highlyprocessed foods is in the name.
They've been highly processed,not just the example of washing
off the carrots or cutting up anapple or mushing it into sauce,
but lots of ingredients,including ones that are for
preserving or additives orchemicals or stabilizers to make
(10:07):
that highly processed food tastethe way that we expect it to and
to be shelf stable for transportand for durability on the shelf
of a grocery store.
And so what's lacking from thosehighly processed foods a lot of
times are the very nutrientsthat we need from the food that
we eat.
(10:27):
And fiber, those are my top twothat are lacking fiber and
micronutrients, vitamins,antioxidants, minerals.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Because they get removed during the process.
Correct.
Okay.
We're gonna talk about that.
The lack of nutrients.
The lack of fiber.
Why the heck does that matter tothe human body?
We've been talking with Dr.
Kate Shafto.
We're talking about highlyprocessed foods and the effect
on your health.
When we come back from thisshort break, we're gonna get
into that in much more detail.
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You are listening to the Healthy Matters podcast with
Dr.
David Hilden.
You got a question or commentfor the doc?
Email us at healthy matters hc me d.org or give us a call at six
one two eight seven three talk.
That's 6 1 2 8 7 3 8 2 55.
And now let's get back to morehealthy conversation.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
And we're back talking with Dr.
Kate Shafto about highlyprocessed foods.
Kate, you said before the breakthat when foods are highly
processed, bunch of nutrientsare removed from them and fiber
is removed.
Those, you said, those are thetwo things.
The loss of nutrients, then theloss of fiber.
Let's start with the ladderfirst.
Why does the loss of fibermatter to your health?
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Fiber is an unsung hero in our health.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Fiber is so important and the human body has been very
well acquainted with fiber foras long as humans have walked
the earth.
Fiber comes from plant foodsalone.
You can't find fiber in anyanimal foods.
So that's one key.
And fiber is the roughage.
It's the stuff that we needteeth to chew.
(12:14):
And so fiber has many, manydifferent beneficial effects in
the human body in particularrelated to the gut.
What I'm talking about when Isay the gut is the digestive
system.
So from mouth all the way to theother end, we have an amazing
system that is designed to breakapart and break down foods.
(12:34):
And it starts with our teeth.
And so we have teeth for areason.
I say that frequently topatients.
We have teeth for a reason,meaning we were given these
teeth or we've developed theseteeth in our mouth to break down
tough things.
And yes, you can use those teethto break down animal fibers and
proteins totally appropriate.
That's one of their uses.
And we really need to break downplant proteins and plant fibers
(12:58):
too.
When we chew plant fibers, theythen go into our stomach and
later into our intestines.
And they have a very importantrole.
It's being found more and moreto feed the microbes that live
in our intestines.
They actually, the fibersactually form kind of a film
along the inner walls of ourintestines so that the nutrients
(13:20):
don't get absorbed right away.
And so the microbes can do theirthing and so that they can
metabolize the differentvitamins, they can process
different vitamins and mineralsand other nutrients in ways that
only our microbiota can do.
And the fiber also slows downthe, um, absorption of sugar
into our bloodstream, which issuper important because we just,
(13:41):
humans don't tolerate quickinfusions of sugar very well.
But that's happening in so manycases every day in many people's
food,
Speaker 2 (13:51):
You drink a sugar.
Exactly.
Sugary pop.
It's a glucose or fructose load.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
It is, it is.
And our body does not handlethat well.
It's a huge strain on ourpancreas, on our liver.
It puts our, our nervous systemon overdrive because of all that
sugar all at once.
So the fiber in food mitigatesthat.
It slows it down.
It not that I'm recommending youshould eat a bunch of roughage
and all I
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Could pick soda is a bunch of celery.
Everybody's going for this andthey're chewing on celery, ent,
twine,
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Celery, and then drinking their mountain dew.
No, that's not what I'mrecommending.
But when you eat food thatcontains fiber, naturally, and
the example I like to thinkabout is fruits, how different
it is to eat an apple, then itis to drink apple juice.
Apple juice has no fiber.
That's the sugar load that'sequal to a soda.
No different apple.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Because it because it was processed out.
Yes.
Through all
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Of that, the fiber was
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Strained out.
It was strained out to make itthat.
Yeah.
Syrup.
Apple juice.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Apple juice.
Right.
And, and so when we eat theapple, we're chewing, chewing,
chewing.
That fiber is going down intoour stomach and our intestines
where those microbes startworking on it, they start
deconstructing it.
And they also are able toextract the vitamins and the
minerals from that apple.
And they're not gettingoverwhelmed by all that sugar
(15:11):
because it's kind of packaged inthe fiber.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
So I'm kidding when I, all I can think of is people
chewing on celery all day long.
Uh, because it just strikes meas the most stringy, fibrous
thing I could think of.
Good example.
It is, yeah.
Where a very practical tip,where can you get fiber in your
diet?
Is it literally any vegetable orplant product that hasn't been
processed?
People ask me this a lot.
What food should I eat to getfiber?
(15:34):
And I'm a little bit at a loss,I always just say, well, maybe
if it isn't processed, butthat's a flimsy answer.
It's
Speaker 3 (15:40):
A good start because any vegetable fruit, nut seed,
bean grain have fiber.
All plant foods have fiber andthe less processed the better.
Mm-hmm.
.
But we need processing to makegrains and beans available for
us to eat.
Yeah.
Most people aren't growing theirbeans or grains.
(16:00):
Mm-hmm.
, I grew, I grewbeans, but I didn't grow any
grains.
And that's really hard.
And so thank goodness for theindustrialized food system in
some ways that like
Speaker 2 (16:09):
You didn't have a wheated field
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Down on time.
Exactly.
Cuts down on the time it takesto thresh grain and get the
actual grains out for humanconsumption.
.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
But yeah.
And most of us are, our grainthreshing skills are a little
rusty.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Yeah.
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, yeah.
Exactly.
But, but we can eat whole fruitsand vegetables in legumes and
everything you just said.
We can
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Do that.
And whole grains.
And that's one of the bestplaces to get fiber and to make
a shift away from a highlyprocessed food is by eating the
whole version of grains.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Now Kate, let's talk about the processing out of
nutrients, because we've talkedabout that.
Highly processed foods removedthe fiber.
You also said that nutrients areremoved.
Could you say more about thatplease?
And
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, removed might not be the real intention of the
processing, but they're, they're
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Not lost.
They're purposely, they're lost.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Yeah.
Yeah.
They end up being lost.
And part of that is becausethey, they go with the fiber.
Mm-hmm.
.
And so, um, minerals andvitamins, antioxidants are the
things that make fruits andvegetables brightly colored.
And so a lot of highly processedfoods, I, I don't think of them
as being especially true tolife.
Brightly colored.
They may be brightly colored forother reasons.
(17:17):
They're
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Beige.
Must color, they must be addedcolor.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
That's right.
Or red dye number five or abright fluorescent blue
Gatorade.
That's not naturally occurring.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
You mean that didn't grow in a field somehow like
Speaker 3 (17:28):
That?
I promise it didn't.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
So the lack of color is a good sign that there's a
lack of nutrients.
You've probably heard the phraseeat the rainbow.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah.
So that's because the differentcolors in our food represent
different antioxidants.
Antioxidants is just a fancynutrition science word for
minerals or, or vitamins orsubstances in our food that
fight against oxidative stress,which is basically cellular
stress on the the body.
And so antioxidants are reallyimportant in preventing
(18:01):
inflammation, preventingdisease.
And they come in these colorfulpackages that nature produces.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
So the deep oranges, the deep, exactly.
Greens, all of those things arewhat you're after.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Red, blue, purple,
Speaker 2 (18:15):
The naturally occurring colors.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Think of berries or um, other fruits or vegetables.
Carrots, sweet potatoes.
Have that really rich.
Yeah.
Deep, beautiful color.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Please don't tell me I have to eat eggplant though.
I don't need to have to eateggplant.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I don't like
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Eggplant twice.
Okay.
Cause it's a deep rich purple.
It
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Is.
And has many antioxidants,
Speaker 2 (18:32):
But okay.
So go for it.
If you like eggplant, that'sright's in the group too.
Yeah.
So you used the word that I'vebeen waiting to talk about a
little bit, inflammation.
Mm-hmm.
, tell me how thatis not such a great thing.
Yeah.
Why is that not good?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Well, so inflammation in the body has a very important
role.
Like if I cut my finger, I wantthere to be inflammation to heal
that wound.
And that's the body's naturalresponse.
That's acute inflammation orshort
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Term.
I'm glad you brought that up cuzinflammation is a body's natural
response.
That's right.
It's not a universal evil.
It's body doing what it'ssupposed to.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Exactly.
And you could also think aboutchronic inflammation as the body
doing what it's supposed to doalso because it's being
chronically stimulated withthings that evoke inflammation.
And the things that do that fromour food would be sugar,
especially a lot of sugar andthose refined grains.
So the absence of the bra andthe germ where we're left with
(19:26):
just that starchy, often white,sugary think, um, pasta that
sort of melts in your mouthbefore you even need to chew it.
Remember I said we have teethfor a reason.
So if there's food that'smelting in your mouth before you
even really need to chew it, ifit's a plant food, like a potato
in the form of a french fry orpasta, that stuff has been so
(19:47):
refined that you don't reallyneed to chew it.
And so it's being absorbed veryquickly into your bloodstream as
sugar.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Do the highly processed foods promote more
chronic inflammation?
They do.
Which eventually iscounterproductive for sure they
do.
Is that a fair statement?
Speaker 3 (20:01):
They do.
They do.
And for years now in the medicalliterature, the nutrition
science literature, there havebeen studies demonstrating this
again and again, that regularconsumption of highly processed
foods leads to elevations ininflammatory markers that we
see.
When people have infections likeC R P C-reactive protein or um,
interleukins, those are part ofthe immune system that go up
(20:23):
when there's inflammation.
And those things areconsistently seen when people
have highly processed foods intheir diet on a regular
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Basis.
So another good reason, uh, thelong-term ongoing effects of
regular eating of highlyprocessed foods might lead to
increased inflammatory markersand lead, lead to it to chronic
It does.
That's known, that's known.
And that chronic inflammation,your body responding as it's
supposed to Yeah.
Eventually has some what wesoften say deleterious effects.
(20:51):
Yes.
Not good effects.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
.
Yes.
Some negative effects that arevarious chronic diseases that
nobody wants.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
What do you mean?
Well,
Speaker 3 (20:57):
They're the things that we see in our practice all
the time and that millions andmillions of people are suffering
from like diabetes, heartdisease, stroke, cancers of all
different types.
Autoimmune diseases, digestiveand liver diseases, and even
mental health conditionsincluding dementia and cognitive
(21:17):
decline.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
How do you recommend that people reduce, maybe they
can't eliminate but reducehighly processed foods from
their diet.
What practical tips would yougive your patients?
And now our listeners,
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Well we mentioned this last time and it's worth
mentioning again, scratch thebeverages other than water, tea,
coffee.
The human body really does notneed and does not benefit from
in any way sugary beverages.
Not diet beverages, notflavored.
Our bodies really don't do wellwith those in our, in our
(21:50):
system.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Number one, get rid of Kylie processed beverages.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Yes.
Just wrecks our gut.
It causes
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Inflammation.
So attend to your beverageselection.
Yes.
That's, that's number, number
Speaker 3 (22:00):
One.
Always number one.
And number two, I would saymaybe try making a shift from a
refined grain to whole grains.
So this could be brown riceinstead of white rice.
Or if that's a too far of ajump, mixing the two.
So kind of a blend trying outother grains that humans have
(22:22):
eaten for thousands andthousands of years.
Like millet, quinoa been labeledas super food of late, but it is
a ancient grain.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Are canned foods or maybe also by extension frozen
foods, are they minimallyprocessed?
Are they something we should beadding to our diet or do they
come into this highly processedcategory?
I
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Would say they are more toward the minimally
processed end of things.
Typically canned and frozenvegetables and beans are a
really great way to get thosefairly minimally processed
foods.
Endear your diet at a prettyaffordable price point.
And often they have not beenprocessed a ton for frozen
(23:03):
foods, especially.
They're picked, they're washed,they're cut, and then they're
frozen.
And so that's about as muchprocessing as happens.
And those can be almost fresherthan lettuce that's come from
California in the middle ofwinter in Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
That's good news for me.
You know that you can have, uh,canned tomatoes and you can have
canned kidney beans or whateverfor your diet.
So before I let you go, Kate,what benefits can you expect if
you do incorporate moreminimally processed foods into
your diet?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
You'll feel so much better.
People tell me when theyespecially move away from the
sugar sweetened beverages, evenfrom a lot of carbonated
beverages, from the refinedgrains and just start eating
more real food, their energyfeels better.
They feel less digestivediscomfort, their bowels
improve, their mood seems morestable.
(23:53):
They generally have more energy.
Just kind of an overall sense ofwellbeing improves.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
That's motivational, that's what most of us want.
Right?
And it's possible It is to, tomove toward that.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
What's what our body wants.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So I have learned some things from this and I hope
you have two listeners, Dr.
Kate Shafto.
Thanks for being again with ustoday for another episode about
Food and your health.
And I look forward to our nextepisode with
Speaker 3 (24:15):
You.
Thank you so much.
I look forward to talking againtoo.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Listeners, thank you for tuning into this episode.
I hope you have enjoyed it.
And if you like what you hear,please give us a review wherever
you get your podcast.
Thank you for joining us andhave a great, healthy and happy
new year.
And in the meantime, be healthyand be well.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Thanks for listening to the Healthy Matters podcast
with Dr.
David Hilden.
To find out more about theHealthy Matters podcast or
browse the archive, visithealthy matters.org.
Got a question or a comment forthe show, email us at Healthy
Matters hc m e d.org or call 6 12 8 7 3 talk.
There's also a link in the shownotes.
(24:56):
And finally, if you enjoy theshow, please leave us a review
and share the show with others.
The Healthy Matters Podcast ismade possible by Hennepin
Healthcare in Minneapolis,Minnesota, and engineered and
produced by John Lucas AtHighball Executive producers are
Jonathan Comito and ChristineHill.
Please remember, we can onlygive general medical advice
during this program, and everycase is unique.
(25:17):
We urge you to consult with yourphysician if you have a more
serious or pressing healthconcern.
Until next time, be healthy andbe well.
Welcome to the Healthy Matters podcast with Dr.
David Hilden, primary carephysician and acute care
hospitalist at HennepinHealthcare in downtown
Minneapolis, where we cover thelatest in health, healthcare and
what matters to you.
And now here's our host, Dr.
David Hilden.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hey everybody, and welcome to season two, episode
two of the Healthy Matterspodcast.
I'm your host, Dr.
David Hilden, and today we aregonna talk about highly
processed foods and the effectson your health.
Joining me today in studio isDr.
Kate Shafto.
Dr.
Shafto is, uh, triple boardcertified physician in internal
medicine, pediatrics, andintegrative medicine.
(00:43):
Kate, thanks for being back onthe show.
My
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Pleasure.
Thanks so much for inviting me
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Back.
Great to have you here.
Now we're gonna talk today aboutprocessed foods.
First of all, can you helpdefine that for us?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yes, and that's a great place to start because
there's a lot of confusion inour language about processed
foods.
So I don't think we talked aboutthis last time, but I spent a
couple of years recentlylearning how to do organic
farming.
And so processing food issomething that humans have done
for a long time.
And I had personal experiencedoing that with the foods that
we grew, the vegetables that wegrew, you have to actually pull
(01:16):
the leaks out of the soil andget the
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Dirt off of it.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
You get the dirt off, strip off the outer leaves, and
then you have to cut off theroots.
And that's processing.
So most food, if not all food,except for like a banana or an
apple that comes right off thetree needs to be processed.
And so processing food issomething that people have done
for ages.
But what we're talking aboutwhen we say quote processed
(01:40):
foods in our day-to-day life andlanguage, currently, usually
people are referring to ultraprocessed foods or highly
processed foods.
There's actually somedefinitions of processed foods
that have been around for about15 years that define a couple
different categories.
The first one is minimally orunprocessed foods.
(02:01):
That's kind of the example of anapple, a banana that comes right
off the tree.
And you can eat it a carrot, youpull it outta the ground, maybe
you brush off the dirt, maybeyou don't, and you can eat it.
But then the next category wouldbe processed culinary
ingredients.
So this is a type of foodingredient that's derived from a
minimally processed source, andthen it's been refined or ground
(02:26):
up, like grain needs to beshucked out of its hull in order
to be eaten.
Mm-hmm.
And that would be like aprocessed culinary ingredient
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Applesauce.
Would that fit?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I would think that makes sense.
Yeah.
So it's been processed veryslightly.
And then the next one isprocessed foods.
Processed foods are from eitherof the two previous groups that
then have added sugar or salt orfats.
They're often made ready to eat.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So it's when they took those ingredients and
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Then and added, added
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Something, add something else to it.
Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And then finally, the fourth category is ultra
processed foods.
And this is also referred to ashighly processed foods.
And these are when often youdon't have much of the original
ingredients that areidentifiable.
So I think of a breakfast cerealas a highly processed food
example.
That
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Surprises
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Me.
Depends on the type of breakfastcereal.
Yeah.
Yes.
Like in a cheerio, it's a littleo shape.
There's no existing plant orfood ingredient that comes from
nature in an O
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Shape.
You mean the Cheerios don't growin Apollo stalk like that?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I don't think they do.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And they cut'em.
They don't
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Think they do.
They don't just chop them upinto
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Little dish.
All right.
Somebody had to make it intothat shape.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Right.
And so the differentingredients, wheat and corn and
some sort of oil and otherthings, and plus added vitamins
and minerals are put into somesort of a soup.
I don't know how this is made,I'm just making this up as an
ingredient.
No, but I get that potentially,but like they're mixed together
in some form and then pouredinto a little shape and then
(04:02):
spit out as a cheerio, forexample.
So other things could be frozenpizza or a donut, some things
that they're very ready to eator already prepared.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
No, you're not going after donuts in this episode,
are you?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Didn't we go over donuts in the
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Last I think we maybe .
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
So we have
I do like my frozen pizzas, sowe'll talk about that.
Yeah.
You know, stuff sometimes thatyou like.
So that's a really helpfulframework for me that you've put
the processing of foods intothose four categories.
Do you have a sense, Kate, abouthow much of our typical diet
(04:37):
consists of those highlyprocessed foods and, and how did
we get to that place?
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Well, so one source, the HarvardNutrition Source website says
that in some cases, um, peoplein the US are eating up to 60%
of their diet from these ultraprocessed
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Foods.
I'm gonna guess that's not good.
Not
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Good.
And this would vary widelythough, from communities to
community and, um, certainlyamong even individual
households.
But that's just kind of anaverage or an estimate from the
Harvard Nutrition source.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Is that because it's, it's just cheaper or is it
consumer preference, or why doyou think is
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Oh, I'm sure there's so many different factors that
it's complicated isn't, it'scomplicated.
Our food system is complicated.
And I've, I've started sayingthis to patients when I have
this conversation, so, so thatthey don't feel like it's all on
them or all on you listeners.
It's, it's not so much anymoreabout our individual choices in
this complicated food system.
(05:36):
Our food system is complicatedbecause of the many different
parties that are involved ingetting our food to us.
It's no longer, I think wetalked about this last time,
it's no longer that I know thepeople who, who grow the food
and we have a relationship.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah.
Almost never is
Speaker 3 (05:52):
That, almost never Right.
When we go to the grocery store,it's this huge array of all
these different foods and foodproducts.
And most of the time we have noidea really where they've come
from.
Many times these ultra processedfoods are cheaper because the
ingredients are grown on a hugeindustrialized scale.
And that allows for a greatamount of efficiency in
(06:14):
processing soy or corn or wheatinto lots of different sub
products that can then be usedin many different foods and food
products.
And the word food products orthe term food products is
something that I've seen too inthe literature and even in the
food science world, they'realways developing new food
products.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Doesn't sound very appetizing.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
No,
Speaker 2 (06:37):
No.
Mm-hmm.
I I'm not gonna go home tonightto eat a food product.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Right.
But that's the language that'sused because there's so many
different ingredients, and notjust food ingredients, but
chemical preservative dyes andother ingredients that go into
making these food productspalatable and shelf stable and
able to be transported acrossmany, many miles and to get at
(07:03):
consumers pallets.
There are some terms that thefood science industry uses
methods called the Bliss Point.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
The Bliss point.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Correct.
That is the point at whichpeople can't resist eating
another food product of whatevervariety.
Ah, why You can't just eat one
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Thing.
I never shingled I never heardthat term, but I know what you
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Mean.
It's a thing.
And it is a specificallyengineered point that interacts
with our nervous system and ourpalate to make us crave that
food.
There's another term calledmouth feel.
So when different food productsare created, it's intended to
feel right in our mouth.
Often when food products areengineered with a lot of
different ingredients to make upthe end result, they have to add
(07:45):
different textures so that it'swhat we expect in our mouth when
we're eating that highlyprocessed food.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So yes, it can be made cheaper.
And yes, they're, the foodprocessing industry is actively
looking for those concepts thatyou just mentioned.
The bliss point.
God, that's blowing my mind.
That just that comment and Itotally know what you mean.
Yep.
It's, but it's an thingintentional, uh, yes.
Intentionally engineered thing.
Correct.
To get people hooked, for lackof a a better word.
(08:13):
Yes.
On the, on the highly processedfood.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yes.
The element of cost is a majorfactor in all of this.
And results in an unjust foodsystem in our practices every
day as physicians, we are facedwith the effects of the social
determinants of health.
The factors in our society, thestructural factors in the way
that people live, um, in thehousing, in the food access, in
(08:37):
our environment are builtenvironment, the air, water,
land that we drink and breatheand live on.
All those factors relate to ourfood system also.
And it is not equitable and it'snot just, and so much of the
food and food products that arein our cities and in places that
are termed food deserts, thoughI don't like that term, those
are some of the cheaper, lessnutritious, highly processed
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Foods.
And that's what populates theconvenience stores.
Yes.
And the and the markets that areavailable Yes.
To a good many of our neighbors.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
That's right.
So this is not individualresponsibility here.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
There's no choices.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
No.
That is not something that weshould lay blame on the
individual.
They didn't create thesesystems.
My patients didn't ask to onlyhave access to a convenience
store for their food, and theydidn't design the system that
has led to that.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So, Dr.
Shafta, let's shift if we couldto the actual effects on the
human body Yeah.
Of highly processed foods.
And what does the science andwhat does your, um, background
in that?
Tell us why are highly processedfoods not healthy for the human
body?
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah.
Well, so the nature of highlyprocessed foods is in the name.
They've been highly processed,not just the example of washing
off the carrots or cutting up anapple or mushing it into sauce,
but lots of ingredients,including ones that are for
preserving or additives orchemicals or stabilizers to make
(10:07):
that highly processed food tastethe way that we expect it to and
to be shelf stable for transportand for durability on the shelf
of a grocery store.
And so what's lacking from thosehighly processed foods a lot of
times are the very nutrientsthat we need from the food that
we eat.
(10:27):
And fiber, those are my top twothat are lacking fiber and
micronutrients, vitamins,antioxidants, minerals.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Because they get removed during the process.
Correct.
Okay.
We're gonna talk about that.
The lack of nutrients.
The lack of fiber.
Why the heck does that matter tothe human body?
We've been talking with Dr.
Kate Shafto.
We're talking about highlyprocessed foods and the effect
on your health.
When we come back from thisshort break, we're gonna get
into that in much more detail.
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You are listening to the Healthy Matters podcast with
Dr.
David Hilden.
You got a question or commentfor the doc?
Email us at healthy matters hc me d.org or give us a call at six
one two eight seven three talk.
That's 6 1 2 8 7 3 8 2 55.
And now let's get back to morehealthy conversation.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
And we're back talking with Dr.
Kate Shafto about highlyprocessed foods.
Kate, you said before the breakthat when foods are highly
processed, bunch of nutrientsare removed from them and fiber
is removed.
Those, you said, those are thetwo things.
The loss of nutrients, then theloss of fiber.
Let's start with the ladderfirst.
Why does the loss of fibermatter to your health?
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Fiber is an unsung hero in our health.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Fiber is so important and the human body has been very
well acquainted with fiber foras long as humans have walked
the earth.
Fiber comes from plant foodsalone.
You can't find fiber in anyanimal foods.
So that's one key.
And fiber is the roughage.
It's the stuff that we needteeth to chew.
(12:14):
And so fiber has many, manydifferent beneficial effects in
the human body in particularrelated to the gut.
What I'm talking about when Isay the gut is the digestive
system.
So from mouth all the way to theother end, we have an amazing
system that is designed to breakapart and break down foods.
(12:34):
And it starts with our teeth.
And so we have teeth for areason.
I say that frequently topatients.
We have teeth for a reason,meaning we were given these
teeth or we've developed theseteeth in our mouth to break down
tough things.
And yes, you can use those teethto break down animal fibers and
proteins totally appropriate.
That's one of their uses.
And we really need to break downplant proteins and plant fibers
(12:58):
too.
When we chew plant fibers, theythen go into our stomach and
later into our intestines.
And they have a very importantrole.
It's being found more and moreto feed the microbes that live
in our intestines.
They actually, the fibersactually form kind of a film
along the inner walls of ourintestines so that the nutrients
(13:20):
don't get absorbed right away.
And so the microbes can do theirthing and so that they can
metabolize the differentvitamins, they can process
different vitamins and mineralsand other nutrients in ways that
only our microbiota can do.
And the fiber also slows downthe, um, absorption of sugar
into our bloodstream, which issuper important because we just,
(13:41):
humans don't tolerate quickinfusions of sugar very well.
But that's happening in so manycases every day in many people's
food,
Speaker 2 (13:51):
You drink a sugar.
Exactly.
Sugary pop.
It's a glucose or fructose load.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
It is, it is.
And our body does not handlethat well.
It's a huge strain on ourpancreas, on our liver.
It puts our, our nervous systemon overdrive because of all that
sugar all at once.
So the fiber in food mitigatesthat.
It slows it down.
It not that I'm recommending youshould eat a bunch of roughage
and all I
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Could pick soda is a bunch of celery.
Everybody's going for this andthey're chewing on celery, ent,
twine,
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Celery, and then drinking their mountain dew.
No, that's not what I'mrecommending.
But when you eat food thatcontains fiber, naturally, and
the example I like to thinkabout is fruits, how different
it is to eat an apple, then itis to drink apple juice.
Apple juice has no fiber.
That's the sugar load that'sequal to a soda.
No different apple.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Because it because it was processed out.
Yes.
Through all
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Of that, the fiber was
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Strained out.
It was strained out to make itthat.
Yeah.
Syrup.
Apple juice.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Apple juice.
Right.
And, and so when we eat theapple, we're chewing, chewing,
chewing.
That fiber is going down intoour stomach and our intestines
where those microbes startworking on it, they start
deconstructing it.
And they also are able toextract the vitamins and the
minerals from that apple.
And they're not gettingoverwhelmed by all that sugar
(15:11):
because it's kind of packaged inthe fiber.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
So I'm kidding when I, all I can think of is people
chewing on celery all day long.
Uh, because it just strikes meas the most stringy, fibrous
thing I could think of.
Good example.
It is, yeah.
Where a very practical tip,where can you get fiber in your
diet?
Is it literally any vegetable orplant product that hasn't been
processed?
People ask me this a lot.
What food should I eat to getfiber?
(15:34):
And I'm a little bit at a loss,I always just say, well, maybe
if it isn't processed, butthat's a flimsy answer.
It's
Speaker 3 (15:40):
A good start because any vegetable fruit, nut seed,
bean grain have fiber.
All plant foods have fiber andthe less processed the better.
Mm-hmm.
But we need processing to makegrains and beans available for
us to eat.
Yeah.
Most people aren't growing theirbeans or grains.
(16:00):
Mm-hmm.
grains.
And that's really hard.
And so thank goodness for theindustrialized food system in
some ways that like
Speaker 2 (16:09):
You didn't have a wheated field
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Down on time.
Exactly.
Cuts down on the time it takesto thresh grain and get the
actual grains out for humanconsumption.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
But yeah.
And most of us are, our grainthreshing skills are a little
rusty.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Yeah.
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, yeah.
Exactly.
But, but we can eat whole fruitsand vegetables in legumes and
everything you just said.
We can
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Do that.
And whole grains.
And that's one of the bestplaces to get fiber and to make
a shift away from a highlyprocessed food is by eating the
whole version of grains.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Now Kate, let's talk about the processing out of
nutrients, because we've talkedabout that.
Highly processed foods removedthe fiber.
You also said that nutrients areremoved.
Could you say more about thatplease?
And
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, removed might not be the real intention of the
processing, but they're, they're
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Not lost.
They're purposely, they're lost.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Yeah.
Yeah.
They end up being lost.
And part of that is becausethey, they go with the fiber.
Mm-hmm.
And so, um, minerals andvitamins, antioxidants are the
things that make fruits andvegetables brightly colored.
And so a lot of highly processedfoods, I, I don't think of them
as being especially true tolife.
Brightly colored.
They may be brightly colored forother reasons.
(17:17):
They're
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Beige.
Must color, they must be addedcolor.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
That's right.
Or red dye number five or abright fluorescent blue
Gatorade.
That's not naturally occurring.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
You mean that didn't grow in a field somehow like
Speaker 3 (17:28):
That?
I promise it didn't.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Speaker 3 (17:31):
So the lack of color is a good sign that there's a
lack of nutrients.
You've probably heard the phraseeat the rainbow.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah.
So that's because the differentcolors in our food represent
different antioxidants.
Antioxidants is just a fancynutrition science word for
minerals or, or vitamins orsubstances in our food that
fight against oxidative stress,which is basically cellular
stress on the the body.
And so antioxidants are reallyimportant in preventing
(18:01):
inflammation, preventingdisease.
And they come in these colorfulpackages that nature produces.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
So the deep oranges, the deep, exactly.
Greens, all of those things arewhat you're after.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Red, blue, purple,
Speaker 2 (18:15):
The naturally occurring colors.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Think of berries or um, other fruits or vegetables.
Carrots, sweet potatoes.
Have that really rich.
Yeah.
Deep, beautiful color.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Please don't tell me I have to eat eggplant though.
I don't need to have to eateggplant.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I don't like
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Eggplant twice.
Okay.
Cause it's a deep rich purple.
It
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Is.
And has many antioxidants,
Speaker 2 (18:32):
But okay.
So go for it.
If you like eggplant, that'sright's in the group too.
Yeah.
So you used the word that I'vebeen waiting to talk about a
little bit, inflammation.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Why is that not good?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Well, so inflammation in the body has a very important
role.
Like if I cut my finger, I wantthere to be inflammation to heal
that wound.
And that's the body's naturalresponse.
That's acute inflammation orshort
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Term.
I'm glad you brought that up cuzinflammation is a body's natural
response.
That's right.
It's not a universal evil.
It's body doing what it'ssupposed to.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Exactly.
And you could also think aboutchronic inflammation as the body
doing what it's supposed to doalso because it's being
chronically stimulated withthings that evoke inflammation.
And the things that do that fromour food would be sugar,
especially a lot of sugar andthose refined grains.
So the absence of the bra andthe germ where we're left with
(19:26):
just that starchy, often white,sugary think, um, pasta that
sort of melts in your mouthbefore you even need to chew it.
Remember I said we have teethfor a reason.
So if there's food that'smelting in your mouth before you
even really need to chew it, ifit's a plant food, like a potato
in the form of a french fry orpasta, that stuff has been so
(19:47):
refined that you don't reallyneed to chew it.
And so it's being absorbed veryquickly into your bloodstream as
sugar.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Do the highly processed foods promote more
chronic inflammation?
They do.
Which eventually iscounterproductive for sure they
do.
Is that a fair statement?
Speaker 3 (20:01):
They do.
They do.
And for years now in the medicalliterature, the nutrition
science literature, there havebeen studies demonstrating this
again and again, that regularconsumption of highly processed
foods leads to elevations ininflammatory markers that we
see.
When people have infections likeC R P C-reactive protein or um,
interleukins, those are part ofthe immune system that go up
(20:23):
when there's inflammation.
And those things areconsistently seen when people
have highly processed foods intheir diet on a regular
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Basis.
So another good reason, uh, thelong-term ongoing effects of
regular eating of highlyprocessed foods might lead to
increased inflammatory markersand lead, lead to it to chronic
It does.
That's known, that's known.
And that chronic inflammation,your body responding as it's
supposed to Yeah.
Eventually has some what wesoften say deleterious effects.
(20:51):
Yes.
Not good effects.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yes.
Some negative effects that arevarious chronic diseases that
nobody wants.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
What do you mean?
Well,
Speaker 3 (20:57):
They're the things that we see in our practice all
the time and that millions andmillions of people are suffering
from like diabetes, heartdisease, stroke, cancers of all
different types.
Autoimmune diseases, digestiveand liver diseases, and even
mental health conditionsincluding dementia and cognitive
(21:17):
decline.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
How do you recommend that people reduce, maybe they
can't eliminate but reducehighly processed foods from
their diet.
What practical tips would yougive your patients?
And now our listeners,
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Well we mentioned this last time and it's worth
mentioning again, scratch thebeverages other than water, tea,
coffee.
The human body really does notneed and does not benefit from
in any way sugary beverages.
Not diet beverages, notflavored.
Our bodies really don't do wellwith those in our, in our
(21:50):
system.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Number one, get rid of Kylie processed beverages.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Yes.
Just wrecks our gut.
It causes
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Inflammation.
So attend to your beverageselection.
Yes.
That's, that's number, number
Speaker 3 (22:00):
One.
Always number one.
And number two, I would saymaybe try making a shift from a
refined grain to whole grains.
So this could be brown riceinstead of white rice.
Or if that's a too far of ajump, mixing the two.
So kind of a blend trying outother grains that humans have
(22:22):
eaten for thousands andthousands of years.
Like millet, quinoa been labeledas super food of late, but it is
a ancient grain.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Are canned foods or maybe also by extension frozen
foods, are they minimallyprocessed?
Are they something we should beadding to our diet or do they
come into this highly processedcategory?
I
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Would say they are more toward the minimally
processed end of things.
Typically canned and frozenvegetables and beans are a
really great way to get thosefairly minimally processed
foods.
Endear your diet at a prettyaffordable price point.
And often they have not beenprocessed a ton for frozen
(23:03):
foods, especially.
They're picked, they're washed,they're cut, and then they're
frozen.
And so that's about as muchprocessing as happens.
And those can be almost fresherthan lettuce that's come from
California in the middle ofwinter in Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
That's good news for me.
You know that you can have, uh,canned tomatoes and you can have
canned kidney beans or whateverfor your diet.
So before I let you go, Kate,what benefits can you expect if
you do incorporate moreminimally processed foods into
your diet?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
You'll feel so much better.
People tell me when theyespecially move away from the
sugar sweetened beverages, evenfrom a lot of carbonated
beverages, from the refinedgrains and just start eating
more real food, their energyfeels better.
They feel less digestivediscomfort, their bowels
improve, their mood seems morestable.
(23:53):
They generally have more energy.
Just kind of an overall sense ofwellbeing improves.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
That's motivational, that's what most of us want.
Right?
And it's possible It is to, tomove toward that.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
What's what our body wants.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
So I have learned some things from this and I hope
you have two listeners, Dr.
Kate Shafto.
Thanks for being again with ustoday for another episode about
Food and your health.
And I look forward to our nextepisode with
Speaker 3 (24:15):
You.
Thank you so much.
I look forward to talking againtoo.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Listeners, thank you for tuning into this episode.
I hope you have enjoyed it.
And if you like what you hear,please give us a review wherever
you get your podcast.
Thank you for joining us andhave a great, healthy and happy
new year.
And in the meantime, be healthyand be well.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Thanks for listening to the Healthy Matters podcast
with Dr.
David Hilden.
To find out more about theHealthy Matters podcast or
browse the archive, visithealthy matters.org.
Got a question or a comment forthe show, email us at Healthy
Matters hc m e d.org or call 6 12 8 7 3 talk.
There's also a link in the shownotes.
(24:56):
And finally, if you enjoy theshow, please leave us a review
and share the show with others.
The Healthy Matters Podcast ismade possible by Hennepin
Healthcare in Minneapolis,Minnesota, and engineered and
produced by John Lucas AtHighball Executive producers are
Jonathan Comito and ChristineHill.
Please remember, we can onlygive general medical advice
during this program, and everycase is unique.
(25:17):
We urge you to consult with yourphysician if you have a more
serious or pressing healthconcern.
Until next time, be healthy andbe well.
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