Healthy Eating / Healthy Living

[Morrigoon]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

I know that the processed foods is your personal soap-box the way vegetarianism is mine - and I agree that natural foods are best. Still, there are some things that are processed that are healthier than their unprocessed counterparts. (Earth Balance v. butter comes to mind, in terms of cholesterol. ETA - but then, it's not really soooo processed. It's pressed natural oil.)

Though I'm confused about the question of retaining original shape. Is that more of a... cooking process thing?

It's the difference between getting a chicken breast or a chicken nugget.

If I have a choice between a sandwich of turkey pieces in odd shapes because they were sliced right off the bird, or deli slices in perfect ovals, I'm going to prefer the odd shapes because direct off the bird is probably processed less. And the overall sandwich usually tastes better.

Also, to be fair, I'm not a hardliner about this, at all. I eat plenty of processed foods. But I'm trying to eat more of the "real" stuff and less of the processed.

One side effect I'm finding is that somehow my decision to prefer "real" food is aiding me in preferring sandwich shops over burgers, even though the difference in processing is probably minimal. I'd actually say the effect is as strong as my fear of getting sick in terms of helping to discourage me from getting burgers. Somehow my mind is convinced that the stuff in sandwiches is closer to the source. (they're certainly less greasy) Weird, but hey, if it works...