to want to give up processed food

[adiia]

But I'm not sure how?we already cook from scratch, usually blend fresh tomatoes rather then using canned ones,make lot of our own bread,make homemade pizza.I'm stuck on snacks and breakfast mostly.any tips?I like baking,but white flour and sugar are processed food aren't they?

Not just white flour. All flour is processed - that's why it's possible to use for baking.

It really depends how hardcore you want to be. A lot of people I know who do this would consider bread made from scratch to be as unprocessed as possible. We on the whole subscribe to this to, but are lucky that a relative who visits regularly lives near an old school mill and brings us flour from there so we get it as unprocessed as possible.

Giving up sugar I have found is a pretty good way to give up processed food as a side effect. We have been eating clean for a while now.

I snack on pumpkin seeds, steam-popped corn and have a slice of homemade bread with peanut butter and honey as a snack too. How about porridge oats for breakfast? I also make oatcakes and have those for breakfast. I'm just getting into making our own nut butters and we'll have bees soon to produce our own honey.

It's alway been part of my upbringing to produce as much of our food as possible, and I've really taken it on from my parents.

I'm more and more distrustful about food labelling and as I get older I just want to eat as wholesomely as possible.

Still buy wine, beer, chocolate and lots of other stuff. We could do better, but we're trying.

Oh dear, forgive my bad grammar and appalling sentences there.

All processed food? Your pizza dough certainly won't be possible then. You'd probably have a better chance giving up specific things, like refined sugar and processed meats.

So you just substitute sugars for natural sugars as honey etc.not sure I could rid of flour completely.wholemealflour for now.

No precessed meat in my pantry I have to stop bu to ng biscuits,canned tuna,and...is cheese processed food?how about frozen vegs?

Cheese doesn't come fully formed out of any animal. It does need to be processed, yes.

I've made my own soft cheese, mozzarella, paneer and butter before. Really, really easy and satisfying to do.

We are cutting down on refined sugar massively.

That's a key first step. And the hardest be, often.

I'm interested in how other people deal with flour.

this is a good blog (although American).

And when you whizz up your fresh tomatoes, you are processing them too. How hard-core are you willing to go?

But short of eating raw fruit and veg, and milk and the odd raw steak all food is processed, surely. Genuine question. What counts as processed?

Genuine question. What counts as processed?

Any well, process, that changes food from its natural state makes a food processed. Generally though, there's nothing wrong with that - giving up all processed food is really pointless unless you want to go all raw. It's like when people want to eliminate chemicals from their food - what do they imagine food is?

I am trying to eat less processed foods such as crisps, biscuits etc. I am avoiding white bread and just trying to eat proper food without too many additions and as much fresh preduce as I can.

I do hate the term clean eating though. Having a bit of processed stuff doesn't mean it is dirty. Just eat healthy, everything within moderation and you should get healthier.

I wish I had done that years ago instead of restricting so much over the years and have my weight yo yo all the time. If you fancy a bag of chips or a bar of chocolate then have it now and then. It won't kill you.

Except that most paleo eaters do eat butter or oils; those are processed foods, for sure.

Cooking processes foods... so raw meat & raw veg with raw summer fruits is only true unprocessed diet available in UK.

I we try to live a healthy life and eat as much natural fresh food as possible but we do have some processed food. However here as some snack ideas that I love. May not be for everyone.

www.ilovebite.co

Why?

Unless you don't work and have all the time in the world to grind your own flour why on earth would you want to?

Surely giving up processed food is giving up ready meals, sauces, puddings, junk food anything with additives to make it last longer etc and cooking everything from scratch yourself, not depriving yourself of ready milled flour....

Our rule of thumb tends to be to look at foods bought in a supermarket to see how many ingredients they contain.

Short list of ingredients, no (or minimal) E additives/pres. = OK,
List as long as your arm = not OK (as a rule).

This is more do-able IME than being too hung up about "is it processed or isn't it". Let's face it, if you can cut down a significant amount of any "processed" foods you currently eat (those with the list-as-long-as-your-arm), then you are already making a significant difference.

Products such as flour, fats etc - I'd focus on quality if you can afford it (for example, wholemeal, pure virgin olive oil) and try not to get worried about the minutia of whether a handful of flour is processed. In the grand scheme of life, it won't matter!

We eat a lot of pitta bread. I'm not giving that up.

Amazing. Years of people suffering with poor diets, having to eat the same food relentlessly in season, making everything from scratch and yet here we are and it's ...aspirational.

As processed food i meant food that has added preservatives,additives etc etc.things like pure extra virgin olive oil are processed but not in a "bad" way iukwim.

lol @ reavealall. Like folk who don't want any "chemicals" in their food, too.

It's good you have some clear ideas what you want, Adiia, because everyone has a different picture what 'unprocessed' means, may not be at all what you mean.