Today we bring you a very interesting post that can help you a lot to assess whether your shopping basket really consists of natural or processed foods.

Since the food industry has introduced great technology in its factories, every day we see new products on the market, and the reality is that we have normalized many of them in our diet.

But what difference is there really between a natural product, a processed one and an ultra-processed one?

First of all, know that the WHO (world health organization) defines natural food as anything that has not had added sugar, fat, salt, or that has not undergone any industrial treatment. For example: meat, fish, eggs, legumes, vegetables, vegetables...

On the other hand, we have processed foods that have been treated by the industry through processes such as fermentation, pasteurization, preservation, cleaning or freezing. Just because these processes have passed does not mean that they are of poor quality. In fact, in this group we can find products that are highly recommended today to use in our diet. For example: legume flours (100%), yogurts (no added sugar), natural frozen fruits, cheeses without anything added...

Regarding the definition of ultra-processed , it is any product obtained using processed foods using cooking techniques that can be quite improved (frying, added ingredients such as glutamate, salt, vegetable fats, butter...). In this way, the nutritional quality of the product worsens considerably. An example is: highly processed hamburgers with a low percentage of meat, ham-flavored fries, sauces, industrial pastries, desserts, sweetened jellies...

As we mentioned at the beginning of the post, the industry has played a lot with all the products we see on supermarket shelves, filling them with attractive labels so that you end up buying a product without really knowing if it is a good choice.

You should always look at the list of ingredients to know if any ingredient has been added that worsens its nutritional quality. Remember that the ingredients are ordered from greatest to least quantity according to their content. It is also useful to analyze the nutritional value table to be able to compare the macronutrients it provides us. In the case of yogurt, yogurt with ingredients such as lactic ferments, powdered milk is not the same as yogurt with ingredients such as preservatives, jams, sweeteners and added sugars. Both have undergone the same treatment in the factory, but they do not have the same nutritional quality, so they are not the same type of processing. This is what we are most interested in knowing when going shopping and avoiding being deceived.

That there is 15-20% ultra-processed foods in your diet is not worrying. As long as you prioritize natural foods, along with an active life, you can allow yourself to eat ultra-processed foods . If you want to avoid them at all costs, your decision will be fine, but it is also not good to demonize food, or think that by eating it one day we are going to ruin everything we have achieved so far. We must understand the context in which we consume it and be aware of our choices at all times.

Regarding the nutritional density of natural foods compared to processed foods, it should be noted that there are some cases where their nutritional value is modified. For example, adding 5-6 natural cashews to our porridge is not the same as adding a tablespoon of cashew cream. In the case of the tablespoon, we find more kcal since more cashews were needed to make a cream, so its nutritional density is greater, but the quality is the same.

In periods of fat loss, or where we control the calories ingested more for health reasons, we must pay great attention to low-volume snacks and soft drinks, since they are ingested very quickly and do not satisfy us. This normally happens with ultra-processed products like those mentioned above.

In summary, we always recommend that first of all the quality of the food is taken into account compared to the kcal it provides us. And prioritize real, good quality foods to have a diet that is as complete and varied as possible, in addition to avoiding the long-term appearance of certain digestive or metabolic pathologies, such as obesity or type II diabetes mellitus.