In today’s world, many Americans are eating more ultra-processed and processed foods and not eating real foods that contain adequate amounts of dietary fiber and other nutrients. 75% of Americans are overweight with 45% of children being labeled as overweight. 20% of kids are labeled as obese with about 1/3 of kids having diabetes or pre-diabetes around age 12.

According to research, 93.2% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy, which means they have either their high blood sugar, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or overweight or have had a heart attack or stroke. Six in 10 Americans have a chronic disease, a large part, this is due the explosion of eating ultra processed food over the last 20, 30 years that drives poor metabolic health. It’s also affecting our mental health crisis, increasing a lot of our depression, anxiety, polarization, violence, aggression, all because of the food we’re eating and the cost is staggering.

In fact, colorectal cancer is on the rise in the 30 – 50 age group. Sedentary lifestyle, overweight and obesity, smoking, heavy alcohol use, low-fiber, high-fat diets & diets high in processed meats, and other environmental factors have all been associated with the colorectal cancer.

The economic cost of these nutrition-related chronic diseases has been estimated at $16 trillion from 2011 to 2020. In fact, recent research has been estimated that poor nutrition actually costs the U.S. Economy $1.1 Trillion per year.

93% of Medicare costs are due to chronic disease and 85% of Medicaid costs are due to chronic diseases.

You are What You Eat

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize most of these chronic symptoms are due to diet and sedentary lifestyle.

Sadly, having access and purchasing unprocessed foods and whole foods isn’t that simple.  In today’s world, food costs have escalated to the point that many people are unable to afford fresh foods. Whether it comes down to affordability, accessibility and/or availability in some cases, you can check food labels to determine which prepared foods have a short list of acceptable ingredients.  Small steps can lead to a better health outcome nutritionally and of course becoming more active every day doesn’t cost anything.

Check out the Table 1. 4 Types of Processed and Ultra-Processed Foods to discover the types of processed foods.

Table 1. 4 Types of Processed and Ultra-Processed Foods

1. Minimally Processed Foods
2. Limited processing with no added fats, sugar, salt but just removing inedible parts like stems and seeds.
3. Chopping, grinding, drying or freezing, roasting, boiling, and packaged or vacuum sealing and stored for longer use.
4. Examples, frozen vegetables, shelled nuts, frozen or ground meat, dried beans, grain products like rice, pasta, and cereal, milk, unsweetened yogurt, spices, herbs, coffee and tea.
5. Processed Culinary Ingredients
6. Minimally processed foods like vegetable oils, butter, lard, & honey.
7. Processed Foods
8. These commercially prepared foods contain additives like salt, sugar, fat or starch to minimally processed foods like canned vegetables & fruits, canned beans, olive in brine, canned fish, salted nuts, and deli-meats.
9. Ultra-Processed Foods
10. Added ingredients like sources of protein: soy, whey, gluten to name a few.
11. Added starches and sugars like maltodextrin, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose to name a few.
12. Modified oils like hydrogenated oils.
13. Flavor enhancers, color or texture additives like thickeners, non-nutritive sweeteners.
14. Ultra-processed foods typically has 5 or more ingredients under the ingredient list.

https://karencollinsnutrition.com/processed-vs-ultra-processed-foods-overlooked-nuances/

Table 2. Healthy Foods Swaps for Processed Foods

Home Cooked	Processed	Ultra-processed
Oatmeal made with rolled oats & sweetened with honey	Plain bran cereal	Sweetened breakfast cereals
Water with a splash of fruit slices or fruit juice	Artificially flavored sparkling or carbonated water	Soda
Homemade Pita Chips, Potato Chips	Plain tortilla chips	Flavored potato chips
Homemade whole wheat bread	Whole wheat bread made with short list of ingredients	White bread
Roast chicken	Deli rotisserie chicken	Fried Chicken
Dark chocolate squares	Simple candy bars with short list of ingredients	Flavored candy bar with long list of ingredients
Drip coffee	Store-bought cold brew	Frozen, blended coffee drinks
Fresh whole potatoes	Frozen potatoes	Mashed potato flakes
Fresh-squeezed orange juice	Sweetened fruit juice	Energy drink
Homemade granola	Granola bars with short list of ingredients	Flavored granola bars with added sugar and long list of ingredients
Corn	Canned Corn	Corn Chips
Apple	Apple juice	Apple pie

Image is from: https://www.the-sun.com/health/9509808/ultra-processed-foods-eating-more-baked-beans-to-pasta/

Table 3. My list of Ultra-Process Foods I routinely use.

1. Canned beans
2. Canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste
3. Salsa
4. Spaghetti sauce
5. Canned fish: tuna and salmon
6. Peanut butter
7. Shelled nuts: walnuts, almonds, pecans.
8. Guacamole
9. Trail mix
10. Whole wheat bread
11.  

Table 4. How Many Grams of Dietary Fiber do You Need Each Day?*

Age              Men                        Women

19-30           34 grams                28 grams

31 – 49        31 grams               25 grams

Over 50       24 grams                22 grams

Table 5. How Many Grams of Dietary Fiber do Your Children Need Each Day?*

Age                                  Grams of Fiber

1 to 3 years                     19 grams

4 to 8 years                     25 grams

Boys 9-13 years             31 grams

Girls 9 – 13 years          26 grams

Boys 14 – 19 years         38 grams

Girls 14 – 19 years        26 grams

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/figuring-dietary-fiber-child-need

*Use the food label to determine how many grams of dietary fiber is in processed foods.

If you normally don’t eat much dietary fiber but have decided to increase your daily intake of dietary fiber, start slow. Eating too much fiber to quickly can cause bloating, cramping and gas until your gut get use to more dietary fiber. Drinking more fluids throughout the day will also help dietary fiber pass through the gut more effectively. Use the list below to determine how much dietary fiber you are eating daily. You can also find the dietary fiber by looking at the Nutrition Facts label.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=how+much+dietary+fiber+do+kids+under+18+need+each+day&type=E210US0G0#id=6&vid=514e2788e9942054958532383c9743b4&action=click

 How Much Carbohydrate and Sugar Grams Should You Have Each Day?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that carbohydrates make up 45% to 65% of total daily calories.

So if your caloric need is 2,000 calories a day, between 900 and 1,300 calories should be from carbohydrates. That translates to between 225 and 325 grams of carbs a day.

According to the USDA, on average, an American adult eats 17 teaspoons (68 grams) of added sugar per day. The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, recommends limiting calories from added sugars to less than 10% per day.

The American Heart Association (AHA) suggests a stricter added-sugar limit of no more than 100 calories per day (about 6 teaspoons or 24 grams of sugar) for most adult women and no more than 150 calories per day (about 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar) for most men.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that children under 2 years of age don’t consume any added sugar at all. AAP recommends kids 2 and older should have no more than 25 grams (or 6 teaspoons) of added sugar daily.

Use the food label to determine how many grams of sugar and carbohydrate is in the processed foods you eat.

https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/ultra-processed-foods#Limiting-processed-foods-is-already-something-we-know

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-to-do-when-your-child-eats-too-much-sugar

The Bottom Line

Eat more of the best and less of the rest. Try to make an effort to eat more fresh foods and less processed food. Reading labels will help you determine which processed and ultra-processed foods are healthier to eat. Eat foods that are higher in dietary fibers and lower in  sugar.