Processed Foods Are Okay

By ​Michael Anchors, MD, PhD

​Patients often tell me they heard that “processed foods” make you fat, or  white foods make you fat, or any number of crazy ideas. Really people just repeat whatever they hear.
                                                                                
What are processed foods anyway? People say these new words as if anybody would know what they mean. But what does “emotional eating” mean? What does “woke” mean?  “troll”,  “hack”, etc. The older I get, the less I understand the English language. 
 
I googled (another new word!) “processed foods”. Here you go. From the National Health Service in Britain . . .
 
breakfast cereals
cheese
canned vegetables
bread
savory snacks such as potato chips, sausage rolls, pies and pastries
meat products such as bacon, sausage, ham, salami
microwave meals
cakes and biscuits
drinks such as milk and soft drinks
 
I’d like to know, how are you going to eat anything at all if you live in an urban environment? Really?  canned vegetables make you fat?
 
People get fat for different reasons–let’s be honest–but the most common reasons are sugar and gluttony. Tell it like it is.