The Healthier Eating Challenge: How to Find Ultra-Processed Food Alternatives

This is the fourth day of the 5-day well eating challenge. To start over, click here.

So far, these challenges have kept you at home. You’ve scanned the ingredient lists, conducted a taste test, and whipped up a few snacks – all without straying too far from the kitchen.

But today we’re going to a real grocery store to identify ultra-processed foods and their less-processed alternatives.

If this sounds discouraging, don’t worry. I called several experts to facilitate us. Marion Nestle, professor emeritus of nutrition, food studies and public health at Novel York University, agreed to come to my local supermarket so we could look at food labels together.

I also spoke with two other experts to find out how they make their shopping choices.

Well Challenge Day 4: Shop for groceries like a nutritional scientist.

First, think about the ultra-processed foods you buy regularly: maybe a frozen pizza or a packaged snack.

Then go to the grocery store and read the food label. Notice how many ingredients you don’t recognize. Take a few minutes and compare it to similar products: If you’re looking at strawberry yogurt, look at its ingredient list along with those of other strawberry yogurts. Can you make a less processed choice that is still within your price range?

Pay attention to the ingredients that make UPF UPF.

As we walked the aisles, Dr. Nestle pointed out certain ingredients that signal that a food or drink may be ultra-processed. These include thickening agents such as modified starches, gums (xanthan gum, guar gum), emulsifiers (such as soy lecithin and carrageenan), artificial sweeteners (such as Stevia and Splenda), synthetic food colors (such as Red 40 and Yellow 5), artificial flavors and other ingredients not typically found in home kitchens or even grocery stores.

And while it’s commonly believed that a long ingredient list means a food is ultra-processed, that’s not always the case, Dr. Nestle said.

For example, some frozen meals may have a long list of ingredients, but all of them are recognizable, she added. From the freezer she took out a frozen lasagna made of ingredients such as tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, beef and onion.

“Nothing artificial,” Dr. Nestle said.

Take an interest in ingredients you don’t recognize.

Nutrition experts, despite their deep knowledge, still come across unknown ingredients. During our trip, Dr. Nestle looked at the label on the flavored yogurt: “Cultured dextrose,” she noted. – I don’t know what it is. She tested it and found that it seemed to inhibit the growth of bacteria in food.

If you encounter an ingredient you don’t recognize, Dr. Nestle said, it may be UPF. She recommended checking food additives database from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit organization working for consumers. (Dr. Nestle and I did exactly that in aisle 7.)

Then you can decide if it’s right for you. The presence of just one of these ingredients makes it an ultra-processed food, but that may not bother you, said Maya Vadiveloo, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of Rhode Island. If you see an emulsifier in whole grain bread, “that’s not necessarily a reason not to go for it,” she said. (In fact, one study we mentioned on day one of this challenge found that certain ultra-processed foods, including whole grain bread, are linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease).

Dr. Nestle says some ingredients that many people don’t recognize may actually be vitamins, such as sodium ascorbate (vitamin C), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), and alpha-tocopherol acetate (vitamin E). That doesn’t make something UPF, she said.

Don’t equate words like “well” and “natural” with “unprocessed.”

Just because a food label has a picture of a garden or words like “natural” or “plant-based” doesn’t mean it isn’t ultra-processed, says Josiemer Mattei, an associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health .

Products such as veggie burgers and frozen “well” meals may contain many ingredients that make them ultra-processed.

On the front of the package, a manufacturer may state what the food does not contain (“no trans fats,” “no high fructose corn syrup”), but the product may contain other ingredients that make it a UPF product, Dr. Mattei in addition .

Do a quick comparison of similar products.

I quickly learned that the degree of processing can vary greatly among my favorite snacks, even those of the same brand. When I showed Dr. Nestle my afternoon bake – White Cheddar PopCorners – she checked the label and concluded that it was an ultra-processed product.

Then she reached for the corn-flavored version. “Ah,” she said. “Yellow corn, sunflower oil, cane sugar and sea salt. That’s all. Four ingredients. Not ultra-processed.”

If you want to make a relatively painless swap – swapping cheese for corn for cooking wasn’t a problem for me – it’s worth taking a few minutes to scan labels for less processed alternatives, Dr. Nestle added.

When options are narrow, look for low ingredient lists.

After the supermarket trip, Dr. Nestle and I went to a convenience store, where I asked her to find foods and drinks that were not ultra-processed.

After some digging, Dr. Nestle picked up an apple, orange juice, plain yogurt, salted pistachios, and French fries (the three ingredients – corn, vegetable oil, and salt – make it non-UPF), even though the store didn’t carry her preferred “lightly salted” version chips.

My diet will never be as well as Dr. Nestle’s. (“I have one rule: I never eat anything artificial,” she said). But I noticed her undiminished energy when she was 88: when I drove her back to the train station, she ran energetically up the stairs. I needed a nap though.