When will rage-baiting about processed foods stop?

FYI - You cannot be excited about your Trader Joe’s haul and the new snacks they have in the store, while simultaneously talking trash about processed foods. Hi pot, meet kettle.

Can people get a break? I mean seriously. At what point are we going to stop viewing everything with a binary lens? At what point are we going to realize that not everything is black and white, especially when it comes to nutrition and our food choices?

I find the discussion of processed foods tiring because I find that it lacks nuance and is too often viewed with an elitist lens. I talk about all foods having a place (except the ones you’re allergic to and the ones that are unseasoned) because I believe in that statement. However, when I say this, it doesn’t translate to me not caring about health, nor does it translate to me advocating for a diet sustaining on chips and soda. Again, nuance and, dare I say, a little critical thinking. I discuss processed foods quite often and will continue to advocate for them, yes, even as a dietitian, because guess why? There is a place for it. Actually, there are several places for it. 

Recently, an article from Time magazine came out on August 27th titled, “Why One Dietitian is Speaking Up for “Ultra-Processed” Foods,” and it features registered dietitian Jessica Wilson. As a follower of Wilson’s on social media, I am familiar with her work and her reasoning behind her advocacy for inclusive foods. Wilson, like myself, works primarily with marginalized communities and constantly discusses why an inclusive view of food is necessary. In this recent article, she is profiled as doing her own experiment of eating processed foods after author and infectious disease physician Dr. Chris van Tulleken made headlines for spending a month eating mostly ultra-processed foods like chips, soda, bagged bread, frozen food, and cereal. Dr. van Tulleken reported that he felt worse, he gained weight, his hormone levels went crazy, and before-and-after MRI scans showed signs of changes in his brain.

Wilson, in turn, did her own experiment where she swapped out her usual foods with more processed ones, including soy products and ready-made meals. Here’s the thing: unlike Dr. van Tulleken, Wilson reported feeling better and having more energy. Some folks might be confused with that, but I wasn’t because Wilson was indeed consuming processed and ultra-processed foods, but they were still different than Dr. van Tulleken, who chose to consume what I like to call the “narrower” category of processed foods. He was consuming chips and soda, which, yes, are ultra-processed and do not provide much in terms of vitamins and minerals, but Wilson was also consuming ultra-processed foods in the form of alternative meat products containing soy, protein powders, kombucha, and meals from Trader Joe’s. It’s almost as if instead of villainizing a word like “processed,” we need to look at the nutrition components of food as a whole.

This is the vibe I get when people talk only about processed foods in a negative light and tell others to “make better choices.”

I posted a video a couple of weeks ago regarding convenience foods, aka processed foods, and our need, as a society as a whole, to really think about how we discuss them. In it, I mention that when I plead the case for convenience foods, people automatically assume I am talking about packaged cookies, chips, and donuts. What I am actually referring to are canned beans, premade salad kits, dry pasta, frozen fruits and vegetables, and more. You know, convenience foods, and, yes, these are all processed. I also wrote an article recently for Well + Good titled, “Can Parents Ever Catch a Break? Apparently Two-Thirds of ‘Healthy’ Kid Snack Food Labels Are Misleading.” A new study was done by The George Institute for Global Health, which reviewed 651 infant and toddler food products and found that these products used misleading marketing labels. Almost all (99.4 percent) of the products featured