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by bingohbangoh 1743 days ago
One wonders where the line is drawn with processed foods as well.

Take sausages. These have been around for ages but are, technically, processed. Are these now bad? They seem to pass the lindy test.

2 comments

> Take sausages

Not a great example to make your point because processed meats (specifically, cured meats) are carcinogenic. [0]

> Are these now bad?

Colorectal cancer has always been bad. The difference is that we have more data now.

If you don’t change your assumptions and biases with new data, you will be stuck in the past. Blood letting would have passed the lindy test throughout the 18th century.

[0] https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2015/11/03/repo...

> Colorectal cancer has always been bad. The difference is that we have more data now.

Your linked source claims processed meats can cause a 18% increased incidence of colorectal cancer. The CDC [0] says rates of those cancers are 36.5 per 100,000, or 0.03%. Since some of those people undoubtedly eat processed meat, lets assume the cancer rate is 0.025% for people who don't eat processed meats.

For me, those numbers really dont move the needle - its highly unlikely to get colorectal cancer and abstaining from processed meats doesnt really change the rate much at all. There are probably other good arguments in favor of not eating these foods, but cancer doesnt appear to be one of them.

[0] https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/colorectal/statistics/index.htm

If you like eating processed meat, your energy is probably better spent having good prevention around colorectal cancer than eating less processed meat.
> where the line is

high salt and/or sugar content foods, whether processed or not, is probably not great for you.

It's just that "processed foods" usually have extra flavourings added (such as salt) to enhance it, for sale purposes.

So instead of targeting processed foods, the targeting for healthy eating should be portion size and amount, followed by freshness.

Canned or frozen can contain more nutrients because of the preservation process though. Fresh foods lose nutrients as they are shipped around.

The vitamins may have leached into the water, but toss that water into a soup and you're good.

I don't think freshness matters much at all. Flour certainly doesn't need to be fresh to make good bread.

Fresh pasta vs store bought? Worlds of difference. When I lived in Europe the quality of produce and dairy blew me away compared to what we were eating in America. Tons of flavor in fresh natural produce.
There is a difference between fresh in producer market and fresh in a supermarket. Supermarket canned tomatoes (with no added salt, i got surprised once) are better, more ripe than supermarket fresh tomatoes. This extend to a lot of canned food (as long as the process is just food+water in bain-marie or similar).
Indeed. And plenty of frozen options too, if that's your preference.

People underrate canned veggies in regards to healthy eating. They're really not bad at all from a health perspective, and can often taste very fresh.

Pineapples, pears, peaches are great canned. Artichoke, corn, beans, string beans, spinach, and tomatoes are also good canned products in my experience.

I'm not hating on fresh: big leafy Romaine Lettuce is best fresh, as are onions. But certain foods hold really well in a can, and its extremely convenient to mix-and-match storage strategies. (Ex: Use that Romaine Lettuce for salads this week, and canned corn next week)

What is "fresh pasta"? That flour's been sitting in my pantry for months!

Yes, fresh eggs taste better. But fresh flour? Not really. grains, beans, flour, rice... these "preserved" foods can last months or even well into a year or longer.

If by store bought you mean dry, dry pasta is not ‘worse’ than fresh pasta, it is just suited to different dishes