Recently, a study has come out and said that “ultra processed foods are linked to cancer.” But what are ultra-processed foods? Does this mean you have to cook everything yourself? What do we, as parents who want healthy kids, do without loosing our minds? Because this burden is probably going to fall on you, I think we should unpack the options.

First, let’s talk about processed foods vs. ultra processed foods. Processed foods are pretty much anything in the grocery store that isn’t a raw ingredient like a tomato or steak. An example of a processed food that isn’t ultra processed is oatmeal, specifically, old fashioned rolled oats. You can’t make those at home because oats are hard to turn into food, and most of us don’t have a field of them. However, the package may only list one ingredient, “rolled oats.” This makes them a safe food, not on this cancer causing list. But instant oatmeal, with the many added ingredients, is usually ultra processed and a bad choice.

Another processed food I buy is marinara or tomato sauce for spaghetti. Now, here is the thing about this one, it can be processed- just made already for me, or ultra processed. What is the difference? How many ingredients are in it, and whether I can get them as a home cook. So, if the ingredients read: tomatoes, water, salt, oregano, it is just processed and not a problem. However, if that list continues and lists several chemicals, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, or other things I would never cook with, the sauce is now ultra-processed. Clear as mud?

The quickest way to figure out if the foods you are purchasing are in this classification of “ultra-processed” is to just read the label. If there is something on there you can’t or wouldn’t add at home, like potassium sorbet, it is ultra processed. Ultimately, you would also never cook with Blue 5 or high fructose corn syrup or many other ingredients. All those things on the label indicate it has chemicals added that may cause health issues. That is what this study really means.

What are you to do?

First of all, it is important to realize that you can read labels and change over from ultra processed to just processed and that is a big step forward. For example, jam that lists: strawberries, pectin and sugar is a good choice. Jam with another 5 ingredients you can’t pronounce, avoid. But you don’t have to make your own jam.

Frozen french fries are a staple in my house, and unfortunately, this is another food that can be either processed or ultra processed. The brand that lists: POTATOES, VEGETABLE OIL BLEND (SOYBEAN AND COTTONSEED), SALT, ANNATTO COLOR, DEXTROSE, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE (TO RETAIN NATURAL COLOR) is actually walking a fine line, because they only have 2 ingredients you can’t cook with at home, right? This is another ultra processed food, because it has things you can’t cook with at home.

However, the another brand fries list only: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Contains One Or More Of The Following: High Oleic Canola, Canola, Sunflower), Sea Salt, Apple Juice Concentrate (To Promote Browning), Citric Acid (To Promote Color Retention)’ ‘and since you can cook with all of that at home, it is not ultra processed.  It is just a processed food. But the high oleic canola oil is one I don’t think I would be cooking with, so it would make it cross the line, but they are hedging their bets by saying it “might” be in the fries.

If you want to skip all of this, you can of course make your own french fries from potatoes and cook the in the air fryer. It is more time consuming. However, that will let you avoid this entire mess.

Changing Where You Can

My advice is to read labels. Try, where you can, to pick the brand that has fewer chemical ingredients. As stated above, there are brands that are better choices and have more natural ingredients and fewer chemicals that could be problematic. Consider if you can cook a pot of quick cook oats (oatmeal that is cut smaller for faster cooking) and add your own maple syrup instead of getting little packages of the instant kind that contain a ton of additives.

Consider if you can cook some things yourself. For example, I like roasting tiny, whole potatoes as a side dish. If I cut them in half and they crisp up, the kids like them as well as french fries. This means fewer ultra processed foods. Working with raw ingredients where you can, means getting less of those ultra processed foods in general. These raw ingredient based foods are often called “whole foods” as in you are eating a whole fruit or vegetable with all the nutrition in it.  Home cooked meals are ideal, but we all have to cut corners sometimes, just make the best choice available to you.

Cutting out foods and drinks that have no nutritional value is a good way to reduce risk. An example here is soda. Soda is generally high calorie and high sugar. It doesn’t have nutrients or value in your diet or your child’s. Juice or tea can both be sweet and are better choices than soda. Candy is another food that generally has no value in the diet. While cookies can at least have some nutrition, candy just doesn’t. Reducing risk means cutting these things back, or out, of your family’s weekly diet. Consider keeping them for special occasions instead of having them daily.

Making meals at home does reduce your family’s risk. Cooking with raw ingredients is time consuming, but valuable. So, searching out recipes you can make without loosing your mind is important. I really like my slow cooker and my instant pot for helping me make meals with less effort.

Choosing Sanity

Will my family be giving up all ultra processed foods? NO! That isn’t practical in America today. I’m a big fan of having frozen pizzas or other quick foods in the freezer. One kid is allergic to cow milk, so we have to have oat, soy, coconut or almond milk for them.  Those are all ultra processed and there is nothing I will be doing about it. I don’t have the energy to make every food or meal from scratch. But my goal, is to make sure they are a smaller percentage of our diet than whole foods.

We can eat home popped popcorn as a snack instead of processed chips. We can have apple slices with peanut butter instead of cookies. Making those choices at least half the time, means we are eating less ultra processed foods.

As I said above, one brand can be processed while another is ultra processed. Reading labels can help you choose the most natural juice, jam, peanut butter, sauce, cereal, or bread. I’m not going to be baking our gluten-free bread every week. Gluten free dough is hard to work with in my experience.  I am going to keep buying that. Just like I will keep buying tortillas and corn chips. However, I am doing my best to buy the brands that are most natural in places where we can make the choice.

The Neurodivergent Issue

I will also say, we can’t switch ketchup brands. My autistic kid just feels too strongly about the one we were getting before I ever thought to look to see what was in the ketchup. Switching brands when a family member has autism or ARFID is extremely difficult. So, my advice to you, is to just do your best. Fed is best in cases where you know they won’t eat another brand. But keep offering more whole foods when you can.