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Writer's pictureElaine Garcia

Processed Food - Is it all bad?

To eat truly unprocessed food would mean to use everything straight from a farm, wouldn't it? Let's take oatmeal for example (I just baked cookies last night using oats, so it's been on my mind.) If you walk down the cereal aisle and did a little research, you'd wind up standing there for quite a while. From steel cut oats which are probably the least processed, to sweetened, individual packets of oatmeal which are very processed, there is a lot to choose from. From a health standpoint many doctors and nutritionists would vote for the steel cut oats - but from experience, they are very hard for me to digest. You have to actually "process" them yourself if you start there. By soaking and changing the water several times, and also cooking them for a long time. Then there's the fact that you'd have to add a lot to them to make them taste good, especially for kids, otherwise they taste like cardboard! I am a big believer in what I talk about, I live it and practice it every day because I cook homemade meals every day. But there are many positives that come from modern conveniences, which have taken us quite a long way to better health and longevity. Packaged dry goods such as pasta & grains, fresh meat that is readily available for us to just bring home, rinse off, season and cook, fresh vegetables that have been cleaned and chopped & packaged for us, frozen fruits & veggies, etc. The problem is it didn't stop there. Food manufacturers tried to make things too convenient, hence the birth of processed food that went down the other side of the mountain to being "fake food" and no longer resembling, well...food. Way too many preservatives, food dyes, and flavor enhancers such as MSG and corn syrup. I'd be foolish and a liar to tell any of my subscribers not to eat any processed food at all. My family does buy processed food. But I do get to a point where I say enough is enough too. My goal for the rest of the summer is to make as many "snack foods" and convenience foods as possible from scratch. I'll post the recipe for the cookies I made last night soon. It's not my recipe, it's from the back of a package of Trader Joe's Gluten Free Oats and they're amazing! Happy cooking!

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