One of the cornerstones of any healthy lifestyle change is increasing the amount of real food and thus limited the amounts of processed food.
Undoubtedly some may ask, what exactly is processed food? After all, isn’t cheese and yogurt processed? By and large, when we talk about “processed food”, we are talking about cookies, crackers, chips, donuts, pizza, cereal, granola bars, bars of any kind, juices, energy drinks, and the like. Basically, anything that you may find in the aisles of a grocery store is typically “processed food”. Whereas the perimeters are usually stocked with “real foods” which include meat, fish, poultry, seafood, dairy, nuts, vegetables, and fruits.
Interestingly, a recent study by Dr. Kevin Hall, from the NIH, demonstrated that a processed-food diet lead to an increased daily intake of about 500 calories when compared to a real food diet.
Below is examples from this study of the processed food arm. The patients in the processed food arm ate roughty 500 calories more per day, DESPITE reported similar enjoyment and satiety.
Below are examples of what the real food diet looked like. The real food diet resulted in equal satiety to a diet comprised of processed food but with 500 calories LESS food intake.
Bottom Line:
If you don’t know by now, realize that Big Food knows the exact formula to get you to become a recurring customer. Eating real food is an easy way to eat more nutrient dense food, that is by-and-large more satiating.
