Health and fitness enthusiasts have quickly latched on to whole foods, making them the star of the moment. While many praise their health benefits, many consumers still lack knowledge about what whole food means exactly.
How does one make healthier choices in food products based on how much or little they’ve been processed?
If you’ve been wondering the same thing, here’s a little guide to get you started. Allow us to help you navigate the world of whole, processed, and highly processed food.
What Are Whole Foods?
Whole foods include foods that have not undergone processing or refining. They also have no added ingredients. These foods come directly from nature and are in their natural or raw states.
Fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, seeds, whole grains, meat, fish, and eggs are all examples of whole foods.
What Are Processed Foods?
Processed foods include foods that undergo some processing. Processing may constitute heating, freezing, fermenting, the addition of preservatives, canning, and even packaging.
Processing is done for many reasons such as:
- Improving taste
- Increasing shelf-life
- Making foods easier to transport, package, and store
- Improving its appearance
- Modifying nutritional values
- A faster cooking or prep time
When you bring home whole foods and heat, ferment, or season them, they become processed foods.
Processed foods are generally frowned upon because processing diminishes their nutritional value. Processing also encourages people to eat more unhealthy food which is another reason for the flak it receives.
But not all processing is bad.
Heating, freezing, or drying food can also help increase its shelf life without reducing its nutritional content.
Processed Food Vs. Highly Processed Food
Highly processed food is food that undergoes heavy processing, resulting in the loss of essential nutrients. These foods are high in calories, fat, sodium, and sugar, and hence much unhealthier than simple processed foods.
Highly processed foods are also more likely to increase the risk of certain diseases like diabetes, obesity, hypertension, cancer, hyperlipidemia, etc.
The Healthier Choice
Eating whole food is a much healthier choice compared to processed food. While exclusively eating whole food is difficult, it is possible to incorporate more of it into one’s diet.
A quick look at the ingredient lists can give you a lot of details about the processing behind different food items.
With Orbitel International’s extensive range of health-conscious products, we aim to provide consumers across the world with multiple options so that they can more healthily.
One of our delicious and nutrition-first products available across retail channels and wholesale distribution markets is the Veggie Rice Burger.
Our Veggie Rice Burgers are plant-based and made using real and whole vegetables. They contain no preservatives or additives and the packaging material is SGS certified.
Preparing Orbitel International’s Rice Burgers is easy. They’re ready to eat and only need 2 minutes in the microwave.
It is available in 4 flavors.
- O’scallion Veggie White Rice Burger – Satay Mushroom
- O’scallion Veggie White Rice Burger – Teriyaki
- O’scallion Veggie Quinoa Rice Burger – Shiitake
- O’scallion Veggie Quinoa Rice Burger – Burdock
With Orbitel International, switching to a plant-based, healthier diet has never been easier or tastier. Give our veggie rice burgers a try for a gastronomic experience that’s good for your body and tastebuds!