The phrase “processed food” or “ultra processed food” is also completely meaningless. I’m from a non english speaking country and we don’t even have a phrase analogous to this
People don't even know what processed means. It's just another trending buzzword. Literally everything you buy from a grocery store is processed in some way. If you go pick your potatoes by hand and eat them raw you could say you ate unprocessed food.
A meal cooked at home or a sandwhich is technically processed food. If you harvest the grain by yourself, grind it into flour and make bread, it is processed food.
While you’re technically correct, the I think “processed” and “ultra-processed” are more meant for people who don’t have a good foundation of knowledge on nutrition. It’s like a quick and easy catch-all to lump foods into for better decision making.
The problem comes from those people thinking they’re some nutritional guru with this knowledge.
It’s not meaningless in the sense that it’s usually better in teaching and helping people who don’t have a detailed knowledge of nutrition.
For example, if someone trying to make healthy choices goes to the store for a snack, they may think “orange = unprocessed = healthy choice” when deciding between an orange or a candy bar.
Obviously it’s a lot more nuanced and there can be some trickery, but it’s a quick and dirty way to get people to make better lifestyle choices.
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u/LunarCrisis7 Oct 27 '24
“Unrecognizable chemicals” = I couldn’t say the big words in highschool chemistry so long word bad