Imagine filling your shopping cart with ultraprocessed foods. You might picture potato chips and hot dogs, but this category extends to foods often seen as healthy, such as whole grain breads, breakfast cereals, and flavored yogurts, making them tricky to identify.
Ultraprocessed foods typically contain ingredients not found in a home kitchen. These may include artificial flavors, synthetic dyes, hydrogenated oils, and emulsifiers, which bind elements like oil and water that usually don’t mix.
A staggering 58% of the American diet consists of ultraprocessed foods, and research has linked this to health issues, such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. But should you cut these foods out entirely?
Starting on Jan. 6, 2025, embark on a weeklong journey with us to explore ultraprocessed foods. You’ll delve into what they are, how to spot them, and ways to tweak your diet for better health. This challenge isn’t about doing a complete overhaul of your eating habits—it’s about engaging in fun, insightful experiments to examine these foods and your relationship with them. Expect taste tests, recipes, a grocery store visit, and other unexpected activities.
Your guides will be Well’s columnist, Jancee Dunn, and nutrition reporter Alice Callahan, with insights from nutrition and food science experts. By week’s end, you’ll likely feel more empowered in your food choices and develop habits for a healthier year.
To participate, subscribe to the Well newsletter. If you’re already receiving it, you’re all set. Otherwise, sign up to receive daily challenges from Jan. 6 to Jan. 10, with the Well newsletter continuing every Thursday thereafter.
Vocabulary List:
- Ultraprocessed /ˌʌl.trəˈprəʊ.sest/ (adjective): Foods that have been significantly altered from their original form through industrial processing often containing additives.
- Ingredients /ɪnˈɡriː.di.ənts/ (noun): The substances that make up a food product typically elements that are mixed together to prepare a dish.
- Emulsifiers /ɪˈmʌl.sɪ.faɪ.ərz/ (noun): Substances that help mix two or more ingredients that usually do not blend well such as oil and water.
- Health /hɛlθ/ (noun): The state of being free from illness or injury; overall physical and mental well-being.
- Empowered /ɪmˈpaʊərd/ (verb): To give someone the authority or power to do something; to make someone feel stronger and more confident.
- Diet /ˈdaɪ.ət/ (noun): The kinds of food that a person animal or community habitually eats.
How much do you know?
