Three common groupings health experts use for foods are:
- Whole foods (an apple or potato, as is)
- Processed foods (2 or 3 ingredients, such butter or cottage cheese)
- Ultra-Processed foods (5+ ingredients and/or ingredients you can’t pronounce or are not commonly in kitchens)
I think of those 3 groups as 5 groups:
- Whole foods (grown yourself or by a local trusted farm)
- Whole foods GAP (GMO, Anti-bacterial, Pesticides)
- Processed from whole foods without GAP
- Processed from GAP whole foods
- Ultra-Processed
Moving from #2 to #1 ranges from difficult to impossible. So does moving from #4 to #3.
It seems the most helpful first step is to eliminate #5, ultra-processed foods, and then improve where you can after that. The ‘easiest’ improvements are washing pesticides off fruits & vegetables and finding local farms. After that, you really must commit to a different lifestyle and possibly a different geographic region.
