Hi ! 

Every month we explore the who, what, where, when and why of an important topic so by the end of the month, you’ll have more information and confidence to make meaningful changes to eat and live better with IBD.

Much of our newsletter content in 2021 will focus on getting back to the basics. A fresh start sounds pretty damn good right now. Sayonara 2020! 

This month’s theme: Ultra-Processed Foods & IBD

Colleen says… 

With every new year comes an itch to clean out my kitchen cabinets and refrigerator. I crave simple and fresh foods following a holiday season of sugary and savory treats and convenience meals. Time to toss any highly processed foods that snuck their way into my cupboards but escaped my mouth. (Even nutrition experts eat packaged chips and cookies from time to time). 

Avoiding highly or ultra-processed foods (at least most of the time), is one of the best things we can do for our health. Research links diets high in ultra-processed foods to obesity, heart disease, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, autoimmune diseases, poor gut health and other unwanted outcomes. Plus, my patients who strictly limit or eliminate these fake foods feel better. Perhaps it’s because many ultra-processed food additives are linked to poor gut health and increased risk of IBD? More on that next week. 

This week I’ll show you how to identify ultra-processed foods hanging around your home in case you want to join me in throwing them out. 

What are highly or ultra-processed foods? They’re not food at all.

Most of us don’t eat directly from the earth, so it’s fair to say that most foods are processed to some extent. However, there are various forms of processing: minimally processed, processed culinary ingredients, processed foods and ultra-processed foods. 

According to NOVA, a world renowned and validated tool for nutrition and public health research, ultra-processed foods are formulations of industrial ingredients and other substances derived from foods, plus additives. 

Ultra-processed foods are usually convenient (durable, ready-to-eat, -drink, or -heat), attractive and profitable (cheap ingredients).

Examples of popular ultra-processed foods: 

• Fast food
• Sugary drinks (soft drinks, sports drinks, nutrition shakes)
• Sweet or savory packaged snacks (cookies, candy, chips, crackers)
• Protein bars
• Reconstituted meat products (chicken nuggets, hot dogs)
• Sugary cereals (most kid’s cereals)
• Pre-prepared frozen dishes 

Calling these ultra-processed formulations “food” is a misnomer, since they contain little if any intact food.  

By the way, food is defined as “any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth.” Unprocessed foods include the edible parts of plants (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, whole grains) and animals, plus fungi, algae and water. 

That means… 

Protein bars that have the same nutritional makeup as a candy bar are not food. Anything, including “whole grain” cereals and sweetened yogurt, that get more than half their calories from sugar is not food. A chip, even if it’s made from chickpeas or vegetables, that gets most of its calories from hydrogenated oils is not food. These are ultra-processed “food” products. 

Identify Ultra-Processed Foods By Looking For These Ingredients

Ultra-processed food products come in packages, but not all packaged food is ultra-processed. Cheese, bottled vegetables, hummus and canned fish are examples of packaged foods that are not ultra-processed. Typically, you can identify ultra-processed food by its non-food like ingredients. Sometimes this list is long; other times it’s short. 

Examples of ingredients found only in ultra-processed foods: 

• Agents: carbonating, firming, bulking, anti-bulking, de-foaming, anti-caking, glazing
• Artificial flavors and colorings
• Artificial sweeteners, such as sucralose and aspartame
• Carrageenan 
• Casein
• Emulsifiers: polysorbate 80, carboxymethylcellulose, diacetyltartaric acid esters of fatty acids (that’s a mouthful!)
• High fructose corn syrup
• Hydrogenated oils 
• Invert sugar
• Maltodextrin
• Protein isolates: Soy, casein, whey

Basically, if you don’t know what an ingredient is on a food label or how to pronounce it, you can bet the “food” is ultra-processed. 

Here are some ultra-processed food products I found during my kitchen sweep: Cheese flavor gluten-free crackers (“Cheese FLAVOR” was a dead giveaway), gluten-free multigrain crackers (maltodextrin, guar gum, modified ceullulose et al) and bouillon cubes (hydrolyzed corn protein, MSG — this was a pandemic purchase).

What did you find?

Coming up later in the month:

Next week we’ll tell you more about the connection between ultra-processed foods and IBD, plus we’ll offer some healthier swaps for favorite food products.

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Did you know that smoothies are one of the simplest and tastiest ways for people with inflammatory bowel disease to consume wholesome foods, including fruits, vegetables and other high-fiber foods, like nuts and seeds EVEN while following a “low-fiber” diet.

Learn everything you ever wanted to know in our book Smoothies to the Rescue!  

Check it out

Do you have a question about these topics, or something else? Just reply with your question to this email and it may appear in an upcoming newsletter.

In good health,

Colleen, Bertina & Scott

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is in no way intended as medical counseling or medical advice. Results may vary