The Impact of Processed Foods on Gut Health

What Are Processed Foods?

Every celebrity or fitness enthusiast you see on the internet advises you to avoid processed foods. It is one of the key rules in maintaining your health and fitness. To be fair, avoiding processed foods completely is nearly impossible, considering our modern lifestyle. Let’s find out why!

If going by definition, any foods that have been altered through washing, cooking or adding flavours, colours or preservatives from their natural state are processed foods. We have to be wise enough to identify and consume minimally processed foods. 

Processed foods can range from homemade cooked meals to ultra-processed foods. While some processed foods can be part of a healthy diet, many high-calorie ultra-processed foods can contribute to health issues, including heart disease.

So, it is safe to say we can consume processed food, but we should avoid ultra-processed foods. 

What Are Ultra-Processed Foods?

Foods that contain ingredients not typically found in your kitchen, like preservatives, sweeteners, emulsifiers, etc., are called ultra-processed foods. Most of them are mainly industrially formulated products like packaged snacks and sugary drinks. 

To make this concept better and clear any confusion, researchers at the University of São Paulo developed the NOVA classification. This classifies foods into four categories:

• Minimally processed or unprocessed foods: Natural foods like nuts, seeds, mushrooms, herbs, vegetables and spices.
• Processed ingredients: Ingredients obtained from minimally processed foods like sugars and oils.
• Processed foods: Foods made by combining the above two categories, like pickles, canned meat and wine.
• Ultra-processed foods: Include ready-to-eat meals, sugar drinks, and snacks with additives and preservatives. These industrially formulated products are specifically designed for convenience and palatability.

Have you ever heard anyone complain about a disease they had caused by consuming foods belonging to the first category? No, right?!

We are also sure that you are aware the fourth category is the supervillain here.

So, it is wise to consume foods that are minimally processed as far as possible. Read more to find out why.

How Processed Foods Affect Your Gut

Including cancer and heart problems, consuming ultra-processed foods is linked with about 30 different potential health issues. Children are more affected than adults. US and UK populations are leading the consumption of processed foods.

Processed foods can affect your gut mainly in 3 ways. Read on to find out how:

1. Disruption of Gut Microbiome

Your gut renders a residing place for millions of useful bacteria called gut flora or gut microbiome. Their optimal population is very crucial for maintaining the general health of your body.

Ultra-processed foods can disrupt the balance by increasing the population of harmful bacteria. This can cause inflammatory diseases like Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and Irritable bowel disease (IBD). In addition, disruption to the normal balance of gut microbes can cause chronic diseases.

To be aware of the seriousness of this issue, it is very important to understand the significance of gut health in determining the overall health of your body and mind.

2. Triggering Inflammatory Markers

Ultra-processed foods can cause severe inflammation issues in your gut. Additives and preservatives found in these products can alter your gut permeability. This can lead to severe issues like leaky gut syndrome, where toxins enter your bloodstream.

3. Reduction Of Nutrient Availability

The noticeable lack of essential nutrients and fibres can make your gut functioning very bad. It can cause severe digestive problems, including constipation and can disrupt the optimal health of the gut bacteria.

Ayurvedic View On How Processed Foods Affect Your Gut

The science of Ayurveda believes in quality food. Ayurvedic experts consider food to be one of the key supporting pillars of health. In addition, gut health is considered very important in the management of all diseases, as derangement in digestive fire is considered one of the main factors of ill health.

When you eat ultra-processed foods rich in calories, your digestive fire gets hampered. It has to work additionally to meet your consumption choices. This can lead to a condition called Ama (accumulation of metabolic waste or toxins). 

Ama can further deteriorate your digestive fire. As a result, a series of complications like obstructed body channels, fatigue, indigestion, heaviness, mental confusion and even sexual debility can occur. 

Ama accumulation can also cause obstruction of channels that further leads to atherosclerosis, diabetes, rheumatic fever, gout, kidney stones and even tumours.

Long-Term Health Effects of Processed Food

Processed foods are kind of made to be hyper-palatable to the point that you can’t resist. This can affect your bbody’snatural hunger signals. This can pave the way to overeating, which is the main causative factor of many long-term health problems such as:

• Obesity
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Cholesterol problems
• Diabetes
• Cancer

Apart from these long-term health effects, ultra-processed foods can also negatively affect your mental health.

Connection with Mental Health

What happens in your gut can affect your brain. You might have noticed changes in your mood when you drank a hot cup of chocolate, right? The connection between your brain and gut is too long to explain here. Read our blog to understand more about the gut-brain axis and your mental health.

To sum things up, eating ultra-processed foods can affect your memory and your moods. It can have a negative effect on your overall mental health. Also, ultra-processed food consumption can lead to mental health problems like lack of concentration, memory loss and even AAlzheimer’s

If you are wondering how to overcome your unhealthy habit of eating processed foods, continue reading. We have useful tips to help you out. 

Tips for a Gut-Friendly Diet

At Nirva Health, we believe in the power of Ayurveda. Ayurveda offers unique and effective solutions and tips to overcome unhealthy habits. When it comes to food rules, Ayurveda enlists a set of rules for consuming foods. One of them is proper food processing.

Ayurveda believes in properly processing foods, either by washing, seasoning, or optimally cooking them. But when we try to implement this in our lives, there are a few things we need to address. 

• Lack of cooking time.
• Convenience of processed packaged foods.
• The price of healthy foods is high compared to processed foods.
• Hyper palatability of processed foods.

Every good thing has a price to pay. Similarly, leading a healthy life requires extra effort. Even with all these known facts, we still consume these processed foods, right? 

Ayurveda considers this as prajnaparadha. It is the deed of knowingly doing the wrong things. The role of undetermined willpower and dedication are the first key lessons you need to learn to overcome this problem.

Ayurveda teaches how to eliminate bad habits and adopt healthy ones. The rule is simple.

Gradually abstain from bad habits and adopt healthy choices similarly. For example, if you are currently consuming processed food for all three meals a day, start by replacing one meal with a healthy option. Once you are comfortable with that change, then replace a second meal and eventually transition to a completely healthy diet. This gradual approach is far better than switching to a full, healthy diet all at once.

Here are some general considerations that you need to remember while adopting a healthy food choice.

• Prioritise Whole Foods: Consume fresh fruits and vegetables. They are the best-unprocessed foods you can consume. 
• Increase Fiber Intake: To support your digestion and gut health, target 25-30 grams of fibre daily from legumes, nuts, seeds, and vegetables. Choose whole grains like brown rice and quinoa for fibre.
• Fermented Foods: To reward and nourish your gut microbiome, fermented foods are the best. Add yoghurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi for probiotics that enhance gut bacteria.
• Optimal Water Consumption: Drink plenty of water to aid digestion and nutrient transport, which can ensure a healthy gut.
• Choose Lean Proteins: Opt for poultry, fish, and legumes, limiting red meat to protect gut health.
• Include Healthy Fats: Incorporate avocados, nuts, seeds, and olive oil to reduce inflammation.

By following these simple and effective steps, you can achieve a healthy gut and body. 

Wrapping it up

Even though enough light has been shed on processed foods, we still feel the need to overemphasise this problem. The fact that children are more affected than adults raises more concern. We as a society are very busy. We need to find the right balance. At Nirva Health, we believe in that balance of health.

We at Nirva can help you prepare mentally and physically to avoid ultra-processed foods and adopt a healthy lifestyle. Remember, every time you avoid ultra-processed food, you are setting an example for your children, your family, your friends, and those around you. Let us collectively put an effort into finding the right balance to achieve a healthy gut.