Sometimes you have to get away to look at things a different way. So it was with Food 3000, a recent conference of invited nutrition experts and writers from the U. S. (including myself) presenting what’s new in the science and psychology of healthy eating. Set this year in the Dutch city known for flowers, canals, Rembrandts and bicycles - where cheese is served with spicy mustard, mashed potatoes are mixed with cabbage, herring snacks are sold on street corners, and pancakes are a high art - Amsterdam set the scene to get us thinking differently about diet.
Since the Dutch developed a way to make cocoa powder from chocolate in the early 19th century famously called Dutch process chocolate; what does the word ‘processed’ mean to consumers today? A lot of folks say that they want to eat fewer processed foods, but in their efforts to eat ‘farm to fork’ maybe they don’t realize that most foods go through a chain of events to make them safer, more palatable and yes, even more nutritious.
“Processing can increase the nutrients we want in foods and decrease the things we want to limit such as fat and sodium,” says Julie Miller Jones, professor of foods and nutrition at St. Catherine University in St. Paul. “Badmouthing processed foods is not a solution.”
From orange juice fortified with calcium to vegetables frozen almost immediately after harvest, many processed foods deliver on taste and nutrition. Eric Decker, professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts reminds us about the convenience factor, “In the late 1800’s people spent most of the day preparing foods and now we’ve got it down to an average of 33 minutes a day.”
Cracked Plates
Another topic focused on nutrients many Americans are missing. “Our plates are cracked and things are falling through so we have to focus on food sources of these gap nutrients,” says Katherine Tucker, professor of health sciences at Northeastern University in Boston. Many gap nutrients – including vitamin A, C, and potassium - are found in fruits and vegetables, which many aren’t eating enough of today. If you like white potatoes you may be surprised to learn they’re a good source of potassium and vitamin C as well as fiber. Another nutrition myth busted: white foods can be good for you.
Where’s the Joy?
Finally another missing ingredient. Dr Paul Rozin, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, says, “When you ask the French what’s important to them when it comes to food they say the joy in eating and when you ask people in the U.S. they say health is important. But it’s funny because the French are actually healthier than we are. So maybe we need a little more joy on our plates.”
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