Nearly 90% of the patients Atlanta family medicine doctor Belinda Brown-Saddler sees each day suffer from chronic conditions. She said poor eating habits, including diets heavily dependent on ultraprocessed foods, are partly to blame.
“Most of (the patients) have high blood pressure. They have high cholesterol, diabetes or prediabetes. Those are most of the conditions I see on a daily basis, and they are preventable,” said Brown-Saddler with Piedmont Physicians Concierge Atlanta.
Credit: Piedmont Healthcare
Credit: Piedmont Healthcare
While state and national health leaders try to define ultraprocessed foods, Brown-Saddler and other Atlanta clinicians continue guiding their patients on reducing reliance on packaged convenience goods.
Processed products, in general, are known to be high in sugar, saturated fats and additives such as artificial dyes that lead to chronic health conditions. They may also contain colorants, flavorings, sweeteners, emulsifiers and thickening agents.
And more than half the daily calories Americans consume come from such foods, according to a recent report from the National Center for Health Statistics.
National attention has focused lately on curbing overdependence on ultraprocessed foods, prompting several states to consider legislation to regulate their use. In Georgia, a House bill introduced in February would prohibit public primary and secondary schools from serving or selling — or allowing a third party to serve or sell — food or beverages that contain synthetic dyes.
Earlier this year, the White House targeted ultraprocessed foods in its initial Make America Healthy Again report. However, the final report released Sept. 9 focuses primarily on seeking a definition for the highly processed foods.
Currently, there is no universal definition, but the outdated Nova food system classifies foods by ingredient count and level of industrial processing — with ultraprocessed items typically containing five or more ingredients.
With confusion surrounding ultraprocessed foods, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution turned to local health care providers, who explained that many patients rely on these convenient options because of limited access to fresh foods, lack of awareness and time constraints — and shared strategies to help reduce consumption.
Atlanta’s food deserts
Georgia ranks 15th in the country for adults with chronic conditions with nearly 10% of adults having three or more conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer or diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Such conditions might be reduced if healthier foods were more affordable and readily available, Brown-Saddler said. Some Atlanta residents may not have access to healthy alternatives to ultraprocessed goods because they live in food deserts without supermarkets or natural food stores close to their homes.
In 2020, about 25% of the city’s residents still lived more than a half-mile from a grocery store offering fresh food, according to Atlanta’s Fresh Food Access Report. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens wanted to reduce that to 15% this year.
“I encourage patients to eat foods that are not processed, not prepackaged foods, that are low in salt and sugar and fat because (the alternative) leads to a lot of chronic conditions, including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, heart disease,” Brown-Saddler said.
For some of her patients, it may be a tall order to prepare home-cooked meals, said Brown-Saddler. She suggests choosing a few days to prepare meals in advance.
“It is also difficult because some can’t really afford to have healthier foods. When you buy fruits and veggies, a lot of times they’re more expensive than if you were to buy something that’s already packaged or canned or frozen.”
More nutritional education is needed
By the time Emory Healthcare dietitian Sara Porter sees patients with chronic conditions they are being discharged from the hospital following a medical emergency. They could have benefited from earlier preventive nutritional education, she said.
“Maybe they had heart disease or diabetes, but they weren’t aware of it until they have a heart attack and need to be in the hospital.”
Credit: Courtesy
Credit: Courtesy
Porter said she counsels patients to check nutritional labels for calories, sugar and fat content.
“Generally, ultraprocesed foods are pretty high in those and lacking nutritional value, protein, vitamins and minerals,” she explained. She pointed to the latest American dietary guidelines that recommend limiting sodium to less than 2,300 milligrams a day with less than 10% of daily calories coming from added sugar and the same limits for saturated fat.
When patients leave the hospital, a doctor or nurse may teach them how to take their medication. Porter’s role is to give them their “nutrition prescription,” insights about how to improve their diet going forward while keeping in mind cultural or emotional connections to certain foods.
“We still want to work with each person wherever they are and (learn) what foods they have available and enjoy,” she said, stressing the importance of good nutrition for healing.
Healthy moderation over avoidance
Sheryl Westerman, a Sandy Springs nutritionist and weight loss consultant, said she also advises moderation over strict avoidance of ultraprocessed foods.
“Especially for parents with children, an occasional pizza is not going to be the deal breaker because it’s not practical to be saying, ‘I can cook every night.’”
Credit: Justin Keyling
Credit: Justin Keyling
Here are a few of Westerman’s tips and suggestions for replacing processed foods with healthier choices throughout the day:
- Check the ingredients: If the first three ingredients are corn syrup, maltodextrin (sugar substitute) or hydrogenated vegetable oil (trans fat) followed by a long list of items consumers wouldn’t use at home, they should consider alternatives.
- Start with a filling breakfast: Try plain yogurt and add overnight oats, fruit, cinnamon and almond butter. Top a whole grain bread toast with a pinch of salt and cottage cheese, a preferred cheese along with Swiss and Parmesan.
- Grab lean protein for lunch: Instead of buying processed turkey for a sandwich, cook a chicken breast or use canned tuna. Add it to a whole wheat tortilla with avocado and cottage cheese.
- Incorporate more vegetables for dinner: You can buy fresh vegetables that are shredded or cut into strips. Stir fry them with a little olive oil and add cooked chicken or shrimp.
Roni Robbins has been a journalist for 38 years. This is her second stint as a freelance reporter for the AJC. She also freelances for Medscape, where she was an editor. Her writing has appeared in WebMD, HuffPost, Forbes, NY Daily News, BioPharma Dive, MNN, Adweek, Healthline and others. She’s also the author of the award-winning novel, “Hands of Gold: One Man’s Quest to Find the Silver Lining in Misfortune.”
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