Things like high fructose corn syrup and trans fats are two examples that are widely publicized. When we think of highly processed foods, we think of McDonald’s, KFC, or gas station food. But do most people consider yogurt, pasta, or even oatmeal to be processed?

But as real-food visionary and endocrinologist Robert Lustig, MD, says, “It’s not that in foodis what it is done with food it matters”. In other words, people get too fixated on whether to avoid sugar, fat, or salt in their diet, and forget to look at the other dimensions of what’s on our plate.

For example, depending on what brand you find at the store, your yogurt might not just be cow’s milk fermented with some good-for-your-gut microbes — it might also contain fat replacers and “natural flavors,” which are just chemicals. designed to smell like real fruit that they didn’t put in that “blueberry” yogurt. Artificial sweeteners are everywhere, and some like aspartame are associated with a higher risk of cancer4. So, we have starches, gums, thickeners and sugars coming in and fiber, fats and micronutrients going out, and often we have no idea what the master is doing behind the scenes to make it all happen.