For example, a pack of trail mix might be a good vending machine pick if you’re trying to avoid sugar, but it will be high in fat. At a gas station, a Lunchable might be hella processed, but it’s got protein and won’t send you into a carb coma—unlike, say, a pack of Pop-Tarts.
Of course, the best plan is to not need to buy any of that processed food. But how many of us can cook every meal from scratch? Here’s where it’s helpful to use some of those processed-but-still-healthy things we talked about earlier: the rotisserie chicken, for example. The frozen meatballs and jarred sauce to whip up a spaghetti dinner in minutes that will also become tomorrow’s lunch. You get the idea. I have some tips on starting to eat healthy here, and a guide here to meal prepping as a normal human who doesn’t want to spend all weekend cooking.
It would be great to cook every meal from scratch, from lovingly foraged free-range lentils, but not all of us have time to do that. Sure, in some parts of history, people did—but that was part of their job as a housewife or farmer. Today, cooking every single meal from scratch is more like a hobby—a fine one to have, but not a mandate for everyone. We live in a world that’s full of processed food, and it’s totally okay to—carefully, thoughtfully—take advantage of that.
