Frozen Vs. Fresh Vs. Packaged Food

Food:

• Fruits, Vegitables, 
• Nuts
• Processed food

"Processed food" includes food that has been cooked, canned, frozen, packaged or changed in nutritional composition with fortifying, preserving or preparing in different ways. Any time we cook, bake or prepare food, we're processing food.

Fresh Food:

Freshly picked fruits and vegetables straight from the farm or your own garden are of the highest quality, eaten unprocessed. 

Fresh varieties are not always fresh, it depends on from where you are buying. In a consumer state where things are not produced, mostly what we get are semi ripe food, which do not develop all nutrients. Plus in the course of transportation, chemicals are added and it losses more nutrients.

Frozen Food:

However, if you are shopping at the supermarket, frozen produce may be equal to, or in some cases, even more nutritious than fresh varieties.

Frozen food too do lose some nutrients in the process of blanching , which is placing it in warm water before freezing to kill harmful bacteria's. 

In frozen food, what one need to be careful is there are two ways in which it is done, be careful, that:

•  Food is actually frozen, and there is no ice or water added to it.
•  If it is water added - the quality of water might not always be good, and the weight increases so the quantity would be less. 

At the end of the day, frozen fruit and vegetables are a convenient and cost-effective alternative to fresh options.

Packed/Canned Processed Food:

Buying processed foods can lead to people eating more than the recommended amounts of sugar, salt and fat as they may not be aware of how much has been added to the food they are buying and eating. These foods can also be higher in calories due to the high amounts of added sugar or fat in them.

Many of the 100-calorie pack items are free of trans fats and low in sugar, but don't confuse them with a nutritious snack, experts say. That's because they're highly processed, and not nearly as good for you as fresh fruits and vegetables.

Most pre-packaged foods have a list of ingredients, which includes preservatives. Food additives are normally listed near the end of the ingredient list, as they are usually found in smaller quantities.

Choose products with fewer and known ingredients. Look for whole foods, not variations of whole foods.

Processed packaged foods aren’t going away anytime soon and some of them can actually deliver nutrients when cooking is not an option. Use this information to help decipher the healthy and not-so-much and it can be possible to save time and cooking hassle, without sacrificing health.

Choose wisely, based of your body type. Stay healthy. Happiness Humesh!