2. Highly Processed Foods
Pre-made meals and ready-to-eat items (such as frozen pizza and microwavable entrees) are easy to create quickly. But processed meals may harm your intestinal health.
Dr. Ivanina thinks ultra-processed diets increase IBD risk.
Ultra-processed meals have additional sugars, preservatives, emulsifiers, thickeners, and flavorings, which can impair gut health.
Dietary emulsifiers cause colon inflammation by changing the microbiota and gut lining, explains Dr. Ivanina.
However, not all processed foods are bad. “How meals are produced isn’t as important as their component list,” adds Taub-Dix.
Most processed foods are unhealthy, but some are beneficial. Canned beans, canned fish, and frozen veggies are technically “processed” meals, but they have three ingredients or less, making them healthy alternatives.