6 Simple Food Swaps to Cut Down on Ultra-Processed Foods
Small everyday changes, from breakfast to snacks and sauces, can help reduce reliance on ultra-processed foods without completely changing your diet.
Ultra-processed foods can easily become part of everyday meals through breakfast cereal, biscuits, packaged snacks and instant noodles. While occasional consumption may not be a major concern, frequent reliance on such foods can make it harder to maintain a balanced diet. Nutrition and wellness coach Eshanka Wahi suggests making small, manageable swaps instead of attempting a complete dietary overhaul.
Breakfast cereals can be replaced with quick options such as oats with milk, nuts and seeds or vegetable poha with peanuts. At tea time, roasted chana, makhana, fruit, nuts or homemade chivda can be alternatives to daily biscuits.
Instant noodles do not necessarily have to be eliminated. Adding vegetables, eggs, tofu or paneer can make the meal more balanced. Similarly, plain curd paired with fruit and nuts can replace flavoured yoghurt that may contain added sugar.
Choosing whole fruits such as oranges, guavas, apples and papayas instead of packaged juice can also increase fibre intake. Finally, packaged ketchup, dips and dressings can be replaced occasionally with options such as mint-coriander chutney, spiced curd, lemon and herbs.
The focus is not on eliminating every packaged food, but on identifying frequently consumed items and making one or two sustainable changes at a time.
