Thirty-Six Types of Oreos
Late last year, when I was living in a small town in the Hudson Valley in New York, I was at the grocery store one night and as I was walking through, I caught the end of the cookie aisle out of the corner of my eye and stopped for a second. The Oreo section was at the end of the aisle and it was so extensive, I decided to look closer. There were Golden Oreos, Double Stuff Oreos, Mint Oreos, Birthday Cake Oreos, Mega Stuff Oreos, and on and on and on. So I counted how many different types of Oreos there were. Thirty-six. There were thirty-six different types of Oreos.
It honestly stunned me for a second. Not only because there were thirty-six types of Oreos, but also because that was just the tip of the iceberg of the cookie aisle. There were Chips Ahoy cookies, Pepperidge Farm cookies, animal crackers of different varieties, etc. Nevermind the cookie selection in the bakery, and then the different kinds of refrigerated and frozen cookie dough.
I say this as someone who loves cookies. My favorite dessert is a warm, slightly undercooked, chocolate chip cookie. My favorite ultra-processed food is, in fact, Oreos. Just typing out those types of cookies makes my mouth water and crave sugar. But do we need 36 different kinds of Oreo? Should we have more variety in Oreo selection than we do in vegetable selection at the grocery store?
This isn’t a one-off issue that was just at my local grocery store. Research has found that 73% of the food at grocery stores in the US is ultra-processed. Nearly 60% of what we eat as Americans is ultra-processed, a percentage that continues to increase over time. We know that ultra-processed foods lead to excess calorie consumption and weight gain, and that they’re just generally not good for our overall health. They also happen to be 52% cheaper, on average, than their minimally processed alternatives.
To take a step back for a minute, researchers in Brazil created the NOVA classification system for food, which categorizes foods into one of four groups:
Group 1: Unprocessed or minimally processed foods, including fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, eggs, etc.
Group 2: Foods processed in the kitchen to preserve shelf life, like butter, herbs, etc.
Group 3: Processed foods combining Group 1 and 2 foods made up of few ingredients, including bread, jams, etc.
Group 4: Ultra-processed foods, which are foods that use many ingredients including additives to improve palatability and ingredients rarely used in home cooking. Oreos would most certainly fall in this category.
Researchers developed these food classifications after noting that even though sugar consumption in Brazil was down, prevalence of type II diabetes and obesity were increasing. As they reviewed how food consumption had changed over time, they found that consumption of these ultra-processed foods continued to increase as the health of the population deteriorated.
So, we know ultra-processed foods are not doing anything positive for our health, yet they’re the most readily available type of food in grocery stores (nevermind areas that rely on corner stores for food where that percentage is even higher), and significantly cheaper than minimally processed alternatives. We have 36 different kinds of Oreo, yet only slightly more variety when looking at the produce section in its entirety. As a point of comparison, I went to my local farmers market last weekend and found SIX different types of fruits for vegetables for sale. SIX. Thirty fewer varieties than I could find types of Oreo at the grocery store.
So what do we do about this? I have some ideas, which I’ll explore further in future posts, but have summarized below. I’ve limited these more to things we as individuals can do, even though I recognize that eating healthy is not always a choice that we can make as individuals and our larger food system is a big driver of the issue. I could write so much more about what needs to be done on a policy level for systemic change, but realistically it’s easier to focus on small things that we as individuals can do while we work for change on a larger scale.
Shop the perimeter of the grocery store. The perimeter is much less likely to have ultra-processed foods, even though that has been changing in recent years as they creep in. There are still good things to be had in the middle, like grains, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, etc., but it’s a decent rule of thumb to follow.
While ultra-processed foods are cheaper, there are still some low cost ways to eat healthy and minimally processed foods. Dried beans and lentils, grains, and fresh and canned produce are relatively low cost and can be delicious if done right. I’ll follow up with some ideas and examples in a future post.
Shop at farmers markets, local produce stands or stores, and local butcher shops. By shopping at farmers markets you're more likely to get more nutrient dense produce than at the grocery store, and you may even find new varietals that you otherwise wouldn’t at a grocery store - I recently discovered cucamelons at the farmers market and fell in love with them.
Use an Instant Pot or pressure cooker. We use our Instant Pot almost every day for one thing or another and it’s a huge time saver when it comes to preparing healthy meals and being able to eat more minimally processed foods.
Cut out all ultra-processed foods for a period of time and then pay attention to how you feel once you reintroduce them. I won’t lie, this isn’t an easy task, especially depending on where you live and what’s nearby. But I know that once I cut out all ultra-processed foods for a month, I noticed when I ate them again that they didn’t fill me up, and while they tasted good at the time (they’re engineered to do so), I felt sluggish and lethargic later. It’s unfortunately probably not possible in the US to cut them out altogether for the long term since they are everywhere, but getting in touch with how they make your body feel can make them easier to resist when you do have the option to avoid them. Every time I want an Oreo, I just remember that I could easily eat most of a pack without flinching, and I won’t feel good after I do so.
This is not a comprehensive list, but just some things that have worked well for me as I try to continue to improve my health and set myself up for success long-term by paying attention to what I fuel my body with.