*information obtained from the book “Plant-Based Nutrition” by Julieanna Hever, MS, RS, CPT & Raymond J. Cronise

Foods that can be considered refined include the majority (or totality) of what can be bought at a fast-food restaurant; foods that come packaged with ingredients you don’t recognize or with more than three unrecognizable ingredients; fried foods; frozen meals; foods that appear oily, salty, or sugary; most foods from a vending machine; packaged cookies, cakes, crackers, and candies; and foods such as flour, sugar, oil, margarine, and soda.

In addition to the saturated and hydrogenated fat, sodium, and sugar or artificial sweeteners, you may find plenty of other not-so-goodies in your refined or processed foods. Included but not limited to preservatives, artificial flavors, thickeners, shelf stabilizers, high fructose corn syprup, sugar alcohols, nitrites and nitrates, and butylated hydroxyanisole.