Caring's 2025 Mental Health Study Finds Nearly 1 in 3 Seniors Diagnosed with Anxiety or Depression
Charlotte, NC, May 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Caring.com, a leading senior living referral service and the nation's top site for care reviews, published the results of its 2025 Senior Mental Health Study. The study, based on a survey of more than 4,000 Americans aged 65 or older conducted in April of 2025, found that 1 in 3 seniors have a clinical diagnosis of anxiety or depression.
Surprisingly, caregiving stress ranked lower among causes of anxiety and depression. For many seniors, personal health concerns and global events were more significant sources of stress.
While some respondents have lived with symptoms for over six years, others have only recently developed them. Women were more likely than men to report a diagnosis.
The study also highlights a reliance on medication over therapy to manage their symptoms, despite expert insights emphasizing the benefits of talk therapy. Dr. Ken Robbins, board-certified in both internal medicine and psychiatry, states, 'People are often skeptical that talk therapy is going to be helpful to them when they can talk to friends or relatives, and they don't feel the need to talk to a therapist. They don't understand how different it is when you speak to a professional who can help change the way you think.'
Overall, the survey shows that even though seniors may be struggling with their mental health, they've found several positive ways to cope with their stressors, such as prayer, meditation, spending time with a pet, or staying active.
Caring.com provides numerous resources to help seniors and their caregivers with the financial, emotional, and physical impacts of aging and/or caring for their parents.
Read our full report for more findings from this survey, including:
1 in 3 anxious/depressed seniors have a clinical diagnosis, and many of them have lived with their conditions for over six years.
More seniors use medications for anxiety and/or depression than take part in therapy.
Current events is the highest cause of anxiety, while caregiving is one of the least-common reasons seniors say they feel anxious or depressed.
Seniors find several positive ways to cope with their stressors, such as exercising or spending time with a pet.
Caring.com partnered with PollFish to survey more than 4,000 American seniors 65 years and older to review their anxiety and depression, contributing factors, and how they are coping with their struggles. The survey was conducted online on April 14th – 15th, 2025.
About Caring
With millions of visitors to its flagship website, Caring.com, Caring is a leading senior living referral service and the nation's top site for senior care reviews. Founded in 2007, Caring's mission is to help as many seniors and their caregivers as possible through empathetic, expert guidance. Applying cutting-edge technology to this humane mission, Caring provides relevant senior care information and support, as well as comprehensive senior living and senior care directories for the United States, including nearly 400,000 consumer reviews. Through a toll-free referral line at (800) 558-0653, Caring's trusted, nationwide team of Family Advisors — who are among the most highly trained, highly skilled, and knowledgeable experts in senior care — helps seniors and their families research and connect to the most appropriate services and support for their specific situations. For more information about our organization and our free services for seniors and their families, please visit http://www.caring.com/about and join with Caring on Facebook.
CONTACT: Caring.com pr@caring.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
5 hours ago
Another gold rush could bring open pit mines to South Dakota's Black Hills
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- A gold rush brought settlers to South Dakota's Black Hills roughly 150 years ago, chasing the dream of wealth and displacing Native Americans in the process. Now, a new crop of miners driven by gold prices at more than $3,000 an ounce are seeking to return to the treasured landscape, promising an economic boost while raising fears of how modern gold extraction could forever change the region. 'These impacts can be long term and make it so that tourism and outdoor recreation is negatively impacted,' said Lilias Jarding, executive director of the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance. 'Our enjoyment of the Black Hills as a peaceful place, a sacred place, is disturbed.' The Black Hills encompass over 1.2 million acres (485,622 hectares), rising up from the Great Plains in southwest South Dakota and extending into Wyoming. The jagged peaks are smaller than those of the Rocky Mountains, but the lush pine-covered hills are sacred to the Lakota Sioux people and serve as a destination for millions of tourists who visit Mount Rushmore and state parks. One gold mine now operates in the Black Hills, but companies have proposals before state and federal agencies for another one, plus exploratory drilling sites that they hope will lead to full-fledged mines. That has prompted opposition by Native American tribes and environmentalists who argue the projects are close to sacred sites, will contaminate waterways and permanently scar the landscape. Gold extraction has changed dramatically in the decades since prospectors first began panning for gold in the Black Hills. The industry now typically relies on massive trucks and diggers that create deep, multitiered pits and use chemicals like cyanide to extract the gold. The land can never return to its original state. The Homestake mine, once the largest and deepest gold mine in the Western Hemisphere, now sits barren in Lead, South Dakota, and is used for scientific research. Interest in Black Hills gold mining has soared along with the price of the metal. When the Homestake mine closed in 2002, gold sold for about $300 an ounce. Now it goes for about 10 times as much. Joseph Cavatoni, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council, attributes the price spike to global economic uncertainty. 'Gold tends to be a stable asset,' he said. 'That actually performs well in inflationary times, and holds its value in recessionary times. That's why gold as an asset in investment.' President Donald Trump also boosted the industry by issuing an executive order in March to increase American mineral production, calling for expedited permitting and reviews. Colin Paterson, professor emeritus of geological engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, notes that Black Hills gold is encased in rock. To extract it, the rock is crushed and then a chemical like cyanide is used to dissolve the mineral and remove it. Coeur Mining runs the single active mine in the Black Hills, but the company Dakota Gold has plans for an open pit mine to begin operating in 2029. The company is also targeting the area near the old Homestake site to build an underground mine where workers would descend hundreds or even thousands of feet into shafts. Jack Henris, president and chief operating officer of Dakota Gold, estimated the open pit mine would create up to 250 jobs and result in the company paying the state up to $400 million in taxes over the life of the mine. Dakota Gold will conduct an environmental study and surveys of soil and vegetation to ensure safe operation, Henris said. 'Most of the people that work here are from this area and just love to live here,' he said. 'So we're a big part of the Hills and we love them just as much as other folks.' To a great extent, gold mining helped create the modern Black Hills region. The U.S. government signed a treaty in 1868 that recognized the Sioux Nation's right to the Black Hills, but the government seized the land after the discovery of gold and allowed settlers into the region. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled the Sioux were entitled to compensation, but they have not accepted any and maintain their claim to the land. Tribes have largely opposed mining in the Black Hills. 'There's a central truth about mining in the Black Hills in that it was never the most mineral rich place there ever was,' said Taylor Gunhammer, local organizer with the Indigenous advocacy group NDN Collective and an Oglala Sioux, one of the Lakota people. 'It's not even the actual mineral content of the Black Hills that is so attractive to mining companies. It's the permissive nature of the officials who oversee mining.' Some proposed projects, such as Dakota Gold's mine, are on private land and only subject to state rules, not the U.S. Forest Service regulations required for projects on public acreage. Environmentalists have focused their opposition on the possibility of chemicals leaks. They note that Coeur's Wharf mine has had nearly 200 spills and that the former Homestake mine was closed because it contaminated a nearby creek. Coeur's environmental manager, Jasmine McCauley, said in a statement that each spill was "thoroughly investigated, mitigated, and corrective actions are put in place to prevent reoccurrence.' The company is always improving its processes, she added. Jarding, of the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance, said she remains concerned about the number of projects in the works. 'It's really important that people understand the exponential growth in mining activity that's been happening in the Black Hills over the last five years or so,' Jarding said. "There are currently active mining claims on 271,000 acres in the Black Hills. That's 20% of the whole Black Hills that is potentially going to be subject to mining.'
Buzz Feed
8 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
102 Weird Facts That Are Wild, Random, And Fun
I don't know about anyone else, but I love learning interesting, bizarre, and straight-up weird facts about anything and everything. (In fact, it's quite a conversation starter.) That said, here are some wacky, intriguing, strange, and somewhat funny facts that sound somewhat fake but are entirely true: Germany has more castles than there are McDonald's in the United States. Yep, you heard that right. Germany is estimated to have 25,000 castles, and there are around 13,000 McDonald's locations in America. In Washington state, there's a real-life law stating it's illegal to kill Bigfoot and other sasquatch-like creatures. And you know what? Good for them. Dogs are one of the three deadliest animals in the UK. The other two are bees and cows. Sloths are slow in everything they do — including digestion. Because they digest foods so slowly, they basically have to breathe out their farts because they can't *actually* fart. If a bunch of gas builds up in a sloth's intestines, it could get sick and potentially even burst. Rather than farting, the gases are reabsorbed into the bloodstream and are then respired out of the about morning breath. There are caves in Missouri that store 1.4 billion pounds of government-owned cheese. Located deep in the Ozark Mountains in limestone-converted mines, the caves are kept at a perfect 36°F. As someone who's lactose intolerant, my stomach is in knots just thinking about it. This one actually made me do a double-take: Cornflakes were invented to suppress sexual impulses and desires. John Harvey Kellogg invented cornflakes in 1894, but it was later used as part of an extreme diet promoted by his church to basically suppress horniness. Kellog thought sex and masturbation were abnormal and unhealthy, so he believed cornflakes — and their lack of flavor — would help fight off any desire. Cockroach dust plays a part in why so many inner-city children have asthma. A single cloud can weigh about 550 tons or more. Believe it or not, Canadians eat more Kraft macaroni and cheese than Americans. Like, 55% more. Giraffes in the wild only sleep for around five minutes at a time. Because of the dangers they face in the wild, not only do they sleep while standing, but they also sleep intermittently so that they're prepared to run at any given moment. If keeping watch for a giraffe as they slept was a job, I'd apply in a heartbeat. Snoop Dogg's government name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. Despite being four inches long, the mantis shrimp throws the fastest punch in the world. The definition of small but mighty, mantis shrimps can throw punches up to 50mph — enough to break through their glass tanks. In Switzerland, owning only one guinea pig or parrot is illegal. If you're drunk or violent in Japan, police will take a plastic sheet and roll you up like a burrito. Police in Japan rarely ever resort to violence, as they choose to de-escalate the situation at hand first. After the wrapping, police will take the drunk or violent person to the station to let them calm down. If they wanted to, Clownfish could change their sex, including reproductive organs, through an irreversible process. No one commits to the bit better than Toni Collete. When she was a teen, she faked having appendicitis to get out of going to school so well that she actually got her appendix taken out. There's a rare neurological disorder called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, which is a condition related to how you perceive your body, the world around you, or both. A grizzly bear's bite is strong enough to crush a bowling ball, but that won't stop my first instinct from being, "Aww, look how cute!" Twice a month, the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport brings in miniature horses to help calm the nerves of people with flying anxiety. Male ducks have corkscrew-shaped penises. Miss Piggy's original name was going to be Piggy Lee. Fabulous either way. If you say you're not afraid of anything, I have some news for you: Humans are innately born with the fear of falling and loud noises. Whatever other fears one may have are shaped or learned with experience. Considering gelatin is made up of animal skin and bones, gummy worms technically have more bones than actual worms (since worms don't have any). Lady Gaga, bless her heart, once spent $50K on a ghost detector. To protect themselves from their super-strong pecks, woodpeckers wrap their tongues around their brains. What a cool party trick. For her role in Winter's Bone, Jennifer Lawrence learned how to skin a squirrel. Pound cake is called that because the original recipe used one pound of each ingredient. In the Great Barrier Reef, there's a coral reef that's taller than the Empire State Building. Male giraffes will taste a female giraffe's urine to see if she is ready to mate. Even in the animal kingdom, men cannot mind their business. On average, lightning strikes Earth 100 times per second. It saddens me to report that Winnie the Pooh was banned from a Polish playground because the honey-obsessed bear doesn't wear pants. As if it's his fault! Attempting to get kids to eat more vegetables, McDonald's engineer bubblegum-flavored broccoli. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't a hit. Blue whales are the baddies of the ocean (sorry, orcas), and if I were a sea creature, I would never, ever tussle with one, especially considering a blue whale's tongue alone can weigh more than an elephant. Due to their genes, redheads may need about 20% more anesthesia than non-redheads. I literally never thought about Barbie being called anything other than Barbie, but her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. There are more possible chess game variations than atoms in the universe. The warty comb jellyfish doesn't have an anus, so when it needs to poop, its gut fuses with an outer layer of its "skin" to create a hole in its body. After the deed is done, the hole closes right back up. In Thailand, there's an annual Monkey Buffet Festival where residents of Lopburi leave 4.5 tons of fruit, veggies, and other treats to honor the approximately 3,000 monkeys that live near the Phra Prang Sam Yot temple. Way better than Coachella, IMO. I was pleased to find out that a buttload is an actual unit of measurement! One buttload is equivalent to 126 gallons of wine. Back in the day, Victorians ate arsenic to get a paler complexion. There's a church decorated with the bones of 40,000 people in Czechia. Sharks were roaming the planet before Saturn's rings formed. With this information, this is a shark's world, and we're all just living in it. There are more fake flamingos in the world than real ones. Humans typically produce 0.5 to 1.5 liters of saliva every day. Crocodiles can gallop like horses do. If you're afraid to go into the ocean because of sharks, you might want to avoid hotel hallways and break rooms, because vending machines are twice as likely to kill you. Though dead bones are dry and brittle, living bones are wet and a bit soft. In order to absorb pressure, bones are also slightly flexible. Up to one-third of a living bone's weight is water. "Gnurr" is the term used to describe the lint that collects at the bottom of your pockets. Scotland's national animal is a unicorn. The closest US state to Africa is Maine. If you sneeze uncontrollably after being suddenly exposed to bright light or intense sunlight, you might have inherited a genetic trait called Achoo Syndrome. Armadillos almost always give birth to identical quadruplets. As long as you legally obtain human flesh or limbs, cannibalism is allowed in the Netherlands. The short-horned lizard squirts blood out of its eyes — at a distance of up to three feet — to confuse predators. However, the blood contains a chemical that makes dogs, wolves, and coyotes noxious. Love that. A rainbow on Venus is called a "glory." Frogs use their eyes to help them swallow their meals. When a frog swallows food, its eyes pull down to the roof of their mouth to help push the food down its throat. Human brains are constantly eating themselves. To "cleanse" the system, cells will smother and consume smaller cells or molecules in a process called phagocytosis. The fear of long words is called hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. After seeing that, I'm scared, too. Ants don't have lungs. Instead, they breathe through tiny holes on the sides of their bodies called spiracles. When lightning strikes, the air it passes through can reach up to 50,000°F — five times hotter than the sun's surface. Due to thermal expansion, the Eiffel Tower can "grow" up to six inches in the summer. Tigers don't just have striped fur but skin, too! If you were to shave a tiger, you'd find identical striped markings as if they were tattoos. If you go to the sky deck of the Willis Tower in Chicago on a clear day, you can see four other US states: Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. A blue whale's heartbeat can be heard from two miles away. Sloths can hold their breath longer than dolphins. Dolphins must come to the surface almost every 10 minutes, but sloths can hold their breath for 20 minutes or more by slowing down their heart rates. Before toiler paper, corn cobs were used as a method of wiping. This one might unsettle you, but snails have teeth. Snails can have up to 1,000 to 12,000 teeth. I don't know what they need those for, but good for them! I hope they have snail dentists, then. While she was a teenager during World War II, Queen Elizabeth II became a junior officer in the Auxiliary Territorial Service and became a trained mechanic. The real name of a hashtag is actually octothorpe. Due to the anatomy of their neck muscles and spine, pigs cannot look up to the sky. Imagine being a pig and never knowing that there is a whole world above you. BRB, gonna cry for a sec. For most people, it's impossible to lick their elbows. (Go ahead, try it.) A French general gave John Quincy Adams an alligator as a gift. The gator was kept in one of the White House's bathtubs. Ostriches have bigger eyes than they do brains. In fact, among all land animals, ostriches have the biggest eyes. A dentist invented the electric chair as a method for execution. Simply put, I'm glad I wasn't his patient. Like fingerprints, human tongues also have unique tongueprints. If you've ever wondered what to call that blob of toothpaste you squeeze onto your toothbrush, it's called a nurdle. Animals process time differently depending on their size. Research suggests that smaller animals like mice and lizards process time faster than larger animals like elephants and giraffes. This is also true about animals that fly and marine predators. Due to fast-paced lifestyles, these animals have visual systems that take in changes at higher and faster rates. Competitive art was considered a sport for the first four decades of the modern Olympics. Artists could earn medals for painting, architecture, sculpting, and music. America would win in the music category every time so long as Beyoncé is willing to compete. From 1924–1954, stop signs used to be yellow. At the time, red dyes faded after a while, so the American Association of State Highway Officials went with yellow dye, which didn't fade. It wasn't until the 1950s that sign makers began using fade-resistant enamel. If you thought Abraham Lincoln wasn't fascinating enough, the dude is honored in the Wrestling Hall of Fame. He often competed in wrestling matches when he was younger and rarely lost. In 1992, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame formally inducted the former president as an "Outstanding American." There's even a mural of Lincoln inside the Hall of Fame museum in Stillwater, Oklahoma. If you've ever used a reindeer and a caribou in the same sentence, thinking you were referencing different animals (I'm definitely guilty), I'm sorry to announce that they're the same species. Among the world's five ocean basins, the Atlantic Ocean takes the cake as the saltiest. The inside of a Kit Kat is made up of a small amount of other Kit Kats, usually ones that cannot be sold. Unfortunately, George Washington died not knowing dinosaurs existed. The first and former president died in 1799, while the first official description of dinosaurs happened in 1842. Sad. Humans don't always see their noses because our brains filter out "useless" things to better grasp our surroundings. A polar bear's fur isn't actually white; it's translucent. It only appears white because it reflects visible light. It's certainly possible to use sign language with an accent. Australia is wider than the moon. The moon's diameter is around 2,112 miles, while Australia's is 2,485 miles. The fastest-moving muscle in the human body is the eyes. It's called the orbicularis oculi, and we have one in each eye. The Olympic rings were first produced in 1913, and they were designed to include all participating nations. The rings' colors, along with the white background, reflect the colors found on all of the countries' flags. How wholesome! There was once a French king who believed he was made of glass. King Charles IV had a psychiatric disorder called "Glass Delusion" and thought that he would shatter if anyone touched him. Beer was banned in Iceland until 1989. Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Steet was originally orange instead of green. In the show's first season, Oscar was orange partly due to some limitations of colorized TV at the time. It wasn't until season 2 that he turned green. If you ever wondered where the term "honeymoon" came from, it originated in the Middle Ages. When there was a newly married couple, they'd be supplied enough honey wine to last the first month of their marriage. Due to increased blood flow to the fingertips, human fingernails grow faster during summertime. Illinois is known as the pumpkin capital of the United States. A housefly's feet are 10 million times more sensitive than a human tongue. California experiences over 100,000 earthquakes a year. Thankfully, though, many of them are minor or are barely felt at all! Every year, Norway gifts London a huge Christmas tree, which is then decorated and displayed in Trafalgar Square. The tree serves as a thank-you gift for all the help the UK gave Norway during WWII. Owls sometimes swallow their food whole. The average Swiss person consumes about 48 pounds of cheese per year. Lastly: Walt Disney made it a rule for Disneyland not to sell chewing gum to keep the park clean. Wow, my brain is sweating from absorbing all that info. Instead of sending a "good morning" text, I'm just going to send one of these facts every day without any context. Do you know any interesting and fascinating facts? Let me know in the comments!
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Scientists Say These Are the Worst Ultra-Processed Foods You Can Eat
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." The American Heart Association just released a big report on ultra-processed foods. Some ultra-processed foods are healthier than others, according to the organization. Experts say it's still important to limit how much ultra-processed foods you eat. Ultra-processed foods have been a hot topic in nutrition, with a government report released in May linking this food category to a range of chronic diseases. Now, the American Heart Association (AHA) has released a new scientific advisory statement, breaking down the best and worst ultra-processed foods you can eat, and their impact on health. This echoes a growing argument in the nutrition and health community, especially given that up to 70% of our food supply is made up of ultra-processed foods. 'Ultra-processed foods are such a large part of the American diet, and whatever we can do to steer our diet toward healthier options would be beneficial to our cardiovascular health,' says Cheng-Han Chen, M.D., interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA. Meet the experts: Danbee Kim, M.D.,, nutrition expert, weight loss surgeon, and assistant professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; Cheng-Han Chen, M.D., interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA; Keri Gans, R.D., author of The Small Change Diet; Kathleen Moore, R.D.N., a registered dietitian nutritionist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center So, which ultra-processed foods are considered 'healthier' and what does this mean for your diet going forward? Doctors and a dietitian explain. What are ultra-processed foods? The levels of food processing are classified under something called the NOVA scale. This scale lumps foods into these four main categories: Unprocessed and minimally processed foods: This includes foods that are in their natural state or barely altered, like strawberries, carrots, and milk. Processed culinary ingredients: These ingredients are created through minimal processing, like pressing, refining, grinding, or milling. The category includes things like olive oil and almond flour. Processed foods: Foods in this category are changed from their natural state. They usually have sugar, oil, salt, or other substances added. Canned tuna and some cheese fall under this umbrella. Ultra-processed foods: Ultra-processed foods contain ingredients like artificial colors and flavors, preservatives for shelf stability, and other ingredients to preserve texture. Many packaged foods are considered ultra-processed. What did the report say? The report doesn't have great things to say about ultra-processed foods, calling them a 'growing public health challenge.' Even more, 'most ultra-processed foods overlap with foods high in saturated fat, added sugars, and sodium, which are already targets for cardiometabolic risk reduction,' the report states. The report lists a link between ultra-processed foods and a range of serious health complications, including heart attacks, stroke, sleep disorders, depression, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. But the report also stresses the importance of identifying 'high-risk' ultra-processed foods subgroups to break down healthier options within this category. By encouraging people to have less of the most harmful ultra-processed foods and steering them more towards 'a small number of select, affordable ultra-processed foods of better diet quality,' people may improve their health risks, the review says. The best ultra-processed foods The AHA stops short of saying that certain ultra-processed foods are actually healthy. But the organization flags some options as being better for you than others. Those include: Low-sodium whole-grain breads and crackers Low-sugar yogurts Tomato sauces Nut- or bean-based spreads Flavored dry-roasted chickpeas Unsweetened, dried fruit-based snacks Unsweetened high-fiber cereal Plant-based meat and dairy alternatives that are low in sodium, added sugars, and saturated fat, like soy milk and tofu 'Some ultra-processed foods can provide essential nutrients,' says Keri Gans, R.D., author of The Small Change Diet. 'In contrast, others are loaded with added sugar, sodium, and unhealthy fats. Knowing the difference helps you choose options that work best for your health and your lifestyle.' These foods 'can actually provide useful nutrients and help people get affordable, convenient foods—especially when fresh options are harder to find,' says Danbee Kim, M.D., nutrition expert, weight loss surgeon, and assistant professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Labeling some ultra-processed foods as better than others may also help people make more informed choices, says Kathleen Moore, R.D.N., a registered dietitian nutritionist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. 'Labeling all ultra-processed foods as 'bad' may discourage the consumption of some nutrient-rich convenient options, like whole grain breads, cereals and cereal bars, yogurt, and grab-and-go meals,' she says. 'Sometimes it is useful to use some ultra-processed foods to save time or to incorporate balanced meal options when fresh foods are limited. Knowing which ultra-processed foods are more healthy will help consumers make better choices.' The worst ultra-processed foods The AHA also broke down the least healthy ultra-processed foods. Those include: Chicken nuggets Sausage Hot dogs Sugar-sweetened beverages Liquid cheese products Cookies Candies Gummy fruit snacks Refined grain breads Tortillas Dairy-based desserts like ice cream Ready-to-heat meals made with refined grains, high fats, or processed meats like boxed macaroni and cheese or pizza Tortilla- and potato-based chips Is it OK to eat a lot of 'healthy' ultra-processed foods? While the AHA report called out healthier versions of ultra-processed foods, experts say that still doesn't mean you should load up. 'These can provide beneficial nutrients and fit into a balanced diet,' Gans says. 'However, still pair them with plenty of whole and minimally processed foods for optimal health.' Dr. Chen agrees. 'As much as possible, we should aim to eat whole foods rather than processed foods,' he says. But these foods have an important role for some people, as Moore points out. 'I work with many clients who incorporate ultra-processed foods into their weekly schedules for a variety of reasons,' she says. 'Some cannot seem to find time for breakfast, or have a work schedule that makes sitting down for lunch difficult. I have clients who are busy parents and benefit from a frozen family meal or 'grab and go' meal when sports events make it difficult to eat a home-cooked meal. Overall, I encourage my patients to limit ultra-processed foods to less than half of their overall consumption.' Dr. Kim suggests trying to have these foods in moderation. 'Think of 'healthier' ultra-processed foods as a tool—something you can lean on when they help make your diet more balanced or easier to stick to, but not something to make the star of your plate at every meal,' she says. How to reduce ultra-processed foods in your diet The best way to reduce ultra-processed foods in your diet is to focus on whole foods first, according to Gans. 'Be prepared. Stock your pantry with nutrient-rich staples like canned tomatoes, beans, and oatmeal,' she says. 'Include more fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains, and make small swaps, like 100% whole-grain bread for white.' In a perfect scenario, Gans says that the first ingredient in the things you eat should be a whole food. While you're at it, Dr. Kim suggests cutting back on the 'worst offenders,' especially sugary drinks, processed meats, packaged sweets, and salty snacks. 'The fewer ultra-processed foods you eat, the better—but it's about progress, not perfection,' Dr. Kim says. 'Swap out the unhealthy ones first, make room for healthier stand-ins when needed, and keep working toward a diet built mostly from whole, real foods.' You Might Also Like Can Apple Cider Vinegar Lead to Weight Loss? Bobbi Brown Shares Her Top Face-Transforming Makeup Tips for Women Over 50 Solve the daily Crossword
