From the Editor: We’ll Be Writing Less About Ultra-Processed Foods. Here’s Why.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Like all posts on Aldi Reviewer, this piece is the opinion of its respective authors. Also like all posts, comments are welcome, although we ask users to be mindful of our Community Guidelines.
When we founded Aldi Reviewer in July of 2016, our aim was to provide the most comprehensive coverage of the grocer on the planet. Nine years and more than 3,700 posts later, we’d like to think that we’ve done a pretty good job.
We’ve written about … a lot. We’ve done plenty of news and features, but in our core work of product reviews we’ve covered thousands of everyday buys and limited-time Aldi Finds of just about every size and shape.
Aldi carries a variety of foods that range from healthy to patently unhealthy. If you want fresh produce or whole grains or healthy nuts, Aldi carries them. If you’d rather drink soda and subsist on fatty snacks and ultra-processed meals, Aldi carries those, too. In that way, Aldi is no different than most other grocers.
Over the last nine years, we’ve covered both the healthy and the unhealthy. We haven’t flinched from talking about nutrition, either, as is evident on our food reviews. If a product is high in sodium, sugar, or saturated fat, or if it is loaded with concerning ingredients, we’ll note it.
It’s hard for us, though, to cover nutrition labels without thinking about them. It’s no exaggeration for us to say that writing about food has definitely helped us think more intentionally about food.
And yes, we’re also nine years older, with all the accompanying physical changes that getting nine years older brings.
In recent years, we’ve made steady changes in our personal eating habits. We’ve cut down on sugar and red meat. We’ve increased fiber and fish. We’ve moved toward more whole foods rather than ultra-processed foods. (And yes, we’ve also worked on improving our exercise routines.)
Those decisions naturally put our eating habits in some tension with our writing. It’s not as easy to cover the less healthy stuff at Aldi if we’re not actually eating and trying the less healthy stuff.
That said, we believe that our health is ultimately our most important goal. For that reason, we’ve decided to scale down our hands-on coverage of ultra-processed foods. We will still dish out some coverage through open threads where we can share about ingredients and nutrition information. We also still have our large body of existing product reviews, including plenty of coverage of the not-so-healthy stuff, which we’ll update from time to time.
We also, too, encourage our readers to think intentionally about their eating habits. We’d like to be around for a long time, and we’d like to see all of you around for a long time as well.
Here’s to a long, healthy life.
From someone who started down the less processed food path years ago, I applaud your decision.
One nice thing about Aldi’s limited selection is that I’m forced to make more things from scratch, such as enchilada sauce and quiche dough. Making things from scratch usually isn’t that hard or time consuming, and they taste much better than the packaged versions.
Awesome!!! I’m here for it!! I’ve been vegan for 14yrs and usually go the healthier route when shopping in aldi.
I applaud your decision to feature and educate readers of this blog to become aware and proactive in their food choices! Food is medicine for our brains and bodies, eating diets high in sugar and ingredients that we can’t pronounce is alarming and harmful. I too have become aware and how I feel when I eat good grow foods
Thank you for your energy and time to share .
MaryAnn
Thank you for this great news! I agree with this healthy decision. Looking forward to see this change implemented. Our household, especially myself, have been reducing our consumption of highly processed foods.
Joshua, I am excited to hear about your modifications!
I applaud your decision. I shop for healthy food at Aldo on a regular basis. When I compare my checkout purchases to those shoppers in front of and behind me, I see a lot of bad food that people are going to consume. It’s a shame because so many health issues can be avoided by a healthy diet alone. As my French grandmother used to say to, “People dig their grave with their teeth.”
I just bought some low fat kefir at Aldi’s. Is that a new product for them or something I have missed? Thank you for your efforts.
I applaud the new direction you are taking with reviews and your personal health journey. As a physician, I am just thrilled with the focus on healthy eating and lifestyle and I hope your readers are inspired to do the same. Thanks for all you do.
Glad to hear it.
I agree. Remember “Buyer beware or buyer doesn’t care”. These are two types of shoppers, to each their own. It’s called personal responsibility. If a person needs to know about certain ingredients, then they should investigate that product on their own. Our grandson is allergic to peanuts. His parents taught him at a early age to read ingredients for his own well-being. As he got older they explained to him that the world around him is not going to know of his peanut allergy.
Great idea! I’m only interested in healthier options. Period. I would love to see Aldi become even more competitive with Sprouts and Whole Foods. People would beat an even wider path to their door. This trend is growing, and I’m pleased that the Aldi Reviewer is growing with it.
I am happy that you are getting healthy but I am an everything in moderation person so maybe could you consider finding someone on your team to review the less healthy products because the blog reviews are really helpful to me in deciding what to buy at Aldi.4