UPF.... WTF - I knew it was addictive but didn't realise...

Well done on looking after yourself OP. It can totally derail you when you have relatives to stay who eat lots of processed food.
I do think that you will easily get back on track when they've left, and it won't take you long to lose the weight and put the muscle back on, because your body wants to get back to how it used to be.
But yes, I understand how you can SO easily get addicted to sugar/alcohol and carbs within a few days. It can make you feel quite low, tired and unmotivated, not feeling like you want to keep up your exercise routine.
Maybe don't invite these guests for quite so long next time :-)

All you can do is teach by example I spose. Good luck and be love

We had the same experience in reverse, my partner's Dad and wife came to stay-they usually drove everywhere meals with lots of salt sugar and additives. They stayed for a week, walked everywhere(we live in London and don't have a car) and I cooked from scratch-I don't use much salt or sugar-in a week they had both lost several pounds and had lower blood pressure-it can be really fast.

Make some delicious wholesome food for everyone suggest some small easy changes that they might embrace. Do it in a nice way and you could be doing them a favour. I wish I had more discipline to make better food and exercise choices so I love it when someone shows me afew life hacks. And I'm sure there are things that they can teach you in otherways. Thanks for your honest post

You’re getting snide comments from people who don’t like hearing anything negative about what are obviously their own eating habits. “Everything in moderation”? No. UPF is awful and addictive as hell. Would you smoke cr@ck “in moderation”? Try your best to ignore those cravings and get back to your previously positive eating. You don’t have to indulge in things just because people around you are.

If your guests are staying with you why aren't they eating what you would normally prepare for yourself? Surely your food is tasty, it could have been a new experience for them.

sh1t, i can't read it! must have read a few telegraph articles recently

i'll have a read, i'm interested in blue zones, longevity et cetera

I was so healthy for years, so so so healthy then i learnt i had high cholesterol. Made me rebel for a few months but i'm about ready to start paying close attention to what i eat again, for metabolic health.

What like your ‘a lot’ of junk food?

Everything in moderation. I am the same.

it doesn't matter what you die of, we all die - but it matters what you have to live with. Not everything is under my control but I can do some things to help

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I won't 'rapidly expand'. I am very vain and if I need to cut back, I will. I am pretty figure conscious and I also exercise a lot.

You sound like my best friend. All her life was a size 8, ate what she wanted (lived on chocolate some days!).
Then we hit middle age and now she is rapidly expanding! Doesnt want to give up her junk food though because she is pretty much addicted to it now....
although its nice to finally not be 'the fat friend'! LOL

I really dont think a little bit of UPF will do much harm though....its when it become the major part of your diet that its going to cause problems.
I eat mostly whole plant foods but it doesnt bother me that I also have plant milk, fruit yoghurts or vegan butter. I make my own bread and cakes and cook from scratch every meal so I figure I have earned enough smug points!😊

Translation: get over yourself OP, you might look good and feel good but never forget that actually you're rotting from the inside out.
🧶🍏🧶🍏🧶🍏🧶

@MsLuxLisbon I think you are missing the point a bit. Of course many people can manage fine. Its a bit like saying 'well I smoked through all my pregnancies and my kids turned out fine..'. There are people like OP who feels bad after a short time of UPFs. There are people like me who feel addicted and are overweight and really struggle. I don't think I know what it means to feel really well. Then there are people who don't have the mental capacity to have an argument with themselves every 20 minutes and succumb to their cravings, who are now experiencing very serious health problems, or will in the future.

You may be very lucky genetically and by the sounds of it do eat reasonably healthily and exercise, but don’t let being a shapely size 8 fool you into believing you are healthy. In the NHS we see lots of slim people with health problems too often as a result of fat stored around their organs rather than the obvious subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat is much more dangerous to our health

Exactly. And those additives are not necessarily to improve the quality of food, they are often thickeners and flavour enhancers which mean that food can be produced more cheaply to enable greater profit for the food companies.

Plain Greek yoghurt with honey is lovely, anyway! My French mum eats a little bowl of plain home-made yoghurt every day. And we are all compelled to join in if we are around. It’s part of what my dad calls her ‘live long and prosper’ plan, alongside a small glass of red wine each day, and a little bit of dark chocolate. she is 76 and (after a tricky year in which she overcame breast cancer) looks amazing and is in really good health.

As an example of UPFs being "Engineered Food"...

I fancied a fruit yoghurt today. Accepted it would have sugar as well. But looking at the ingredients every single brand had sonething in to thicken it as well. Cornstarch, pectin, gum, whatever.

Now I'm sure they are all fine and safe, but that's what I mean about engineered food. Additives to the basic food to achieve an end goal that isn't nutritional.

I had a plain yoghurt in the end.

Nobody knows when their time is up. I have MS, terrible balance sometimes but I mostly eat (force myself to eat) nutritionally balanced food and I have a personal trainer that I go to a few times a week.

I might still pop my clogs but up until that point, I want to feel like I do now.

I've always thought that it doesn't matter what you die of, we all die - but it matters what you have to live with. Not everything is under my control but I can do some things to help.

Bloody UPFs though. This thread has really made me revisit to remind myself what they're in because they're in so much.

‘Whining’? Aren’t you lovely!
Maybe sugar cravings are making you irritable.

I’m also 52 and if I can’t run for a week, OMG it nearly kills me to return. I can’t just step back on. I always try and run on holiday now as it’s easier! If I only run once a week, I lose fitness. A day at a desk is not good for you and at 52, I notice. One can’t hold back time, but I for one am willing to push back!