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

Huh? No no no. EVERYTHING is wrong with UFPs. There is nothing good about them. Processed foods are ok. UHP foods are terrible for gut health, hormonal response and nutrition.
There used to be nothing to be gained from eating them over non processed or simple processed foods.
I'm shocked anyone doesn't realise this.

Yep and eating that much takes effort when it's healthy. Pure stuffed

True. And when you stop eating refined sugar, fruit tastes absolutely beautiful. I started putting cinnamon on porridge instead of sugar/syrup a couple of years ago and don't even miss it. The tastebuds adapt. As OP mentions above, very young children are more open to the taste of fruit and vegetables than three and four year olds, before the processed crap hits their palate. We wouldn't dream of sweetening weaning foods so why do we do it to our own?!

I think Ultra Processed People should be mandatory reading.
Chris Van Tulleken has a well researched, easy writing style but he manages to convey chilling information with impact.

UPFs are more than a sum of their parts. The damage the petroleum by-produts and lab created additives are doing to our body is terrifying, particularly emulsifyers.
Manufacturers break foods down to their component molecules and then add them back together to form "food". They may be naturally derived but because of the processing (some are added to allow the "food" to withstand the processing itself) by the time they get to our body they bear no resemblance to anything our body knows how to process. Our gut literally doesn't know what to do with them and the damage they can do is immense. They bypass all the systems in place that have evolved over milennia to keep us healthy. They interfere with hunger/full hormones. They cause leaky gut. They damage us.

In 20 years time we will look on UPFs the way we look on smoking now. Don't forget the strapline for Craven A cigarettes used to be "For your throats sake, smoke Craven A"

Pretty sure she meant her muscles! I've mostly heard the phrase in relation to physical and mental abilities.

Your stir fry sounds delicious!

We try and eat as many whole foods as possible. The biggest issue in my house is bread (in the country I live in it's a staple for breakfast and lunch!). I have almost stopped eating bread for lunch entirely now (always homemade soup or leftovers from dinner) and have only 1 slice of denser rye bread for breakfast, and have added more non-bread breakfasts for my kids (porridge, omelette, yoghurt and fruit). I feel so much better: more energy and less likely to have a slump in the afternoon/fall asleep on the sofa in the evening.

I can also really see the difference in my kids palate. They are used to having to eat lots of different vegetables and though they would definitely gobble up UPF if and when I serve it (we will have something like crispy chicken, fish fingers, sausages maybe once a week), they are used to eating homemade casseroles, stews, roasts, meatballs, pasta dishes with meat that is not UP no added sugar/flavour enhancers outside salt and herbs/spices. They definitely don't like everything we serve them but are much more flexible food-wise than many of my friends' kids.

I try (and often fail) not to have much sugar and your tastebuds definitely change and adapt to what you're used to. DH and I used to drink that premixed cappuccino mix. Someone gave me a sachet the other week and now it tastes so horribly sweet to me, I couldn't drink it!

I know there are definitely things I could do better and time-wise sometimes I draw the line. I don't have the time or inclination to make my own bread, pasta, puff pastry, mayo. But I feel like we're on the right track with mostly meals cooked from scratch/whole foods

Of course shit food and sugar is addictive! If I go on a health kick my belly flattens completely. Junk food is terrible for us all! I'm amazed that with all your years of apparently having a perfect diet that you managed to do quickly drop those habits to be honest.

As the saying goes, everything in moderation.
Not going to extremes.

//

I think for so many people though the problem is their perception of moderation is very skewed. It actually means much less than what they take in.

OPs lifestyle isn't at all extreme more when eating well and moving list is your bodies norm a sudden intake of very shit, nutritionally pointless food coupled with no activity, your body and system registers it immediately and you feel the ill effects very quickly.

'Use it or loose it.'
That's a bit puzzling - you ARE using UPF and not losing it at all but want more of it!

(Anyway I thought that phrase related to small, village shops.)

I’m with you. It’s a constant battle. I’ve nearly always been a healthy weight but I have so many internal struggles each day.

Quite a lot of thin people are also very anti fat. My weight has yo-yoed all my life (not good I know). When I am thin fat women hate me and I am embraced by the thin brigade who claim me as one of their own. When I am fat larger women adore me and thin women don’t even look at me.

Also when I am thin men open doors for me and when I am fat they close them
in my face.

it’s like experiencing the world as two different people.

I'm going to agree with this.

I've been tired every day, my diet was all UPFs and diet fizzy drinks.

I slept midday every day. I woke up tired. Zero energy.

2 weeks I've been on keto, no UPFs, all whole foods, no fizzy drinks, only squash.

No processed sugars.

I feel like a different person.
I've lost 10lbs in 2 weeks and haven't had a single nap in 10days

It actually is. It’s the same concept as alcoholism. Many alcoholics believe that just one drink can send a person with many years of sobriety spiralling back into alcoholism. We see this time and time again. Some people have the same sensitivity to sugar or other ultra processed foods.

That's a no brainer though, sounds like you've gone from one extreme to the other.
From a "self confessed health nut"to missing your daily morning workout for a couple of weeks, drinking wine and eating what they eat.
Course you'll slap on weight!
As the saying goes, everything in moderation.
Not going to extremes.

UPF is worryingly addictive. I'd highly recommend Chris Val Tulleken's 'Ultra Processed People' - I learned so much from this!

That makes sense @NotbloodyGivingupYet thanks. So much for listening to your body! Maybe a 3 week period would be best and go with the flow, and not worry about will I ever again eat a Galaxy bar for the rest of my life.

I hear you. The crap food makes me feel crap, and the only way I can stop myself eating it is to not buy it. I've read that it takes three weeks before the cravings stop. The bacteria in our gut affects our brain, and makes us crave the food that feeds the bacteria. If you can go cold turkey, the balance of bacteria changes (the bad bacteria die off), and you get less cravings as a result. That's why even a short lapse can have such a dramatic effect, because it feeds the wrong bacteria. I think it was the sadly late Michael Moseley that I learnt this from.

The thing about sugar is that if you stop eating it completely for a while - you stop craving it and it doesn’t even taste nice. Everything tastes too sweet.

These threads really depress me, i eat sugary crappy food at some point every day and battle with myself all day long to not eat more. I am overweight. I sometimes go a few days crap free but rarely. I keep hoping some day I'll get it right and I'll be able to have a little bit of what I fancy and leave it like that but I have never found a balance. The craving cycle just goes on and mentally its too much to argue with myself at 20 minute intervals for about 16 hours a day. I always cave. But it looks like the only solution is cold turkey and no slip ups to break the cycle. Yet the thought of not eating some of my favourites makes me really down. Life is stressful and tiring, my treats are often the best part of the day.

Haven’t read the full thread but wanted to offer support and encouragement @PaminaMozart
Looking after yourself is empowering and something to be proud of. Personally i would like to be in good health as I age, taking personal
responsibility for one’s health through making better choices should be celebrated and not shamed.
You can easily get back on track 💪🏽

YANBU. It’s such a slippery slope. I have struggled all my life with it.

If I have a week off my knees start to ache until I foam roll my outer/inner thighs, hamstrings, and calves. Also my glutes/piriformis with a special knobbly ball about the size of a hockey ball. It's the muscles getting tight and pulling things out of alignment in terms of movement patterns.

What makes you think that UPFs are to blame for these things rather than stopping exercising or drinking significantly more alcohol?