AIBU to think that the anti UPF books and diets around at the moment are just a new version of Clean Eating?

Bread, potatoes and oats are bad because they ‘spike your blood sugar’. So even if you do make the effort to cook from scratch it’s still not good enough.

I imagine this is more a concern with diabetes certainly and if pre-diabetic too, perhaps. I do agree there’s a very all or nothing approach though, even in the absence of conditions such as diabetes. I worry for my DD when she’s old enough for social media as a young adult, and some of the messaging even around good things like eating well. Some of it more than veers into orthorexia unfortunately. Eg An influencer recently spoke out about how her clean eating habits shared on social media as something to aspire to caused her to lose her menstrual cycle. We eat very well but I also like a piece of cake now and again - even if not sugar free and not homemade. Especially if not sugar free! 😂 And we have a rare takeaway with food I can’t cook as well at home although I’ll still have a go eg Japanese. It’s not for everyone and some are far stricter (my SIL will never eat takeaway and will just make her own versions at home) but I feel it’s the right approach for our family. My toddler already likes things like sushi (non-raw kind) but she’s not really bothered about the cake she has tried at birthday parties.

How can it be a stick to beat women with when nobody out and about actually gives a star spangled shit what you've eaten? It's you beating yourself up with the stick. I haven't read the book I'll admit but I know all about this topic and I'd just take away from it that it's best to eat natural where you can but not exclusively. Like buy the kids a plain yogart instead of a fruity character one. You also save money doing that.

It's just useful information about health you don't have to follow it exactly by the book

I think it’s the cumulative effort of everything if you cook from scratch. There’s more ingredients to chop, weigh out and then wash up (don’t have a dishwasher). Sometimes you’re tired just and want to eat.

I wish it were true that UPF isn’t so bad but sadly I think a lot of the studies are right. What bugs me is a lot of the other advice tied in with the UPF stuff. With Zoe any type of carb seems to be the devil. Bread, potatoes and oats are bad because they ‘spike your blood sugar’. So even if you do make the effort to cook from scratch it’s still not good enough.

The quality of fresh food seems to be getting worse as well, chicken breasts are woody and disgusting. To get nice tomatoes you have to be able to afford the expensive ones. I think it’s not as simple and easy as people make out.

I think so too. Same with spuds. Less so with anything organic of course!

Yes, was just scrolling down to say this. We try to eat as many plants and fruit we can each week for this reason, to the point that I tick them off a list. We do eat a huge range but we also spend a lot of money of food each month. Meal planning is also a big job on the weekend. If we can get to a market and buy smaller portions, that helps. Pre DC, I was happy to make a one pot dish on a Sunday and have the same lunch for several days but I think variety is more important for us now as I’ve also got a young DC who I’m trying to expose to as many different flavours and textures and foods as I can. She doesn’t dislike anything yet. I’m sure she will as she grows up! 😂 Of course it’s not essential though. I was still healthy pre kids eating the same things for several days.

Guys - carrots last ages in the fridge.

This is such a Western world privilege statement. Ever been to an actual poor country? They aren't fussy about what they eat. Also, another thing I've observed is it's only in Western countries where the poor people are fat.

As humans we are getting further and further from a natural way of living in everything we do. What we eat, where we live, technology etc and its manifesting itself more and more in mental and physical diseases. Isn't too late, yes, as PP have said the horse has bolted. It's the price of convenience and modern life.

Hmmm, what about the parents? Why do the schools have to do everything?

Ffs. What a load of bollocks 🙄 Processed food is shit, it's not new news. It's also fact.

I would also agree with this. My response was assuming Tempest meant a few days in a row. Every day of the year, not so much. Variety of different vegetables and protein sources is important.

While it wouldn't be as bad as a diet full of UPF's and super high sugar, etc., I'd not recommend literally the same thing every single day for the rest of your life and nothing else.

The idea is to eat a diversity of plant ingredients to encourage diversity in the gut microbiome, which directly and indirectly affects the health of every organ in the body, including the brain.

Also, produced by the gut microbes, many vitamins and other helpful substances, the vast bulk of the body's serotonin, and the gut also plays a huge role in the immune system's health.

Totally agree with the variety thing and the odds and ends in the fridge point

I made a quiche the other day: pastry, an onion, a large potato, spring onion, bit of red pepper, 4 eggs, splash milk, big tablespoons cottage cheese, big tablespoons cheddar.

Twas lush

Had the same meal 3 times

Cost about £3 to make, if that

It's not really news

Homemade is better, always

Achievable though? Perhaps not

There's nothing wrong with it! I personally like different flavours most days, but I'm happy to use the same ingredients. Some days I'll also just happily eat the same soup or sandwich or salad. I do personally enjoy cooking so I like playing with flavours, but there's nothing wrong with having the same dish if it's balanced.

I'd add - a change of protein would probably be good. But if you're getting those things in other meals (salmon for lunch maybe, eggs and cheese for breakfast) then it isn't much of an issue.

Yes, but even there - what's really wrong with eating the same thing, not varrying your carrot dish or herbs every day?

Why do we feel we have to have so much variety?

There's some natural variety through seasonality and availability. But what's wrong with the same chicken thigh/peppers/sweet potato sheet pan mean every day with some rice?

If people like to cook they can do what they want to entertain themselves but there is zero reason I can see they need to feel like they have to.

i wouldn't call citric acid a perfectly fine ingredient - not after reading how it is made these days. Blech.

"Approximately 99 percent of the world’s production of manufactured citric acid is developed from the Aspergillus niger fungus, also known as black mold."

How silly. It was odds and ends! Something like two small carrots, a few potatoes, bit of cabbage, some spinach on its last legs and something else I can't remember now. Maybe peas. Added chickpeas and tomatoes, and we had it with rice.

Yes, I can see how it happens. It doesn't make it any less wasteful!

"I made a pan of curry last week with odds and ends of veg. It fed four people and there was some left over to go on a baked potato for lunch."

If you had enough for 4 people then it wasn't just some odds and ends!

As for someone buying a big bag of carrots, I can understand that happening because the smaller supermarkets don't sell them loose so they had to buy a big bag.

How on earth is it a waste of energy and money? I made a pan of curry last week with odds and ends of veg. It fed four people and there was some left over to go on a baked potato for lunch.

I see you commenting quite a bit about why you don't want to repeat things you had in childhood. That's your choice. You've batted away most suggestions people have given you because you don't want to cook. Again, your choice; fair play.

No one is saying you need to eat carrots every day. What I'm saying is, buying a bag for one meal then letting the rest rot while is just wasteful. Boiled carrots taste nothing like honey roasted carrots. Cod in a butter sauce with boiled potatoes and carrots tastes nothing like a spicy tray bake of carrots, potatoes, onions, and roasted cod with some cherry tomatoes.

". If there's bits of random veg left I'll make soups, stews, curries, sauces, dips and all sorts."

It's probably a waste of energy and money to make a curry out of a small bunch of veg.

As for carrots, I can quite understand someone not wanting to eat them every day. I went for years without potatoes after getting them so often as a child so too much can really put you off.

On the other hand, many people are very happy to have the same thing for breakfast every day and to rotate a few different sandwiches or salads for lunch.

This is true. I've heard people say things like "Oh we had fish last night, so tonight needs to be different". I had a flatmate who wouldn't eat carrots several nights a week, despite them being a reduced price bag. She let them go to mush in her veg drawer instead.

It's bizarre. Even if it's the same kind of fish, it can be cooked in different ways. Carrots don't just have to be boiled. There are spices and herbs and all sorts of other crazy things that can be added.

Another thing seems to be that people don't know how to/don't want to make things up with odds and ends. They just chuck them out and buy a takeaway. If there's bits of random veg left I'll make soups, stews, curries, sauces, dips and all sorts. All it takes is a bit of imagination and a tiny bit of effort.

My dad would be rolling in his grave if I threw out good veg water, too. Perfect for making gravies or soup stock. None of this stuff is big drastic choices. It's stuff people have been doing for donkeys years.

I live alone, and don't eat a lot of bread, and I don't have any space for any kitchen gadgets. I'm not going to beat myself up for buying supermarket bread, which I can keep in the fridge for a while (I generally only eat toast). The sort of food I buy, which would have many on this thread throwing their hands up in horror, was around when I was a kid (I'm 65) in various forms, my DP's ate it and both lived until their late 80s with little in the way of major health issues. I eat plenty of fresh or frozen vegetables and I'm not going to stress about the occasional oven chips or hash browns, and if I fancy sausages a couple of times a month then I'm going to have them. I even have McDonalds breakfast once a month - so what? It's much easier to cook for several people than for one, and I only have a tiny freezer so batch cooking is limited. I sometimes make a big pot of soup - and I'm bored with it by the time I get to the end, and canned tastes much nicer imo. Moderation in all things is my motto, but some people take things to extreme.

I sometimes think part of the issue is that we have come to believe people need a new kind of food everyday, with no repeats in a two week period.

People get laughed at for saying they have the same kind of meal (meat/fish, potatoes, two veg) every day. But that is what most traditional diets are like - not that combination, but very similar daily food varied somewhat by seasonality.

It's way easier to cook if you know what you need to do every day, and you don't have to make many choices while shopping either.

The other problem we have as a society is how few people actually sit down to meals as a group, or even eat meals at home.

Ithink I'm with the OP on this.

It's not that the concerns about UPFs are wrong, (although I think there can sometimes be some bs around what is actually very minor processing.)

It's more the way the public has taken up the movement. It largely seems to appeal to a lot of the same impulses that the clean eating fad did, and the fads around cutting out all gluten/dairy/meat/whatever.

For whatever reason there seems to be a big huge thing centered around orthorexia now, and this is another version for many people I also think intermittent fasting plays the same role for some.

My feeling is it's almost a kind of manichean purity thinking.

I do think that these foods, and also snacking and eating on the go, are probably the most implicated in the current heath/obesity crises.