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

I think if we can just make small adjustments- move away from chicken nuggets and smilies to bought wraps or pita bread filled with veggies and better chicken- that will help.

Or even pasta with a sauce made of tinned tomatoes with frozen peas is better than fish fingers and such. Frozen veggies are a lifesaver for me.

Doesn't have to be all or nothing. We don't have to make our own pasta.

Yeah but some people hate cooking. Who cba cooking from scratch every day after a full day at work and out of the house from 8-6?

Isnt this why convenience food was invented? Maybe we should look at creating healthier convenience food than piling more pressure on working people.

You’re seriously saying that making slightly different food choices is ‘not a realistic way to live’?! I’d say 90% of the actual world cooks fresh meals without UPF!

This thread is filled with people saying that it’s really very easy to make small changes. It sounds like you’re just making excuses because you don’t want to cut out UPF (which is fine - your choice) but it bothers you that other people are. The excuses you’re making are very weak - I simply defrost anything I need to defrost overnight? It really doesn’t take time. My bread maker isn’t that big at all, nor was it expensive, and like I said, it makes the bread for me. I make my own yoghurt by chucking milk into the small and very affordable machine. It literally makes the yoghurt by itself and I do nothing. It takes about 25 seconds for me to take the milk from the fridge and pour it in. Hardly time consuming or expensive.

It’s absolutely fine if cutting out UPF is not a priority to you, but it’s pretty toxic how you can’t simple have a different opinion to others without being so patronizing and undermining and acting like anyone who makes the effort is simply super privileged (no, sorry, some people just have this as a priority and make the effort without being rich and have endless time on their hands?!) and also brainwashed and stupid. Like I said, I single handedly work full time, raise two kids, study for an MA and still find time to feed us without UPF and it’s just not that difficult! I’d love to say it is SO hard and I’m just really really smart and organized but I’m simply not. It’s just genuinely not that hard!

Or is this just another way to make women hate our bodies, hate ourselves

That’s exactly what it is.

our go to fast meal is pasta Napoli.

It takes less than 10 mins to peel & crush 4 garlic cloves and chop up a couple of onions.
Add this to a pan with 2tbsp olive oil and let it cook for 4-5 mins while you open 2 tins of tomatoes. Add some basil & tomatoes then leave to simmer for 15 mins while you sort pasta and grate some cheese of choice.

For me the question is why is finding every excuse under the sun for not cooking at home so important? I would assume that by now everyone intuitively knows that this stuff is bad for health, it’s enough to look around (or into the mirror) without reading the UPF book.

The very existence of products like Zoe, which charge enormous amounts for coaching people towards simple and cheap foods that have been eaten for centuries by busy people with large families without freezers, air fryers or bread makers is a sign that developed countries with high obesity rates are damaged beyond repair.

Back in January, the majority of what I ate was processed to some degree: ready meals (only cooked from fresh a couple of times a month) with some fresh veg added if you’re lucky, and an awful lot of snack foods, cakes and chocolate.

Since then I have progressively changed towards unprocessed and minimally processed food, and reduced the amount of carbs I’m eating. The processed/unprocessed ratio has probably flipped from 80/20 to 10/90.

And my appetite is transformed, from being constantly hungry to being able to comfortably practise time restricted eating and intermittent fasting. I don’t snack or graze - I just eat meals. With rare exceptions, I eat a maximum of two meals a day. WITHOUT feeling hungry the vast majority of the time, which I always used to, even though I was eating larger quantities and more often. And everything I eat is utterly delicious - but not compulsive, like a lot of UPFs are.

Now, how much of the difference in my appetite is down to eating less UPF’s and how much is down to the carbs, I don’t know. Some people point the finger at processed carbs and seed oils driving unnatural hunger, others emphasise insulin (so it’s all about the carbs).

But I do know that I am a heck of a lot healthier and happier eating like this. I’ve lost over 4 stone and got off all my diabetes medications. I’m not UPF free - life’s too short for that. But life will be (I’m convinced) longer, and much more enjoyable on a low UPF diet.

It’s not really easy for a huge amount of people to pop some ingredients into a bread machine, slice it and freeze it. You need to be home in time to defrost it if you need to use it etc. Bread machines take up a lot of room, they use electricity and are expensive t0 buy (even second hand). Supermarket bread is 75p and will last the week.
It’s not really easy for a huge amount of people to make a packed lunch for themselves and their three children without a fruit yoghurt or a sandwich made with supermarket bread. It’s not realistic for so many people not to have a fishfinger dinner once a week. I’m amazed that so many people think it really is an accessible way to live. A realistic day for many is up at 6 to get the packed lunches ready, get the children ready for school and to leave to walk to school for breakfast clubs. In work by 8am to work until 2.30pm to then go and get the children from school. Walk the children to granny’s house so that mum can then go to her cleaning job which finishes at 6.30pm.
She then walks the children home for dinner which is fishfingers, smiles and peas. Quick, cheap and can all be in the freezer. After dinner it’s reading books and spellings then bed, ready for another day where it all starts again. The weekends Mum fits in another job around the kids clubs (paid for by the third job) and a walk in the park to feed the ducks. They also fit in the supermarket shop, get home admin done and bills paid. That’s the weekend done and dusted.
This is so many people’s reality and I find it so sad that there are many women who
are dismissive of this.
I also find it interesting that the majority of people I talk to who proudly suggest that they don’t eat any UPF do infact consume other substances that have huge research behind them to be terrible for our health ie red meat (even if grass fed and bought from a butcher) alcohol (even £45 a bottle red wine) and will take no physical exercise, which is proven to be hugely beneficial to our health. I’m not suggesting that this is a blanket argument, of course lots of people eating a no upf diet are also alcohol free and exercise, but a lot of people justify the booze by saying “red wine has antioxidants! Etc.
I find this all fascinating because ultimately we need to find a way to combat lifestyle related illnesses and childhood obesity but I can’t see how putting the pressure onto women to make “better food choices” is at all helpful. Many of the posts here put the blame onto women for presuming that they are just not making the time to prioritise health for their family.

Nobody said it was wrong nor impossible. I was merely pointing out that shop bought wraps is a trade off I personally and happily make. I can join the conversation too with this contribution. 😂Less than an hour is still far too much time for me to make some wraps but I do spend longer making other things that I personally will not buy in a shop.

It takes less than an hour to make some wraps. I work full time in a demanding job, have two children and pets. It's really not difficult; the people saying it's impossible have clearly never made these things. It doesn't take away any quality time with my children either - they love getting involved. Just as I did when I was a kid.

If you're happy with what you're eating, as you say; good for you. No one is forcing you to do otherwise, but it doesn't mean the conversation shouldn't be had or that other people are wrong for not wanting that for their kids.

Or you could make wraps and freeze them.

I’m wondering how I’m going to have time to cook nutritious meals that take longer than ten minutes to cook when I return to work, while juggling the shopping, laundry, cleaning, reading, bath time, admin, quality time with my DC and my DH alongside a demanding job I often take home with me. feel like making wraps from scratch is a whole other level.

We have shop bought wholemeal tortilla wraps but loaded with a variety of veg and high quality chicken in fajitas. I will also make my own spice mix. I really don’t think I need to also make the wraps from scratch and I’m fine with that as I also want to model moderation and balance to my DC.

Then don't make bread in a bread maker. Baking a loaf of bread doesn't take that long. Or you could make wraps and freeze them. Or don't do sandwiches at all. There are other options. Why does it need to be a fruit yogurt? Why not some slices of cheese and fruit?

You can freeze fish and cook that in place of fishfingers. Smilies could be swapped foe potatoes. Peas are peas, no swap needed. Still takes the same amount of time, unless you're saying chopping potatoes and remembering to defrost a piece of fish is labour intensive.

As for people consuming things like booze...I agree that's not healthy either. I think most people know drinking in excess is bad for you. Can't comment much on the red meat as we don't eat meat, just fish.

It does take money though.

For example;

A) a bag of 38 chicken nuggets (600g) can be had for £3 and will last around 9 meals on the presumption of 3-4 nuggets at a time. Oven chips are £1.40 for a 900g bag, again approx 9 meals based on a 100g serving. Frozen peas are £1.20 for a 900g bag, assuming 90g a serving that's also around 9 meals. One meal of nuggets, chips and peas would cost around 62p.

B) a 600g pack of chicken breasts is £4.25, 900g of potatoes is roughly 80p, a bag of plain breadcrumbs with no added "UPF" ingredients is £1.50, and again peas are £1.20 for a 900g bag. Dividing it into nine meals is 88p a serving and that's not taking into account things like the cost of the egg to dip the chicken in before breadcrumbing it or the additional cooking time (as well as the additional preparation time).

If you are on a very limited food budget (and likely pushed for both time and fuel costs too) and you know 100% that your child will eat A, that it fits into your time, and that you can pick it up at your local shop then you're far more likely to buy and cook A.

Being choosy about what you eat based on a set of arbitrary "good" vs "bad" attributes is a privilege that is generally more easily accessible to those in more affluent circumstances or higher socio-economic groups who have access to the required foods, the means to pay for them and the knowledge/education required to know how to cook them (or to look up such information).

It’s not really easy for a huge amount of people to pop some ingredients into a bread machine, slice it and freeze it. You need to be home in time to defrost it if you need to use it etc. Bread machines take up a lot of room, they use electricity and are expensive t0 buy (even second hand). Supermarket bread is 75p and will last the week.
It’s not really easy for a huge amount of people to make a packed lunch for themselves and their three children without a fruit yoghurt or a sandwich made with supermarket bread. It’s not realistic for so many people not to have a fishfinger dinner once a week. I’m amazed that so many people think it really is an accessible way to live. A realistic day for many is up at 6 to get the packed lunches ready, get the children ready for school and to leave to walk to school for breakfast clubs. In work by 8am to work until 2.30pm to then go and get the children from school. Walk the children to granny’s house so that mum can then go to her cleaning job which finishes at 6.30pm.
She then walks the children home for dinner which is fishfingers, smiles and peas. Quick, cheap and can all be in the freezer. After dinner it’s reading books and spellings then bed, ready for another day where it all starts again. The weekends Mum fits in another job around the kids clubs (paid for by the third job) and a walk in the park to feed the ducks. They also fit in the supermarket shop, get home admin done and bills paid. That’s the weekend done and dusted.
This is so many people’s reality and I find it so sad that there are many women who
are dismissive of this.
I also find it interesting that the majority of people I talk to who proudly suggest that they don’t eat any UPF do infact consume other substances that have huge research behind them to be terrible for our health ie red meat (even if grass fed and bought from a butcher) alcohol (even £45 a bottle red wine) and will take no physical exercise, which is proven to be hugely beneficial to our health. I’m not suggesting that this is a blanket argument, of course lots of people eating a no upf diet are also alcohol free and exercise, but a lot of people justify the booze by saying “red wine has antioxidants! Etc.
I find this all fascinating because ultimately we need to find a way to combat lifestyle related illnesses and childhood obesity but I can’t see how putting the pressure onto women to make “better food choices” is at all helpful. Many of the posts here put the blame onto women for presuming that they are just not making the time to prioritise health for their family.