Low UPF diet - to think the experts weren’t lying?

I think the key part of this is the ULTRA part of UPF. Pasta, cheese etc is processed but not ULTRA processed. Look at the ingredients in the bread you are buying and see if it contains preservatives. Calcium, iron, thiamine (Vitamin B1) and niacin (Vitamin B3) are added to white UK flour for nutritional reasons and are fine to eat.

I think you’re setting out to undermine people’s confidence in foods that don’t contain UPFs.

Do you work for a multinational food producer, by any chance?

Having done Home Economics A level in the early 70s none of this is new to me it just has a different name. Of course, there was a boom in factory made ready meals in the 80s and 90s and a corresponding drop in cookery being taught in schools but I have always preferred to cook my own.

I’m a bit confused about the supermarket bread thing that has been mentioned here, and would appreciate advice! I usually buy mine from the supermarket ‘bakery’ section ie the bit where they bake it in store (rather than the longlife packaged bread on the shelves). Is this still counted as UPF, and are there any particular dodgy ingredients / additives that I should be avoiding in bread?

'What the big food companies have been allowed to get away with for so long is scandalous in my opinion - so much rubbish and so little real nutrition. They should be more heavily taxed so that healthier food is more affordable! '

To be fair, food is cheap in the UK, if only people would buy basic seasonal foods and not processed rubbish.

I spend £55 a week to feed two adults. Every week my shop includes chicken, pork, some kind of fish, beef mince, eggs, at least three different fruit and 10 different veg. Sometimes lamb or duck.

I buy a 16kg sack of wholemeal flour from the local mill and make bread early on the weekend. A sack lasts 6 months, bread is really easy, works out cheaper and tastes infinitely better.

Where does pasta fit into this? It's just wheat, but it's been very processed to get to its form. Is it upf?

The issue is they are a) cheap and b) addictive.

I don't think people realise the lab work that goes on to hit the 'sweet spot' with all UPFs to make us want more.

UPFs are the 'new tobacco' isn't far from the truth.

I eat healthier now. I still have the odd bag of crisps and chocolate and eat UPF bread but only a couple of times a week (tried making my own and not particularly successful), but most meals are whole foods now.

Do I feel better for it? Actually I don't feel amazingly healthy or full of vitality, but I'd feel really awful eating lots of UPF. For me it's just a case of feeling less shit. 😂

I had the same giving up smoking years ago. I expected to feel great, but it never came, but I'd have probably felt in really bad health by now if I was still smoking.

The study that really made me take notice was this one:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413119302487

Highlights
• 20 inpatient adults received ultra-processed and unprocessed diets for 14 days each
• Diets were matched for presented calories, sugar, fat, fiber, and macronutrients
• Ad libitum intake was ∼500 kcal/day more on the ultra-processed versus unprocessed diet
• Body weight changes were highly correlated with diet differences in energy intake

Whatever the reason it is clear that eating UPFs causes us to eat more calories and gain weight.

I am not strict on it, I just try to keep my UPFs to less than 10-20% of what I eat but I think it is a good thing that people are realising this as factory food producers are likely to think carefully about reducing the processing of their food so as a population we might start getting healthier again.

Feels obvious and like we've known for a long time that natural and lightly processed foods are better for you? Are UPFs being crap for you really a revelation?

I don't think the nation will suffer if they eat too many avocados.

It's quite hard to eat 'too much good fat' if it's on its own.

I eat avocados almost daily, (half a one) and about a tablespoon of olive oil on salads or in cooking.

The 'fat' is when it's hidden as in fatty sausage, pizza, burgers, cheap mince used in ready meals etc., cakes and biscuits.

Fat is the least of the issues and it's wrong to demonise it.
The main issue is many people aren't eating enough fruit, veg and getting enough fibre.

Has anyone heard of the Cambridge or 1:1 diet? Shakes, porridge, pasta, rice etc all in a packet. I tried it for one week out of sheer desperation as I’d put on 3 stone in the pandemic and felt quite ill. I can imagine that’s UPF city?

It wasn’t ever going to be a long term game plan but I thought I could do it for a month or so to lose 7-14 pounds. I couldn’t even manage a full week. It just didn’t taste right to me, and didn’t sit well in my stomach - even their “smoothies”.

I gave up chocolate about 5 months ago - something I thought I’d never be able to do. I used to eat it daily for years. What really helped me was increasing protein at every meal but especially early in the day. I have overnight oats and a poached egg for breakfast. It seems to reduce my cravings for snacks later in the day for sweet energy boosting stuff. I noticed that my mood has improved too (from fewer glucose spikes?)

UPF is also specifically designed to make you want to eat more (so you buy more)- it’s ultra-palatable in a way real food isn’t. Studies have been done where people are offered either UPF or non UPF, same macros, and they eat more of the UPF.

Of course it’s obvious that if you eat less, you can lose weight and if you eat more you can gain- no magic about that- but eating foods that have been deliberately designed to keep you eating (and are even advertised as such!) makes eating less a lot harder.

We as a population. That’s basically what I said so not sure what your post is about! Everything in moderation, too much fat is basically unnecessary, even good fats in large quantities.

Who is 'we'?

The worst fats are the ones hidden in cakes and biscuits and crisps etc. Usually vegetable margarines made from palm oil.

Getting good fats as the PP said is not bad for your health as the other things that go with those foods are good for health (eg Omega 3, fibre, polyphenols.)

Just to say that although you don’t think you’re “restricting”, you absolutely are, it’s just the parameters by which you are doing it may have changed…

That's not entirely true @Gattopardo The issue with UPFs is the ingredients which are often produced in a 'lab' and not the same as real food.
Many UPFs contain artificial sugar (often described as maltodextrose/ dextrin), then there's all the emulsifiers (cheap thickeners and to prolong shelf life) and some E numbers/preservatives.

The issue is that they can destroy the balance of good bacteria in the gut which in time can lead to health problems.

The inclusion of sugar ( especially artificial sweeteners) can put the body into metabolic syndrome (diabetes and pre diabetes.)

so do people just make puddings ? Are there good recipies for things like ceral bars that you can take on long walks ? My oat busicuits are more like crumble !

I mentioned an oat cookie freezer recipe on the bbc website in my post upthread.

I’d just check YouTube or just google something like “ 4 ingredient oat/cereal bars”, if the recipe includes sugar I tend to reduce it significantly or even replace it with something like raisins or dark chocolate chips or a drizzle of honey.

I have a sweet tooth too though and even cut down on home baking, yesterday for example I fancied something sweet but had had cake the day before, so I blended frozen strawberry and banana for a lovely smoothie and it hit the spot.

I do feel the more I cut down on cake/cookie consumption , and bake my own stuff when I do I am craving it less. Overall I try to stick to more meals and less snacks.

we do eat too much fat though and since I cut lots out the weight has gone. My friend who is on a very low fat diet just lost 5 stone and that’s all she has really changed in her diet. Good fats are important but everything in moderation.

I eat avocados, nuts and oily fish in great quantities, as well as full-fat dairy, red meat, copious amounts of olive oil. Regular homemade cake too :) But I’ve never really eaten UFPs.

I’m mid-40s, perimenopausal and a size 6. I put on 3 stone with each baby (three big babies!) and lost it all without difficulty.

Fat doesn’t make you fat. Fake food does.

One of the effects of weight loss injections (for me) is an abhorrence of UPFs. Crisps are cardboard
Soaked in acid: vegan chocolate tastes like claggy dry earth

Hmmm............I can see that whatever anyone says won't go down well!

You can get your calories by eating more of the main meal- the savoury things. To say you need more calories because you're slim, and they need to be from puddings, doesn't really stack up.

Just eat more protein and veg! Boiled potatoes are healthier than loads of refined sugar. Sugar is sugar whether it's in cakes made at home or bought. Making your own will avoid all the crap like emulsifiers and E numbers.

Don't please generalise about 'dark choc and Mumsnet'.
It is my preference and nothing to do with Mumsnet.
It's also an acquired taste. After a while you'd find the milk sort too sweet.

If we have a pudding, it's usually a homemade crumble but I use oats, mixed seeds, nuts (ground up in the food processor) some cinnamon, and real butter, with a tiny bit of sugar.

I think for some though - C & M is just too expensive. I’ve had a look and there’s less in a pack and more money than standard supermarket.

I think it’s about a balance. I’d love to eat non UPF but just couldn’t afford to with a family to feed as well. I try to make some changes and much more aware.

it’s great if you can though and well done for the weight loss OP!!

What a sensible first post. Thank you for that. You are eating less fat and sugar op, it would be exactly the same if you were baking your own cakes eating loads and then stopped eating your own cakes and ate something less calorific.