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

I agree with you OP. I was quite poorly a while ago and changed my diet to mainly cooked from scratch meals. It has made a huge difference. Big disadvantage for me is the time it takes but I have persevered. I wasn't a great cook either but have got better. I find it cheaper too, mainly because I add enough veg or pulses to make things go further. I do eat chocolate but in moderation.

I also think smoking kept people thinner in the past!

It's basically good nutrition and biology, and eating junk with no nutritional value won't fuel your body properly.

My DM has always cooked nutritious and good food from scratch, with the odd treat. She's been as healthy as an ox, living well and she's probably going to get to 85 the way that she treats her body.

And I know that she probably has been doing for my benefit too, to ensure I got the best start being a prem baby.

And I know that she literally always was telling me about the awful toxic crap in things like artificial sweeteners, diet drinks etc. Now that I'm oversensitive to all that stuff more since being harmed by an off label antipsychotic (that gave me a permanent neurological involuntary movement disorder called tardive dyskinesia), i realised that I should have listened to her ever-growing wise knowledge years ago. My body definitely agrees with me more when I feed it "proper" real food.

I do love crisps.

Bread is easy. Rolls/buns in a bread maker, for example, are simple, or just follow the recipe on the side of the bread packet.

Sourdough discard is also great for baking if the actual sourdough fails. Try heartbeat kitchen or vindi's kitchen for recipes.

I did state that the correlation is between obesity and introduction of UPFs, in fairness.

I do remember seeing 'portly' people in the 70's but again, it wasn't common.

The data doesn't lie - we starting getting bigger, at alarming rates, as soon as the UPFs arrived.

The biggest change for me (outside of weight loss) has been less migraines, better sleep and a reduction in symptoms related to my auto immune disease.

I'm also not sensitive to gluten any more (likely related to the increased control of my AID, as when this is really out of whack my sensitivities worsen).

I can't believe how disgusting white bread is now - I bit a McDonalds burger last week and it felt like foam in my mouth and went all gummy when chewed. Vile! Also how sweet Diet pop is. It's truly disgusting.

I don't miss most of the things at all but do admit to a bit of chocolate each night (sometimes UPF free) and the occasional utterly disgusting cupa soup, because Oh the powdery goodness 😂

I agree that you still have to have a life and eat out etc, but the small changes do make a difference.

My Grandparents grew up eating lard and butter and bread etc, most women didn't work, exercise outside of cleaning was rare, but so were fat people.

People may not have been morbidly obese but there were definitely fat people. I think a lot of it is sedentary jobs & cars.

Sorry to hijack but im a Dietician specialising in UPF and weight loss through this method

Have you tried the coconut milk type ones? I am a CHOCOHOLIC and these hit the spot:

www.naturalcollection.com/shop/ombar-raw-chocolate-coconut-bio-live-chocolate---35g-by-ombar-raw-chocolate/?utm_source=AFW&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=AFW&sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=1131807&awc=3650_1746564998_e916db544574cd6ee94fc77566260185

Some good snack options we buy:

• Crosta and mollica snacks such as breadsticks / tarralini etc
• we got a ‘dehydrator’ from Amazon and make our own fruit and vegetable crisps!
• cut up non UPF wraps and homemade natural yoghurt dip

reminder to all to avoid anything at all with added ‘flavour’

EG if you buy yoghurt get plain, Greek yoghurts etc nothing flavoured

My only real downfall is chocolate. I am absolutely addicted to sugary milk chocolate, just standard galaxy etc. dark doesn’t hit the spot!

The thing I can't get past is the data from literally all over the World that shows the introduction of UPFs to the market and a sudden rise in obesity. The correlations are truly frightening.

My Grandparents grew up eating lard and butter and bread etc, most women didn't work, exercise outside of cleaning was rare, but so were fat people.

I just don't buy that it's a coincidence that a high percentage of any population just decided to get lazier and over eat all at once.

Plus these companies don't hide the fact that they spend millions every year developing recipes that ping the addictive parts of our brains so that we crave their products and become return customers.

More like common sense than Emperor's new clothes, for me.

Cereal you can have Bear (sometimes in the kids / toddler section) cereals

they do a honey flavour and a ‘chocolate’ flavour

6 ingredients

remember to try and buy full fat milk (even better if in cardboard packaging or glass)

you want to avoid plastic packaging as much as possible x

I find M&S soooo upf heavy unfortunately! I’ve never bought their sourdough though is it nice ?

Waitrose own brand, Celtic baker, seven Seeded, Jason’s

wraps etc: only none UPF is Crosta and Mollica

you want to find things that have no rapeseed oil or any E numbers or gums etc

This exactly

I’m very glad you have done well on it though OP

I make and freeze wraps which are really easy and nice, and also pizza bases and flatbreads. Not very good at making bread but can manage those.

I read it and was unimpressed to be honest. The basic premise is as old as the hills and the actual
science on UPFs (ie what specifically it is about UPFs that causes ill health) is very weak indeed. People have been concerned about additives for at least 50 years.

Any tips for bread products?

I agree, I’m really committed to eating low UP food. The biggest hurdle is getting my kids fed, they look for snacks so much, so trying to bake stuff and look for crisps with the lowest number of ingredients. But the snack bars are full of crap! I figure home made cake is much better!

Cereal is the other big problem - trying to make homade breakfast muffins.

Completely agree OP, I read Ultraprocessed People by Chris Van Tulleken and I completely changed the way I view food and how I eat.

I feel so much better and had previously suffered from an auto-immune condition that I now don’t need medication for. I have so much energy it’s ridiculous and no more energy dips. It’s changed my life.

Yes, it's criminal. It's no different from the tobacco companies pre-anti-tobacco legislation. This idea has been out there for a while, and there is a substantive body of experts calling for meaningful reform. However, when you're up against the giants of food production - and they're titans - no small-person lobbying can hold a candle to these hundred billion (not an exaggeration) dollar organizations.

All you can do is educate yourself, and lobby for change when it comes to schools and those below the poverty line. Good food is expensive. Terrible, poor quality food, is cheap. Ergo, the poorest suffer the most. Same as it ever was.