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

The podcast I linked to earlier in the thread had an interesting discussion around a scale (NOVA) that is being adopted to classify foods and help people understand what is UPF. This is an excerpt using an apple as an example:

“Class 1 on the NOVA system would be an apple.

Class 2 on the NOVA system would be apple slices. Class 3 on the NOVA system would be apple sauce, unsweetened. Class 4 on the NOVA system would be an apple pie.

There you go. It turns out that only the class 4 foods are associated with chronic disease.

So we can have minimally processed foods that are done to make our life easier a little bit, or but it's when it goes to that extreme where it's actually bears no resemblance to actually what actually came out of the ground in the first place.

That's right. And so what is different about that apple pie versus the apple? And the answer is the addition of sugar and the removal of fiber”

It worries me that you think the experts were lying. About basic nutrition 😲In general experts don't lie, they have checks and balances that prevent them from doing that. There's been a brilliant shift in rhetoric to cast doubt on experts, from people whose interests are served by the population being credulous about everything except what's told to us by experts. That's how we're politically in the state we're in.

Anyway YANBU of course food is better than semi-food or non-food.

OP you are not wrong. I'm another person who lost 3 stone in my late fifties by looking after my gut biome (which involves getting rid of UPFs amongst other things). It's stayed off (65 now), quite easily, even on holiday. I have the weight and measurements I had when I was a teenager/in my twenties - much sadder boobs though, hey ho. I do exercise as well but that can only do so much. I really swear by looking after your gut biome.

You could make a sponge pudding and have it with cream? If you make a large one, it will be ok for a few days worth.

I do occasionally have gluten free pasta though if I fancy it. Especially as it can be bought in shops for pretty cheap rather than having to get a prescription when I was diagnosed 19 years ago!

When I cut back on UPFs in favour of healthier options I also pretty much gave up on bread and cut way back on starchy carbs. That has made life much easier. A big plate of proteins and veg seems filling enough.

I might have the occasional small serving of rice or pasta if I'm out and I enjoy a roast potato with a Sunday lunch but OTW I don't miss them or seem to need them.

That being said, on holiday last month I twice had a slice of granary toast with butter and peanut butter with my breakfast and it was delicious.

You're more likely to have an unhealthy, incapacitated old age if you don't eat properly though. The conversation nowadays seems to be about how many healthy years you will live, rather than years per se.

I have coeliac too so cooking at home and not relying on convenience food has always been the way I’ve eaten.

Obviously it has its downsides - much less convenience food so cooking takes longer (PITA when doing lunch/dinner prep after a long day at work!), ingredients are more expensive so my shopping bill has gone up but all in all it’s a decision I don’t regret. may I ask what you were eating before as opposed to now? I have coeliac disease so I've never really eaten bread and things like that. My meals have always been (whilst basic) vegetables, carbs such as rice/potatoes/rice noodles, sometimes meat but very occasionally. I eat pretty cheaply and not everything takes ages to make. I don't buy cereals as they're expensive so my kids will have a really easy breakfast of mini frittatas (so quick to make and can be refrigerated for later in the week), or fruit, yoghurt and nuts/seeds etc. I make stir fry which is super quick, things like that. Homemade soups feature a lot (thanks to my nana who gave me a soup maker!) Am I eating a UPF diet like this or does it sound OK?

Rapeseed oil is not UPF.

There are people who claim that refined seed oils are inflammatory, but on the basic UPF scale, rapeseed oil does not score a 4. It's a separate concern. It's a common claim, but I looked into it. The seed oil issue is big news in the US as our esteemed health secretary is a crackpot.

How long did it take to not feel sluggish? Weeks or months?

I do understand Tiny tear really I do . I was craving treats at the weekend so much I gave in in the end . I just try and swap some foods when I can and do my best . Life is hard and food is a comfort in whatever form.

Which is a lot when you don't have many to play with as it is.

Tues-Fri I have 2 coffees, one at home and one at work. I've just weighed out 3 teaspoons of sugar which is what I would have at home because it's a big mug and it's 20g. Add on 15 to account for 15g at work and that's 35g which Google claims is 135 calories.

I get 1700 on non long run days because I'm trying to lose weight. That gives me enough calories for my coffee with sweetener, breakfast, one banana snack, lunch and then dinner.

Yes I could eat more food if I never touched pasta and just ate vegetables and lean meat, no cheese or anything but I would just end up binging constantly.

I've tried to cut down the amount of sugar I have in my coffee but I can't, I might as well just not drink it and then we are back to limiting myself too much.

Honestly I admire the people who do it. And i am really not trying to be negative.

I am just saying it's not for me. I am getting more and more disheartened at losing weight and having no pleasure . I did lose 20kg in 10 months a few years ago, and I know what i need to do. but it was miserable.

the weight came back in bloody freaking lockdown and i never got my mojo back. then with the aforementioned parent issues and being the sandwich generation and feeling like i can't split myself more, cooking meals from scratch that i can't batch cook as i only have a small under counter freezer that kids won't eat (SEN means I can't just 'make them eat') - is the last thing on my mind...

Good luck everyone

Try Crosta and mollica - both white and wholemeal and they are delish

of course medics like Dr Chatterjee have been banging on about clean healthy eating for years but I hope mainstream medicine will catch up and take the more holistic view to disease .

Loved it too. Knew a lot of the info but it really brought the message home in a way that it hadn’t before. Especially the marketing tactics like Nestle changing the eating habits of previously healthy isolated communities and increasing obesity and health issues. Awful.

I was speaking to a dietician at our large teaching hospital the other day and she said we are living in exciting times . There is a lot of breakthrough science about illness and the gut connection. I was seeking advice about trying to put on weight healthily as I had lost it while at the same time trying to improve my inflammatory arthritis.

They will be fried in rapeseed oil, so yes it’s UPF.

Also the bread (Sainsburys etc) mentioned up thread had rapeseed or sunflower oil in it, so regardless of other ingredients it is UPF. Crosta changed their recipe and I believe their wraps now also contain seed oils, so UPF

4 teaspoons of sugar do not contain loads of calories. They probably contain about 70-80 calories. 😂

But that is the point why a lot of us are doing it . Not to live to 90 but the time we are alive to try and stave off diseases which significantly alter the quality of your life like Alzheimer’s and dementia. You may get to ‘ look after your self ‘ for longer.

Couldn’t you gradually cut it down to one spoon and then half?

@Pickingmyselfup

I don’t add sugar to my coffee or tea apart from what may already be in the store bought oat milk but four teaspoons is about 80 calories a day which isn’t necessarily that high.

But 4 teaspoons is also about 16-20g of sugar and the recommended maximum daily sugar intake for “free sugars” is 30g.

So I guess it’s not too bad if you’re having no other free sugars outside of the sugar you add to hot drinks, so no Cakes, pastries, jams , chocolate bars and fruit juice etc

I would cut down, my friend used to take tea with 3 teaspoons of sugar now she just has one which is an improvement.

I only have two cups a day but 4 teaspoons of sugar adds up to quite a lot of calories!

For those saying it’s obvious UPFs are bad I don’t think that fact was super clear to everyone believe it or not.

I’m an older millennial and I feel some of it was due to the culture of the 90s, people were so obsessed with staying skinny that it didn’t matter (to some people) if you achieved it via UPF type foods marketed as healthy in supermarkets or even worse - meal replacements shakes etc (which I even succumbed to a few years ago)

Even now some find it hard to believe that me at 10 stone, might well be healthier lthan someone my height who is say 9 stone depending on our diet and other habits.

Eg. I don’t smoke or drink at all and I’m eating less and less UPFs but I am still a few pounds overweight (lost 3 stone earlier).

I know someone who is vegetarian, very slim and also very unhealthy. Smokes, takes drugs, lives on toast, sweets and crisps.

Now that I’ve lost most of the excess weight I’m increasingly focused on what I eat and how much of it rather than being fixated on if I have lost another couple of pounds yet.