Are these items UPF?

[TickyandTacky]

Ready brek
Weetabix
Philidelphia
Cornflakes
Mayonnaise
Marmite
Baked beans

Thanks.

Yes. But that doesn't mean they're not okay, or even good, in moderation. Especially things like marmite, and beans, and and fortified grains.

Ready Brek: no, though probably more processed than basic steel cut porridge oats like Flahavans
Weetabix: technically yes, but one of the healthiest UP options out there
Philadelphia: actual branded Philly yes, many supermarket own brand versions (Sainsburys, Waitrose etc) no
Cornflakes: yes, though similar to Weetabix
Mayonnaise; depends on the brand. Some are, some aren't (e.g. Sainsburys Organic).
Marmite: yes, though a bit like the cereals you mentioned it does have some other potential health benefits
Baked beans: like mayonnaise, it depends entirely on the brand. Heinz yes, some e.g. Mr Organic, no.

All of them, I think.

I certainly have the bottom three from time to time.

I think it depends upon what you consider UPF, and what you consider simply preparing food so that you can eat it.

Yeah. Fine though! Black & white thinking/categorisation is often not helpful when it comes to diet.

Depends. Some of them you just have to read the labels. Not all baked beans are equal for example. But take a few seconds to read labels and you’ll start to get quite quick at recognising UPFs.

I would recommend familiarising yourself with the Nova food scale and using that to evaluate ingredients on labels yourself. The Open Food Facts app is also useful.

Thank you.

I'm currently obese and losing weight with Mounjaro but want to overhaul my diet of course. Many foods are easy but these fell in my 'not sure' category. Everything in moderation of course, I'm not going mad, just want to make more sensible choices most of the time.

But food prepared to eat, and UPF have completely different definitions.

OP, like PPs have said it can depend. Mayonnaise you can make yourself, and you buy definitely buy non-UPF brands, but also it can be UPF.

Me too OP! Good luck with it. I’m 10 weeks in and only 10lb down but ‘slow and steady and forever’ is my hope!

No. Some foods, like baked beans, are just processed rather than ‘ultra processed’. I’d say that most of that list was processed rather than UPF. Processed foods will have added ingredients but they’re usually in their natural state (like salt and sugar), whereas UPFs have lots of chemical additives.

The Philadelphia is likely UPF especially if it’s the low fat one. Check for citric acid, xantham or guar gum.

Amazing keep going!

I'm 10 months and nearly 6 stone down now, but it's getting harder so the diet keeps needing to be tweaked. Around 2/3 stone to go.

Most bakes beans are definitely UPF, they contain things like modified starch to thicken them. (I.e. heinz is modified cornflour).

However as pp have pointed out, not all UPF is equal, baked beans clearly aren't equivalent to eating chocolate on the health front.

Other one to watch out for is that lower fat versions of things are often worse- i.e. low calorie mayo will include more upf ingredients to replace the fats which give texture in the higher cal version. For things like mayo it'll vary so much you probably need to check each one for ingredients.

That’s inspiring! Well done!!

There's much truth in the saying "if it contains an ingredient that your gran or mum wouldn't have recognised it's UPF". You need to be careful with some things like citric acid, I use it in the form of freshly squeezed lemon juice, commercially it's made from a mould, very similar to the black one that lives on your bathroom window frames. I was concerned by one product that contained "acidity regulator - sodium hydroxide", presumably to counter the effects of the citric acid, I do have sodium hydroxide at home, labelled with it's more usual domestic name -Caustic Soda", I use it to clean the drains!

Sainsbury’s organic baked beans aren’t

but I think Heinz has added iron ? Which can be useful for some children

Beans and Weetabix are processed but not ultra processed. The rest on your list are UP

Ready brek, Weetabix and cornflakes: probably low end of UPF but I’d avoid because they are carbs and I prefer protein rich breakfasts/brunch

Philadelphia: UPF but okay in moderation

Mayonnaise: full-fat less UPF than low-fat; I wouldn’t worry about the odd teaspoon but would generally use lemon juice and EVOO instead.

Marmite: definitely UPF….. but how much can one person possibly (want to) eat…!!

Baked beans: check the label, but I’d not worry about a bit of BBs on toast once or twice a month.

Personally I’d say around 90% of the food I eat is freshly made and that’s good enough for me.

Branded Weetabix contains malted barley extract and most beans contain modified starches.

They are the healthy end of UPF, but still UPF.

They’re all processed foods but not all processed foods are ultra-processed, some foods are always going to be UPF but often it depends on the brand. UPF foods are typically those which contain ingredients you don’t recognise and wouldn’t use if you were cooking from scratch at home, things like stabilisers, starches, lecithins, artificial sweeteners, acidity regulators, bulking agents, E-numbers etc and the ingredients will usually be a long list. Non UPF processed foods will have far fewer ingredients and they’ll be things you would cook with at home like sugar and salt.

Homemade mayo would def not be UPF - it’s eggs and oil from memory

baked beans - homemade beans in tomato sauce would not be UPF ( need to cook the sauce a long time to get the baked bean taste)

marmite isn’t because I love it