Ultra Processed Food- how much do you eat?

[pigeonpies]

Reading an article about ultra processed foods (UPF) and the link to poor health. Not rocket science I suppose, we all know the risks. But today is for me thinking because a lot of food typically targeted at kids ( sugary cereals ex)

I want to change the way my family eat. AIBU to think this will be more difficult than I imagine?

I thought we were doing ok but then saw how much stuff in my kitchen is ultra professed!

In theory cooking from natural foods feels great but not always practical!

If you are already followed a low UPF way of living I'd like to hear the sort of things you eat!

Thanks

I do cook from scratch nearly every day

But the processed foods in the house are All for the kids!
Cereal
Bread
Crisps
Mini rolls
Brioche/ pain aux chocolate
Wraps
Yogurts

I eat tinned veg and ready to eat meals right now due to no kitchen, so I’d say over 90% of my calories come from ultra processed food. Getting an instant pot soon so hopefully should be able to eat a lot better.

This is an interesting thread. I didn't realise that baked beans and tinned soups were classed as UPFs. The ingredients listed on the tins don't seem too scary. Does the processed element come from somewhere else, in their preparation for instance?

Exactly why are baked beans on the UPF list --what if it's the reduced salt&sugar ones? British or American ? They differ!

My skin is better when I eat my diet foods - porridge with water, homemade veg soup and boiled eggs. But we are lucky enough to live in a world of plastic cheese which I cannot get enough of

Even when I cook 'from scratch' I use a jar of sauce or a Mexican kit, I'm not a huge fan of cooking. I need to get some more Gousto boxes for some more ideas.

Heinz baked beans ingredients (other baked beans are available): Beans (51%), Tomatoes (34%), Water, Sugar, Spirit Vinegar, Modified Corn Flour, Salt, Spice Extracts, Herb Extract.

I don't know what a spice or herb extract is, but apart from that there's nothing really spooky in there, is there?

[quote pigeonpies]@Getyourarseofffthequattro

No I don't have loads of time or money but I do want to have a long healthy life! Not to say you won't of course, I hope you do.

But the links to poor health are a result of eating a diet high in these foods for long periods of time. I am thinking ahead to my own longevity and that of my children.

I am wondering what sacrifices I can make now that I'll be thankful for in the future. Nothing hilarious about that.

Many people pay in to a pension to secure their financial future. I want to do the best I can to secure a healthy future [/quote]
It's not hilarious you want to do it. It's hilarious how far removed from many people's reality this is.

I’m a little confused about bread as surely all bread is processed? I tell myself my Gails seeded sourdough is better than white rubber sliced bread.

@HoldontoOneMoreDay

Heinz baked beans ingredients (other baked beans are available): Beans (51%), Tomatoes (34%), Water, Sugar, Spirit Vinegar, Modified Corn Flour, Salt, Spice Extracts, Herb Extract.

I don't know what a spice or herb extract is, but apart from that there's nothing really spooky in there, is there?

Beans are full of lectins which inflame your gut and prevent you absorbing the goodness in other food eaten at the same time.

Beans cooked at home = not UPF.
Cooked Beans in a can with sauce = UPF.

Why? Lectins don't come into the reason why.

@Ibizafun

I’m a little confused about bread as surely all bread is processed? I tell myself my Gails seeded sourdough is better than white rubber sliced bread.

If you read the article it is also about different 'levels' of processed food and how different bread falls in to different levels - Blackpool milk roll is UP, but so is the Warburton's, hovis style stuff as well. Bread from your local artisan bakery is just low processed.

I eat very little processed food. I cook from scratch. Breakfast is porridge oats with fresh berries and milk, no sugar or salt. Lunch is home made veg soup of various kinds, with poached salmon, or home made hummus, eggs or cheese. I have one slice of wholemeal bread with it, from a traditional artisan baker. Dinners are home made curries with whole grain rice, or fish stews/paellas, lean meat stewed or grilled with new potatoes and various fresh green veg. My one besetting sin is a box of Belgian chocs a week, but even they contain hazelnuts!
It’s different if I have visitors- I do make scones, cakes, etc for them.
When the DC were young and I was working full time, I would sometimes get a pie, pizza or sausages as a treat, but only a couple of times a month. And we lived too far away for takeaways, in a wee village.

@lljkk

Beans cooked at home = not UPF. Cooked Beans in a can with sauce = UPF.

Why? Lectins don't come into the reason why.

Beans are just naturally bad for you.

lljkk

Modified cornflour and the canning process. So you've got cornflour which is a low processed food, then you process it further, then you add it to other ingredients which are then heat and pressure treated and canned. Combine that with high levels of sugar (for a savory food) and salt, it's UPF.

Beans are just naturally bad for you.

I'm allergic to beans, but that doesn't make them UPF. Dried beans used in cooking are not a UPF its making them baked beans that makes them a UPF

example above, beans + tomatoes = 85% of the contents of the can.

Is the sugar+salt+modified corn flour (14%?) enough to ruin the 85%?

Even if it's a low salt-low sugar version without artificial sweetener?

Baked beans either contain sugar or sweeteners (neither recommended) and sometimes excess salt. Also ingredients often include things like modified maize starch.

Nothing wrong with beans in themselves, just the processing adds ingredients you wouldn't want.

@Allthereindeersaregirls

Beans are just naturally bad for you.

I'm allergic to beans, but that doesn't make them UPF. Dried beans used in cooking are not a UPF its making them baked beans that makes them a UPF

I am saying beans, like a lot of plants, naturally contain chemicals that are mildly toxic.

@HoldontoOneMoreDay

Heinz baked beans ingredients (other baked beans are available): Beans (51%), Tomatoes (34%), Water, Sugar, Spirit Vinegar, Modified Corn Flour, Salt, Spice Extracts, Herb Extract.

I don't know what a spice or herb extract is, but apart from that there's nothing really spooky in there, is there?

Spice and herb extracts are made from soaking spices and herbs in alcohol, vinegar / lemon juice, or oil until the flavours impart into the liquid. I wouldn’t call them ultra processed - it’s a really normal way to preserve spices in Asia.

In tinned food it seems the ultra processed nature comes from the temperature the food is heated to. Apparently it destroys the vitamin content of the food inside. Makes sense -baked beans and other tinned are really only good for the fibre content.

The lower salt is fine, but lower sugar versions always contain artificial sweeteners.

I avoid processed food as am gluten free - dieting and have a few more minor allergies
Breakfast is usually porridge, fruit, yoghurt or natural only ingredients fruit bar/flapjack/granola sometimes home made
Lunch is soup, salad, jacket potato
Evening meals are meat/fish/poultry etc with veg, salad or fruits sometimes with rice or pea/lentil pasta
Mostly quick cook and can be livened up with herbs,spices and sauces
Tonight we had sea bass fillets with a stir fry side
Last night was portobello mushrooms stuffed with chicken fajita filling

One of the worst things about processed food not yet mentioned is all the cheap seed oils, which are so bad for us (sunflower etc). Also that cheap meat & dairy comes from animals fed on an unnatural diet. All result in too much omega 6.

Grass fed meat and dairy (with the fat!) and good quality ev olive oil / coconut oil are the way forward but are so so pricey, and will never be present in most processed foods.

The presence or otherwise of lectins doesn't make a food UP or not though. I can see that amount of sugar may be an issue, but sugar doesn't make a food UP either. And know a pp has explained the spice extract, that doesn't sound UP either. So it must be the canning process. But that would mean all sorts of food is UP by nature of it being canned. Also food canning and preserving is a fricking miracle and one of the reasons we're all alive and nourished! So I'm no further forward...

This stuff really does make my head spin.

If canning beans turns them from good food into bad food does that mean that it's bad to cook lentils in the pressure cooker?

I was taught long long ago that the “white” lining inside modern cans is a potential future health hazard. However it reduces the risk of botulism.
I eat very little processed food but my dry goods are packaged in all sorts of plastic or mylar bags.