To wonder exactly what Ultra Processed Foods are? As in a list?

[tentosix]

So watched the TV program 'what are we feeding our kids' and horrified like most parents, but why didn't it list them? Or give a better idea than having loads of ingredients. Is sugar bad for you in moderation (I have a teaspoon on my morning porridge). Bread? White/brown/whole meal/seeded?

McDonald's are just beef aren't they?

Nuggets I get, and presumably hash browns?

I need a list just to get me started

Viennetta ice cream
😭 Damn it! Now I soooooooo wnat the hight of sophistication!

To be fair if the UPF argument has legs then the significant quantities of it available and fed to us in the 1970s may be the reason why we have an adult obesity crisis now.

"McDonald's are just beef aren't they?"

Erm, no they're not! Here is the ingredients list for a regular McDonald's hamburger.

Regular Bun
Ingredients: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Sugar, Yeast, Soybean Oil, Contains 2% or Less: Salt, Wheat Gluten, Potato Flour, May Contain One or More Dough Conditioners (DATEM, Ascorbic Acid, Mono and Diglycerides, Enzymes), Vinegar.
Contains: Wheat.

100% Beef Patty
Ingredients: 100% Pure USDA Inspected Beef; No Fillers, No Extenders.
Prepared With Grill Seasoning (Salt, Black Pepper).

Ketchup
Ingredients: Tomato Concentrate from Red Ripe Tomatoes, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Water, Salt, Natural Flavors.

Pickle Slices
Ingredients: Cucumbers, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Alum, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Natural Flavors, Polysorbate 80, Extractives of Turmeric (Color).

Onions
Ingredients: Onions.

Mustard
Ingredients: Distilled Vinegar, Water, Mustard Seed, Salt, Turmeric, Paprika, Spice Extractive.

Could indeed be a 70s diet catching up with us now we aren’t outside all day with nowt but a chip butty and a Wagon Wheel, yes.

Do your kids eat it without complaining? Then it's UPF

There are too many foods to list as UPFs is what they were saying and that basically, any ingredients listed on labels which you can't have in homes , are UPF.

Dr Chris lived on a diet of roughly 80% UPFs for a month, his brain was scanned before and after. His brain 'connections' had changed after a month [too technical for me to understand] and still hadn't changed back 4 weeks later.

They think these types of food are addictive, the more you eat the more you want, presumably that's why you put on weight ?

They're unsure as to why this happens as hardly any research has been done. Hopefully this programme will encurage some research.

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow

Do your kids eat it without complaining? Then it's UPF

That's actually pretty sad if true

@butterpuffed

There are too many foods to list as UPFs is what they were saying and that basically, any ingredients listed on labels which you can't have in homes , are UPF.

Dr Chris lived on a diet of roughly 80% UPFs for a month, his brain was scanned before and after. His brain 'connections' had changed after a month [too technical for me to understand] and still hadn't changed back 4 weeks later.

They think these types of food are addictive, the more you eat the more you want, presumably that's why you put on weight ?

They're unsure as to why this happens as hardly any research has been done. Hopefully this programme will encurage some research.

I think anecdotally and instinctively we all 'know' this. I find if I have had a few days or weeks of eating a lot of shite food that I feel sluggish, bloated, a bit less sharp and of course, hooked on the very shite that's causing me to feel bad. I have done the high protein, low carb thing a few times and that is naturally typically low in UP foods and have felt so much the better for it.

@FusionChefGeoff

Does it stack up to say "could I buy it in the 60s?"

Might be a good shortcut

My parents grew up in the 60s with everything out of a tin, like corned beef, spam and condensed milk. I really do not think food was any better back then.

If you want to be really careful then you need to take care of what you cook with as many basics such as flour and salt often contain additives.

I had a little look on the list, I wasn’t surprised by the products that came up as UPF, but as we don’t eat a great deal if them it isn’t the end of the world. For a nice bit of irony I searched the site while eating a bag of skips.

@DarcyLewis

If you read the ingredients and it is a list of things you recognise and in your cupboard at home, it’s probably not ultra processed (might be processed though).

If it has a whole load of chemicals, additives and E numbers then it’s ultra processed.

This ^

@DarcyLewis

If you read the ingredients and it is a list of things you recognise and in your cupboard at home, it’s probably not ultra processed (might be processed though).

If it has a whole load of chemicals, additives and E numbers then it’s ultra processed.

A concise, perfect answer for you within three minutes of you posting.

This was stated in the programme.

Snap!!!

I have a simple rule. If it includes ingredients that your great grandmother wouldnt recognise as food, don't buy it. And definitely dont eat it.

It's not a widely accepted theory, it's a bit woo basically as lots of "diet" are. There's obviously an issue that a diet of processed food high in fat, sugar etc will be less healthy than a diet of fresh veg and meat etc. But the theory that there's something inherently unhealthy about processing/additives is not well evidenced / mainstream view.

I have a simple rule. If it includes ingredients that your great grandmother wouldnt recognise as food, don't buy it. And definitely dont eat it.

My great grandmother was a farmer’s wife on one of the smaller Orkney islands so I’d have thought that rules out most fruit.

I have a simple rule. If it includes ingredients that your great grandmother wouldnt recognise as food, don't buy it. And definitely dont eat it.

‘Definitely’ don’t eat it. Why? Will a Milky Way make you drop down dead? (Allergies withstanding of course).

We’ve decided to have at least a week free of processed foods, I haven’t had to tweak our meals too much, but I am making some flapjacks etc so we have snacks that aren’t bourbon creams or skips. Lets see if we survive.

@OhGodNotThisAgain

McDonald's are just beef aren't they?

😂

McDonald’s used to cook their fries in beef dripping, the joke in the food industry was that “there’s more meat in the fries than the burgers”

The programme should have made it more clear what foods are UPFs because some people obviously don't understand.

According to their website the burgers (the meaty bit) are 100% beef with salt and pepper added.

@80sMum

"McDonald's are just beef aren't they?"

Erm, no they're not! Here is the ingredients list for a regular McDonald's hamburger.

Regular Bun
Ingredients: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Sugar, Yeast, Soybean Oil, Contains 2% or Less: Salt, Wheat Gluten, Potato Flour, May Contain One or More Dough Conditioners (DATEM, Ascorbic Acid, Mono and Diglycerides, Enzymes), Vinegar.
Contains: Wheat.

100% Beef Patty
Ingredients: 100% Pure USDA Inspected Beef; No Fillers, No Extenders.
Prepared With Grill Seasoning (Salt, Black Pepper).

Ketchup
Ingredients: Tomato Concentrate from Red Ripe Tomatoes, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Water, Salt, Natural Flavors.

Pickle Slices
Ingredients: Cucumbers, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Alum, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Natural Flavors, Polysorbate 80, Extractives of Turmeric (Color).

Onions
Ingredients: Onions.

Mustard
Ingredients: Distilled Vinegar, Water, Mustard Seed, Salt, Turmeric, Paprika, Spice Extractive.

USDA mentioned here is the US authority so I assume you’re listing the US ingredients for some reason.

I’ve never yet come across MDMA in a yogurt

I had three in row once, and I was Mullered.

@longwayoff

I have a simple rule. If it includes ingredients that your great grandmother wouldnt recognise as food, don't buy it. And definitely dont eat it.

That’s going to limit variety a lot though. My Great Grandmother was very poor too so they probably had a fairly shit diet.

What's wrong with eating processed/ultra-processed foods? We employ the government to work out if foods are dangerous and ban them if that's the case. As these are allowed to be made and sold, why shouldn't we eat them?

Neither alcohol nor tobacco are banned by the government so must be healthy in large amounts - go for it not the most convincing argument...