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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

152 replies

tentosix · 30/05/2021 12:47

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

OP posts:

longwayoff · 31/05/2021 17:50

Shit or not, it probably had fewer chemicals. Possibly not though, bread and flour were notoriously adulterated with all kinds of nastiness.

Pinkblueberry · 31/05/2021 17:58

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

But the guidance around these is quite clear. I also think it’s clear that eating a small amount of these UPF is unlikely to cause any harm - as said before further up the thread baby formula is UPF and plenty of people live a healthily lifestyle while also occasionally indulging in a (gasp) shop bought biscuit But guidance would be helpful in terms of what ratio and what kinds of UPF are really causing issues. We can’t lump them all in one category. And obviously the scales tip somewhere in terms of how much you can sustainably eat.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 31/05/2021 18:05

Oh come on, there are loads of examples of things that the government thought were ok that turned out not to be! Thalidomide, smoking in pregnancy, Magdalene laundries, unmarried girls having their babies removed for adoption...

Mintjulia · 31/05/2021 18:06

Anything with emulsifiers, chemical ingredients you've never heard of and my particular favourite -mould inhibitor - is UPF. Most plastic-bag bread, yoghurts (except natural yoghurt), cheese strings, shop sauces, dips etc. Read the ingredients.

I don't generally buy UPF. The closest this week was two chocolate croissants and some HullaHoops. . Otherwise I bought meat from the butcher, fresh fruit & veg, milk, tinned kidney beans, a trout, some Somerset Brie and some welsh goats cheese.
I had trouble finding wholemeal bread because Tesco have stopped keeping unsliced wholemeal so I unearthed the bread maker and made my own.
I'm pretty careful and even I'm struggling to find basics.
Our Tesco is the size of Terminal 5 and doesn't keep basic wholemeal any more. Too busy trying to be Lidl to provide a staple diet. It's depressing.

theleafandnotthetree · 31/05/2021 18:20

@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 is the Michael Pollan philosophy isn't it....also 'Eat food, mostly plants, not too much'. By 'food' he means unadulterared and unprocessed.

Onesnowynight · 31/05/2021 18:29

Apologies I haven’t read the whole thread, what programme was this please? I would really like to watch it!

AllForMoney · 31/05/2021 18:31

OneSnowyNight Its www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wgcd What are We Feeding Our Kids?

Allington · 31/05/2021 18:34

My point was that - just because it isn't banned by the government, it doesn't mean it is safe or healthy. Alcohol and tobacco are examples of things that would probably be banned if they were new, but because they have a long history of being culturally acceptable are quite legal. Yes, with ever increasingly small 'recommended limits' but no way of enforcing them.

The research is only just starting with UPFs, and I should imagine 'recommendations' will get tighter.

To say 'not banned = absolutely fine' is crazy

Allington · 31/05/2021 18:37

And I expect the food industry will fight in the same way as the tobacco industry did - government guidelines will be way behind what the science says for years.

Roonerspismed · 31/05/2021 18:51

I do think common sense is needed as it’s so hard to navigate. A Nakd bar isn’t the same as a mars bar.

I also think caution is needed with some basic mere processed foods such as hummous. The rapeseed oil used is industrially produced and not something I try to consume much of. So I bulk make my own hummous and also mayo. I wouldn’t worry about plain organic yoghurt though

Cake - homemade cake made with butter and sugar - fine for a treat. Shop bought cake is usually awful using, for example, sugar syrups. Cheap jam (looking at you, Aldi) uses fructose instead of sugar which is hard on the liver.

Roonerspismed · 31/05/2021 18:56

Absolute LOL at the trust in government.

Very little research goes into eating an unprocessed diet - because there is no one to sponsor it!

Latest research in additives is not good - emulsifiers, for example, linked to changes in the microbiome. The microbiome is crucial. I’m not sure the government even knows what it is

Onesnowynight · 31/05/2021 18:58

@AllForMoney

OneSnowyNight Its www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wgcd What are We Feeding Our Kids?

Thank you!

Blackopal · 31/05/2021 19:13

**
Today 17:36Moonmelodies

I’ve never yet come across MDMA in a yogurt

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

LilacSorbet · 31/05/2021 19:16

@Moonmelodies

I’ve never yet come across MDMA in a yogurt

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

🤣🤣🤣

longwayoff · 31/05/2021 20:12

@theleafandnotthetree, I've just looked up Mr Pollan and it appears I've pinched his quote. Apologies to him and thanks to you, that phrase had crept unnoticed into my subconscious. Good recommendation though.

wingsandstrings · 31/05/2021 20:57

@Moonmelodies

I’ve never yet come across MDMA in a yogurt

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

I'm not sure this joke got the recognition it deserved .. . . .

JumpLeadsForTwo · 31/05/2021 22:02

@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.

Ah but your great grandmother may not recognise some of the more exotic fruit/ vegetables that we are now so familiar with!!

BrightYellowDaffodil · 31/05/2021 22:10

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

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

This is fine in theory, but I don’t think my great-grandmother would have recognised quinoa if she’d tripped over it in the dark. Even my grandmother harboured a suspicion of basil as being unspeakably exotic...

theleafandnotthetree · 31/05/2021 22:20

@BrightYellowDaffodil

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

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

Hes, but people in other places in the world 100 years ago were eating those foods! So if a Peruvuan or Italian persons grandmother would recognise it, it counts as ok. It is a natural, inadulterated and unprocessed food, doesnt matter where it comes from geographically or from what food culture

safclass · 31/05/2021 22:24

Being skinny does not equal healthy.
As an adult my dad was a barrel shape, small and stocky. In his 40s he had sone geart issues and went into hospital. There were 6 of them on the ward for exploratory ops. The only one who had to go in for surgery pretty much immediately was the slim, healthy looking one.

ConkerBonkers · 31/05/2021 22:32

Is Quorn okay or too ultra processed?

DobbyTheHouseElk · 31/05/2021 22:44

Quorn isn’t really real food. I say that as someone who eats it. But I’m not eating as much now.

TeaAndBiscuitsAndWine · 31/05/2021 22:52

I read the article that preceded the programme (which I haven’t watched yet) and was surprised by some of it but not much. I was shocked at how many additives etc can be added to foods without having to be listed in the ingredients, and that there hasn’t been proper testing. Small quantities in lab conditions, not mixed with each other, have been tested, which doesn’t reflect how many of these and the volumes that are actually consumed. I ate a LOT of UPF after leaving home and no longer being able to rely on my mum’s scratch cooking, and it has definitely had negative long term effects. All the people saying to just cook from scratch though, how?! I worked 13 hours every day last week on top of looking after my child (it’s just DD and me). She got pasta with sauce or fish fingers every day. Me, I lived from the freezer and tins. The time this weekend she spent with her dad I spent sleeping and attempting to clean the house. I don’t even have time to go to a supermarket, I rely on deliveries. Scratch cooking like my mum did would be great, but I’d need to win the lottery to have the time to do it!

Siepie · 31/05/2021 23:20

@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.

My grandmother was an adult the first time she saw a banana, so I assume my great grandmother never came across one. What will happen to me if I eat a fruit that’s not native to the British Isles.

NotMeNoNo · 31/05/2021 23:35

I do feel the government/NHS are pushing uphill against the enormous and influential processed food industry, who have managed to get it into change 4life that kit kat and cornflakes are good for you and all the low fat rubbish. It truly is tobacco all over again. Weasel words like "can be enjoyed in moderation as part of a healthy diet" means "part of an otherwise healthy diet"

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