To be totally on the anti UPF bandwagon and think this may finally be how I crack my food addiction?

[MaybeIWillFuckOffThen]

Listened to the podcast by the Van Tulleken brothers, and then read some of the Brazilian research and the experiment with UPF/whole food diet. Listened to some Giles Yeo. Oh my goodness. Mind blown!

I have a binge eating disorder and it was getting so out of hand. Spent fortunes a week on extra secret food, all of it crap. Gaining a lot of weight. I could eat 6 supermarket hot cross buns at a time and still feel like I wanted more even while feeling sick. Whole packets of biscuits in minutes. It didn't make any sense to me but I felt like I just couldn't stop. Now it makes a lot of sense why - I've basically been eating the food equivalent of heroin.

I've cut it out this past week or two - whenever I have been craving it I just go and listen to an episode or two of the podcast again and am horrified anew so resist. I've also accepted the fact I'm never going to manage to not eat with willpower alone so have packed my bag with healthy whole food snacks - nuts, Greek yoghurt, chopped vegetables, hummus - so I don't 'need' to go to the shop for some lunch (and walk out with a load of garbage).

I felt much better almost instantly. Clear headed. Less bloated and sluggish, less achey. Less sick obviously. And much, much less hungry. Staying within calorie limits (that always seemed laughably low and restrictive whilst eating junk) suddenly incredibly easy. In not weighing myself as my scales are broken but how I feel is worth it on its own.

Over the weekend my DD got a vomiting bug for the millionth time this summer, bad nights sleep, feeling grotty etc. So Monday I decided to treat myself t a toasted panini from the work cafe. Supermarket bread, weird cheese etc - real comforting junk food of the type I just can't get enough of usually.

Reader it was DIABOLICAL. It tasted AWFUL. I've eaten these things so many times before and loved them. But it was horrible. I literally could not eat it, had two mouthfuls, spat the second one out and threw it in the bin.

I honestly feel like I've had some sort of damascene conversion. Every time I think about buying some crap now I just remember the horrible, inedible crapness of that panini and the urge just goes away again.

AIBU to think this could actually change my life??? Can simple awareness really override such a lifelong, established addictive behaviour? Or will this just be a flash in the pan?

Try listening to metabolical by Dr Robert Lustig. It's fascinating.

Thank you I will!

Bloody good on you OP! I stopped (mostly) eating stuff like that when I had a blow-out one Christmas, where I just ate what I wanted for the whole festive period then realised how shit I felt.

That's not to say that I never eat a piece of bread or a chocolate bar or something delicious from Greggs but they're the exception rather than the norm and I know how dire I'll feel if I eat too much. It try to mitigate things by having sourdough instead of 'normal' bread, dark chocolate instead of a Dairy Milk (and yes, I know that a) not everyone can afford sourdough and that b) I'm very much a "I just ate one square of dark chocolate" wanker...) I drank full fat Coke at a sibling's house and felt like all of my teeth were wearing a little sugary jacket

The more I read about UPFs the more I realise just how enmeshed in our diets they are, the sneaky little buggers.

Thank you @BrightYellowDaffodil - I am probably overexcited it's just I've felt so out of control with my eating for ages, the idea I could get a handle on it after all these years is completely life-changing. I mean it's week two. So probably ought to calm down a bit. But still!

I actually make sourdough and it's dead easy, rather fun and very cheap! Would recommend to a friend 😁

Look up Tom Spector's work too, and the Zoe podcasts.

YANBU.

Not food related, but I went through something similar with alcohol. I realised I was becoming (or had become - its still hard to admit!) dependent on it.

I read some books, listened to some podcasts and saw alcohol in a completely different light.

I assumed it was a physical addiction only. I had no idea about the mental side of it.

When you consume these things (alcohol, sugar, fast food, whatever your vice is) you get a dopamine hit and the more you fo it, the more your brain tells you that you need it.

Breaking down this part of the addiction, essentially re-programming your brain, is so difficult.
Going back to the podcasts/ literature, whatever it is that motivates you and helps you understand is a great way to keep on track.

Well done OP, keep going!

Tim Spector, not Tom

It is incredible isn't it how they're EVERYWHERE. I mean supermarket bread, you just think bread, it's a staple, surely that's ok.... Then you read the ingredients and it's shocking. Condiments. Prepackaged lunches of all types. It doesn't have to be turkey twizzlers, when you start looking it's so as you say enmeshed with how we eat.

Ps I've just googled UPF - I didn't know what it was(!) So sorry I I went off on a bit of a tangent or my comment doesn't make much sense! 😂

Ooh yes I caught Time Spector on the Food Programme yesterday talking about the Chorleywood method and he sounded very interesting! Must make sure not to become a massive bore in real life but I'm SO INTERESTED right now in all this! 😆

I dont knownwhat a upf is but when I want to lose weight I cut sugar out and the first day is crap, constant chocolate cravings then the next day i feel like i did yesterday so i can do today and by day 3 i dont even crave it want it and go weeks without. Then the pounds come off and i have an slice of cake at a party to be polite and BAM I'm back to sugar addiction and have to go through those first few days again. Even though the cake always just tastes like sugar. It all does, like artificially flavoured sugar with a gross texture. So YANBU. I'm getting back in the bandwagon so thanks for the inspiration! Xx

That's the thing, these foods hide behind the 'halo effect' (looking like they're healthy, e.g. assuming a smoothie is healthy because it has fruit in it) or their traditional ancestors - after all, bread used to be flour, water and yeast. Not everyone realises that it's now full of stabilisers, preservatives, emulsifiers, treatment agents, additional gluten etc, not to mention the enzymes that are used in the Chorleywood process that aren't listed on the packet.

This thread was really well timed for me . I have ADHD and am more susceptible than some to chasing the dopamine hit. Definitely going to check out some of those podcasts thanks!

The way they taste so awful when you eat them again is the incredibly striking thing.

I was brought up on junk. I was ill as a young adult and could barely eat anything for a long time. I also moved countries, so my childhood foods weren't around.

Now when I go home, I cannot understand how I ever ate that stuff. My dc spend a lot of time on our visits politely declining the 'treats' they are offered at every turn, which they cannot even comprehend wanting to eat.

The system relies on giving us this stuff when we are young, to get past the filters of 'I'm eating what?' and creating a positive association (which parents then pass onto their children by giving them the same 'treats' they were brought up on).

It's defnitely true. I've been low carb for a couple of months now and I feel much better on it. I've slipped the last few days due to a few social events and lack of plannin and the lethargy and bloating is very noticeable.

I can't deny that eating that way doesn't get a bit dull and it can be inconvenient (no more just chucking a tin of soup in my handbag for a work lunch) but I do think it's worth it and i've lost half a stone.

Good on you OP! I listened to that podcast recently and it was really eye opening. I have cut out almost all UPF over the last two years (except for a takeaway once a week) and I feel so much better for it. My skin is really clear, lots more energy, my body moves so much better and I feel really healthy most of the time.

My DH is totally addicted to UPF, he can easily put away a whole packet of biscuits in an evening and then go back for more.

I’m currently trying to slowly eliminate the UPF from the kids (6 & 3) diet. On the whole, it’s pretty good, and they don’t have huge amounts of it - it’s mainly a sugary yoghurt, biscuit or small chocolate after tea, as well as white bread for toast/sandwiches. They love sourdough or home made bread, but it’s so expensive! I’m on a mission to cut it down though, especially after listening to those c podcasts!

I've just done something similar but with sugar. I had one particular week were I ate so much crap (biscuits, sweets, cakes, pastries etc). I bought myself some random sweets (jelly snakes or something) and they were RANK!! As I was eating them I was telling myself they were disgusting, they didn't taste nice and I wasn't enjoying them. I ate them to get rid of them but that was that - the turning point. I'm not going to binge like that again. Eating something you don't even like / enjoy- something that does your body no good.
Of course, I'll have treats but only when I really want them, in moderation and if I'm enjoying it!
You really do have to think about what you're putting in your body and what it is doing to you physically and mentally.

I’m listening to the podcasts just now. I also am a binge eater.

My DH is totally addicted to UPF, he can easily put away a whole packet of biscuits in an evening and then go back for more.

The other thing with these foods is that they seem to circumnavigate your natural "I'm full now" feeling, so you just keep munching and then suddenly the whole packet has gone yet you still feel hungry.

I could snarf down plastic white bread until it came out of my ears. Couple of slices of sourdough and I've had enough.

This is so interesting, which podcast specifically triggered you into changing your thinking? My diet is awful, and I really want to change for health reasons but I'm so bad at self sabotaging..

It's so hard to slip back to it though. A few times a year I eliminate most UPF from my diet but then I work late, haven't been organised enough to go shopping and take aways and ready meals creep back in, toast and cereal creeps back in and then dd is making cake and we're eating crap again.

Yanbu! It's so satisfying that it seems the less you eat it, the less you want it.

@RoseHarper A Thorough Examination with Chris and Xand Van Tulleken (the Operation Ouch guys). Turns out Xand is a food addict and it was his struggle and journey which hooked me in and the science is so revelatory. On BBC sounds x

@MaxOverTheMoon I'm not too worried about occasional slippage in day to day eating - I just desperately want to stop the uncontrollable bingeing, and that's always the UPF stuff. I'm just hoping I can use this new awareness to gain some control!

Great thank you.