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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what highly processed food you eat?

544 replies

Lifeswhatyoumakeit73 · 14/05/2023 17:35

I haven’t read the Dr Chris book yet about highly processed food but I have read other stuff & it’s made me super conscious of how much HPF we eat. I cook mainly from scratch but as a family of 3 pescatarians & me who is mainly plant based but eats eggs, I realise I need to look at what we eat & make some changes. I cook from scratch as much as I can but I am a busy mum who works full time so we do reply on some HPF. Looking in my cupboards:

We have:

  • baked beans
  • veggie sausages
  • veggie mince
  • oat milk
  • vegan cheese
  • vegan butter
  • Tacos
  • crackers, crisps, bread sticks
  • shop bought houmous
  • shreddies, weetabix
  • caramel wafers
  • yoyos
  • couple tins veggie chilli
  • peanut butter (whole earth so just peanuts but still bad apparently)
  • jam
  • seeded bread sliced
  • bagels

How bad is that? How does it compare to others? I use veggie mince to make a spag Bol from scratch but will, for example, use lentils instead.

i feel like most of our food is cooked fresh but judging by this list, we have a lot of processed crap that I hadn’t registered.

Aibu to ask you to share so I can compare?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
37
Whichnumbers · 15/05/2023 06:50

@Harrythehappypig. Mince isn’t just meat there is bits and pieces minced through, unless you mince your own meat at home. Why have a burger when you could have steak

Vegetus · 15/05/2023 06:53

Words · 15/05/2023 06:46

Because glucose spikes can lead to fairly significant peaks and troughs of energy and appetite, and messes with your metabolism. Which can also fuel over eating.

Okay but then why do things like ozempic work as an appetite suppressant if they raise insulin levels? Isn't that what glucose does to the body?

CosyCoffee · 15/05/2023 07:17

Whichnumbers · 15/05/2023 06:50

@Harrythehappypig. Mince isn’t just meat there is bits and pieces minced through, unless you mince your own meat at home. Why have a burger when you could have steak

Fat etc in mince does not make it a UPF. Any meat, no matter what 'bits' it contains or how it is minced, is non-UPF. It's when supermarkets add other bulking and stabilising ingredients such as in burgers that they become ultra processed.

GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin · 15/05/2023 07:31

CallieQ · 15/05/2023 00:26

Is Oatibix ultra processed? It only has 3 or 4 ingredients

The number of ingredients doesn’t indicate whether it’s UPF or not, it’s what those ingredients are.

Bubbles254 · 15/05/2023 07:41

Vegetus · 15/05/2023 06:53

Okay but then why do things like ozempic work as an appetite suppressant if they raise insulin levels? Isn't that what glucose does to the body?

Show quote history

My understanding is that ozempic works because it simulates a hormone GLP-1 that regulates blood sugar levels. If blood sugar rises, the hormone tells the body to produce more insulin, which lowers blood sugar levels.

Its main way of reducing hunger though is in the GLP-1s impact on the transit of food, which is slowed down and makes you feel fuller faster.

bryceQ · 15/05/2023 07:49

I think I eat about 70% non ultra processed but there's definately degrees of bad, eg an oat cake vs a bag of monster munch.

Our fridge is three shelves of fruit and veg, then we always have full fat Greek yoghurt, cheese, milk etc as the main staple of our diet

My son is autistic and had an extremely limited diet, I do my best to buy the least processed versions of what he eats but it's tricky.

Schroedingersimmigrant · 15/05/2023 07:57

Woodywoods · 15/05/2023 06:23

I agree; it is not the ‘fault’ of the consumer at all. The issue here is large food companies producing the UPF. It needs to lie with the government to regulate this better.

Show quote history

It is the consumer. The consumer wanted cheaper, faster to make AND ever long lasting food.
People "fume" when their bread is not soft on 4th day as on 1st day and so on.
The companies just listened to the customer.

Schroedingersimmigrant · 15/05/2023 07:59

CosyCoffee · 15/05/2023 07:17

Fat etc in mince does not make it a UPF. Any meat, no matter what 'bits' it contains or how it is minced, is non-UPF. It's when supermarkets add other bulking and stabilising ingredients such as in burgers that they become ultra processed.

Show quote history

Yes!

Mince as UPF.... Is this new "carbs"

Time4achangeagain · 15/05/2023 08:00

Daffodilsandbagels · 14/05/2023 18:49

I don’t really understand why these foods are a problem? I’m pescatarian too and it sounds like we cook in quite similar ways - eg making pasta sauce from scratch and adding veggie mince. I don’t feel worried about it because I feel like my diet contains plenty of vegetables, pulses, fruit, fish, eggs etc. A few Linda McCartney sausages a week, plus some veggie meatballs another night or whatever are just a nice way to add protein in an easy way when you maybe don’t feel like making something more elaborate. Are these foods really a problem worth getting stressed about? I don’t mean to sound critical (I hope my comment isn’t coming off that way!) - I just don’t get it.

They’re linked to the societal rise in obesity (eg here and in the US) and all sorts of illnesses. Have a quick Google. It’s useful to be aware so you can make informed choices

Whichnumbers · 15/05/2023 09:43

Fat etc in mince does not make it a UPF. Any meat, no matter what 'bits' it contains or how it is minced, is non-UPF. It's when supermarkets add other bulking and stabilising ingredients such as in burgers that they become ultra processed.

mince is bulked out with collagen it should be more than a certain percentage, but it’s not meat Thus why if you buy a piece of meat is more expensive than buying the same weight of meat minced, obviously different cuts vary in price.

ooooofffff · 15/05/2023 09:49

I'm waiting for my copy of the book to arrive today hopefully!!

I haven't read TFT but I didn't think mince and plain yoghurt were UPF.

They're processed but then everything apart from plain just picked fruit and veg are?

Anyway, I've recently been listening to a podcast about UPF and have really tried to cut back.

Homemade every thing from scratch now. Bread, butter, chicken nuggets, chips. Im planning to give yoghurt a go this week.

It takes a lot longer but I find I'm much fuller after less food

Whichnumbers · 15/05/2023 09:52

It needs to lie with the government to regulate this better.

who is funding the government?

George Weston made nearly a million in donations to the Tory party and is CEO of Associated British Foods plc is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England. Its ingredients division is the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major producer of other ingredients including emulsifiers, enzymes and lactose.

RedRosette2023 · 15/05/2023 09:56

Whichnumbers · 15/05/2023 09:52

It needs to lie with the government to regulate this better.

who is funding the government?

George Weston made nearly a million in donations to the Tory party and is CEO of Associated British Foods plc is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England. Its ingredients division is the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major producer of other ingredients including emulsifiers, enzymes and lactose.

Yes and there lies the problem.

SavBlancTonight · 15/05/2023 10:08

Whichnumbers · 15/05/2023 09:43

Fat etc in mince does not make it a UPF. Any meat, no matter what 'bits' it contains or how it is minced, is non-UPF. It's when supermarkets add other bulking and stabilising ingredients such as in burgers that they become ultra processed.

mince is bulked out with collagen it should be more than a certain percentage, but it’s not meat Thus why if you buy a piece of meat is more expensive than buying the same weight of meat minced, obviously different cuts vary in price.

Mince that is just 100% mince is absolutely non-UPF. It's less expensive because the whole point of mince is that it's the bits of meat that people don't want to buy necessarily to eat as chunks of meat. Traditionally, mince and things like sausages are made with all the offcuts and random bits that are leftover after the butchery is complete.

And even when you're buying ridiculously overpriced steak mince, it is more cost effective because you can use less of it to feed more people than if you buy the actual steak.

Dixiechickonhols · 15/05/2023 10:19

MissTrip82 · 14/05/2023 22:49

We don’t do fake meat/cheese very often - we just eat more Asian food as that is more commonly meant to be vegetarian. If you eat a lot of Western food you tend to use meat/dairy analogues.

The poster who delivered the po-faced lecture about eating food your granny would recognise made me laugh so hard. That would be bread and dripping, three sugars in every tea, and vegetables boiled to death. Such silly faux nostalgia.

Depends how old granny is/was.
My grandparents were egg for breakfast (kept chickens & grew veg) - council houses had certain sized gardens to allow for this. Meat, potatoes & veg dinner. Salad for tea on a Saturday. Roast dinner. All homemade baking. Dairy. Meats that have gone out of fashion like rabbit and kippers. One was a butcher (had been a cook in war) one a baker/confectioner.

GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin · 15/05/2023 11:31

The poster who delivered the po-faced lecture about eating food your granny would recognise made me laugh so hard. That would be bread and dripping, three sugars in every tea, and vegetables boiled to death. Such silly faux nostalgia.

And that's such silly disingenuity. What the poster clearly meant was "food types that would have been recognised". My grandmother wouldn't have known quinoa if she'd tripped over it in the dark, but she knew what pulses and grains were. I doubt she'd ever seen paneer, let alone eaten it, but she'd have recognised cheese. Kale was something you fed to cows in those days, but green vegetables were widely consumed. Those of our grandparents' generation might not have eaten specific foods - either because they weren't around then, they couldn't afford them or they just weren't the 'norm' - but they would have known what the food groups were.

What they most certainly would not have recognised was an emulsifier, a stabiliser, a thickening agent, and so on and so forth.

Schroedingersimmigrant · 15/05/2023 11:33

Whichnumbers · 15/05/2023 09:43

Fat etc in mince does not make it a UPF. Any meat, no matter what 'bits' it contains or how it is minced, is non-UPF. It's when supermarkets add other bulking and stabilising ingredients such as in burgers that they become ultra processed.

mince is bulked out with collagen it should be more than a certain percentage, but it’s not meat Thus why if you buy a piece of meat is more expensive than buying the same weight of meat minced, obviously different cuts vary in price.

They are not bulking it up with processsd collagen (look at prices of that😳) they are bulking it up with connective tissues and other high in collagen parts.

Whichnumbers · 15/05/2023 11:48

Mince that is just 100% mince is absolutely non-UPF.

then why is it regulated that collagen has to be listed and the amount?

Schroedingersimmigrant · 15/05/2023 11:49

Whichnumbers · 15/05/2023 11:48

Mince that is just 100% mince is absolutely non-UPF.

then why is it regulated that collagen has to be listed and the amount?

So you now how much protein vs fat vs collagen there is.
Meat vs fat vs connective tissue and gristle

SavBlancTonight · 15/05/2023 11:50

Schroedingersimmigrant · 15/05/2023 11:49

So you now how much protein vs fat vs collagen there is.
Meat vs fat vs connective tissue and gristle

Show quote history

yes, this. Mince is lower quality and higher fat, including bits we don't usually eat.

Schroedingersimmigrant · 15/05/2023 12:04

Whichnumbers · 15/05/2023 11:51

I am not saying it's meat. Fat is also not meat. It's connective tissue and gristle which is not UPF.
Animals, contrary to as it seems popular belief, do not only contain meat and fat.

The reason they have to show it is same like why they have to show fat content. So people know what they are buying

Schroedingersimmigrant · 15/05/2023 12:05

SavBlancTonight · 15/05/2023 11:50

yes, this. Mince is lower quality and higher fat, including bits we don't usually eat.

Show quote history

We should use the bits more so they are not such a pain to find for soup making 😁

RedRosette2023 · 15/05/2023 12:09

Guys can you stop about mince. I made a huge batch of spag Bol last night and I’m in no doubt it’s not UPF but now it’s put me off 🤣

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Schroedingersimmigrant · 15/05/2023 12:11

😂 collagen is good for you @RedRosette2023