Ultra-Highly Processed Foods

[TheRealMBJ]

At risk of sounding defensive here but I almost always cook from scratch and very seldom resort to pre-prepared or oven dinners (,maybe once a month)

However, all of this talk recently that demonises Ultra-processed foods is another stick to beat working mothers with.

Sometimes I feel something has to give and I can't always plan, shop, execute a fully cooked from scratch meal every night of the week.

YABU - Get your Arese into Gear woman and organise your life

YANBU - this is just another way to make woman feel guilty. Get the fish fingers out!

Eat what you want, food is food

Scientific fact isn’t something to best mothers with sticks with. We as a society have fallen hook line and sinker for every trick the food industry has come up with.

As a mother I’ve no flipping idea what to do about it.

I don't think that's the point of the research but do agree that given the nature of our society, blame falls on women/mothers often when it comes to cooking for/feeding the family. Very unfair especially for working single mums.

It's quite stressful to work out the extent of UPF. Like if I make a curry with coconut milk that's in a tin is that processed because its not 100% coconut? My DC are allergic to dairy, so what do I do about a butter replacement as I assume flora is the devil etc etc.

Yes, I am sure the actual research is isn't meant to do this but when one person has the responsibility of feeding a family alongside working full-time and all other family organisation.

MNers turn everything into a feminist issue.

As it happens, DH cooks in this household, and he only works PT, and he does 85% of the food shopping, and 95% of the evening meal plans. He works PT.

MIL comes closest to cooking "everything from scratch" of everyone I know. She stopped working 50+ years ago and (like her son) wouldn't dream of letting anyone else cook or food shop. Just do what you need to, OP.

You can find tinned coconut milk that's not ultra processed, look for ones that have ingredients of just coconut and water (or some have 100% coconut). I use biona as its the one my local shop stocks but there are other brands that are also not UPFs

For the butter alternative it is more tricky. Frying or cooking it's easy to swap out for a healthy oil but in terms of using it as a spread its hard to find something totally UPF free. My vegan family members have switched to the Naturli block which while it does contain some UPF ingredients it is mostly made of natural components and doesn't contain any of the ingredients most heavily linked with health concerns

100% coconut milk is not ultra processed.

It's quite stressful to work out the extent of UPF. Like if I make a curry with coconut milk that's in a tin is that processed because its not 100% coconut?

There's a big difference between "processed" and "ultra processed".

Processed = pretty much everything apart from raw fresh fruit and veg.

Ultra processed = more than 5 ingredients, especially if it includes ingredients you can't buy separately in the supermarket, such as maltodextrin, emulsifiers, hydrogenated anything, xanthan gum, soya lecithin, "flavourings", sweeteners etc etc

Chances are your coconut milk is absolutely fine.

However, all of this talk recently that demonises Ultra-processed foods is another stick to beat working mothers with.
It doesn't demonise working mothers lots of single men and women will be eating these.

It's all a choice.

Exactly not everything is about this agenda.

I read this article in BHF and found it interesting, and it didn’t “demonise” UPF.

British Heart Foundation article

Problem is I can only get naturli at sainsburys here, but sainsburys don't do soya free bread, so we then have to go somewhere else. And then I have to think that my DC consume alternative milks and yogurts that are all processed and yes I could in theory squeeze peas to create 'milk', probably, but then it wouldnt be fortified. The bread one of them has is processed but it's their main source of calcium. It just goes on and on!

The thing is with this UPF research, how are the US cancer rates not FAR higher than here? The food over there is packed full of crap, I was shocked when I visited recently the amount of EU banned foods and pesticides they allow. I’m fairly normal by UK standards, I mainly cook from scratch but do use tinned goods, cereals, bread etc. over there they had cheese in a spray can, and sugar in their bread! My American friend thought nothing of getting a donut for breakfast, and eating out several times a week.

Or is it a ticking time bomb? I wonder if Americans have seen these studies?

I don't think fish fingers are UPF. Like @Nothingbuttheglory says, there's quite a difference between processed food and UPF.

But it doesn't have to be all or nothing. The programmes by the Dr Van Tullekens recommended that we try to keep UPFs to no more than 20% of our overall diet.

You can also batch cook and make things like tray bakes of meat/fish and veg that are quick to prepare then can be left in the oven while you get on with something else.

Plus unless you're a single parent of primary age DC, you're not the only person in the house capable of making a meal, so make sure the workload is evenly spread.

Cooking from fresh is always going to take more effort than throwing frozen ready made food in the oven, but there is a middle ground that's achievable to many people.

For coconut milk, I've always used this because it's much cheaper and you can use as much or little as you like and it lasts forever (months at least) in the fridge.

It's also 100% pure coconut, except a very small percentage (< 0.005%) of sulphur dioxide, no emulsifiers etc.

The coconut cream blocks are great - you can stretch it to last for around 3 different meals. And they taste better too.

I've just ordered the cream, thank you! Still struggling with the replacements for dairy items though.

It is just scientific research. The fact you feel it is 'a stick to beat mothers with' is your view of food responsibility but really that's separate and tough.

In my house it is a stick to beat fathers with, as he does most of the cooking.

Doesn't change the science.

It would be wrong not to inform people of the risks. It will hopefully encourage some to change their diet/cut down on some things.
It’s a bit like the benefits of breast feeding- it’s important to inform people but some mothers take it as an attack on them personally.

I don't see it as a stick for working mothers. I see it as a stick for beating society.

What has our society and culture become that we rely on foods that are made so badly that they do us harm that we can afford [insert not strictly necessary item here] but not the time to prepare food?

Mothers should feel free to work if they wish but they shouldn't need to work so hard they don't have time to feed their children healthy food. Both should be possible.

It’s like alcohol being bad for you. You’re still free to drink, and people still enjoy it, but if there’s information on risks, everyone deserves to know so they can decide for themselves.

For anything non perishable or freezable, buy a few weeks/months supply to reduce the number of times you need to go shopping in different places.

Oat milk is supposed to be easy to make. Are any of your DC old enough to be put in charge of milk production? Likewise yogurt can be made at home, although I don't know if this is possible with non dairy milks.

But if this is due to 'teens with preferences' rather than primary age DC with allergies, I'd be telling them if they want all these alternative foods, they can make/shop for them themselves.

@Diddykong i hear you on this - CMPA toddler....every dairy substitute (cheeze, spread etc) is a UPF except maybe the coconut you mentioned.

We use plenish milk because it's got the least other gubbins in it, but for allergies avoiding UPF becomes altogether more complicated

That sounds tough buy I think you need to focus on the fact that the main reason to cut out UPFs is the long term effect having a high % of them in the diet has.

If you're taking them out where you can and keeping them in cases where removing them would be harmful to your children's health in other ways then you're doing the right thing and lowering the health risks as much as you can

In the end your children will still be eating a lot less UPFs than a lot of other kids their age so long as you are making the healthiest choices for them

I think the ideas people have mentioned here of freezing some of the specialist foods so you're more free to shop around sounds great and also things like oat milk are super easy to make (will even save you money!)