To wonder how anyone can live on so much processed food?

[MummyMumMumMummy]

Let me start by saying I’m not by any means a health freak. I have periods where we’ll have frozen pizzas, frozen beige food and cans of beans for dinner.. but it makes me feel so so rough!

For example, in the last week we’ve eating frozen pizza, a McDonald’s, a night of cheese and biscuits, and we’ve had beans on toast, ready meals like lasagna or currys. This is just down to using what left in the house before doing a food shop and I feel awful. I feel slow, my anxiety is high, I have aches and pains and I just feel generally ‘bleurgh’

This happens every time I swap out out usual cook from scratch lots of veg type meals to these ready made quick and processed foods.

but my point is; does anyone else feel this way?

I have friends who quite consistently live on beige food and ‘hate’ veg. DH before we started dating would literally only eat beans on toast and frozen pizza. He still enjoys them from time to time but even he prefer home cooked meals with lots of veg now.

I’m not in any way judging anyone’s diet, I don’t care what you eat it doesn’t affect me. I just wonder whether other people feel such a strong physical sense of being healthier in mind and body (that sounds super green!) when they eat more organic, fresh foods?

It is true, that’s from an awful cook (said guiltily as I have 4 kids!) who gravitates towards beige food (and whose favourite ‘im in the mood for’ foods are take away and McDonalds!) I only got to know this when I started eating healthier (dh is a fab cook and saves us around here!) I felt great and people commented on me looking healthier in general. You do feel very rough after it, especially as you age (am 43, I never felt like this is my 20s or early thirties).

@Justcallmebebes but it can be both
Food of the gods as in delicious, tasty
And with additives
The two aren't exclusive

Nope. I vary between eating crap and having "healthy" periods but can't say I notice any different in how I actually feel. Mentally or physically.

Yes absolutely, its really split into 4 categories within the processed umbrella and doesn't mean unhealthy.

But to eat totally unprocessed food is an art in itself and always fascinates me when i watch people on insta and tiktok.

I think alot of it is the convenience, in most family's both parents are working, money can be tight and imagination lacking.

For example i can make humus, but a shop bought one is easier and tastier for me.

We eat a mix of fresh and premade foods like you. I only felt ill or sluggish due to food once and that was after 5 days as Disneyland with friends who only wanted processed foods on the go. Otherwise I do get a craving for fresh fruit and tomatoes between Christmas and New Year but that is due to too much rich food rather than the quality of it, per se.

I think it depends on what it is as well. I eat mostly ready meals as I work a lot and come home late and exhausted but I feel much more sluggish after several meals of pasta whereas one containing more protein and less carbs, I feel fine.

I know if I haven't had enough veg but I can eat processed foods with fresh veg and feel fine

That is my experience too - but 5 years on rather than 5 weeks!

I just think most people think it is normal to feel tired and exhausted all the time. And it really is not normal at all!

My diet is by no means perfect, but I do eat a lot of fruit and veg and mostly eat home cooked meals (I do eat chocolate everyday tho). I had a Chinese takeaway a few weeks ago, I throughly enjoyed it at the time and ate way too much. Then afterwards I felt absolutely crap, was up all night thirsty and felt sluggish and abit hungover the next day. There’s no way I could have eaten another takeaway the next day.

I do, but I cook and eat 90% whole foods so maybe I've become accustomed to that and more intolerant to processed things. I'd have to be seriously hungry before eating something like a frozen pizza, nuggets or McDonalds as my taste buds would reject it before my stomach does. If i do eat something beige or highly processed I feel sick and bloated afterwards.

How very Princess and the Pea!😂

I think age is relevant too. When I was a student I literally lived on cheap peanut butter on white toast, pasta with dolmio or pesto, biscuits and alcohol. Vegetables and protein ( apart from cheese) were alien to me. I felt totally fine, had loads of energy and really good muscle tone ( did 2 hrs rowing training every day).

If I tried that now I’d feel like absolute crap and probably require an emergency enema 🤣🤣

I don’t find organic makes any difference but yes, it makes a huge difference to my well-being if I eat predominantly whole foods with plenty ot fibre.

I have substantially overhauled my diet over the past year and eat much better now than a year ago. The thing I realised is that while I consistently ate unhealthily, I didn’t really realise how terrible it was making me feel. My body had a higher tolerance for greasy, processed foods but I also just got used to regularly feeling sluggish and tired, having background stomach issues (which I thought was IBS), heartburn, poor sleep etc. I just thought it was my age, or normal, and was accustomed to working around it.

Now that I mostly eat healthily, when I do have something like a takeaway I really feel the impact and it makes me feel rotten. It’s amazing looking back that I used to feel that way all the time and just worked around it.

I still have unhealthy food on some occasions and I enjoy the taste, but I have to factor in that certain foods will make me feel awful and plan accordingly!

I'm the exact same and if carb loading before a triathlon/marathon feel absolutely terrible so don't do it any more.

I grew up abroad on a farm where everything was freshly picked and cooked and we didn't have much access to processed food either. The people I know who live on it and don't realise that it is the reason they feel shit and lot energy all the time are ones who don't know any different because they were brought up on beige. The rest know it makes them struggle with weight and/or energy levels and that fresh cooked meals with natural ingredients would make them feel beyter but don't have the time/money/energy to do that.

Each to their own. But I do get sick of hearing colleagues or friends of friends moan about feeling shit all the time knowing all they eat is junk.

It’s interesting with all the evidence around food & how it affects health, that people still choose to live off ready meals or eat junk food multiple times a week. I think people just put their head in the sand.

There are so many things that affect health, food is just one of them.

You pick and choose the risks you're willing to take.

We'll all die of something eventually.

Most just don't care. People still smoke despite knowing how bad that is for you and there are multiple posts on here every weekend glorifying binge drinking on wine and prosecco. It's a very British middle class phenomenon to be honest.

Most of the women I see in my job (healthcare) who have problems related to alcohol consumption, or unhealthy diets are middle class and stunned and shocked it could happen to them because "it's not like I'm wandering the streets in my pyjamas drunk".

This isn't me being judgemental before anyone pounces on me. I just struggle to understand not owning your choices.

Honestly I don't really notice the difference. I don't feel worse after a few days of processed crap than I would if I've been eating healthily. I envy you OP - I think it's harder to be healthy because you "know" it's better for you than if you really feel and notice the benefits.

You absolutely are judging OP.

The OP said she wasn't judging, just how eating a lot of processed food makes her feel.
There was no need to be so defensive. Has it touched a nerve?

@MummyMumMumMummy I'm with you. I eat all sorts, but do feel heavy and bloated after a day or two of not eating fresh vegetables.

I remember craving a salad after a short break away in Blackpool with a friend who only wanted to eat fast food.

Yes I'm the same. I don't notice much difference for a couple of days but after that I start to feel sluggish and get a bit constipated!

I try and get a balance as I'm not really a great cook but also feel better when I have a healthier diet.

It's not solely down to those factors though, plenty of people who are time and money rich still eat heavily processed food, its embedded in our society. Companies pay a lot of money to fine tune the ingredients, marketing and packaging to entice customers- to appeal to every sense and we are so used to an abundance of this food that it's seen as the norm. Often if someone posts here or on social media or talks in real life about eating non processed meals it's often labelled as 'diet culture' rather than being seen as the human ideal. Hummus usually isn't too bad shop bought I'd personally just avoid the ones that use rapeseed oil.

No she isn't. Has it touched a nerve with you as well?

She said how it makes her feel. It does the same with me as well, and I'm not judging either.

We cook fresh most of the time but there are weeks that we’re both so tired that neither of us can be bothered/have the time to cook. We notice that eating takeaway every night makes us even more tired but then you’re stuck in the vicious cycle of tiredness and need to get to the weekend to sort ourselves out!

Also tinned tomatoes are fine. They are just tomatoes.