We may not ‘need’ those things because there are other things available but that doesn’t mean they’re bad. I eat only white rice and pasta because wholemeal/brown exacerbates my IBS. As do a lot of fruits and veg. Though I love veg so I try and get round it.
I also have PCOS and insulin resistance. As well previously having an ED caused by trying to follow all of these rules that we’re supposed to follow. I now eat intuitively, listening to MY body. And if I eat sweet stuff, I eat it consciously..and it doesn’t make me crave it more. What makes me (and probably a lot of people) crave things, is restriction of the things that some people deem as ‘bad’.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong in eating any type of food, be that refined, white carbs, sugar, UPFs or whatever. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t be eating a wide variety of things, including whole foods and fruits and veg, where possible. But don’t forget, that’s also a privilege a lot of people don’t have.
Over the last few decades, fat was the baddie first, then it was carbs, then sugar, now it’s UPFs, then these things all take turns to be the baddie again and again.
It’s about time people stopped stressing so much and stopped listening to all the scaremongering. Yes, eat as ‘well’ you can, and listen to your body as to how it feels, and if necessary, adjust.