If you are not reducing your intake of UPF…

[maybein2022]

… with all the media attention on UPF at the moment and so much research coming out about it. Interested to know. If you’re NOT reducing your intake of it, is it because you’re not able to (finances/accessibility/time), because you don’t want to or don’t think it’s a problem, you and/or your kids are neurodivergent and a lot of ‘safe’ foods are UPF or other reasons.

YANBU: I am reducing mine/my family’s intake
YABU: I am not for reasons listed above (or other reasons)

Is this for research purposes?

No, not at all.

Not really as it was pretty low already I think. It's just how we've always eaten.

ND household. Also, something’s going to get us all eventually. Everything in moderation. My nan has eaten a diet of mostly UPF but kept very very active and she is still here into her 90s, sharp as a tack. It’s a lottery. Do your best, eat fruit and veg, keep as active as you can. I wouldn’t start going crazy about reducing UPFs or worrying about what counts as one, in fact I think that can lead to disordered eating.

Can't be aresed to worry about any more things. Thankfully my diet has always had a good balance I think.

I don’t really want to. I’m doing Zoe at the moment as I want to increase the variety of plants I eat, but I don’t think I’ll directly cut down on UPF as a result.

If you had to pin me to a reason, it’s convenience.

We mainly cook from scratch but the latest research into the effects of UPF and just how ubiquitous all those ghastly additives are, has made us rethink some of the choices we make.

Mainly it's about substituting some of the ingredients we have bought for convenience, rather than needing whole scale changes. Things like replacing the small pots of pasta sauce which are full of sugar and salt, with tomato passata and fresh mushrooms and olives. Porridge instead of Weetabix Minis, plain instead of fruit yoghurts etc.

it's evil what the food industry has done to the food in the supermarkets, and it's happened by stealth before our eyes.

I've given it no consideration. We all eat OK. I don't really know what UPFs are but we eat a good mixture of stuff with plenty of fresh ingredients so if we are also having some UPFs then meh, it's all in balance

I don't want to.

What are you doing yourself @maybein2022?

What is UPF?

Not reducing.

I have ibs and some foods cause me massive amounts of gastric problems,

Upf foods are often bland and easy for me to eat and calm down those problems.

Another here in the can’t be arsed to worry about it camp. I cook from scratch majority of the time. We all eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg. I buy meats such as bacon/sausages maybe once a month?

Apart from that I’m not going to worry about a box of Cheerios or a loaf of bread.

What's the difference between processed food and ultra processed food? I think the former is stuff like ready meals, but I only recently heard of UPF.

Ultra processed food.

I'm not reducing UPF because I don't think I eat a lot of UPF.

We tend to avoid UPF anyway.

Ah ok... well, I don't think we eat loads of UPF's anyway, and I just can't be bothered to think about it too much tbh.

We don't eat many of them anyway.

I've been trying to avoid them for many years. We buy fresh veg and cook mostly from scratch.

I have four fussy-eating kids who all do lots of extra curriculars, a very busy job and a husband who works 50 hours a week. The thought of coming home and starting to make a meal from scratch every night is totally overwhelming. It’s just very far down on my priority list at the moment.

I also find cooking from scratch very expensive. I can give my kids waffles and pizza for three quid all in.

I make them eat a lot of fruit and they drink water and milk rather than juice. They are also incredibly active.

Also, to add, it’s MN so usually you’ll have more people clicking on these types of threads who grow all of their own vegetables in their private allotment and have their own chickens laying eggs rather than the majority of the population who don’t have those things.

Having listened to Dr Xand Dr Chris' podcast on this in a binge listen at the weekend, yes we are further reducing our intake.

But won't remove all together because, convenience and taste.

I don't give a shit. I eat a balanced diet and go to the gym. I have more muscle and am in better shape than the majority of the dweeby men (Eddie Abbew aside) who keep going on and on about it.

Don't need to, don't eat enough of them to be clinically relevant, and what I do eat of them fits into my lifestyle, in which I have bigger fish to fry.

Things like replacing the small pots of pasta sauce which are full of sugar and salt, with tomato passata and fresh mushrooms and olives. Porridge instead of Weetabix Minis, plain instead of fruit yoghurts etc.

We did that anyway. It's just nicer. And the less salt/sugar/processed food you eat the more you dislike it.