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)

It’s definitely made me pause when shopping and think a bit harder. I do still buy snacks / cereals / UPF bread but I am aware of it now so possibly less than I used to.. I still keep buying some as I need help (convenience / pleasant tasting food to kids)!

I’ve switched Greek yoghurt and mix with fruit rather than fruit flavoured yoghurt.

It’s definitely made me more aware of what I’m eating and feeding my kids. Children in the UK generally eat one of the highest percentages of UPF and makes up the majority of their diet. Most food/snacks aimed at kids are UPF so I definitely check labels now/make more things myself for the kids.

I haven't seen any media attention. I didn't know what it was until today. This is the second thread it's been mentioned on.

Can't afford it.

I try as hard as I can to avoid UPFs, cause I do think they do damage, but it's a time and money thing.

You need either a lot of time, or quite a lot of money, to avoid them.

I cook from scratch as much as possible but I cannot afford to buy non UPF bread that's at least 4 times the price of UPF bread, and I don't have the time to make stock from scratch very often for example.

I am also a bit 'hmm' about how UPF is the new thing in the media, yet they rarely even mention the deleterious - and arguably worse - effects of microplastics, and not a word about EMFs.

I generally cook from scratch so don't eat that much UPF anyway.

Finances isn't a reason as the cheapest foods are home cooked and UPFs are expensive in comparison!

I haven't really paid any attention to it. I can't restrict my diet anymore than it is already, I'm vegetarian, I don't eat eggs & I eat as low carb as I can to avoid medication for diabetes. My carbs all come from vegetables such as cauliflower, Brocolli, spinach, courgettes, mushrooms & salad.

I eat cauldron vegetarian sausages & very occasionally a few Quorn things. Almonds & peanuts.

I eat Greek yogurt, cheese & milk for my lattes.

some 85% chocolate occasionally.

I avoid eating anything quite a lot of the time because I get fed up of what I can eat. I can restrict it any further.

I would love to be the kind of person who cooks from scratch - my mum is, my childhood diet was super healthy and probably zero waste, nothing came wrapped in plastic!

Unfortunately I'm not a good cook, we both work full time, the kids are pretty fussy and putting loads of effort into cooking (an activity I hate anyway) for them to not eat it is absolutely soul destroying.

I reckon we are 25% fruit / veg / meat, 50% food like bread, pasta sauce and yoghurt which is processed but I am never going to make our own and 25% proper crap like cheesestrings. I'd like to make it more 50/50 between the first two categories.

Same here. I was raised on home cooked food and that's how I've always fed myself.

I am however being more careful to check the back of things to make sure they don't have anything added that they shouldn't

I think it was something loads of people panicked about for a month or two, then swiftly forgot about.

I gave up most of them naturally following the keto diet, but judging by glancing in trolleys round the supermarket, people no longer care.

I have to say though, after so long off them, UPFs now make me very hungry, much sooner. So for me, the "its cheaper" argument doesn't work because I have to buy more of them to feel full. I feel fuller and fast 16-18hrs on a loin chop (75p), 1/2 1kg bag of frozen cauli or broccoli (50/70p) and 50g grated cheese melted over (keto don't forget!), than eating a ready meal/whole frozen pizza etc if you could find something the equivalent price.

The latter I'd want to snack at 9pm and even if I resisted, I'd wake up starving the next morning and desperatelyneed breakfast NOW. So I "save" the price of breakfast with the non UPF stuff as well.

Maybe broken myself being off them so long but I really notice the difference and eat far more on UPFs.

I’m really consciously trying to reduced our intake of UPF and red and processed meat. Luckily I have non fussy kids and time and money to spend on it. Bread is tricky as I don’t want to make my own. We generally have a supermarket pizza a few times a month. I have bacon once a week and still make spag bol with mince. Beans is another one we are still eating, and pesto occasionally. Chocolate. Not perfect by any means but trying.

We don’t eat a lot of them anyway. Very much cook from actual ingredients in the main but also fairly comfortable with the fact we are all going to die anyway, so I’ll have the ginger nut. I’m done worrying

I can't afford not to. On UC and my food budget is small enough that sometimes I need that 85p ready meal or the super cheap chicken chunks for sandwiches.

Since one of my children had a restrictive eating disorder which landed her in hospital for several months I've been suspicious of anyone and anything that aims to profit from making people scared of food, and the current fuss about UPFs presses that button so I'm not jumping to clear my cupboards of convenient sauces in jars or my freezer of ready made lasagne and I'll continue to buy and eat supermarket bread. If DH or I found highly processed foods hyperpalatable to the extent that portion control was a problem I'm sure I'd initiate a discussion on cutting them out, but we don't.

I’m not reducing them, I would like to but UPFs are generally the most convenient foods and also the most addictive so even when I try to give them up I inevitably fail within a few days. I think the only way I could reduce them would be if I had a private chef to do all my meal planning, shopping and cooking. As long as I’m in charge I will repeatedly default to quick ready meals or takeaways and junk food snacks.

Thank you for all the replies- really interesting. I promise I’m not a journalist- just genuinely curious to see what people’s take on it is.

As I mentioned, I have long had issues with food and so far, cutting basically anything UPF out is what is working for me, particularly anything sweet. That said, I’m not 100% strict on it as I think 100% UPF free is almost impossible. I have kids, ranging from toddler to teens and I agree that trying to control what the teens eat outside the home is hard so my philosophy is as little UPF at home as possible.

Also totally agree with the financial element and actually this is what Dr Chris van Tulleken says a lot- eating non UPF isn’t cheap. Really, the food manufacturers and companies need to change. The advertising and marketing are really bad, it’s not fair to stick claims like ‘supports your families health’ on a box of coco pops- I don’t understand how that’s allowed.

I am also fortunate in loving cooking and baking (always have) which helps. I also have a long way to go weight wise so I’m not claiming to have all the answers either…but so far so good.

Can't afford to
I cook my main meals from scratch but I do eat supermarket bread, jar of pesto, squash, crisps etc

I have an ND kid. I really try but his diet is so restricted and it's getting smaller. His OT recommended crackers to help with his sensory needs and it also helps to increase his water intake. He won't try healthier alternatives.

It depresses me and I try to even out his diet in other ways. But I can only focus on meeting his needs today, and not about storing up issues like bowel cancer down the line.

OP question is premised on there being scope for reduction. I get impression that some MNers have never in whole life had UPF so there is nothing to reduce.

Putting that point aside,
MNers can't come up with a definition of UPF that I can make sense of, much less can they produce a justifcation for being utterly purist about it this thing they can't define rationally. I only hear anti-UPF prattle on MN. Put me in the "not worried about it" camp anyway.

I just eat what I want to eat basically. I do eat some upf, but also a lot of fresh food. I've lived through many decades of this/that isn't good for you and really can't be bothered taking much notice.

Not worrying about it. It’s just the latest media bandwagon on what we’re eating. I’m 33 and just in my life I’ve seen at different times we should avoid salt, sugar, white carbs, sat fat , gm, non organic. Blablabla. Does anyone else remember when Joe Wicks kept telling us coconut oil was better for us? Then we all got wind of the fact that coconut oil is actually a saturated fat so we screwed our heads back on and went back to frying off our onions in olive oil.

I’m yet to see any research that it’s the processing in ‘UPF’ that makes the difference vs foods stuffed with salt, fat and sugar. A lot of me wonders if it’s the dairy/meat industry railing against vegans (I eat everything - not a vegan conspiracy theorist). Eg oat milk is a UPF, cow milk is not, pretty sure oat is better for the planet and your health though.

Most people don’t have the time to make their own bread, or the money to buy from a bakery. Reducing ready meals/take aways etc makes sense but toast and peanut butter in the morning is less likely to kill you than driving round in your car.

out of interest... why listen to the VT twins, T Spector etc... none of these people have any training in dietetic, food science or nutrition... but they are very good at "media engagement" (a bit like Ken is good at "beach") and making money from it.

there is no good, agreed upon definition of UPF. The daily mail and co throw in everything in the category, from bread to cereals to baked beans, yoghurts, to cakes. The evidence for UPF impacting health is observational, and boils down to what we already know - the effect is driven by some of the subgroups (e.g. sweetened drinks increase risk).

Totally agree that the classification for UPF is not great in that the NOVA classification would put, say, a Mars bar or something in the same category as a loaf of seeded whole grain bread which happens to also contain some preservatives. And a lot of the categorisation is ambiguous too.

I’m a very healthy eating vegetarian and have been for over 30 years but every time I read about UHP foods it makes me fancy McDonalds! Mmmm fries, burger and Coke - yum!