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)

No, I don't consider UPF in our diets. Fruit and veg, cooking from scratch, healthy snacks yes, UPFs no. The people who talk about UPFs on here more often than not use "chemicals" in their reasoning which doesn't exactly give much credence to their posts.

The point at which I fully disregarded it as a load of bollocks was a thread about formula being a UPF. Many posters seemed to be concluding "formula is a UPF, therefore formula is Bad", rather than "formula is a UPF, therefore avoiding UPFs is a handy rule of thumb and not an absolute rule, some UPFs are clearly fine".

I eat a sensible, healthy, balanced diet based on fresh meat, fruit & veggies. I’m not interested in this month’s passing hyped up food fad. It will something else next month, and I won’t be interested in that either.

No, we eat a pretty balanced diet and exercise. I am not too worried about the latest food fads. They come and go. We do not live forever and I have no intention of being chained to the kitchen 7 days a week. Therefore, we will continue as we have done before.

Just opened my pantry.. lots of UPF? Yep.. pasta sauces, pesto, pasta, soups, crisps, cakes.
shrugs
I also grow my own garlic, potatoes, onions, peas, courgettes, broadbeans , beetroot.... so half the year my veg is as good as you can get... fresh from my own soil.
Grew up on findus crispy pancakes and vesta curries and really can#t find it in me to worry about it.

This is nonsense media hype. I'm happy for you if you think you've found a way to deal with your disordered eating, good luck.

I want to reduce UPF but struggle. Most of my main meals i cook from scratch, but then binge on things like biscuits when stressed/bored/sad. I need to reduce for weight as much as health, but I struggle long term.

For example, I was doing really well since Jan, with 6 weeks of no alcohol or UPF. But then had a stressful period where I ate comfort food and drank some alcohol. Then went on holiday and ate out most days, plus more alcohol.

Now I'm back home I've kept eating UPF snacks - mostly biscuits and then having a homemade sandwich for lunch (upf bread) instead of a salad. I also had a takeaway. This tends to be my life... I'll try to get back on the wagon again by Monday, but I don't imagine it will stick for more than a month or so.

Yoyo

Not fussed

I don’t do media apart from essential, so without MN I wouldn’t even know about them.

I used to cook from scratch but do that a lot less now so maybe I have a lot in my meals.

The media loves to wind the public up into a stir. That's why there's so much media coverage about upf at the moment.

I drink alcohol often, despite knowing that's not great for me. I've had cigarettes too. I'm afraid sometimes it's just easier/nicer not to worry about these things.

We don't eat a lot of ready meals though.

I think I'd rather focus on exercise and meditation for health (not doing enough of either at the moment).

I think there's a definite connection between UPFs, obesity, and poor health. The food manufacturers make a small fortune by feeding the unwary fake and chemically-altered addictive food - and in turn the pharmaceutical companies' coffers are being filled by doctors writing prescriptions to try and counteract the chronic conditions which can be caused by over-eating and drinking UPFs.

That said, I understand not everyone is able to cook from scratch for whatever reason and if push comes to shove, a ready meal is better than nothing.

And yet formula fed babies have higher rates of obesity, diabetes, cancer etc when they grow up - so not really ‘fine’ is it.

Dunno. I mean, it's hard enough to get a child to eat anything that isn't cake, as it is, I'm sticking with the wholemeal sliced bread, Linda McCartney stuff, Frubes and all for now. And weekly pizza night.

And really, wholemeal macaroni with cheese can't be that bad, surely?

Generally I eat fruit, vegetables, eggs and muesli anyway, plus pizza and cake.

I'm skeptical of this in sofar as the findings of the study need clearly defining by the media.

This paper reports an ASSOCIATION between UPF and adverse health outcomes. Note the stress on association. This is not causation. They have not disproved or even mentioned correlation.

Without further controlled studies, which are REALLY hard to do and just about impossible at the scale needed to understand effects on mortality/disease onset & progression, we do not have the information to statistically show that UPFs cause these conditions.

In other words, I cannot see how they can show that UPF intake isn't actually a direct result of having these diseases, or is a correlation with other comorbidities such as low income. For example, if you are depressed, you may cook less or seek out sugary food to feel better and therefore have higher UPF intake. Your depression causes the UPF intake, not the other way around. If you have a very stressful job and associated anxiety because of it, you may eat a high UPFs lunch and get a takeaway because you don't have time to cook.

Probably the most important thing that isn't mentioned is that people on the breadline eat more UPFs because they're cheaper and often their environment/situation doesn't allow for cooking from scratch with quality ingredients. Poor income families have significantly higher mortality because of many other factors, not just UPFs.

Essentially, you cannot prove that consuming UPFs cause this mortality, or if people experiencing higher mortality simply consume more UPFs.

I am not defending UPFs but until we break down the significant barriers that exist for people to choose healthier alternatives over UPFs, i.e. they become as equally available/convenient/affordable/rewarding, then we risk 'victim blaming' and misunderstanding the true causes of mortality.

It’s the emperor’s new clothes. We’ve all known for bloody years that a diet based mainly on fresh veg and fruit, pulses, lean fish and meat etc is better for you than heavily processed meals with lots of added sugar and salt.

I am not doing anything differently as a result of the UPF hype just because a few TV doctors have latched onto a new acronym and are using it to make huge amounts of money.

Yes @Caravaggiouch I'm not sure what the word "ultra" here is adding to tell us anything new

@Nowdontmakeamess Of course there are some great benefits to breastfeeding but that doesn't mean formula is actually harmful.

And correlation is not causation.

I eliminated UPF and sugar for a year July 2022 - July 2023 and lost 3 stone without really trying, no calorie counting, and went down from size 16 to 12. I've continued the regime beyond the weight loss, been a bit laxer since last year but haven't regained the weight.

Anything taken to extremes is unhealthy. I just take a sensible approach, tread a middle line and bloody love Monster Munch, McDs and ice cream. I do the best I can, as much as I can.

I've gone off Spector and the whole Zoe thing. I was very engaged with it during the Covid tracking and quite interested in the gut biota / diet initiative, but it's become increasingly like a cult. Zoe's all high-pressure selling and Spector's gone off the rails, imo.

I watched a couple of his recent videos last week. He was bullshitting. Enthusing all over the place about 'science' where the actual science doesn't back his statements, and misdirecting the scientists he interviewed so they never got to make their actual points. He only seems to like interviewees who reflect his bouncy, boyish, bullshit energy.

It happens. Again during the beginning of Covid, I was a big fan of John Campbell. He started off analysing the available data in sensible ways, maybe a little facile at times but basically solid and made things easy for people to understand. Then he went all anti-vax conspiracy theorist, getting more absurd as his YouTube revenues increased. I suppose it's unrealistic to expect people not to follow the money, even if it leads them on to treacherous ground.

Anyway: I'm a nutrition bore and no, I'm not fretting about UPFs. I make the vast majority of my food at home - and I use "scary" ingredients like flour improvers (wheat gluten, ascorbic acid), different sugars, citric acid, MSG and xanthan gum, plus anything else I think will get the desired result. I actually prefer supermarket multigrain bread to my own and, if I had the right machinery, would happily pump carbon dioxide through my dough to get an even crumb!

Practically all food is processed. Processing our food is what enabled humans to evolve and to develop communities that could sustain population growth. "Ultra" processing suggests a loss of nutrition: that is true of some things you already know are nutritionally impoverished, like cheese string. But what the hell's supposed to be wrong with pizza??

Here's the ingredients list for ready-salted crisps: Potatoes, Vegetable Oils (Sunflower, Rapeseed, in varying proportions), Salt, Antioxidants (Rosemary Extract, Ascorbic Acid, Tocopherol Rich Extract, Citric Acid).
Not evil. (Ascorbic acid = Vitamin C; Tocopherol = Vitamin E)
I love 'em!

If you lost loads of weight after cutting out "UPFs", what are the changes you made? @RogueFemale @maybein2022.

I'm wondering if it's mainly down to swapping high-sugar, low-fibre foods for alternatives with lower GI or perhaps generally reducing carbs because you were thinking more about what you ate.

I try and eat as little processed food as possible but have done so for decades. I am a batch cooker though and that makes things a lot easier. Plus it works out cheaper in the long run. Having said that, many cannot afford the long run and many just don't have time for cooking big pots of stuff and portioning it all out.

I stopped eating ready meals, shop-bought cakes, biscuits, sweets and crisps. Stopped eating all sugar of any kind except for fruit.

Reduced bread consumption and ate only 'artisan' wholegrain stuff (preferably rye or spelt or multi seeded at least).

Radically reduced pasta and rice intake and replaced with air fried white or sweet potatoes or celeriac.

Reduced cheese intake. Continued to drink wine.

Regular brisk walks at least 20 mins a day.

Lots of whole foods. Snack on stuff like dates or anchovies.

No saint. I will cave and have good quality ice cream, etc. But I'm over the really bad stuff.

I eat plant based whole food most of the time. But if I want a McPlant I have it 😁

with all the media attention on UPF at the moment

Actually I don't think there is much compared to the health risks. Obesity rates are soaring in the UK in children and adults. UPF also cause an increase in cancer. I find it so worrying how much big business has control over legislation that should be there to protect the population. There is a lot of burying your head in the sand. The food 'traffic light system' is misleading. A lot of this info is toned down or under reported.

Thanks, @RogueFemale. So that's what you did - switched to a lower GI diet with higher fibre and less readily-available carb. Much healthier 😎