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)

Annoying the government has allowed this to happen

Annoying the government has allowed this to happen

Not an accurate summary of what I said but not going to argue about it.

Rubbish.
All mine were formula fed and none of them ( all in their thirties ) are overweight or have any health problems.
Neither do I or my siblings who were also formula fed.
Nor does my husband and his siblings, also formula fed.
I don't buy into this so called expert nonsense because all too often, further down the line most of these so called experts are discredited.

I need to gain weight, I don't eat meat and protein bars are too convenient to give up. Yeah I could be buying a nutribullet and making smoothies out of peanut butter and plant milk or something but I'm realistic with myself, I'm not gonna do that. (Though I guess if anyone has any recipes for non-UPF smoothies you can do without fancy equipment, please drop them!) I I do eat a good range of fruit and veg etc.

I'm trying to get to about 50kg, then I'll think about ditching the protein bars/powders. To be honest the quorn sausages should probably go as well, but one thing at a time. I already have bad digestion and anxiety which is how I got underweight in the first place.

We eat out a lot due to scheduling but tend to choose places that are restaurants that do grilled meat etc (except when it’s DD’s turn to choose and then I choose the best available option and DD just eats rubbish but I’m not willing her over it)

We occasionally use jar sauces (for mine and DD’s lunch I use marinades for chicken) but not for dinners because an onion, garlic and a tin of chopped tomatoes is not much of a hassle. I do use packet seasoning.

Tbh ideally we would have more time to cook at home from scratch and I’m happy to do it but right now time wise it’s difficult, we are out of the house a lot and Dd is a bit fussy (vegetable dodger) but eats fruit/olives/cheese/ plain yoghurt as snacks so not too bad.

Formula isn’t harmful - it’s an amazing product. DT’s were solely formula fed and have no weight or health issues.

DD doesn’t like bread or cereal and I rarely eat bread because I’d rather have a proper meal but DH eats bog standard supermarket bread. It’s actually quite difficult to gauge how much upf we are eating. It’s takeout night and thats going to be lebanese, grilled chicken, kofta, salad, hummus and pita which I think sounds fine (maybe except for the pita)

Is it the food causing the ill health or is it the lifestyle/stress which is why they eat the upfs in the first place.
Some of it will be correlation surely.

Is it proven that UPFs cause an increase in cancer?

I'm not saying that it won't ultimately be proven to be true, but I'm sceptical that it has already been proven.

My question too

My life is hectic. I have a one foot in front of the other season right now with very busy job and SEN kids. Anything that isn’t essential right now isn’t happening. I think they’ll be a majority of parents in my shoes which is why dangerous things should be banned from the supply chain rather than relying on consumers.

I am trying, but it's hard to kick the convenience and affordability. Breakfasts and snacks are our downfall.

I don’t think we eat a lot of UPF anyway and mostly prioritise cooking over convenience, which eats into our limited time, which means I don’t have time to find out which food is UPF and which is merely a bit processed. Stick a label on it like the traffic light labels and I’d avoid the UPF ones, but we mostly buy ingredients rather than meals anyway. I’m not giving up frozen fish fingers or baked beans, though.

I like waffles, chips, ready-made sauces and pizza.

Honestly, if the amount of UPF you are eating is the only thing you have to worry about, then you are living a very charmed life.

@Garlicking I stopped eating anything sweet in a packet with a long list of ingredients and made it myself instead- so instead of a shop bought brownie, for example, I made it. I gave up all artificial sweeteners and diet drinks etc. I changed bread to sourdough and wraps to the Crosta mollica ones. Crucially though, not eating UPF but eating homemade ‘treats’ seems to have stopped the binges, even though they contain sugar. I have always eaten well at mealtimes eg protein, lots of veg etc. I eat more fruit than I did before. I stopped seeing food in packets as ‘treats.’ I don’t have loads of ‘snacks’ in the house for me or the children.

Ready salted generally are the only flavour that aren’t UPF. The ones in Aldi are just potato, salt and oil. That’s generally the only flavour I buy now (if I buy them).

It’s not, at all.

I barely eat any and if I do eat some Im not that bothered, theres a box of chocs on the table for example which will get eaten at some point, they are UPF. I cook 90% of my own food so barely have any UPFs in my diet

My OH eats what appears to be solely UPFs, he doesnt seem bothered. He likes beige.

Nope only just reading about it and couldn’t give a toss. Everything in moderation. Life is too short.

Pretty sure me having 2 young kids and not getting much sleep is having more impact on my physical and mental health than the toast I had yesterday. Or the formula I had 35 years ago.

Sorry haven't RTFT so this may have already been addressed but it's really not arbitrary and bogus.

I highly recommend people who are unsure exactly why UPFs are so bad for people head over to YouTube and watch Kiana Docherty's latest video about them.

It is not simply about not having all of the ingredients to replicate them in a standard kitchen that defines UPFs, but the fact that they can only exist due to technology and industrial processing methods.

Real food is essentially disintegrated beyond all recognition into basic macronutrient slurries which manufacturers can reform into any product they want, only with the help of all of the additives, emulsifiers and artificial flavours and colours.

It's actually extremely concerning and scientists are finding more and more new ways UPFs are bad for us, and it's not just because they are high in sugar and low in fibre.

I read the book a while back and switched to non-UPF. For us, it wasn't sustainable because I am not prepared to spend my life in the kitchen baking, cooking and clearing up. Isn't this what women in the 1970s pushed so hard to escape from? I got really angry about it - out at work all day, then spending hours baking my own bloody bread and biscuits and fiddling about creating marvellous non-UPF dinners that require hours of frigging chopping and mountains of washing up. Fuck that. I didn't work hard at school/university/work to be shoved back into the kitchen.

Regarding formula, obviously it is a UPF but obviously it is necessary. All my kids had to have formula. (And I mean, had to, to survive). I don’t feel any guilt about that at all.

Or Birds Eye fish fingers with white bread and ketchup! My go to meal !