To wonder how the UPF quitters are now?

[MyDogsPaws]

I remember when the upf book came out last year loads and loads do people (me included) went crazy removing UPF from their diets, there were countless threads about it on here.

I have been making better choices some of the time but overall still struggling with sugar craving and binge eating. So still overweight and struggling with pain issues, I also feel like I always feel just as tired and awful no matter how healthily I eat but I struggle to be strict with my diet.

I would love to know if anyone managed to stick to a low/no UPF diet and if you have seen any major changes to your health or general well-being/ tiredness health conditions etc. of if anyone has made any other dietary changes that have had a big impact what were they?

I gradually changed to (mainly) whole food, vegan, almost everything cooked from scratch and average 8/10 different fruit and veg a day. Three years on the change has been huge. Lost two stone, sailed through menopause symptom free, hair thick and shiny, skin glowy, body better than I had at 30. Rarely ill, bags of energy and few to no aches and pains. I've never tried to avoid UPF, i eat spread, peanut butter, the odd biscuit, crisps and bread (loads of bread!) Also very occasionally a vegan substitute food which are very UP. But all in moderation.

Wow @5128gap that sounds like an amazing change, Definitely quite motivating to hear!

We're still here.
I've been following a high protein/ wholefoods diet for about a year, also cutting out UPFs, caffeine and refined sugar (never drunk alcohol or smoked, so there's that too!), and I'm in the best shape ever mentally and physically.
Whenever I 'fall off the wagon', I feel gross and can't wait to get back to normal.
I used to love 'beige' food - now it gives me the ick!

@Jumpingthruhoops well done for sticking with it, I wish I could get to the stage where a changing my diet make me feel so good that can’t go back to my old ways!

Thanks @MyDogsPaws for this thread I have wondered the same. Anyone who has managed this- is there anything you think that the most effect on how you feel now? I think if I could start and begin to feel better it would help me make more changes

I avoid upf and cook from scratch, don't eat much meat, and have as many fruit and veg as I can. My skin and hair are great, I don't get ill as often, but I am still fat

I set myself a target to get as many as possible out of my diet and I reckon I’m down to about 10% of my diet contains or is a UPF.

I have been on a low UPF diet my whole life because of cultural reasons, I suppose. The only UPF I eat is biscuits and crisps. My main meals are all zero UPF because that is the way I was brought up and I dont know any other way to eat.Not trying to be holier than thou.

I didn’t read the book but changed our households food shop dramatically from many UPF to hardly any at all.

I can’t imagine I will ever go back now that I’ve seen the light!

Yup! Also did Zoe and feel a lot better. Am not as puritanical as I was a year ago, but have completely changed the way I eat and wouldn’t go back.

I have been eating fermented foods since I was one. Zoe just borrows what so many cultures have been doing all along. If you go to a S Indian home for instance, about 5 types of fermented food with seeds for breakfast!

I didn't get caught up in the initial wave of enthusiasm.

But have been reducing the amount of UPF. I'm not sure I've noticed a huge difference in how I feel, though. But an sticking with a series of small changes and am hoping that it's doing some underlying good.

I've follow the non upf diet long before it was a thing...
I would say, overall I am healthier, feel less sluggish and surprisingly I eat less!

But everyone is different.
I think in the beginning, you really need to go cold turkey on sugar and upf ... and yes you'll feel tired and hungry at times!
But once your body is used to it, you'll be fine. In fact your taste buds will change and you might find things to salty or sweet!
Things that help me personally: I prefer savoury food to sweets, a proper meal to snacks and a lot of upf foods are migraine triggers. I also like cooking and trying out new things. So overall it's a relatively easy diet to follow.

I changed our whole families' diet away from UPF as much as possible and we all feel much better for it.

We're currently on holiday in the UK (we live abroad) and decided to indulge on all the chocolate, biscuits, crisps, cakes, meals out etc. I feel much more tired, bloated and generally yuk. My 10 and 12 year olds are disappointed that a lot of the food they remembered as delicious, just isn't. They prefer my homemade snacks and meals. There's only a couple of snacks that they still enjoy.

Still here. I combine low UPF with intermittent fasting (daily), which I don't track because it's a lifestyle for me rather than a diet of any kind. But I fast anywhere between 16-20 hours a day, and eat in a window of 4-8 hours.

Sounds miserable to some, but I like it and honestly can't imagine wanting anything other than black coffee and water until at least mid-afternoon.

When I'm eating, I just try to mostly eat real food. Not necessarily 'healthy' food - last night I had a big pile of home-made chips! I have the odd full-sugar Coke about once a fortnight, I have the odd shop-bought sandwich, eat the odd pack of decent quality ready-salted crisps. Have fish and chips from time to time, from the local chippy. Drink a glass of wine almost every night. Make myself shortbread at home if I want something sweet, or have a high quality yoghurt that doesn't contain any UPF, etc. I even eat a (reasonably decent quality) ready meal about once a week. And I've never been good at eating really healthy food - not a big vegetable fan, for example. So I'm definitely not depriving myself in the slightest.

I've done intermittent fasting for years, and it's done me a lot of good, but I was still a big UPF eater until a year or so ago. My weight was fine, but not ideal. I tended to have IBS-like symptoms fairly regularly. I felt rubbish when I ate UPF - it was shop-bought cakes, biscuits, crisps, chocolate that I always went for. But somehow couldn't stop myself eating it anyway.

Then I read the Chris van Tulleken book and it was a revelation. I honestly don't want to eat all of the UPF junk anymore. I lost weight, I felt better in myself, I no longer rush to the bathroom after eating or first thing in the morning with explosive diarrhoea. 🤣 I don't miss it at all. And despite not eating particularly 'cleanly' and not giving up wine, I hope that by cutting out most UPF and continuing my fasting lifestyle I am massively reducing my chances of Type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's etc. 🤞

I think it's almost impossible to have a control group for things like this. Are there people out there who eat entirely UPFs and feel fine, full of energy etc? I keep an eye on the amount of UPFs that I eat but haven't made extraordinary attempts to cut back, I just try to choose the non-UPF versions of things if I can. I also have plenty of energy, sailed through menopause, have lost weight etc.

So sometimes it's not diet, but bias can lead you to think that it is.

I am still avoiding UPF on the whole and if I do end up eating any - I know!
For example I ordered a baked potatoes with prawns at a cafe yesterday. The prawns had Marie Rose sauce on. It also came with coleslaw.
I couldn't eat it. The sauce tasted 'chemically' - it obviously had sweeteners in it and same either the coleslaw.
I asked the waitress whether the sauce etc was bought in ( yes) and whether it was 'low fat' (yes).....

Yeuk

Through following a SW diet I batch cook from scratch . Tons of veg pulses lean meat. No bread or cakes or sugary snacks like biscuits or crisps. Make own dips .
Still have 2 caffeine drinks a day and moderate alcohol.
Have lost 3 and half stone in a year. Feel so healthy in myself, great skin and hair, do masses of exercise because it makes me feel good, sleep like a baby and walk a bit taller with pride in what I've achieved. My Kids are proud of me too. It took a definite wanting to get there and lots of planning and preparation but that's all now second nature.
What's not to like ? Can fit into all my old clothes and feel amazing. It's cheaper to cook from scratch so saves money too

Eating zero UPF hasn't flattened my menopausal tummy. I am healthy though.

I did a ‘premade’ shop ahead of a holiday to make cooking in a small kitchen easier - I was horrified how much more my shop cost !

I am really surprised @5128gap by your change.

We eat very little UPF andf have cut out even more - eg bread etc. But actually, i think the thing that has made us all feeling much better overall (but sadly, no weight loss) is obsessing about getting 30+ plant based foods a week.

@BouleDeSuif

I've always cooked from scratch and I'm overweight! The link isn't there for me.

I’ve lost a stone and a half…not really motivated by the UPF thing as such…but wanting to eat a more varied more veg filled diet.

eating lots more salads, home made soups, fish and chicken. Pretty much no bacon or sausages. Very little red meat. More pulses. Very occasional ready meal but they don’t really hit the spot.

it’s a change of way of doing things, and the slightly annoying think for me is I’m the better cook, so whereas I used to be able to leave dh to cook a ready meal and veg for us on his nights….it’s more my job now. He’s good at stir fry’s, roast dinners and bbqs….but still won’t make a salad dressing….

anyway still got a stone t9 go and still alike crappy chocolate.

What I am mainly taking from this thread (so far) is almost no one has actually given up UPFs 😂