AIBU to think that the anti UPF books and diets around at the moment are just a new version of Clean Eating?

[TeaforTheWins]

Demonising all foods that have emulsifiers in and making us think that a “upf” free diet is realistic, to me, is madness. I eat well, I cook meals from scratch most of the time but of course I have “UPF” in my diet. A sandwich in my packed lunch made from supermarket bread, the odd tin of soup, biscuits with my tea, fruit yoghurts, a sandwich on the train, a supermarket croissant on a Sunday morning etc.
Am i not getting something? Or is this just another way to make women hate our bodies, hate ourselves for not having the time to be baking bread at home, and part with our hard earned money to buy artisan chocolate rather than the kit kat that we actually want.
I’ve read Ultra Processed People and I’ve listened to the podcasts, but I can’t see how this is at all realistic for working parents to live up to.

Exactly @LegoTherapy.

Chorleywood bread ie regular supermarket sliced bread is crap. It’s full of rubbish and makes you hungry.

I have no stock with “clean eating” nonsense but eating fake foods is clearly a bad idea.

@MoltenLasagne

DD has rice Krispies or shreddies sometimes. We do an 80/20: she's a teenaged girl and I don't want her getting into absolutism. We also buy Jason's sourdough bread (and have a bread maker, which is really easy) so she has toast with butter and home made jam (my sister makes and gives us for Christmas) or we use Bonne Maman chocolate hazelnut spread, which has a processed oil in - I forget which - but is way better than Nutella.

She doesn't like porridge or rice pudding much, which is a shame (flaked rice or pawa rice makes a very quick rice "porridge"). She does like finger millet porridge (I call it "wimbi" which is what it was called in Uganda when I was a girl) and she had that a couple of days last week.

I also make drop scones which are really quick - an egg, a dollop of greek yoghurt, a couple of teaspoons of sugar, few drops vanilla essence if you want, flour, baking powder and add milk to the correct consistency - like custard consistency I suppose. Melt butter in a frying pan, Drop in the batter in desert spoon sized splodges. Turn once it is bubbling in the centre.

DD has these with honey or strawberries or Bonne maman choc spread. She takes spares in her lunchbox.

Yesterday she had plain rice cakes spread with yoghurt and sliced strawberries (her choice,). Today it was rice Krispies.

Eggs are good too - we have scrambled egg on toast at the weekend a lot, for brunch - but I never have time on weekdays somehow.

We also make breakfast bars with squashy bananas, peanut butter and/or tahini, and oats. They are mixed in the dish and so easy. I can look for the recipe? She tends to make them herself.

Breakfast bars (,I got the recipe from a Facebook reel, to give credit!)

Thank you so much again. We've tended to stick to Weetabix, and occasionally porridge, but it's amazing how often I can mess it up before 7am...

DD has dairy and nut allergies so the breakfast bars are probably out, but I could try pre-making some drop scones the night before with dairy alternatives.

Its common sense, you sjouldnt be doing because of a book and everyone else is doing it.
It is a fad, just like recent fads of veganism, gluton free, low cal etc
Im for all things in moderstion, UPF is just for those who will move onto the next fad next year.

It might be common sense to a lot of people. It was to me, I've always eaten this way. Highlighting it, however, has drawn the attention of people who might not have considered it and has meant that people have started to change their diets and that of their children's - which is important.

There's also plenty of new research explaining the effects of UPF foods. To not discuss them and research them, and adjust diet accordingly would be ignorant.

Gluten free isn't a fad, either. It's a diet for those who cannot consume gluten. While there might be some misinformed people out there who think it's a weight loss diet, the vast majority know it isn't. Being vegan isn't a fad either. There are plenty of ethical vegans out there. Lowering calories if someone is attempting to lose weight isn't a fad either.

You come across as astoundingly ignorant.

i have family who are caeliac i know how important being gluton free is to those who have it, but gluton free was very much a fad a few years back, just as UPF is now.

I am not the one is ignorant, fad diets come and go, most based on faulty or cherry picked research.

Can you tell us your recipe for drop scones? Sound wonderful!

It isn't a fad. None of these things are fads.

Some people take them as fads and flit from one thing to the next. Some people also flit between hobbies, jobs, and relationships. But the core tenets of each topic mentioned here is not a fad.

UPF-free being healthy and important is literally backed by scientific research. Or are you telling me that the obesity crisis in this country doesn't exist, and couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fast food industry, junk food in supermarkets, Deliveroo, etc.? That a homemade soup isn't as healthy as a tin of Heinz?

Also, it's spelled gluten and coeliac.

I don't have a recipe, I just do it by eye based on consitency with an egg as starting point. However this recipe looks very similar, except I use a couple of teaspoons of sugar and/or drops of vanilla essence instead of the salt, and I cook in melted butter rather than oil.

I don’t think veganism is a fad – it’s been a massive shift in the way people approach food.

I remember in the 90s there were plenty of vegans about but they were considered to be woolly, loony lefty hippies. 30 years later it’s very much mainstream and the entire food production system has changed as a result. I can go to my local supermarket and find at least 5 different dairy-free milks to choose from, vegan cheese, plant-based ready meals, etc.

Awareness around food does change consumer attitudes which drives corporate and systemic change across an entire industry.

It's all processed factory food, not so much of a shift.

You can easily be vegan or vegetarian and not eat processed food. Just like you can eat meat and only eat processed food.

lol but it’s not – these are just some examples to illustrate how mainstream veganism now is – veganism just means no animal-derived products… so, you know – fruit and vegetables. You knew that right…..?!? 😆

The shift I was talking about here was the shift away from animal products, not the shift away from ultra-processed foods…. but the point being that there has been a substantial shift; mainstream dietary habits have changed and the food industry has scrambled to respond to that. Chances are more fresh fruit and veg and less fresh meat and dairy are being sold too than previously.

The previous poster stated changing food habits such as veganism, etc are all fads. I argued that veganism is not a fad. I didn’t argue that all vegan foods available are non-processed! (Although obviously it’s totally possible to eat a vegan diet free of UPFs).

This comment just shows that you know nothing about the subject in question.

For weekday breakfast
Greek yogurt, fruit with some nuts or seeds
Scrambled egg served with sourdough
Boiled eggs as above
Omelette
Overnight oats
Savoury muffins
Mushroom and tomato on toast.
Porridge

Of course it isn't a fad to eat good quality food. What is a fad is the people (and there are many on MN as evidenced from this and other threads) who spend half their life "researching" what they should and shouldn't eat and literally never eating anything they consider "bad" as apparently even once will knock decades off their lifespan and give them a lifelong addiction. They then feel the need to lecture everyone else on what they should eat. A bit of junkfood every now and again isn't going to hurt most people, and we are all allowed a treat now and again without having to bake our own bread and make all our own sweet treats and being made to feel gulity.

Whilst of course I think UPFs are bad, I try not to eat much of them, and I’ve read the books and studies, I think there’s a lot more to this than UPF.

(dons tinfoil hard hat)

The exponential rise in illnesses I think is more caused by other things - micro plastics probably the biggest, EMFs, soil depletion, chemicals.

It’s just easier to have people believe it’s all to do with something they can have control over.

I’m not saying that UPFs are fine, they are not. They can be damaging to the microbiome, some are addictive, fill you up on calories but not nutrients, but I think they are only part of the puzzle.

i find it interesting that the media is so focused on them though and not other potential causes.

i find it interesting that the media is so focused on them though and not other potential causes.

Well, I guess because they are something we can actually do something about. We can reduce our consumption of them. The rest is something we can be aware of or protest about, but it is not in our immediate power.