To ask how much UPF you really eat?

[CherryValley5]

Just that really!

I mostly try and avoid it but it’s definitely not a no go zone for us - I’m very much a believer of everything in moderation but am seeing more and more MN posts who basically treat eating it in the same way as drugs/alcohol!

For example: since reading Dr Chris van Tulleken’s book I never buy ready meals anymore and don’t see them as real food - it all feels a bit gross to me now which it certainly didn’t used to. I definitely do far more home cooking these days and am much less likely to just pop in to the shops on the way home to buy something quick that can just be shoved in the oven. I feel much better for it but it’s so expensive and time consuming..!

Bucket loads probably. I wouldn’t even think to look.

I don’t eat ready meals, but that’s more to do with taste (or lack of) than any of concerns.

There will be lots of middle-class hand-wringing on here about UPF's - there always is.

In answer to your question - I don't know. We try to eat well and have home-cooked meals whenever we can. Not always easy with four kids aged teenager down to toddler. I don't really keep tabs on how much (or little) we consume that is UPF.

Not much now. I really check every ingredient.

Gare the days I’d get a rustlers to stick in the microwave for after a night out!

Some things I let go because I really like them (olives/alcohol) but generally I check everything now.

Very little. Tomato ketchup occasionally, the odd biscuit. Probably 95% non UPF.

A lot.
Autism heavy house with ADHD mum (me) constantly overwhelmed and given up the battle for spending hours making stuff they won't eat.

Ingredient checks would definitely be a step too far for me. We try and eat good quality, home cooked food but if something UPF slips in then it’s not a big deal in my eyes

Honestly, I'm a but unclear on what are UPF. I don't have enough interest to spend time reading about this and all the ingredients. Everything within reason and all that.

Yes, I understand, it’s time consuming. I just don’t want to be consuming E150 or xantham gum in my tartare sauce! If you’re doing home cooked food then you can’t be far off!

Isn’t it everything processed? Then a shit ton. I use freezer foods, yogurts, cheese strings, sausage rolls, bread. Just everything basically.

I’m the same. We eat healthily but also eat unhealthily at times such as pizzas and chocolate. I couldn’t live without beans, mayo or brown sauce!

In moderation e.g. will use a shop bought curry sauce, but with fresh chicken and veg. I use Asda extra special granola because the ingredients look fairly good to me compared to more expensive brands, with their own brand Greek yoghurt because it doesn't seem to have extra ingredients (and I'll chop up a batch of seeds and nuts to sprinkle over it if i have time. Often have some shop quiche but with a salad made at home with added seeds and nuts. So, some UPF but accompanied with 'good' wholefoods. I think this is more doable than making everything from scratch I.e. a bit of junk but with lots of healthy additions.

Ditto... ND family here too.

We eat very few UPFs and have not done so for many years. DD has coeliac disease, meaning that we had to do away with very many convenience foods very early on, and way before it was a "thing". Although gluten-free products now exist widely, they are just not to our taste, so I would think we're about 95%+ UPF-free.

That number would actually probably be higher were it not for my wine habit 😁.

It's hard to avoid. I love cooking but always end up with shop bought naan with my home made curry, shop bought garlic bread with a pasta dish or bean stew. We often have cereal for breakfast. I do home made pizza dough but put salami on it. And so on.

Yes, most things are processed. It’s about avoiding the ultra processed stuff though - easy examples would be switching from supermarket bread to proper bakery bread, or string cheese to regular cheese.

Trying our best with trying to avoid upf, we’ve started making our own bread, switched to blocks of butter rather than spread, plain yoghurt etc. However (as mentioned up thread too) we have neurodiversity in our family too so there are potato waffles/breaded fish/baked beans thrown in the mix. Trying to be mindful of it but not neurotic.

Love that book, such an eye opener!
Saying that, our house still has UPF in it. We find it difficult not to consume any. We're pretty good with meals (though occasionally do have frozen pizza for example) but our main downfall is probably snacks (biscuits, crisps).
We are trying to cut down though.

Jesus. UPF won't help!

Not much. But it's a side effect of a couple of dietary restrictions in the house. Coeliac and an anaphylactic allergy rule out a fair amount of processed stuff, and even if we can eat them they're expensive so we tend to avoid (gluten free bread for example).

So it's not really an anti-UPF thing, more a needing to cook from scratch thing.

Crisps will forever be my downfall! I’ve switched to less processed, locally made ones though, no Walkers etc anymore so I do feel slightly better about my habit..

tbf I do treat it in the same way I treat drugs and alcohol

Over the past 12 months I have cut down significantly, and say I am UPF 90% of the time. I now make my own soups, pasta sauces and curry pastes. It takes a bit of planning, and I have swopped supermarkets from Asda to Sainsbury's, as they had more UPF food options. I eat out a lot less as find it difficult to avoid UPF when out.

Looking at what we’ve eaten this weekend, none.

I’m sure we do eat some over the course of a week, but generally it’s very little indeed.

I’d say not much because we always cook from scratch at home. Wouldn’t buy a sauce or ready meals, no shop bought pizzas or frozen nuggets etc.
Make bread to go with meals and we bake quite a lot.
However we do eat some UPF, I’m okay with a small amount but I’d not want it forming a substantial part of our daily lives.

ND household here with a lot of food issues but our UPF is limited to chocolate, weetabix, and the ketchup/bbq the dc eat occasionally. At home very little is UPF. If we are out and about it's more difficult. Ds's adhd symptoms have improved massively since I've cut out UPF as much as possible.