This UPF thing is irritating me

[SnowMoss]

I've never eaten much UPF, but it is getting harder and harder to avoid it. I don't go the whole 9 yards or anything, but try to keep myself informed and do my best to eat a healthy balanced diet.

Made a good effort to keep an eye on upf's, so for the past year have been sourcing good poultry, fish, and eating it with vegetables, etc. But I am bored out of my mind at this point! Just so fucking bored.

Then I hear about seed oils, so now even the small things that I added, such as mayo, gnocchi, the occasional flatbread (contains only sunflower oil, salt, wheat) are seen as a UPF too, due to the inclusion of sunflower or rapeseed oil. I am happy with and have the time to cook from scratch, but avoiding oils has basically taken a good whack at my time.
It's one thing trying to get people to eat a good diet, with veg and fruit and less processed meats, which will benefit their health, weight and wellbeing, but I am honest to god fed up of eating meat and a pile of veg, even if my own sauces and seasonings suffice.
And no, nothing substitutes for mayo! And no, I really don't want to make my own! I will make my own pesto, coleslaw, stuff like that, but I am bone bloody weary of avoidance.

Surely just being mindful is enough? I get that the food industry is an unregulated cesspit right now, but I am beginning to wonder just how awful it is, in moderation, to eat a some.
Sadly if I google any kind of additive or seed oil, I get lists of 'side effects' such as bloating, calcium loss and so on, it is so depressing.

If you are mindful of UPF's have you found a good balance?

Omg yes, spotted some "nutrional coaches" on insta claiming all sorts.
Veg - bad (inflammatory)
Meat - bad (cancer etc)
Carbs bad
Diary bad
Eggs will kill you

At the same time you have bunch claiming the opposite to each of these!

ALSO no water for us!
Water - bad (don't need it when you get it from veg, if you drink you have too much)

It's hilarious yet scary

The one I saw the other day was that Greek style yoghurt is bad for you (despite it being just yoghurt with no additives) but Greek yoghurt is great

I already don't eat chicken, lamb or steak so I'm not cutting anything else out!

Isn't it that Greek yogurt is really good for you (no additives, made traditionally in Greece) while with Greek-style yogurt you need to check the label for additives and how it's made to make sure you're getting something just as good?

is it just steak or any kind of beef?

@godmum56 I eat beef mince and burgers but I just don't like steak
@ScribblingPixie this was some random influencer who was waving about the Aldi Greek style one, which is in my fridge, claiming it was fake yoghurt (it's no additives and it's cheaper)

Iirc it's where it's made. Like feta. Protected name

Yes - Greek-style yogurt can be fine, but you do need to check the label in case anything has been added.
Incidentally if anyone wants to buy individual fruit yogurts, Morrisons still make full fat "French set yogurts", which all the supermarkets used to sell when my children were having lunch boxes. The ingredients are "Yogurt (Milk) (90%), Sugar, Flavouring".

Just go for cold pressed/extra virgin varieties and likely they won’t be ultra processed.

Also, you really don’t need to eliminate UPFs. Just minimise. Poor health outcomes more associated - very sadly - with animal fats

But they aren’t though.

Generally, people who eat a lot of animal fat have a shit diet along with it. They aren’t eating beef on its own. They are usually eating meat along with shit, chemical laden carbs.

Levels of disease have increased since the food pyramid was pushed down everyone’s throats in the 80s.

There is nothing wrong with real food like meat.

That tesco apple pie is fine.

Wheat Flour(Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Niacin, Iron, Calcium Sulphate, Thiamin)

That's literally just ordinary fortified flour. Fortified flour is proven to reduce diseases due to deficiency, including birth defects when pregnant women eat it. It's been around for many decades.

Ascorbic acid is literally vitamin C.

Just because something has an odd sounding chemical name, doesn't make it bad.

Huge proportions of the population, particularly women, are iron deficient. Fortified flour is good for those women.

Invert sugar syrup in that pie is terrible for you though.

I try and eat as little UPF as possible and reserve it for things I cannot make at home (like chocolate) and for when I am out.

One recent change is that instead of eating cereal, I either have porridge or homemade granola.

I have also cut right down on bread because I only really like decent bread with lots of butter on and I'm trying to reduce the amount of butter I eat.

Mayonnaise is very quick and easy to make from scratch if you have a decent stick blender. I use olive oil in mine, or sometimes a mix of olive and sunflower oil. Thanks to a helpful Mumsnetter I now make my own vegan mayonnaise too (when my vegan daughter is here).

Is inverted sugar syrup not golden syrup?

Quantity is important.

Too much red meat and butter = too much saturated fat, which can lead to heart disease.

If you’re interested, the mechanisms are fairly straightforward.

It’s tempting to dismiss science that doesn’t fit a belief or agenda, but whilst a handful of studies may be supported by ‘biased’ money, it’s unlikely to always be the case.

In the case of red meat, it’s extremely unlikely the research is inaccurate - they are extremely powerful. They can tear down the lungs of the planet with very little backlash - I don’t think Big Veg is able to pay for sufficient dodgy science to discredit meat.

Golden syrup isn't good for you though.

So much of all this panic is the dunning kruger effect, honestly. People reading the labels on food with an incomplete understanding of what it means and then assuming the worst. They'd be better off either not reading it, or doing a course in nutrition, but instead they are in the worst in between where they have more information than they can understand.

I also think some overweight and/or unfit people try to grasp for excuses, that there are these mystery poisons in their food, (ascorbic acid!) because sensible things like eating more fibre and a variety of veg, are too daunting.

The vast majority of fit and healthy people I know, eat a big variety of food, in regular meals.

Unhealthy people I know have very restricted diets, cut out whole food groups, restrict their meal portions, eat at odd times, etc. It's disordered eating.

This craze about UPFs is just more disordered eating. When you've got a fear of fortified flour and vitamin C, you've gone way too far.

It’s not the fortified flour I have a problem with.
Disodium Diphosphate?
Modified maize starch? What is maize starch and why is it modified?
Palm oil?
Rapeseed oil?

I don’t want that shit in my apple pie. Where’s the butter? Oh that’s right it costs too much money so they pump a load of shit oil and chemicals in instead.

How is it healthier to avoid UPF most of the time than all the time?

You are saying a little bit of crap is healthier than no crap.

😐😑😐

I use the Yuka app to scan products and it tells you how good it is or not inc additives. I’ve found it really helpful

I’m not overweight, am very fit and not making excuses. I do not want my children eating chemicals and shit instead of real basic food. I felt like this long before the UPF ‘craze’ came along.

Hahahah! I meant giving up trying, appreciate I could’ve worded it better 😂

@RobinHeartella
Why did you pick out the ingredients of the pie that were ok but just ignore those that are UPFs?

Well I picked out the ones I know about.

Maize starch is corn flour. Curcumin is turmeric extract.

There are some I don't know about, but I'm not assuming they are poison. Because I'm not a conspiracy theorist...

How is it healthier to avoid UPF most of the time than all the time?
You are saying a little bit of crap is healthier than no crap.

Healthier mentally. 😁
(says her chewing small chocolate bar)

Ahhh it’s been a while since I’ve been called a conspiracy theorist. I’ll take it on the chin. Cheers.