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?

I think crosta & mollica flatbreads are made with olive oil

I only go as far as it suits me because totally cutting out all UPF, seed oils would send me toward eating disorder territory and my ND is easily sent to obsessive territory. looking at labels because I have a child with an allergy is enough labelling reading for me and I won’t be made to feel guilty that I ate a wrap for lunch or that my orzo for dinner will be tossed in jarred pesto.

I think 80/20 is the right mindset. You don't want it taking over your life.

Oh, and Biona Organic do an olive oil mayo.

I don't see what the problem is with flatbreads. I make chapatis, parathas, and indeed pittas from time to time. None of them need baking powder, BTW.

but when eating them I never had any issues at all, and i have diagnosed IBS. They were great. In fact I had less bloody bloat at that time!

There you go op, listen to your body.

I think a lot of our health problems could be eased if we just listened to our bodies more.

Food makes you feel bloated and ill? Stop eating it.
Food makes your body feel better? Eat that. Even if some "wellness guru" (snort) says that it "disturbs your balance of omega 6" or something.
Tired? Get more sleep.
Feeling full? Stop eating.
Thirsty? Drink more.

I know it's not quite as simple as that but it's a good starting point imo

We have gone nil UPF and now avoid all seed oils. Cook with coconut oil and ghee or butter instead.

We have made it our business to explore new recipes and now have a good repertoire of tasty curries, stir fries, roasts, salads etc

It's the hydrogenated aspect of seed oils that are the problem for our poor cells.

We've found non UPF versions of wraps, mayos etc but they are expensive so make our own from time to time.

@SnowMoss

Do you have the Yukka app? You can take a picture of a label or, (if you are happy to pay £10 a year for premium) search for foods. It tells you whether a product is good or bad, where the issue is, and suggests alternatives (the Tesco garlic flatbread it recommends would be a good pizza base)

If you can't source the minimally processed foods you want geographically (not available), or economically (too expensive), and you can't figure out how to make them yourself (by experimentation and practice), then you simply do without. You substitute another ingredient, or you rejig your meal idea altogether.

What specific function do flatbreads have in your diet? Carb calories and wrapping other ingredients? Figure out another way to achieve similar (or better) nutrition and functionality.

I think a lot of stress and self-sabotage comes from clinging on to familiar foods instead of making wholesale changes to our ways of eating. We want to be healthier, but without actually changing anything much.

(For me, highly processed substitute frankenfoods are the nightmare example - just eat whole vegetables and not meat/dairy/wheat ffs. But that's another thread!)

OP, this sounds like orthorexia. It is taking over your life.

Cancer and dementias are now linked to the constant eating of UPFs.

Our teens are very eye rolly about our healthy eating but do love the food we issue. They also buy awful processed food and don't give a damn.

We are in our 50s and want to live long healthy lives

This is obviously not the same though..a strawberry is not a upf. No one can actually make a strawberry out of those ingredients

It may look clever as an argument but it isn't

There's a faddy name for this that I can't remember but I've read the idea that we ought to add foods rather than removing foods to our diet to make it healthier.

Instead of focusing on which foods to avoid, instead focus on adding more variety, more colour, more seasonal foods, fresher foods to your diet.

I love that my irritation and boredom with avoiding upf is now classed as a mental health issue!

Just, like, ignore all of the other posts who make everything from scratch and never touch seed oils - I am the one who clearly has an eating disorder

I think 80/20 is the right mindset. You don't want it taking over your life.

I agree with this. The people who need to be more aware of UPFs, and whose health could benefit from cutting down on them, are the people whose average day involves an energy drink for breakfast, McDonald’s for lunch, takeaway for dinner, and who snack on chocolate and crisps.

The worried well of Mumsnet can rest assured that the occasional spoon of mayonnaise or processed flatbread is a non-issue and eating it (or not) will make negligible difference to your health.

These flatbreads are delicious and very easy: https://rivercottage.net/recipes/flatbreads/

How can meat and veg be boring? Salt, olive oil, butter, garlic, lemon juice, a few spices...

Miles more tasty than some nasty gloopy ready meal

So, are we saying that UPF is fine, there's no evidence that it has any negative effects, and those of us who are mindful of it are orthorexic and mentally unsound?

Just to clarify?

Hunter and gather do an avocado oil mayo which is delicious but pricey.

You’re right to be annoyed OP. Our food is being used to experiment on us and it’s disgusting. All about making money and nothing else

But avacados have masssive negative environmental impacts. Thousands of hectares of rainforest in South America are cleared for avocado plantations which then take huge amounts of water to irrigate, not to mention that the drug cartels are heavily involved.

And 'worried well' sounds like you need to get your head out of the tabloids, lol.

Well obviously not. People are saying that if most of your diet is healthy, the occasional flatbread or spoonful of mayo or splash of seed oil is not going to make too much difference.
People are are also saying make sure you know what a upf is, not everything processed is a upf.

the argument against UPF is usually there is a load of chemicals in it so it must be bad. I’m just making the point that just because something is processed, or chemicals are added to make it stable, it doesn’t necessarily make it unhealthier. Chemicals, whether natural or factory made, don’t make something inherently healthy or not healthy.

It also just occurred to me that food posts on MN seem to sort out the working from the middle classes inadvertently.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/crosta-mollica-ready-to-top-pizza-base-with-tomato-sauce-270g
These are the pizza bases. Available I Waitrose. If they are out of budget or not available locally options are in order of healthiness…

homemade pizza bases - easy, fun and yummy but needs time to rise dough
other pizza base and own toppings - really fine and bit fun
quality supermarket pizza - also fine convenient not fun
crap supermarket pizza - less good
papa johns delivery - yuk

Ive my own pizzas often when the kids were at home and everyone loved customising their own. But now I wouldn’t have an issue with any of the first 3 options as an occasional treat, and I’m a mega healthy eater.

I agree with you, but we know very little about the more recent additives, surely?

People say it is fine 'occasionally', but most people eat what they eat ...regularly. Maybe not every day, but often enough.

I am not a hardcore avoider by any stretch, but I dislike how many thngs are added to bread. I am surely NOT alone in that!