Low UPF diet - to think the experts weren’t lying?

[AusBoundDD]

Nearly 6 months ago I made it my New Year’s resolution to start eating a low UPF diet in hopes of losing some weight for a once in a lifetime trip, alongside just being healthier in general. Honestly it has been life changing! I’ve lost nearly 10kg without really having to think about it - no restricting or anything like that and in general I just feel so much better. UPFs like crisps, ready meals, even basic supermarket bread don’t feel like ‘real’ food anymore and no longer appeal. On the occasion that I do choose to eat something UPF (which for me is no big deal, im not strict!) it just isn’t as enjoyable as it used to be. I’d choose some sourdough over a loaf of Hovis any day when previously I used to hate it! I feel much fuller + satisfied for longer and rarely get the urge to snack.

Obviously it has its downsides - much less convenience food so cooking takes longer (PITA when doing lunch/dinner prep after a long day at work!), ingredients are more expensive so my shopping bill has gone up but all in all it’s a decision I don’t regret. Honestly I think that this way of eating should be the future.

Anyone else feel this way?

Good thread..taking a note of some suggestions for non UPF wraps as I love wraps. I already mainly just eat Jason’s sourdough for sliced bread. I occasionally eat brioche but as I like baking may look into making that myself. I feel much better home cooked meals.

The other day I made some chocolate cake and found a super easy mug cake recipe using egg, cacao powder and wholewheat flour and a sprinkling of sugar .

Took me 2 minutes to whip up and ten minutes in the air fryer. Quicker, cheaper and less unhealthier than if I’d ordered something from one of those dessert places that are all over high streets now.

BBC have a recipe for freezer oat cookies, I reduce the sugar in them significantly . They’re great - you can freeze them for ages and just cook a couple at a time.

I will ask again after the snarky response

I do think it of sweetvfood as a treat and I like something sweet after my dinner and my lunch if it’s a very active day

I need the calories because I am quite slim and active

dark chocolate just doesn’t cut it - I dislike the taste for a start ( oh I just have a square of dark chocolate if I need a treat is a MN classic) and it would leave me in a calorie deficit or needing to boil even more potatoe which get boring

so do people just make puddings ? Are there good recipies for things like ceral bars that you can take on long walks ? My oat busicuits are more like crumble !

What exactly do you eat? Could you post a meal plan breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Me? Or op?

Have you tried divine dark chocolate ? The orange one is nice but I agree with you about the bitter taste of most dark chocolate

I had chronic fatigue for a few months in my late 20s after eating all UPFs in my new flatshare as it was hard to cook there.

Stress and a viral infection kicked it off so I don’t think UPFs was the only factor but it was one.

I’d go to my mums house for a few days and feel great and she cooks homemade food from her own culture. Then I’d go back home to my Upfs and have all kind of digestive issues (extreme constipation, queasy stomach etc) and increased fatigue.

During this period I went abroad to south east Asia where I ate practically all Asia food/ non-UPFs for 3 weeks. I felt amazing and the fatigue vanished. I had been that close to cancelling the trip due to feeling so bad as well. Couldn’t believe how after a day I was so full of energy and able to consume freshly made street food with no stomach issues.

So I’ve kind of known for a while my body does not appreciate a diet high in UPFs, sugar or dairy but yet it took me another decade to really start consistently cutting down on it and that was mainly because I’d piled on weight. I wish I had started earlier too but better late than never. It’s no longer just about weight loss for me, it’s about staying healthy and the rebel part of me feels like I’m defying the food industry lol

Lots of supermarket food & goodies are so bland now anyway. They’re just not worth eating, so I feel like I’m not missing anything! Even naice M&S ready meals are bland nowadays.

Also traditional dieting programmes encourage restrict & binge. My sister is upset as she “only lost three pounds” on the first week of SW. This is her third time doing it… It’s madness!

I agree that good, natural, tasty food is the best thing to eat.

What a sensible first post. Thank you for that. You are eating less fat and sugar op, it would be exactly the same if you were baking your own cakes eating loads and then stopped eating your own cakes and ate something less calorific.

I think for some though - C & M is just too expensive. I’ve had a look and there’s less in a pack and more money than standard supermarket.

I think it’s about a balance. I’d love to eat non UPF but just couldn’t afford to with a family to feed as well. I try to make some changes and much more aware.

it’s great if you can though and well done for the weight loss OP!!

Hmmm............I can see that whatever anyone says won't go down well!

You can get your calories by eating more of the main meal- the savoury things. To say you need more calories because you're slim, and they need to be from puddings, doesn't really stack up.

Just eat more protein and veg! Boiled potatoes are healthier than loads of refined sugar. Sugar is sugar whether it's in cakes made at home or bought. Making your own will avoid all the crap like emulsifiers and E numbers.

Don't please generalise about 'dark choc and Mumsnet'.
It is my preference and nothing to do with Mumsnet.
It's also an acquired taste. After a while you'd find the milk sort too sweet.

If we have a pudding, it's usually a homemade crumble but I use oats, mixed seeds, nuts (ground up in the food processor) some cinnamon, and real butter, with a tiny bit of sugar.

One of the effects of weight loss injections (for me) is an abhorrence of UPFs. Crisps are cardboard
Soaked in acid: vegan chocolate tastes like claggy dry earth

I eat avocados, nuts and oily fish in great quantities, as well as full-fat dairy, red meat, copious amounts of olive oil. Regular homemade cake too :) But I’ve never really eaten UFPs.

I’m mid-40s, perimenopausal and a size 6. I put on 3 stone with each baby (three big babies!) and lost it all without difficulty.

Fat doesn’t make you fat. Fake food does.

we do eat too much fat though and since I cut lots out the weight has gone. My friend who is on a very low fat diet just lost 5 stone and that’s all she has really changed in her diet. Good fats are important but everything in moderation.

so do people just make puddings ? Are there good recipies for things like ceral bars that you can take on long walks ? My oat busicuits are more like crumble !

I mentioned an oat cookie freezer recipe on the bbc website in my post upthread.

I’d just check YouTube or just google something like “ 4 ingredient oat/cereal bars”, if the recipe includes sugar I tend to reduce it significantly or even replace it with something like raisins or dark chocolate chips or a drizzle of honey.

I have a sweet tooth too though and even cut down on home baking, yesterday for example I fancied something sweet but had had cake the day before, so I blended frozen strawberry and banana for a lovely smoothie and it hit the spot.

I do feel the more I cut down on cake/cookie consumption , and bake my own stuff when I do I am craving it less. Overall I try to stick to more meals and less snacks.

That's not entirely true @Gattopardo The issue with UPFs is the ingredients which are often produced in a 'lab' and not the same as real food.
Many UPFs contain artificial sugar (often described as maltodextrose/ dextrin), then there's all the emulsifiers (cheap thickeners and to prolong shelf life) and some E numbers/preservatives.

The issue is that they can destroy the balance of good bacteria in the gut which in time can lead to health problems.

The inclusion of sugar ( especially artificial sweeteners) can put the body into metabolic syndrome (diabetes and pre diabetes.)

Just to say that although you don’t think you’re “restricting”, you absolutely are, it’s just the parameters by which you are doing it may have changed…

Who is 'we'?

The worst fats are the ones hidden in cakes and biscuits and crisps etc. Usually vegetable margarines made from palm oil.

Getting good fats as the PP said is not bad for your health as the other things that go with those foods are good for health (eg Omega 3, fibre, polyphenols.)

We as a population. That’s basically what I said so not sure what your post is about! Everything in moderation, too much fat is basically unnecessary, even good fats in large quantities.

UPF is also specifically designed to make you want to eat more (so you buy more)- it’s ultra-palatable in a way real food isn’t. Studies have been done where people are offered either UPF or non UPF, same macros, and they eat more of the UPF.

Of course it’s obvious that if you eat less, you can lose weight and if you eat more you can gain- no magic about that- but eating foods that have been deliberately designed to keep you eating (and are even advertised as such!) makes eating less a lot harder.

I gave up chocolate about 5 months ago - something I thought I’d never be able to do. I used to eat it daily for years. What really helped me was increasing protein at every meal but especially early in the day. I have overnight oats and a poached egg for breakfast. It seems to reduce my cravings for snacks later in the day for sweet energy boosting stuff. I noticed that my mood has improved too (from fewer glucose spikes?)

Has anyone heard of the Cambridge or 1:1 diet? Shakes, porridge, pasta, rice etc all in a packet. I tried it for one week out of sheer desperation as I’d put on 3 stone in the pandemic and felt quite ill. I can imagine that’s UPF city?

It wasn’t ever going to be a long term game plan but I thought I could do it for a month or so to lose 7-14 pounds. I couldn’t even manage a full week. It just didn’t taste right to me, and didn’t sit well in my stomach - even their “smoothies”.

I don't think the nation will suffer if they eat too many avocados.

It's quite hard to eat 'too much good fat' if it's on its own.

I eat avocados almost daily, (half a one) and about a tablespoon of olive oil on salads or in cooking.

The 'fat' is when it's hidden as in fatty sausage, pizza, burgers, cheap mince used in ready meals etc., cakes and biscuits.

Fat is the least of the issues and it's wrong to demonise it.
The main issue is many people aren't eating enough fruit, veg and getting enough fibre.

Feels obvious and like we've known for a long time that natural and lightly processed foods are better for you? Are UPFs being crap for you really a revelation?

The study that really made me take notice was this one:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413119302487

Highlights
• 20 inpatient adults received ultra-processed and unprocessed diets for 14 days each
• Diets were matched for presented calories, sugar, fat, fiber, and macronutrients
• Ad libitum intake was ∼500 kcal/day more on the ultra-processed versus unprocessed diet
• Body weight changes were highly correlated with diet differences in energy intake

Whatever the reason it is clear that eating UPFs causes us to eat more calories and gain weight.

I am not strict on it, I just try to keep my UPFs to less than 10-20% of what I eat but I think it is a good thing that people are realising this as factory food producers are likely to think carefully about reducing the processing of their food so as a population we might start getting healthier again.

I eat healthier now. I still have the odd bag of crisps and chocolate and eat UPF bread but only a couple of times a week (tried making my own and not particularly successful), but most meals are whole foods now.

Do I feel better for it? Actually I don't feel amazingly healthy or full of vitality, but I'd feel really awful eating lots of UPF. For me it's just a case of feeling less shit. 😂

I had the same giving up smoking years ago. I expected to feel great, but it never came, but I'd have probably felt in really bad health by now if I was still smoking.