To think it's impossible to eat a UPF free diet as an ordinary person?

[MyHealthyMission]

I mean ordinary as in, works full time, earns a decent but not huge wage, has free time but not entire days at a time to dedicate to cooking etc.

I'm on a bit of a health kick, and have turned my attention to eating whole foods and ensuring I'm eating as healthy as possible as we come into winter.

I've had a sourdough starter on the go for a while and decided I'd knock up some bread rolls and soup to have for lunch in the coming week because it's turned cold. Figured it would be a great, low UPF meal. Until I googled the beef stock, which is apparently a really bad UPF! Even the super expensive all natural concentrates are UPF. So unless you can afford to buy and boil a load of beef bones, it seems you're out of luck.

Obviously you can do the normal things like avoiding crisps, protein shakes etc. as they're all full of UPF, but when even things like stock cubes are stuffed full of them, it just seems impossible! AIBU to think it's just become impossible to eat a UPF free diet?

Might help, but I do it from Lidl no problem.

According to AI:

Yes, Kallo stock cubes are considered ultra-processed foods (UPFs)because they typically contain ingredients such as potato starch, sustainable palm fat, and yeast extract, which undergo industrial processing and are often considered a marker of ultra-processing under the NOVA classification. While Kallo promotes their products as being free from artificial colours, flavours, and preservatives, the presence of these industrial ingredients places them in the ultra-processed category, according to food researchers and the ultra-processed food community.

They’re my cube of choice and I don’t think one a week will kill me.

Why am I still here talking about stock cubes? This is just like that thread the other day about the cost of living that was just pages of arguing about the cost of bar soap vs liquid handwash 😆

There’s a massive difference between processed and ultra processed. Chopping a cucumber is processing.

💯% agree with this. Just do what you can when you can, and try not to compare it to others.

They’ve introduced UPF broth now.

Not sure why you’re finding this hard op. I
work full time and pretty much manage it with little effort. That said I don’t lose sleep over the odd stock cube.

Definitely.
We don't have markets, farm shops, Asian stores, or most of the supermarkets that most folk are used to.
We do have a few small (by normal standards) supermarkets, and local (pricey) shops - there is good quality local produce but it's definitely not cheap!
I do miss the variety of shops present in areas I've lived in previously.

I cook almost everything from scratch but, accepting that I also have a full-time job, ive just let some things go. For example, I make chicken stock by the gallon, but have accepted that beef OXO are a necessary evil because we dont eat enough beef on the bone to provide the bare bones (lol) for stock-making.

Mm. Would that be a far more profitable liquid version of their upf stock cubes, I wonder? 🤔

I’ll probably pass. Probably.

Well I wouldn’t be losing sleep over
a stock cube anyway.

I'm pretty sure the guy that wrote Ultra Processed People has a similar view. Do what you can.
I'm not finished the book yet, lol, so I may be talokng out of my ass, but he strikes me as being someone who'd say"whatever you are able to do within the constraints of your lifestyle/budget, etc, is better than nothing ".

Millions of people across the world eat mostly UPF free cheaply. This thread is mad.

Actually, comments like yours are mad.
Different cultures have different lived experiences.

I seem to remember him saying, maybe in an MN webchat, that they were very very careful when talking about this on TV, because they didn’t want to make kids refuse to eat their meals.

I'm not saying they are, lol, I was just giving another option for anyone that wants to avoid stock cubes. I still use them occasionally, too.

At the end of the day, people should do what works for them. If my posts have helped even 1 person to find an alternative for something they want, that's fine. If not, that's also fine.

I do what I can, but just like everyone else I'm not perfect. Could I do better,? yes. Could I do a lot worse? Definitely!

Most supermarket ciabatta isn't UPF. Lots of co-op bread isn't. And Jason's sourdough isn't and is widely available and not much more expensive than other bread.

I was actually replying to a comment made by someone else. 😁

🤦🏻‍♀️ that was obviously meant to say "Talking out my ass"

Opps, sorry! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I think it's not possible to avoid it a 100%, unless you live on a farm and grow and prepare all your own food from scratch. I do think it's possible to significantly lower your UPF intake. I also think it's important to look at why UPF is such a problem. It typically has to do with complete UPF meals that are high in suger, high in salt, low in vitamins and mineral, low in fiber and low in protein. This means you are not giving your body what it needs.

These are all things you can massive improve by cooking (largely) from scratch. You don't have to go so far as to churn your own butter, but you get a long with with buying separate ingredients and paying attention to the labels.

The only UPF I eat is protein shakes which are clearly very optional.

But I have a very boring diet. It’s not expensive.

Breakfast either omelette (say 3 eggs with bread from breadmaker) make the bread on Sunday and slice and freeze. Or natural yogurt berries and chia seeds (only 5g a day so not expensive)

Lunch - tuna / salmon / cottage cheese etc with salad

Dinner - chicken with vegetables. Or salmon with veg. Could add rice / potatoes.

snacks - fruit / nuts / 85% choc.

Re: the stock, buy the best reasonably priced one, it’s only a small % of the meal. I’d focus on getting it mostly UPF free. Just like I’m not too worried by the whey protein powder.

According to an interview I read recently he said he started off feeling fairly moderate about the whole thing but as he’s gone down the rabbit hole he’s very strict about it now, and getting more so as time goes on.

In MY PERSONAL experience any diet that only rates the ‘purity’ of foods can lead very quickly to overwhelm, distress around food, food avoidance as nothing is ‘good enough’ and bingeing.

You can say you ate /served up something on here, doesn’t matter what it is, anything, and it will be wrong. You’ll be told how to improve it, replace it, leave it out. Its all just noise. By trial and error, I’m learning what works best for me and (I know you weren’t recommending it) I’ve honestly no interest in reading ‘Ultra Processed People’, especially after reading the interview.

I’m no cook but making stock is one of the easiest things in the world, especially if you get started when you are in the kitchen anyway making something else and also using a slow cooker. Five mins prep, wait overnight and low and behold, concentrated stock to go in the freezer

Really does make all the difference to home made soup.

I add fresh rolled oats to yoghurt, fruit and nuts for breakfast every morning. I agree with you, I don't like soggy oats.

Sorry, forgot the point of the thread! I use an organic dried vegetable bouillon instead of stock unless I really need the extra meat flavour for some reason. I don't think it is necessary in most dishes if they are seasoned well.