To be dismayed at how processed my diet has become

[MyFitMission]

I’ve taken a long hard look at my diet this week and I can’t believe how processed it is. Protein “yoghurts” that are just chemicals, bread that’s just plastic, spreads that sell themselves as butter but they’re mainly just chemicals.

where did we go so wrong with food? It’s so easy to make a load of bread rolls or a loaf of bread, even butter is easy to make. It just makes me so sad

You have complete control over your diet, though. Change it!

I don’t think most people eat the way you describe on a daily basis.

Some of these things are easy to address: eat butter (no need to make your own!), not spread, buy better quality bread, embrace a diet with plenty of fruit and veg and cook from scratch so that you know exactly what you’re eating.

At least you’ve recognised it op and can step away.
I saw a tiktok yesterday talking about how McDonald’s fries now have 19 ingredients (all chemicals), where there used to be 2. I think that’s US but it’s a problem everywhere.
i hope everyone realises soon and starts stopping buying so many UPFs.
im a teacher and children’s focus is so so bad now, I assume UPFs play a massive part.

It’s just a shame. Even things like bread is just plastic. It’s scary that it’s just the normal now

I wouldn't fancy making my own butter, but if it's so easy then crack on. And just buy plain Greek yoghurt, approx 10g protein/100g, not adulterated stuff.

Why all the hand-wringing?

Also it sounds dumb to talk about food being "full of chemicals". It's all chemicals. You mean additives.

You can but real food if you want

The things you describe are so easy to change. Eat butter. Eat decent bread. Eat Greek yoghurt. Stop feeling sad and just change it.

I try and eat as little UPF as possible without being a fanatic about it. Today I will have zero UPFs. Probably tomorrow as well. Change it up op!

It creeps on you. I wouldn’t have considered mine particularly processed, because I cook a fair bit, don’t buy ready meals or convenience foods. I started using the Yuka app and it was an eye opener. It just hadnt occurred to me that bread would be a problem.

It's very, very easy to eat a bunch of chemicals without realising it.

My diet was very bad for a while as I was taking care of elderly parents which was stressful. I was eating lots of ready meals (which even back then always tasted very 'soft' ie there was little chewing in them). I was also eating crisps, chocolate, cake and icecream. All full of crap of course.

I managed to get myself really overweight and was exhausted all the time.

I changed my diet this year (parents have now passed and so less stress) and the weight is coming off and my energy is coming back.

I stopped eating bread after realising most of it is no longer actually bread but a bunch of chemicals and crap. I did try sourdough bread and while I quite liked the taste of it my skin became very itchy after eating it so that had to go too. So no bread for me. I do eat oatcakes and I eat brown rice and I eat porridge but no bread.

I stopped all ready meals (well 99% anyway) and now just eat protein plus veg. I often buy the ready micro vegetables as they have garlic butter or something in there which makes them tastier. I know the butter bit is not so good but I figure if I am eating this as a meal then I can forgive myself for eating the small bit of 'badness'. After all it's got to be a balance between enjoying food and being good for me.

I don't eat any flavoured yogurt cos they are full of sugar etc but I do eat natural yogurt or kefir. I eat fruit, vegetables, salad.

My treats per day are currently milky coffee in the morning.
Lunch time I have a square of Lindt 90% chocolate which tasted pretty bitter when I started out but now tastes quite creamy.

I was eating alot of seeds and nuts but had to dial that back a bit as it was stopping my weight loss. I do still eat them but only a small amount at a time.

I have got used to this way of eating but I do still long for icecream and cream cakes. Not so much the ready meals or crisps. Of course the sugar and fat in the icecream was giving me a 'high' and I miss that.

My skin definately has a 'glow' to it that I didn't have 6-7 months ago when I started doing this. I'm in my fifties and not using any expensive creams at moment. So something is definately happening. I am still tired alot (but am still overweight by quite a few stones) so between that and my age it's probably not surprising.

Once you start eating like this you realise just how much of the supermarket stuff for sale is not actually traditional food. Rows and rows of brightly coloured packets that look amazing and in all fairness often taste amazing but are actually starving your body with lack of nutrients.

The food companies have made quite an ass out of all of us. Hopefully more people are catching on now. It is hard though not to give in to 'temptation' although I have to keep reminding myself that a tube of pringles is not a 'treat' (it's actually abusing my body) and a plate of organic salmon is actually the 'treat' and much more expensive as well.

Still I miss white bread and butter, pastries, icecream etc. Oh well. I might give myself a day off on xmas day although I am scared i will get the taste for it again.

I might buy myself a bread maker at some point (had one in the past) but I am worried this will lead me down the path of eating lots of butter and jam!

Perhaps once I reach my goal weight I can have it as a treat or something.

Yes it is a bit of a shocker as you expect ultra processed foods to be your snacks and ready meals and not necessarily staples like bread, dairy spreads and yogurt. But good for you to at least have noticed and caring about it - as an awful lt of people don’t and then pay the price later down the line with their health.

I think there’s a much touted principle where the gold standard as it were in eating more healthily is to look at the ingredients and choose those with the shortest ingredient list and ideally avoid those with ingredients you wouldn’t naturally find in your kitchen. It’s a good starting point anyway 🙂.

what exactly (brand, etc) is the bread product OP is eating that is = plastic?

what is a "protein yogurt" and what is in it that is unacceptable "chemicals" ?

What exactly (brand?) is the spread being called mostly "chemicals" ?

butter is easy to make
really?

It's all work work work these days. People don't have the time they used too (or perhaps we also get distracted too much by phones).

I find I only have to be ‘good’, once a week. When I’m at the supermarket. I deliberately get one of those big trollies with the one big section and then smaller section. My big section can only be fruit/veg/meat/eggs/fish etc. My little section can be crap.

So why do you feel the need to buy protein yoghurt?

I cleaned my diet up 2.5 years ago. Everything I eat is cooked from scratch using whole food. I do buy processed - bacon, tins of beans, tinned fish etc but not UPF, and white bread is a no no. If I need bread its a wholemeal pitta

Now we eat a pretty healthy diet , mostly veg on the plate, high quality protein and some carbs - mostly from legumes and grains . We eat greek yoghurt, lots of berries and hard fruits.

Eating UPF is now a very unpleasant experience - bloating, wind, upset tum

For those questioning butter being easy to make - all you need is a tub of cream and a large screw top jar. Add cream, screw the top - and shake like mad. Easier to use an electric whisk or a food processor - but a jar will do

The bread issue is why I recently bought a bread maker. I have been knocked out at how easy it is to make a lovely loaf of bread, so cheap, and only 5 ingredients!

But why wouldn't you just buy proper butter and yogurts and better bread?

All those things have the ingredients on them and you don't need to be the sharpest tool on the box to notice they're full of crap.

Why are people suggesting making butter? I see the point with bread because nearly all supermarket bread is UPF and if its not, it's very expensive.

But all supermarkets have loads of real butter that's cheaper than a lot of processed spreads that the OP is complaining about and unless you buy your cream from the reduced counter the saving isn't that great over just buying it.

I’m als0 bemused by the butter comment, no one needs to make their own butter as only spreads are available. And no one needs to buy protein yoghurts, Greek is freely available and lastly no one needs to buy crap fake bread, plenty fresh loaves available.

To be honest I used to live off processed food, senior job with lots of travelling required and decent amount of disposable income - every meal was either room service, deliveroo, restaurants and meal deals. Never a home cooked meal. Would never actually do a full grocery shop as I would never be home long enough to utilise the food.

In fact, this month I did my first proper grocery shop in my entire adult life ie no ready meals, but all the cupboard things to make every meal from scratch. It’s weird to adjust to but I’ve already done a few basic things like make pizzas from scratch, bake brownies etc and I’m starting to realise that cooking doesn’t take as long as I initially assumed. And I’m liking having more control over taste and nutrition. I’m not totally against ultra processed food but I’m more receptive to cooking myself. Might sound crazy to some, but this feels like a big step for me.

Nah, most people do eat that way in the western world.

It’s ultra processed food that’s the problem though, not processed food (which is at least actually food).

Most supermarket bread has all kinds of non-food shite in it.

Which protein yoghurts do you eat? Arla is pretty much just skyr, stevia, and fruit concentrates.

I can't eat white bread because it usually triggers a binge. I have no clue what is in it, but I know it is not good for me, so I avoid it. If I needed bread, I would buy seeded, wholegrain bread.

I've never liked butter spreads; either use butter or don't. The butter substitutes are rank.

I do agree with you in general, though. Something has gone very, very wrong with the way food is being produced and marketed.

I think the “hand-wringing” is fair enough. The food companies have got away with murder because just pass the blame on to individuals. It’s fine as an adult to think well I can just change my diet, but children (who have little control over their diet and are easy to advertise to) are suffering and we shouldn’t be complacent about that.

What’s shocking is how cheap it is to eat garbage food and how expensive it is to eat real food. There’ll be a whole generation of children eating rubbish food and spending hours on TikTok while their parents slave away to make ends meet, while kids of rich parents eat organic meals cooked from scratch and are banned from devices and pushed into sports and music extra-curriculars after their private school day ends (this has already started where I live outside the UK).

No one was making their own butter in the 50s or 60s unless they lived on a farm.
Bread isn't plastic it just has too many additives.
It's worth standing back and thinking why this has come about. Cost/longevity and travel are all part of the change in bread but so, massively, is convenience. Sliced bread is infinitely easier to make sandwiches with. Real bread goes stale very quickly and we don't generally shop every day. It's a whole change in consumer wants and habits.