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

It’s hard to avoid additives completely these days. I disagree with ‘eat plenty of fruit and vegetables’ as unless you buy organic all fruit is sprayed with all kinds of awful chemicals which will end up in your body so not good for you at all. Even washing and peeling them doesn’t make much difference as the chemicals are easily absorbed right through the fruit. Vegetables aren’t as bad but still there is a certain amount of chemical absorption. Organic is the way to go here.

It's not actually easy to make a loaf of bread or a batch of bread rolls. It's a pain in the arse to source live yeast; it's physical and time consuming. That said, there's no reason to buy plastic bread if you don't want to. Bakeries and markets sell freshly made, quality bread, although this depends on where you live/your ability to get around/delivery options.

Nor is there a need to buy faddy yoghurts. Buy Greek yoghurt and add your own flavours, if you don't like it plain. Let's face it, few us have the ability or money to go completely back to basics, buy a small holding with various animals so we can milk our own cow and churn the milk to make butter etc.

You're not wrong to point out that it's valuable to take a moment to look at foods and ingredients one regularly buys and review whether they're still the best option. There's no need to be 'sad' about anything though. Options are there if you want them.

I hate the incorrect food / health messaging that we are given. Low saturated fat, low sugar, high protein, high fibre, more plant based products... Yes all correct but there are good ways to do it and not so good ways to do it.

In my local supermarket there are shelves and shelves of 0% fat yogurt (with added stuff to make it feel creamy), and low sugar yogurt with artificial sweeteners instead, fruit or vanilla 'flavour' yogurts with the flavour provided by chemicals and no actual fruit or vanilla, protein yogurts with added pea proteins.

10% fat Greek yogurt has to be better for you. And if it's a little sour then maybe it will help me to eat a reasonable sized portion rather than being seduced by the sweetness into eating more than I need. Add a few slices of chopped banana, add some toasted coconut, add a sprinkle of cinnamon or a drop of vanilla extract - they all add natural sweetness without the sucrose, fructose or chemicals.

And if I want to eat pea protein I just eat some peas! Which also comes with its own fibre so I don't need to add extra fibre!

I was quite surprised by how hard it is to find ordinary cottage cheese. When I was young cottage cheese WAS a diet food!

As for vegan plant based salmon steaks??? I cannot imagine anything worse than opening a food that smells slightly fishy when we know there is no fish in it. It is against every natural instict in our body. If it smells fishy, something is wrong!

Try Jason bread and rolls. Not UPF and taste good. Normal butter is fine. You can leave out of the fridge for a while to soften it. Plain yoghurt with honey and fruit tastes nice. Don't but biscuits or cake. If you want them, bake your own.

I agree - making bread is a faff. I really like Jason, which is non- UPF. Crosta tortillas are too.

Last time I looked, I was still part of the same society.

And society is made up of individuals who mape individual choices. Some of those individuals want to eat well but aren't really sure what that means and make mistakes; some do eat well; some don't care what food contains or that it's fake food (and there are many threads on here that are testament to that!); some people don't realise there is a difference between a shop bought anything and one you've made yourself ingredients wise.

The shops can stock whatever they like. People don’t have to buy it.

In terms of going wrong in how we view food, I think the biggest mistake is in the narrative around food as a reward/compensation.

I find it difficult to find a good range of organic vegetables in supermarkets. Sometimes I buy something organic for a while and then (possibly for seasonal reasons) it's not available.

I hadn't realised that fruit absorbs chemicals more than vegetables. I sometimes wash in bicarbonate of soda but not sure how effective it is.

Agree - vegetarian and vegan food seems to be the worst.

I agree about the point of eating organic fruit/ veg. I recall hearing some people say, why buy organic, as it does not taste any different to the regular fruit, perhaps missing the point, that it is about wanting to avoid all the chemicals that are sprayed on non organic crops. It is going to cost more, if people want to eat a healthier grade of food. That is not an option, for everybody.

I meant artificially sweet tastes. Honey is sweet, some fruits are very sweet (although increasingly cultivated for sweeter and sweeter varieties). Nothing is wrong with that. But food can also taste wonderful, without being sweet. For me that includes yogurt. Personal choice.

It is my personal choice also not to add sugar (even in a natural form), or sweeteners of any sort to foods that would not normally include them. My christmas cake has lots of dried fruit and no other added sugar.

I've been on the Jason bread badwagon for a while, but all the products last surprisingly long. If i make fresh bread it lasts 2 days max. Any possibility there's something added that isn't declared?

I get a local organic veg box. In the winter there are a lot of turnips, celeriac, cabbages... In the summer lots of lettuce, courgettes, chard... It follows the seasons and we are always glad when the turnip season ends

Sometimes it happens when you retrain your palate.

I love the taste of banana and pineapple but I can't eat them anymore because they're too sweet. Tbh, I find a lot of fruit too sweet now.

I used to dip rhubarb in sugar before eating it but I don't anymore.

Things can taste 'good' without tasting sweet.

In terms of going wrong in how we view food, I think the biggest mistake is in the narrative around food as a reward/compensation.

I agree in the sense of 'treating' ourselves to something that we know to be inherently unhealthy - a giant cake with our coffee, a large take-away meal, a family sized bag of sweets eaten by one person. Sometimes there things are a reward, or a treat, or a way of dealing with a difficult emotion. The challenge comes when life is so full of stress that the 'treat' becomes a frequent event.

Butter takes 5 minutes to make if you want to, but maybe just buy a decent one instead of spread?
Aim for at least 5 a day and try to make non-UPFs 80% of your diet.
A big batch of homemade soup can be frozen; you can pack it with veg and sprinkle seeds on top before you eat it.

I agree things can taste good without being sweet, but if you're used to sweet dessert-type yoghurts like OP is, and you enjoy them, there is nothing at all wrong with adding some sweetness, especially if it means you're less likely to go back to Müller lights. It's about balance and finding a diet you can stick to long term without feeling deprived and miserable.

Honey is an option, but it is very calorie-dense and has a higher glycemic index than stevia.

Even things like bread is just plastic

Wtf are you talking about?

You are correct BUT

• there is a cost issue
• there is an availability issue. Sainsbury's and Waitrose have more non-UPF options

I eat a pretty sensible diet most of the time aside from being medically addicted to biscuits

(as per Alan Partridge’s Toblerone addiction.🤪)

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

I'm not sure what = " all kinds" but here are ingredients of first loaf of supermarket (Tesco) bread I found via Ecosia:

Water, Wheat Flour (with added Calcium, Folic Acid, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin) (32%), Wholemeal Flour (Wheat) (32%), Yeast
(so far sounds like food to me... 64%, so majority)

Calcium Sulphate : ok, this one sounds like a chemical

Salt, Wheat Protein, Soya Flour = more food?

Preservative: E282 = Calcium Propionate
Emulsifiers: E472e = DATEM = "a synthetic emulsifier made from the esterification of acetic acid, tartaric acid, glycerol and fatty acids"
E471 = " a palm based food additive "
E322 (Rapeseed),
Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid

The most synthetic sounding ingredient is the E472e. Would one molecule of E472e make the entire loaf a pile of shite?

I eat fage 2% Greek yoghurt and a lot of it! It is not sour - it’s actually to me like eating very thick cream - add in some raspberries or bananas and a few nuts-gorgeous- I could live on it

Me too! I had to stop my protein bar habit after watching mr Wicks’ documentary. I’m trying very hard not to eat anything highly processed

No but some bread, within the majority that fall into the UPF category, is better than others.

When the UPF avoidance craze began, I read an article about common types of supermarket bread and it concluded that the 'least worst' UPF loaf, so presumably lowest additive content was the M&S Farmhouse loaf which, as well as white, comes in wholemeal, seedy and oatmeal.

Its not the cheapest available but is comparable in price to other mid range options at about £1.50 and is good for sandwiches unlike proper sourdough, which is only really nice if toasted or dipped in oil, soup or sauce.

It also depends on how much bread you eat. The odd couple of slices on some days a week, so in the 20% category, is less of a worry than if you have toast for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch every day, so part of your 80%.