AIBU to think some weekly shops contain far too many snacks?and this is not grocery shopping!?

[Upsetbetty]

AIBU to think that the amount of processed snacks people buy in their grocery shopping is getting ridiculous? Watching people share their grocery shop on instagram etc and I can’t see what meals they can even make as it’s all snacks?? And then they say oh grocery shopping is so expensive!Do people really do this? I don’t buy any biscuits, fizzy drinks (18-20 pack slabs) or crisps as a part of me weekly family shop. I buy the meat, veg and pantry items. That is my weekly shopping. I buy one packet of oat bars for my DCs lunches. If my dc want a snack they have fruit, yogurt, homemade flapjacks etc.

Take a bow OP! Also why do you care enough about what other people buy to create a post about it? Maybe expand your life a little?

Nobody is saying don’t have treats( that said treats don’t need to be UP food).

But if people want their treats to be UPF that's their own call. And really nobody else's business.

But just because someone's trolley is full of junk, doesn't mean it's a) all for them or b) what they buy every week or c) what they centre their diet around.

Of course not. This whole thread was started about societal level shopping.
People that work in supermarkets have concurred that they see a lot of UPF going into baskets.
They fact it’s piled high in the supermarkets, every corner shop and garage should tell you theres a lot of demand.

But of course they sell a lot of it, because that's what they sell...it's a bit like saying Waterstones sells a lot of books, or Costa sells a lot of coffee.

@CandiedPrincess , I highly doubt that "Some people smoke until they're 100 with no ill effects".

I'm all for being healthy but I believe in moderation and balance - and enjoying my life at the same time - and YES, sometimes eating a fat burger and chips IS enjoyment for me.
I've not said anything about eating unhealthy food occasionally; it's people eating very little else that's a problem.

I don't think it's up to anyone else to judge where other people get pleasure.
It depends entirely on where they get pleasure, doesn't it.

@timtamsarebetterthanpenguins , It's more like saying that a bookshop stocks a lot of magazines and trashy novels but not much classical fiction.

I don't live in the UK, in fact I live in a country where the healthy life expectancy is apparently a decade higher. There is no 'greasy spoon' up the road from me.

Incidentally two of my grandparents did smoke and lived until their mid 80s, my GM was a chain smoker. Not that I am advocating smoking.

Nothing helps improve a serious chronic illness like courting another half dozen of them through downplaying the role of UPFs and diet in general creating serious chronic illnesses that are lifestyle related - like fatty liver, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, dementia, etc etc etc etc.

Dementia isn't a lifestyle related disease.

Yes, it is. Substantially so, for the most part; particularly vascular dementia. Even if you have the APOE gene variants linked to Alzheimer's there is a marked reduction in risk with focus on diet and lifestyle factors under your control.

This was shown in the Lancet years ago, and updated in 2024 to 14 risk factors involving diet and lifestyle. It's common knowledge now.

Addressing 14 health and lifestyle factors could prevent nearly half of global dementia cases - Alzheimer's Research UK

Many dementia researchers think it is more like 60% and some say 90% preventable through diet and lifestyle, though there are lifestyle factors (pollution etc) beyond people's control.

You didn't read your own link.

From it :
It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean that individual cases can be attributed to either ‘lifestyle’ or ‘non-lifestyle’ factors.

They look at global statistics, not actual traceable causation. From those statistics, they extrapolate around health and environmental factors associated with the disease. None of the activities or environmental factors cause the disease, as far as they know, just potentially increase the risk. And of the factors listed just three - obesity, smoking and excess drinking - are individual life choices. These combined increase risk by potentially 4%. Obesity taken alone potentially increases risk by 1%. The absolute biggest risk factor by far is age.

That is not what all the research I have read says.

You could google "the Lancet" and "dementia" to see their findings on the risk factors, or do your own reading if you want.

Alzheimer's is now referred to by many in the field as "type 3 diabetes", and linked to the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes as a diet and lifestyle induced disease. But by all means dig your own grave with your fork or fingers.

This simple little article spells it out.

The Lancet report is great news in that there are concrete steps you can take to reduce dementia risk.

It really is about the individual working on what is in their control.

Targeting 14 lifestyle factors may prevent up to 45% of dementia cases | Cognitive Vitality | Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation

But they also sell unprocessed food, people just buy proportionably less.

As mentioned before even food is UPF now wasn’t so much previously. Chocolate and bread being obvious ones. Emulsifiers are relatively new, palm oil in everything in new. That’s before the E numbers.

When their entire diet is UP heavy(when you start honestly looking you realise how UP heavy many diets are)and then treats are even higher UP foods it is the business of others as our taxes fund the NHS.

And it’s the normalisation of treat foods as staple foods.
I see lunchboxes for kids that are literally just crisps, sweets, processed cakes, string “cheese” or processed ham and crackers.
No veg, fruit, salad or even a slightly less processed sandwich.

Why can't we just ban junk food? Can anyone give me one good reason why not?

I do agree overall but it just wouldn't work. People would start making it illegally for one. And then there's people like me who have one day off every 3 weeks or so(I low carb/high protein most of the time as I am always at the gym) who deserve some 'junk' now and again. Noting inverted commas, is there a full definition of junk food? I know there is of UPFs. But really what is 'junk'? Is UPF junk but other things junk too? Sugar and fat aren't UPFs on their own nor are all foods heavy in them. Lard isn't a UPF but wouldn't be banned if we banned UPFs. Lard isn't even a junk food on its own IMO (although I am vegan so obviously do wish it didn't even exist).

Even if people did start making it illegally it'd be better that having it for sale in supermarkets ready to eat. Having to put the time and effort in to make it would dissuade people from eating so much of it.

The home made junk would probably be lower in additives.

If we're going to go down that road...there's a very long list of things our taxes fund for that I am disgruntled with. Obesity is further down the list than most.

Ultra-processed foods are full of fat and sugar in proportions designed to make you eat more of them and crave them; they are modified and moulded and go through multiple industrial processes that cannot be replicated in a home kitchen. They are full of man-made ingedients unavailable to the home cook - like emulsifiers, preservatives, antioxidants, artificial colours and flavours.

Fast food is mostly "junk food", but may or may not be UPF. Most supermarket "food" is UPF, with a limited amount fresh or frozen, and much of it is processed. Processed food - a tin of baked beans eg - is not the problem. It's the ultra-processing, all the ingredients that if you read a packet whose names make no sense and the list goes on and on and on, that indicates UPF.

It shouldn’t be as obesity is one of the biggest drains on the NHS but UPFs don’t just cause obesity…

And obesity isn’t just caused by eating UPFs…