Ultra Processed Person going cold turkey

[Fluffyflipflop]

Hiya!

I’m halfway through Ultra Processed People and feeling completely disgusted at my own dietary habits for the majority of my adult life.

My UPF consumption has gotten worse as I’ve got fatter, due to eating more and more ‘diet’ and ‘low fat’ foods which I now realise were full of CRAP! (I think I knew this before but was so obsessed with calories in/out that the content of the food was irrelevant).

Suffice to say I’m now switching my focus entirely to non UPF food. It’s virtually impossible to be 100% non UPF but in my usual all or nothing style, that’s what I’m aiming for!

Is anyone else doing this?

one thing I’m struggling to find is a really good flavoursome beef stock. I’ve tried the Pots one (in what looks like a beer can) and my cottage pie was very bland according to my husband who I think would inject MSG into his eyeballs given the chance.

Also, what do you do for treats???

100% going to do this!

@Fluffyflipflop @gettinghealthy and anyone else who might be interested, here's my home made bread recipe (I use the oven, no breadmaker here apart from me!)

Assemble dry ingredients in a large bowl - ( I use cup measures, can't be bothered taking out a weighing scales)

DRY
3 cups plain flour
1/4 cup wholemeal flour
1/4 cup wheat bran (can be omitted, then use 1/2 cup wholemeal)
1/2 cup mixed milled flaxseeds, chia seeds
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt.
Mix together.

WET
1 egg
1/4 cup oil or melted butter
1 and 1/2 cups of plain yogurt or buttermilk
some milk to loosen if needed.
Whisk wet ingredients together.

The ratio is approx 2 dry to 1 wet.

Add wet to dry to make a loose but not runny dough that can be spooned into the tins. If dough is too stiff add milk to loosen it up a little.

Do NOT overmix. Gently does it.

Transfer to 2 loaf tins that are pre greased with butter or oil or use a tin liner.
If you can be bothered sprinkle some porridge oats on top for decoration.

180d fan for 30 minutes. Test with skewer or tooth pick. No residue they are done. Otherwise another 5-10 minutes or so. If browning too much on top put a bit of tin foil on top. I go by instinct here and the skewer! Leave in tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a rack.

If you don't like hard crusty tops (like me), you can put damp teacloth over them for a few minutes to soften up.

It sounds like a lot of faff, but when you make it regularly it becomes routine.

Slice, eat and/or freeze.

@hastalava

Thank you!! I’ve copied and pasted 🙏🏻

@hastalava @Fluffyflipflop well you both motivated me. The book arrived yesterday (not looked at it yet though) and I had a go at some bread this morning! I didn't use your recipe @hastalava (yet) just because I wanted to avoid buying lots of different ingredients I may never use again 😅 so I tried a basic one from good food which came out well, and then made some roasted garlic and beetroot hummus to go with it. The garlic, chickpeas and beetroot were all organic as well, so feeling good about that! Do you have any tips for freezing bread?

It was so yummy! And also filling - I definitely didn't need the 3rd slice but they looked smaller than shop bread slices so I thought I might.

(I'm guessing the cheddar spread is seriously UPF but baby steps 😅)

Forgot pic 😅

Breadmaker - cheap second hand on FB marketplace and easy to use. Freeze a sliced loaf once made for emergencies when you run out. You can also make pizza dough in it.

Once a week you can make a cake or some brownies or something to last you the week ahead (they freeze well as well).

Porridge is a good breakfast.

I made my own museli the other day and it was the EASIEST thing ever to make - just mix oats, raisins, chopped nuts, seeds, maybe some flax or chia seeds and done - takes about 2 mins. And all UPF free.

Surely basically all home made biscuits will be UPF free? Or at least very low UPF? Even if the chocolate you're adding in is UPF, it's only a small part of the biscuit. Likewise, even if peanut butter is UPF (which it will be), then the peanut butter biscuits you make are still relatively okay. If you want a sweet snack - and most of us do, every so often - that seems like a good approach. Healthier than pre-packaged biscuits.

It’s important to shop carefully so you’re not tempted to get take away and corner shop rubbish.
I always have boiled eggs, cheese, plain oatcakes (Lidl) and Greek yogurt for snacking.
You can make lovely fast flatbreads with just flour mixed to a dough with Greek yogurt and rolled out and dry fried in a pan. Although too much flour isn’t great and bread is a major reason for weight gain for many of us. Oat cakes are much more satiating.

Nothing wrong with bread as long as you are eating a healthy diet. The Mediterranean diet which is often claimed to be the best of all is upf free, but has plenty of bread products.

As others I don't worry too much about stock cubes. We don't snack too much, but when we do it is peanuts or cream cheese on a bit of toast. (Watch the cream cheese some of the big brands have additives). Watermelon is also great, I cube it up and have it in a tub in the fridge.

Peanut butter is not necessarily upf. Buy ones with just peanuts and salt and it's fine. Ditto, high quality dark chocolate. Both are processed, not UPF.

I use stock cubes occasionally where it doesn't make much difference to taste - for example, to give a little more oomph to a bean stew. A bio stock cube isn't kuch improvement if you look at the ingredients- just that they tend to have a single digit percentage of actual neat added to them.
For your cottage pie, provided you don't make your own stocks, you could look for a really good for-buy beef or veal demiglace (=concentrated stock.) This one looks good albeit expensive: https://www.fineandwild.com/products/salsus-beef-demi-glace.

Alternatively and more cheaply, try adding finely diced mushrooms and some soy sauce to your pie fillings. Both contain natural glutamate which may be what your dh is craving.

I don't worry too much about stocks. You use such a low amount. Although kallo are one of the better ones (contain palm oil)
Sweet treats I have fresh berries and Greek yogurt.
But you will find you need less treats if eating well.

Tin of toms whizzed up with some water and a pinch of salt is a good alternative.

My favourite snack (apart from the forbidden) is an avocado with home made hummus. .

The book has blown my mind! Just read about the children in the experiment.

Let me know what you think!

@Fluffyflipflop argh I've got a 2.5YO - is the book going to make me prise the cheese strings from his tight fists? 😅

This book completely changed my mindset around food - I am totally convinced by it.

For an incredibly delicious non-UPF snack stuff some big medjool dates with peanut butter (meridian is just nuts) and freeze them. They are incredible - they somehow taste like snickers ice cream.

The big changes I’ve made are not buying supermarket bread or cereal anymore, or any of the kids snacks (like pom bears and veggie straws) that I had thought weren’t too bad for them. We get bread from local bakery and have porridge or Greek full fat yoghurt with frozen berries now.

I still use normal stock cubes and mayonnaise. Can anyone recommend a mayo that is better than others?

We invested in a bread maker and so all the kids rolls for their packed lunches and sourdough toast for the mornings come from that. It IS a bit of a faff. But dh Has taken it on as it’s a bit techy and process heavy and he is very serious about it.

Bread was one of the biggest no nos I think from yeh UPF books. Also margarine type spreads. butter is best. Really delicious too!

Overnight oats made by layering greek yoghurt then oats then blueberries and a drizzle of honey is amazing as a treat. The oats absorb the watery part of the yoghurt so the yoghurt left at the bottom is thick and creamy.

Smoothies with kefir and frozen banana or mango are good too.

Ref mushrooms and stock - I've recently discovered shiitake mushroom powder which is a great alternative to stock. You can buy dried shiitakes and grind them in a nutribullet or similar to create powder and add some to your dishes. Really great depth of umami flavour.

Miso paste is also good, as is marmite and/or vegemite (is that classified as a UPF?).

Yes, but probably swap for normal cheese!

This stuff for stock?

www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/marigold-swiss-vegetable-bouillon-powder-60067864

I think some of those ingredients are UPF such as hydrolysed vegetable protein.

I’m not sure about potato starch, it might be that’s just a processed food. But having said that, if you can’t find the individual ingredients in a supermarket, it’s probably UPF.

Great thread. Taking notes!

I second Tesco Finest dark chocolate.