UPF Help- My lifestyle is killing me.

[Ecydsis]

I am at rock bottom. I've been here for a few years now.

I am morbidly obese (I know they don't use that term anymore but it is true)

I have lost all fitness and in my mid forties, I can see my future and it is not good.

I want to start with cutting UPF- I can't currently face being hungry so my thinking is overhaul my diet without worrying about weight for now.

But want to check.

If I make bread I can eat it?
Butter, milk and cheese is ok as long as it isn't slices ?
Pasta/rice is fine if I buy it raw (not pouches)
Canned pulses are ok but not as good a dried.

Meat should be raw and identifiable (ie raw chicken, not bacon?)
Is tea/coffee ok?

Porridge oats and milk?

I'm going to try and start exercising but I am so unfit.

Thanks for any help

Which HFW book is that from, please?

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel Light and Easy 😊

Thank you!

I do like HFW, watching RC was always escapism despite not actually ever trying to cook his recipes.

I love Spinach, but struggle to finish a whole bag so will look at this.

A side effect of my new lifestyle is definitely how much washing up I have now- UPF food makes much less mess.

Following you’re doing amazing op think I’m going to do this too

@Ecydsis you inspired me to make a UPF free lasagne yesterday.

Had to stop DH buying a jar of Dolmio white sauce when it is so easy to make.

He also added garlic bread but I didn’t have that

Jamie Oliver also does an easy yoghurt flatbread, that i've done in the past.

Week 8 Day 1

Lost 1lb which is 14 lbs lost in 7 weigh ins.

I was a little disappointed, on WW I would have lost more- but I gave myself a shake. not only is WW not healthy for me (I would eat a lot of UPF and drink lots of fizzy, consume lots of sweeters) it doesn't work because I have never found it to be sustainable. This has been the easiest stone I've ever lost - time will tell if it is sustainable.

Brunch. HM Vegetable Soup with small slice sourdough, then beef sourdough sandwich.

Dinner mozzarella chicken with hummus salad and new potatoes.

Snack. Banana, pear, apple and HM apple and blueberry cake.

Drink, water, one coffee and tea. Really enjoying tea at the moment.

Week 8 Day 2.

Lunch- Pitta, hummus, mixed beans salad. Vegetable soup and one slice sourdough (have been having 2 but from habit rather than need.)

Dinner. Chicken and chips. With salad (there is a theme 😂) had smaller portions than I would have in the past. Fried the chips in goose fat- so not healthy, but UPF free.

1 UPF ingredient in the hummus, other than that all free (found out the Co-Op sell expensive but UPF free hummus, although I am making some this week- has anyone made it without adding garlic? Just to make it more work friendly.

Work crazy today so no exercise, but do need to work something daily in. Will try and do extra tomorrow.

Yup, I make lemon and cumin hummus without garlic for my son to take to work. It’s really nice.

I’ve been UPF free for about 2 weeks longer than you and have only had one or two UPF things, Oxo’s and chilli sauce with xanthan gum mainly but yesterday we went out to lunch with a friend and today I was clearing out the freezer and so we used up the last of the things like chicken nuggets, curly fries and mini pizzas. I feel terrible tonight. Bloated and my gallbladder is gripey. Should have just dumped it in the bin!
Keep up the good work, you are doing brilliantly. It’s definitely worth it.

@PrincessDonut thanks, I'm going to have a play around with flavours then, so pleased I've changed jobs as now have the whole four days off for the first time for years - have lot planned in the house, including cooking and sorting the freezer!

I'm sorry to hear that you feel bad, but it is interesting to hear how you have reacted, and will help when I undoubtedly have to throw some food out, as it isn't worth eating.

How have you found the time you've been off UPF, what are the biggest improvements you have found and was there something that pushed you into doing it? (Please only answer if you want)

Oh enjoy your time off. I was off because the dog has just been spayed and needs to be kept an eye on. I’d been meaning to sort the freezer forever.
Definitely throw away the processed junk food, don’t bother eating it. I suppose though it’s had the same effect as the Van Tulleken brothers purposefully eating high UPF to fully realise the grossness.

I’m fat and having just turned 60 had resigned myself to it. Diets work but don’t last and I just couldn’t be bothered. My health and fitness isn’t the best and I never seemed to have much energy. I do like cooking so our main meal was generally home cooked but we tended to cheat with jars and sauces, easy breaded things and a fair few ready meals and far too many take aways.
The quality of ready meals has declined sharply in the last couple of years and even the better quality ones were not as nice as they used to be and we had been chatting about doing more cooking, totally from scratch and freezing them to have when we would have previously had a take away or ready meal. Then my MIL was reading Ultra Processed People and passed it on to me. That was quite the eye opener.
Since then I have cooked everything from scratch. If I want cake or biscuits then I bake them. I’ve been making my own stock and baking my own bread.

As you’ve talked about before, a lot more work and a ton of washing up but I feel so much better and after a few weeks I found I’d got the energy to do it. My IBS type stomach issues calmed right down and no gallbladder pain at all although non of it was low fat. I don’t own any scales but I’ve definitely dropped a little bit of weight despite eating cake and biscuits. I’m not binging on crisps and sweets and not even wanting to. I was given a big box of chocolates for my birthday and I ate 3 and gave the rest away. I’m eating a lot more fruit and veg too.
It doesn’t feel like a diet but I expected the processed stuff yesterday to be a bit of a treat but it really wasn’t. Everything tasted fake and chemically, the curly fries were particularly grim. Then the gallbladder pain kicked in. 🤣😩🤣
So not doing that again. Overnight oats again this morning and fajitas with Crosta and Mollica flatbreads for lunch.

It’s really scary how bad the processed foods make you feel having not had them for a while. I had similar this week although I haven’t been cutting UPFs out really. Just trying to be more aware. But I bought Sainsbury’s seeded whole meal bread on Saturday - have been mainly just having Jason’s seeded sourdough - and OMG it kicked off cravings hugely. It was all I wanted and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And I’m on Mounjaro! Food noise isn’t really too much of a thing for me now. I know bread is a big weakness for me but hadn’t appreciated just how addictive the normal supermarket bread is. Even the so called healthy stuff. I ended up throwing half of it away as I just couldn’t stop eating it.

OMG it kicked off cravings

This resonates with me- I have Jason's. I can have A Slice.
With Warburtons, my pre change favourite, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I would have three, four, more slices.

@Peridot1 how do you find Mounjano? I will admit I am interested, but much of that is because from all I read it makes me feel as if cutting UPF is (for me, I get that it is personal) quite like the jabs..

Today, for the first time in a lifetime, I felt uncomfortably full- normally I can eat eat eat. But I had some new organic oats (twice the size of my normal ones) and I felt overfull, will cut the portion tomorrow, but it is a new feeling.

@Ecydsis - I was an early adopter of Ozempic three years ago and found it amazing. Lost three stone quite quickly. It really seemed to fix something in me. Then I stalled. I switched to Wegovy once that became available and went up to the highest dose but wasn’t finding the weight loss that good. Which I will admit is definitely my own fault. Unfortunately I am not one of the people where the medication puts them off alcohol so I was (and still am) drinking quite a bit of wine. I switched to Mounjaro in September and had to start at lowest dose after a month off Wegovy. The weight loss isn’t great but again my own fault.

I am not in the highest dose of Mounjaro yet so it’s been slow the last six months and I have fluctuated a bit. Went away for five weeks which didn’t help.

I do recommend the weight loss drugs as I think that they are game changing but you do have to put in the work too. Interestingly when I had to have a month break when switching to Mounjaro the cravings really kicked in and I was really craving bread. It actually really scared me how bad it was. The bread I craved was the whole meal seeded one I had at the weekend which kicked of cravings again. So it was really interesting to see that actually it might not have been that I was off the medication a few months ago but that I had some of the bread full stop.

So I think the drugs definitely have a role to play but proper nutrition and avoiding UPFs and prioritising protein and fibre and drinking lots of water are as important.

I’ve been enjoying reading this thread over the last few days, and it’s really inspired me to get back on track with my food. I did really well at avoiding UPF for quite a long time, but a period of massive stress combined with crappy cooking facilities knocked me off course.

Thank you @Ecydsis for linking the non-paywall article above, I had assumed packets of rice were terrible for UPF, but having looked at the Tilda ones, they look ok, so I’ll get some next time I’m shopping.

I basically only have one working ring on the hob, so I have to use a combination of that, microwave, air fryer, and instant pot. I know I can make some decent meals with those but have fallen into the trap of easy air fryer junk, because I’m rubbish at planning ahead.

Thank you for the thread, and please do keep posting!

@Peridot1 thank you for the most honest post I've read about WLD, it is really interesting to see how it has being working for you irl and that it isn't quite the miracle drug (as in you can't continue to eat and drink as you want- which is what we all want really!)
Wine is also my weaknesses, I love it. I love how it makes me feel when I'm drinking it, it is also a habit. And I'm noticing the side effects more these days, tired skin, poor sleep and indigestion.

Interesting what you have said about bread- I remember the cravings so well, sourdough just doesn't do it in the same way. I can stop at a slice

@Castlerigg I have found it really eye-opening that this is all part of the manufacturers plan - they know we are time poor so make tempting easy options, with the sole aim of making the company money.
Also interesting that there options in the same groups of food. Where I am being quite regimented, I've started checking everything for my family, sometimes two branded products, that are equally as nice, can have 10UPF difference. I've cut the families UPF down significantly by simple changes like that.
But planning is definitely the answer. I have a lot of salads for exactly that reason- don't have to think, I know I need a protein, a carb and then salad.

I have had two days, where, if I was on a diet I would have said I was completely off plan.

But I'm not, and despite eating and drinking too much, I still am UPF free- even when I'd had a drink, I went to my cupboard and had extras, but if the good stuff.

Yesterday
Week 8. Day 4

Breakfast. Oats, seeds, blueberries

Lunch . Home made vegetable soup with sourdough

Dinner. Massive salad 😂 😂 too much cheese to be healthy, hummus, beef and pulses. With pitta bread.

Drinks water, coffee, whole bottle of wine, tea

Snacks Kettle chips (first packet of crisps since started but they meet the non UPF ingredients, just potato and salt. Two HM cakes- these absolutely saved me last night when I wanted to open another bottle but was able to convince myself that it would be stupid and that tea and something sweet was in order.

Happy Good Friday.

I've got the day off- I haven't had the Easter Weekend off for 18 years. Bit cross that as I had wine yesterday I've been awake since 7 although have enjoyed scrolling MN, several long standing posts with excellent updates.

Posting to keep me focused, I want to stay off the wine tonight.

Enjoy your Friday

@EcydsisAbsolutely, and from a business point of view, it makes perfect sense: produce a product that meets a need, produce it as cheaply as possible, and do whatever it takes to get the customer to come back for more. Our health is not their concern, profit is.

A bit off topic but as I'm seeming to use this more like a diary entry I need to put this in writing. No need to acknowledge this I just have to have it as part of this, I've re read this whole thread several times, just to see that I am progressing. I need to be able to see in a few weeks that I have progressed from this.

Just opened up to a close family member, about how I'm changing my diet and going UPF free - it started with a discussion about why I wanted to make my own hummus rather than me bringing up what I'm doing.

No support, or even interest. Just a comment when I said I'm doing it to be healthier their only reply was 'well it's a bit late for you' only words but they cut so deep.

I know I'm a state, I know I've damaged my health and my body, I am ashamed that I let it get so bad. I was absolutely at rock bottom when I started this thread but surely now is not too late, I can't undo what I've done to my body but I can improve things for the future.

What I can't do is give up.

@Ecydsis - in the early days of the weight loss drugs I was forever telling people on Ozempic threads that it’s WHAT you eat as much as how much. Appetite supression is not the only way the medication works. And in fact the appetite supression wears off. The medications work by correcting a hormone imbalance. I think I have been guilty of forgetting that a bit myself!

@Ecydsis try and ignore any unsupportive comments from family or friends , of course it’s not too late to make positive changes, keep going and keep posting

I’m actually very proud of you!
You acknowledge the damage you’ve done, and trying to resolve the issues.
I suffer with mid stage Parkinson’s and struggle with being active , and light headed