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

My advise would be - unless therea a medical
reason not to - mounjaro is the most imprkran thing to do first - it will give you the space to oberhaul
your diet

Have you read the whole thread? Even just filtered and read only the OPs comments?! She is doing amazingly well and at 9 weeks has completely changed her diet for the better, losing weight and feeling wonderful on the back of it. She doesn't need WL injections.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing to do. UPFs make you hungry and want to eat more and more. You will probably eat less calories through better quality food, and then eating less of it if you aren’t getting the UPF cravings, and thereby lose weight. It’s exactly one one of the UPF Van Tulleken doctor brothers turned his weight and health around and I think he was morbidly obese too.

As others have says though you are focussing on the wrong things. UPFs are ULTRA processed foods. Not just processed foods. Tinned chickpeas are ultra processed. Look for long lists of ingredients and ingredients you don’t recognise. Open food facts is a good place to start understanding the difference for ingredients you aren’t sure of.

Bread wise, most is ultra processed in the supermarket but if you can’t face making your own, “Jason’s” do a number of non-UPF options. I also shop around and do shops at both Ocado and Tesco as Tesco is cheaper but Ocado have more UPF free options.

Also aim for about 80/20. You’ll find it incredibly hard and/or expensive removing UPFs entirely. Plus it can be restrictive if you try to do eating out or at friends etc, so I don’t at all in those situations.

Just edited to add that I’ve just read your updates. Sounds like you’ve done amazingly well and had amazing results! Fantastic!

My bottle doesn’t. Maybe it’s a few years old?!

@LifeInAHamsterWheel I have tried making my own bread, but results haven't been great. I buy Jason's which is UPF free and currently £2 in Tesco and I have found it freezes well. I also buy from the local baker, it is £6 for a small life but it is by far the best. Thanks for your support.

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel @PrincessDonut I find the whole sauces thing difficult - my bottle of WS also reads as non UPf but Open Food Facts says it is UPF. One of the chapters in the CvT book talks about asking what is the purpose of the UPF that you are eating and is it designed to increase excessive consumption, I'm not sure WS falls into that category. I haven't used any yet, but do wonder if longer term I might.

Thanks @EczemaOrNot I appreciate your thoughts, and it was good to see my post from February, it just hit how far I've come. I don't think I could do 80/20 just because it seems to make me so hungry and drive consumption. I have had days where I have had UPF but by aiming for 0, I found it doesn't creep up much.
It is more expensive, but I've gone for simpler meals when eating at home which are more time consuming than expensive.

Thanks, I am sure it is offered in good faith but I agree, I don't think I need them.

I have actually spent some time reading the threads about injections, currently what I'm experiencing doesn't seem too dissimilar to what those on injections are experiencing. Which is terrifying if true- business has managed to create a problem and then solve the problem they created by making people purchase the solution.
I've also seen the price, my increase in food spending has not been £150 a month, so now I feel like I'm saving money - plus this is helping my family as we are all eating a lot less UPF (DH and Kids still eat UPF but less than before)

Week 9 Day 5

Breakfast Oats, seeds, milk and blueberries.

Lunch HM vegetable soup, cheese on sourdough

Dinne HM chili with more beans than meat, sour cream and nachos . Had this last night as well.

Drinks. Coffee, water, tonic, half bottle wine

Snacks, cashew and raisins (M&S, £3.50 for a tiny amount, it is things like this that are expensive) kettle chips, Banana.

First day where I actually felt hungry and had to stop to buy something - cashew nuts and raisins were the only option - other raisins I've seen have had additives but these didn't. But the hunger was sated with a small amount of the raisins and nut. Turns out the hunger was hormonal, but I wasn't expecting it as didn't have the usual PMS rage. So another weird side effect, I'm less cross.

Sauces are such a difficult area. I make my own mayonnaise but am working my way through the various sauces we have in the fridge. I don’t think I use any of them often enough or in a large enough quantity to worry. Also in the couple of years before he died, following the death of my Mum, my Dad got really into growing chillis in his greenhouses and so I’ve got a whole range of chilli based sauces that my brother made with them. They are wonderful but all contain xantham gum which I’m avoiding everywhere else. I’d like a non UPF version of sweet chilli and garlic sauce though, we used to use quite a lot of that.

I’m still occasionally using stock cubes too although I am making my own stock and freezing it.

Like you I’m aiming for completely UPF free but not stressing about it. I’ve already got to be a bit careful about fat levels if eating out because it can set my gallbladder off, so I don’t want to add more complications.

What a wonderful thing to still be enjoying after the loss of your dad.

I do wish that sauces were labelled clearer - natural flavouring, is it? I've found fresh sauces/dips can be ok, but it is such a faff reading them all- I scan with the Yuka app but it isn't always accurate.

Today I found I could do my bath towel (ok bath sheet) around me and walk around without traumatising the family. It didn't just meet, it covered over. Disappointingly I think it means most of my weight loss has gone from my boobs and not my bum 😭 😭 😭. But still feeling positive.

Still too much wine, was very busy all day yesterday and grazed. All UPF free.

Sat in the garden having breakfast, this is a new habit I am really enjoying.

Breakfast, oats, seeds, strawberries and milk. Slice sourdough and butter

Dinner- I've just read a thread about John Majors Chicken ... I think I'm going to try that with UPF free amendments.

I've just started reading Ultra processed people and it is a real eye opener.
I like the way he emphasises that obesity isn't an individuals fault.

Yes, I think his point about how it is unlikely there has been a simultaneous collapse in willpower across a number of countries, oddly all contemporaneous with the availability of UPFs, is an excellent one.

Weigh in 9 and another 3lb off so 19lb in total. Still slower than if I had been on WW but so much easier. I am not obsessing about food, I just eat when I'm hungry.

Still far too much wine at the weekends but better than it used to be.

@Ecydsis 191b is incredible and much better to do it slowly in a way that is sustainable

Thank you for keeping on updating the thread @Ecydsis, I am finding it helpful in keeping me on track.

I made a chicken stew at the weekend, which I’ll be finishing off for dinner tonight. I also made bread to go with it, but that got polished off pretty quickly! I wish I was organised enough, and had time, to make bread regularly. I did have a bread maker for a while, but the bread always had a weird taste that I didn’t like. I try not to eat too much bread anyway, so maybe it’s for the best.

Yes, thanks for keeping updating the thread OP, you are such an inspiration.

“Currently I over eat very unhealthy food, I just thought if I over ate healthier food at least I would be getting all the goodness of the healthy food rather than all the crap of the UPF. Also hopefully I might start to feel full if I eat actual food.”

PRECISELY, OP! Bang on.

You don’t have to be hungry. Eat as much as you want, just make it as unprocessed and raw-ingredient-led as possible.

if you’re a snacker (as I am), but as much nice fruit as you can afford; a handful of nuts is quite filling (tho high in good fats); hard-boil a clutch of eggs and keep them in the fridge, you can grab one and dip in naice Maldon sea salt for a snack between meals if you can’t wait. Munch on raw bell peppers, a whole cucumber, raw carrots, avocado, cherry tomatoes…

Breakfasts: home-made granola (not hard at all), have with milk or yoghurt, add more fruit on top
Porridge with added fruit/peanut butter

Eggs in any form, on/with buttered toast if you want
Leftovers!

Lunch - leftovers again useful, also eggs…
Sandwiches if you like them - the Warburtons sliced farmhouse loaf at least doesn’t have the mono and diglycerides of fatty acids that almost all shop breads have (obvs if you can make your own, even better.)
you can make your own wraps in a frying pan just using flour and yoghurt, I believe (google for recipe).
Loads of whichever vegetables you like on the side, salad-style or cooked.

Dinner - nice hunk of protein, some carbs (brown basmati rice is not as chewy/virtuous/long-to-cook as normal brown rice, or white basmati also fine).
Potatoes great, in any form, and they’re very satiating (make you feel pleasantly full.) Again, loads of veg, as many different colours as possible.

You’ve got this!

If you’re still losing weight despite the wine, that’s a great result. I have found giving up alcohol has made a big difference to weight loss, unsurprisingly.

I think @TheCountessofFitzdotterel it shows just how bad my diet was and that I am a significant fatty 😂.

In fairness on WW I normally give up the wine so I could be losing more without wine. Going to try really hard this week.

Monday no UPF

Today

Breakfast Oats, berries, seeds and milk

Lunch Fajita wraps

Dinner Cornish Sardines, ciabatta and salad.

Snack. Banana, bag kettle chips.

Drink Coffee and water.

Exactly this. The fact that companies are deliberately trying to modify food to increase consumption is awful.

Week 10 day 3

Breakfast oats, seeds and blueberries. I have actually finished the packet of seeds. I don't think I've ever done that before - I have these plans to get healthy but always quit.

Lunch. Ciabatta with chicken and salad. Home made coleslaw.

It is amazing the difference 19lbs makes - it is a drop in the ocean really but clothes fit better, everything is easier.

No idea what UPF is. Your GP should be able to arrange some support for you.

How is that possible? It's absolutely everywhere in the media.

The OP is an absolute star and clearly doesn't need help from a GP.

Honestly why post if you don’t understand the words being used, can’t be bothered to look them up, AND can’t be bothered to read the thread?

Op doesn’t need the GP as her original plan of cutting out UPF has worked brilliantly, two months on.

🙄

You should type this all up after a few months or so and get a book. It's so helpful and realistic!