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

That's fantastic OP, keep going !
As for something sweet at the end of the day, natural yogurt with honey or a piece of very good quality chocolate is fine.

Replace the fizzy drinks with sparkling water.

Homemade flapjacks as well.

Your menu sounds great OP, well done!
As PP said don't get hung up on things like a bit of Bisto, and I say that as a huge advocate of no/low UPFs.
For something sweet after dinner could you try a few squares of dark chocolate? It'll give you that sweet hit and it's actually good for you with the polyphenols in it.
I try to only eat good that is a high standard. So got instance if I want cake I'll either by it from a really nice place that goes homemade stuff or make myself. I wouldn't dream of having crappy pre-packaged supermarket cake.
I'm definitely not thin but this strategy helps me keep myself in check

Sounds absolutely delicious.

If you want something fizzy, try sparkling water. You could add a bit of pure orange juice (or apple or whatever) to make it sweet if you’d like to.

Sliced cheese is also fine as long as it’s proper cheese and the ingredient is milk. If you want inspiration for meals of a weekly meal plan, ask ChatGPT. It’s free to use. Just Google it and ask it what you’d like. I put in ‘give me a UPF free meal plan for a week’ and this is what it gave me, but you could ask it to tweak it to your preferences or ask it to include the recipes.

Here’s a one-week meal plan completely free from ultra-processed foods (UPFs). It focuses on whole, fresh, and minimally processed ingredients.
Monday
🥣 Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with sautéed spinach and wholemeal sourdough toast
🥗 Lunch: Grilled chicken salad with mixed greens, avocado, olive oil, and lemon dressing
🍛 Dinner: Baked salmon with roasted sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli
🥑 Snack: Handful of nuts and fresh fruit
Tuesday
🥣 Breakfast: Greek yogurt with honey, mixed nuts, and berries
🥗 Lunch: Lentil soup with whole grain bread
🍛 Dinner: Grass-fed beef stir-fry with brown rice and seasonal vegetables
🥑 Snack: Hard-boiled eggs and cucumber slices
Wednesday
🥣 Breakfast: Porridge made with whole oats, milk, and cinnamon, topped with banana
🥗 Lunch: Hummus, avocado, and roasted veggie wrap (homemade wholemeal flatbread)
🍛 Dinner: Grilled chicken thighs with quinoa and roasted Mediterranean vegetables
🥑 Snack: Cottage cheese with walnuts
Thursday
🥣 Breakfast: Omelette with mushrooms, tomatoes, and goat’s cheese
🥗 Lunch: Baked sweet potato stuffed with black beans, salsa, and fresh coriander
🍛 Dinner: Pan-fried cod with garlic butter, mashed potatoes, and green beans
🥑 Snack: Dark chocolate (85%+) and almonds
Friday
🥣 Breakfast: Sourdough toast with natural peanut butter and banana slices
🥗 Lunch: Chickpea salad with tomatoes, cucumber, feta, and olive oil
🍛 Dinner: Roast chicken with root vegetables and homemade gravy
🥑 Snack: Carrot sticks with homemade guacamole
Saturday
🥣 Breakfast: Full-fat Greek yogurt with flaxseeds and fresh fruit
🥗 Lunch: Smoked mackerel with boiled eggs and a side of leafy greens
🍛 Dinner: Lamb chops with roasted cauliflower and tahini dressing
🥑 Snack: Handful of mixed nuts
Sunday
🥣 Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with sautéed kale and wholemeal toast
🥗 Lunch: Homemade minestrone soup with wholegrain pasta
🍛 Dinner: Baked aubergine with tahini, chickpeas, and a side of quinoa
🥑 Snack: Apple slices with natural almond butter
Key Tips to Avoid UPFs:
✅ Cook from scratch using whole ingredients
✅ Avoid packaged foods with additives, preservatives, or industrially processed oils
✅ Choose fresh or minimally processed dairy, meat, and fish
✅ Use natural seasonings like herbs, spices, and lemon juice
Would you like me to adjust anything based on your preferences? 😊

Also, I wouldn’t both making your own gravy. It’s negligible if you’re overhauling your whole diet to basically cut out UPFs.

Cutting out fizzy will be hard and need to have something sweet at the end of the day. Have bought pears

The best thing I did when losing weight was buy tip tops...5 calorie ones that are no additional additives etc. Some nights when I was finding it hard and craving something sweet I'd eat 5 or sometimes even 10 over a couple of hours 😂 ...but even 10, that's a 50 calorie snack and it feels like you've just had a treat.

I've no idea on the UPF status of flavoured ice mind you but still must be far better than fizzy drinks.

Try getting blackcurrant or lime cordial and dilute with sparkling water instead of fizzy drinks like coke. So refreshing too

They’re the definition of UPF though.

Try listening to this Radio 4 series by the Van Tulleken brothers...It has a lot of the same info as Ultra Processed People. Also watch Irresistible on bbc iplayer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3nHh4ftGdGHlr8R1CG2s2fN/how-i-learned-to-lose-weight-and-stop-fighting-with-my-family

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0025gqs

Just fyi, original bisto is still upf but much less bad than bisto type granules. Kallo stock pastes are non upf.

So this is simplified from a felicity cloak recipe (guardian). I make double the amount because it then lasts for ages and cba making it all the time. I'll put my tips at the bottom

DOUBLE The perfect granola

80g coconut oil
240ml honey equals 344 grams
Good Pinch of salt
880g jumbo rolled oats
400g mixed nuts, roughly chopped
200g seeds

Heat the oven to 150C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Put the oil, honey and salt together in a small pan and heat
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir the honey and oil into the bowl until well distributed.

Spread out on the baking sheet and bake for about 30-35 minutes until golden, stirring occasionally so it cooks evenly, and more regularly if you'd prefer a looser texture.
Leave to cool and crisp up on the tray. Store in an airtight container.

TIPS: chopping nuts takes ages (for me) and sometimes if I cba I pulse them in batches in a blender.
I buy savers honey in a small jar and the amount needed is exactly the jar.
She mentions a whole lot of other things you can choose to put in it (different grains, dried fruit at the end) so do that if you like. I just know I'm way more likely to keep making batches if its easy.
serve with kefir, frozen fruit and chopped banana so bloody delicious. Also i eat it as a snack sometimes.

og recipe https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/jun/05/how-to-make-the-perfect-granola (wayyyyyy too salty)

If you want a upf free sweet treat, I melt 70 or 80% green and blacks chocolate and add some chopped opies crystalized ginger then fridge in silicon moulds. A lovely sweet treat free from UPF...you don't need anywhere near as much to feel it's hit the spot...one or two small ones really does it.

Good luck OP ..it's admirable what you're doing. My husband has lost 7.5 stone in the past year...and he feels so much better than he did before. I've also lost lots of weight in the past and being mostly UPF free is the key to keeping it off for me!

Gravy is easy if you know how.

Use the juices from the chicken. Spoon off the fat. Stir in a little flour to the juices, and cook it out. Gradually stir in, over a low heat, half a glass of wine and some stock or vegetable water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes.

If you make stock from your chicken bones you can freeze it and use for next week's gravy.

Jamie Oliver has a recioe for Get Ahead Gravy on his website.

Speaking of him, have a look at his book Everyday Superfood. It's fabulous.

Also, Mindful Chef recipe boxes are brilliant. The meals are healthy and delicious. It's worth buying them for a few weeks then using the recipe leaflets and buying the ingredients.

UPFs are the biggest factor in the obesity crisis

this ISN’T all your fault @Ecydsis

if you JUST stopped eating UPFs, your body would notice a difference

start small, it’s more sustainable. There is some wonderful and kind advice on this thread, I’m so pleased

you absolutely CAN change your health outlook.

For something sweet i agree with pp about dark chocolate, go as high a percentage as you possibly can and you find you barely need to eat much of it to scratch the itch!
What about flavoured / herbal teas? Camomile has a natural sweetness to it, and can always add a spoonful of good quality honey or proper maple syrup. That with a little dark chocolate is a nice healthy treat for the evening.
Squeeze of lemon or lime in water is also amazing- use a straw though for your teeth!!
Keep going op you're doing amazing!!

Ibe just focussed on buying in the meat/fish section, fruit and veg section, dairy (minus sweetened yogurts) and eggs.

You will find that the majority of high processed food is carb based. Since I keto a lot of that is cut out automatically and my diets is 'cleaner'.

I understand that you probably don't want to keto on top of everything so I would focuss on choosing carbs to maximise nutrition.

Out of the big four carb sources (pasta, rice, potato, bread) potato is by far the healthiest and most nutrition plus least processed. Rice (white rice is fine) would be next.

Honestly if you are avoiding upf I would really minimise bread and pasta with the possible exception of sourdough.

Potato can be very versatile though, rosties, chips, baked, loaded potato skins, all are very low processed and filling.

Fat is so important to include in your diet for nutrition and satiation. Get it from natural sources. Fatty cuts of meat, oily fish, olive oil, butter, dairy, eggs.

You don't need to cut out carbs - natural whole meal carbs can be a cheap ( oh nasty low profit margin) food that's a really useful part of a healthy diet

@Whatnowthenfordone that is brilliant thank you. Love virtually all those ideas so going to work through them (and then will brave chatgpt)

So 13.30- went to work early so I can take a longer lunch so I've come home and so far today all UPF free.

I know I need to look at portion sizes but for this week it is just UPF free.

Start cooking more with “ingredients”
every meal you do that for is an improvement.
I think we can get overwhelmed by the UPF thing, but it doesn’t need to be alll or nothing.
buying bread for a daily baker instead of long life is better as it doesn’t have preservatives

I find it easier to eat no upf if I go to a green grocer baker butcher and deli, rather than supermarket.
So if that’s an option try that.

or box scheme for vegetables
and even for meat and fish.

but cooking does take longer. So you need to be prepared for that. And it might not be possible every evening so don’t beat yourself up

Be aware that you might have some withdrawal symptoms...headaches, grumpiness, spots etc...I have noticed this myself, a couple of days after stopping the UPF.

Well done on making a great start!

Re chickpea. For 1 person, just use the tin. It's absolute fine! If you need more dried pays off after soaking as pp said.

Bread from shops can also be absolutely fine if it's proper fresh bread, not "lasts 2 weeks" sliced toastie bread.

Agree with pps to not overthink and panic. Go in your pace. Go in peace.

For sweet I love honey sweetend yogurt with some mushed strawberries (frozen). Or cracker with honey. A nice good honey can be boight for very reasonable prices, you can buy local ones. Lovely, sweet, healthy and different types taste diffently so not boring.

Carbs are not a death sentence.

There's some good and not so good advice so far!
Re beans - no difference between tinned and ones you need to soak/boil. Make sure tinned ones don't have added sugar. Salt and water is best, some have a firming agent. Don't sweat that at this stage.
Most packaged breads are highly UPF but not all, there's a good group on FB called Reducing Ultra Processed Foods (UPFs) UK which is very helpful if you're trying to source better bread or any product. If you can afford it I would recommend a breadmaker as they do make great bread and you can be sure it's not Ultra processed!
Buy brown rice, wholewheat pasta - the white stuff is just carbs and not really much nutritional value. The brown stuff will fill you up more.
Porridge/milk is fine as is cheese and butter. But in moderation.
Def no fizzy drinks, shop bought cakes, most crisps, ready meals (some aren't technically upf but still would be high fat/sugar/salt).
I would read the book Ultra Processed People and/or listen to the podcasts as CVT really does a deep dive and it will make you understand it all a lot better.
Good luck! You're doing a great thing for your body and wellbeing.

PS: also buy local honey - not supermarket honey!

Hi OP, firstly, I think it's great that you're looking to make positive changes in this way (rather than more "faddy" diets) but agree with a recent PP that you've had some conflicting advice! Here is my two-pence worth.....

I listened to Chris and Xand van Tulleken's podcast about UPF (link below) and found it really enlightening. Part of the issue is that UPF is designed to be really addictive so that we eat more of it and therefore manufacturers sell more of their product.

An experiment was done where two groups of people were allowed to eat as much food as they wanted over a period of a few weeks. The food offered was identical in terms of calories, fat, protein etc but the only difference was that one group had this in the form of ultra-processed foods and the other group had non-UPF. The UPF group ate a lot more and gained significant weight compared to the other group (see podcast for all the finer details). The UPF does not trigger our satiety ("fullness") signals in the way normal food does.

So it is really difficult for us NOT to overeat if most of our diet is UPF. This must not be confused with processed food. A lot of food is classed as "processed" but is not bad for us in the specific way that UPF is.

So I agree with your plan to avoid UPF bread and either make it yourself, buy Jason's sourdough or buy proper bakery sourdough (a lot of pre-packaged sourdough in supermarkets is confusingly still UPF, but not Jason's). We make bread in a breadmaker now at home - so easy.

Definitely eat as wide a variety of plant-based foods as you can. All calories are not equal so eating (e.g.) 200 calories-worth of broccoli will keep you feeling full for a lot longer than 200 calories-worth of shop-bought UPF bread.

Plant-based foods include fruit, veg, beans, legumes, herbs, spices, nuts and seeds. The more different ones you eat, the healthier your gut bacteria and the less you crave UPF in the long run.

Some PPs have been advising you that you will overeat on healthy foods and have given advice to count calories/join Slimming World but that (well meaning) advice is so out of date!

You are absolutely on the right track here and more likely to be successful with long term weight loss if you cut out as much addictive UPF as possible. Don't worry about trying to restrict genuinely healthy food. Good luck with it all!

The only breakfasts we now have on offer at home are: porridge (with added frozen berries and mixed seeds), Weetabix, Shredded Wheat or toast (homemade bread) with butter/peanut butter and jam. We only get non-UPF peanut butter and Bonne Maman jam (no artificial sweeteners). So you can see how there is so much to consider! Artificial sweeteners are a whole topic in themselves but basically are worse than sugar!

In addition to the van Tullekens, I also recommend listening to the Zoe podcasts on Spotify - more evidence-based diet advice (although I wouldn't personally bother with the testing of blood sugar).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m0017tcz?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

By the way, eating non-UPF is more expensive - there is no denying that.