Did anyone watch "What are we feeding our kids?" on BBC1

[MarchXX]

Here's link.

i astounded that there has been little to no research of the effect of UPSs on our brains and bodies. The results on Chris (after one month) were dire indeed.

Chris's brain scans before and after were shocking but not surprising as UPF food manufacturers spend multi££££millions on research to find the perfect bliss point to skewer and keep new addicted consumers eating their products again and again.

I was interested in the huge increase in our consumption of UPF foods since 1980 but would have liked to see the difference from 1970 or 1960 because when I was a child growing up (in 60s) there was virtually no UPF foods in our home, all meals were cooked using fresh meat/fish, eggs, veg and fruit with some dried/tinned goods and no ready meals/takeaways. Eating out (or takeaways) was a very rare treat indeed and snacking between meals was frowned upon and not encouraged.

The representative from the food industry was, not surprisingly, reticent about their role in the deteriorating health of our nation's population. Nestle's success in infiltrating remote communities with their UPF-packed supermarket-boats and creating new addicted consumers (and an obesity epidemic) was an eye-opener but not at all surprising seeing as their role in exploiting breastfeeding mothers in third world countries is well known, too.

Anyway, did anyone watch it. What did you think?

What I found hugely disturbing and incredibly depressing was when they visited that family in Stockport, and the dad saying when they buy more fresh and healthy food, it adds a third to their shopping bill. It was then confirmed that fresh foods are at least 15% more expensive than UPF’s (if I recall correctly).

That for me is the crux of the issue - the gap between rich and poor and how long you’re likely to live is hugely defined by income (of course we already knew this, but the UPF issue is a very obvious slap in the face).

A shitty, yet cheap, highly processed diet because it’s all you can afford, versus nutritious home-cooked meals more wealthy families have the time and money to prepare. How can we expect to change people’s habits while UPF’s are so cheap and readily available and so many families are facing financial hardship?

This terrifies me because it’s about so much more than simple personal responsibility or choice when it comes to food. The surgeon was right, that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the obesity epidemic.

Wraps are easy to make. Or our local Turkish/ethnic shop has flatbreads without the chemicals at £1 for 5 which we use instead. Or Waitrose sell some posh ones just made with flour/salt/olive oil

Shop bought wraps just smell of chemicals to me, I won’t use them.

What I found hugely disturbing and incredibly depressing was when they visited that family in Stockport, and the dad saying when they buy more fresh and healthy food, it adds a third to their shopping bill. It was then confirmed that fresh foods are at least 15% more expensive than UPF’s

Yes, I found that shocking as well. I didn't find my shopping bill increased when I made the switch but I tended to buy 'high end' ready meals rather than, e.g. freezer bags of chicken nuggets. There's no doubt that basic meat is relatively expensive - particularly beef - compared to processed meat.

I was surprised they didn’t plug being vegan/veggie as a health alternative. They had milk marked down as healthy but processed cows’ milk, made via hormone stimulation, is hardly healthy!

“ Or Waitrose sell some posh ones just made with flour/salt/olive oil ”

Absolutely no disrespect to you @ShockOche but this is exactly my point. Those most at risk from UPF’s probably couldn’t afford that when the alternative is so cheap. Can you imagine the discrepancy in health outcomes between rich and poor in ten or twenty years time if things carry on this trajectory? It’s just bloody awful.

"We're gonna need a bigger freezer."

Very envious of pp with someone cooking for them! DS has food allergies and I am almost meat/fish free whereas DH is a committed carnivore so I think that's why a bit more convenience has crept in.

I did not see the programme but is brown rice and brown pasta okay ? Brown bread. These are staples in our house and I thought they were okay ?
I will watch the programme.
I thought we were doing okay and mostly cook from scratch but do have cereal and Yoguart everyday.
(Friday night is freezer night 😃 and we like desserts so we do have plenty processed)Sound like we need to make lots of changes.

@Lettuceforlunch

I was surprised they didn’t plug being vegan/veggie as a health alternative. They had milk marked down as healthy but processed cows’ milk, made via hormone stimulation, is hardly healthy!

I don't think turning vegan/vegetarian is the answer, because there are also lots of UPF vegan/veggie foods out there. Meat substitutes in particular are heavily processed.

Basing as much of your diet as you can on unprocessed vegetables does, however, work out much cheaper than having unprocessed meat on a daily basis.

Yes cost and time are a massive issue for many families. Who can rustle up a healthy homemade shepherds pie when you have starving kids at 6pm who have been at wraparound care since 8am? And you have been at work all day?

Less families had both parents working full time in the 70s and the 80s. I'm a uni student and even just doing that mine and my families diets have suffered due to less time. I'm off from next week until end of September so very much intend to use that time to improve their diet as well as mine.

It's not going to be easy I don't think. Dd is veggie and always flying in and grabbing a 'healthy' wrap and salad, ds is fussy and suspicious of new things and a veg refusnik and dh is as fussy as ds.

We will see how fussy they all are when I stop buying crap, there is a shop over the road they are welcome to walk to if they are desperate 😉.

Looks like I'll be spending half term learning how to make wraps!

I’m going to watch this today but the reality is that these foods aren’t going to disappear. Life is so busy that millions will grab a jar of ready made sauce rather than make one from scratch but still class themselves as having cooked a real meal from scratch because it wasn’t a full pre prepared meal in a packet. I’ll admit I have that mentality and Lloyd grossman bolognese sauce is a staple in this house as the basis for bolognese, lasagne, moussaka, chilli etc.

It’s not only the cost of buying the ingredients for many families, but also the cost of the gas/electricity to cook from scratch. 3 minutes in a microwave vs 30 minutes on a job or in the oven.

It certainly made me think. We try to be relatively healthy but do have treats, pizza, McDonald’s, takeaway etc. I’ll definitely be reevaluating mine and my 3 year olds diet from today

Basing as much of your diet as you can on unprocessed vegetables does, however, work out much cheaper than having unprocessed meat on a daily basis

I'd like to add chickpea, butter beans, lentils (not yellow/ split ones) and other pulses in their dry form to the list.
Most do take some simple prep (soaking overnight & boiling) before they can be used in cooking.
But I usually bulk buy the organic / fair trade ones in 3-5 kg bags. On a 5 day veggie/ vegan diet it really does work out cheaper than processed / meat every day.

There was a thread yesterday on why children/teenagers' mental health seems do much worse now than in the past. Watching the brain scans on Chris last night, I started wondering if all the crap our children have been fed has permanently altered their developing brains and led to this?
I was shocked by the fact that his brain didn't return to normal. Is this why it's so hard to go back to a healthy diet - our minds have now been programmed to crave processed food?

Wraps are easy to make. Or our local Turkish/ethnic shop has flatbreads without the chemicals at £1 for 5 which we use instead. Or Waitrose sell some posh ones just made with flour/salt/olive oil

Tesco do a sliced loaf for £0.36. If you have to make a meal for a family of 4 and you have a budget of £2.00 you are not going to spend £1 on wraps no matter how healthy they are.

Beans on toast for 4 people can be made with 1 loaf of bread and 2 tins of beans for £0.96 (Tesco prices) So what are you going to do with the other £1? Maybe some fruit, a bag of apples? That will take your £1.00 or a packet of apple pies that feel more like a pudding? Or a tin or two of tinned rice pudding?

ShockOche yes I know, I should just make a ton and freeze them. I hate the shop bought ones, they are so slimy. I think I've just got in the habit of compensating for DS not being able to have some things that his friends eat by buying the odd foods that I don't like but make him feel like he fits in (vegan cheese, wraps, pepperami).

I think it will be important to make him part of the change so It's not us taking away some of his treats but more a case of us making wraps or cashew cheese or chicken in breadcrumbs or whatever together. I'm hoping that will make any changes more positively received.

@Arbadacarba

Yes, I did. I've been avoiding processed foods since the start of the year, which has led to weight loss (2 st so far) and a vast improvement in my stomach health (I have been able to ditch the proton pump inhibitors I was on for acid reflux).

I wanted my husband to see it, as he tends to roll his eyes when I look at a label and say 'It's got modified maize starch in it' etc.

I didn't grow up on processed foods (born 1970s) but I fell into the trap of relying on them when I started working.

I feel much better now I've ditched the processed foods, and I'm surprised to find I enjoy cooking all my meals from scratch now I'm in a routine. The numbers quoted re. children's diets nowadays were very worrying. I agree that action is needed in the UK, such as that taken by the French and Brazilian government.

It's Chile not Brazil who are experimenting with the black stickers and the French government have no policy for UPF as far as I'm aware (except for a tax on soda which has been in place a while), I live in France and consumption of UPF is on the increase too,

I eat very little UPF, just things like crisps, oven chips once in a while, cereal now and again etc. That programme made me not want to eat any ever again. Apart from the health side of it, I don't want to line the pockets of these companies. The floating supermarket in Brazil was completely unethical and a disgrace.

It was interesting to note as well the % of household money spent in food. I can't remember the exact figures but I think the earlier decades were spending something like 88% of surplus income on food. The modern household was spending significantly less, maybe 60%? So not just the ratio of upf vs unprocessed food, but the actual value we gave food.

There are more things these days to spend surplus income on, especially for dcs. Activities and hobbies etc. Maybe rather than those extra activities we would be better spending more money on a healthy diet? We (or I at least) am guilty of allowing more treat foods when ds has done something worthy and healthy and physical because he's 'earned it'. And obviously activities eat into time after school. We don't get home until 8pm a couple of nights a week, after his swimming lesson he's always starving etc.

Mrs I worry about the effect on DDs brain too.

I didn’t watch the programme. What is wrong with yoghurt?

Is this why many children get hooked on chicken nuggets?

Surely a large amount of food in the 70s wasn’t great but was thought of as new and exciting eg findus crispy pancakes, vesta curry, angel delight

Thanks for the link OP, I’ll sit and watch this tomorrow.

Going to have to watch this. Our diet is pretty bad tbh and I hate to think Im harming my 6yo.

Looks interesting thank you for posting