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?

I really want to watch this program, some of my patients were talking about it yesterday. I'm v lucky (in that I was brought up having home cooked food, and was taught how to cook/eat healthy stuff pretty cheaply), but I'm a single parent and do work FT, so I admit that we do use some pre-made stuff for convenience. My eldest is happy to eat anything (and tends to prefer a veggie diet), my youngest is more picky. I'm betting this program will be a real eye opener!

Didn’t get round to watching the programme (thought it might be a trigger for my vulnerable teens to react in unpredictable ways). What exactly are they categorising as UPF? Genuine question - not being arsey.

We eat a lot of ready meals but I tend to operate a “do I recognise all the ingredients” principle (and I’ve got a science background, so citric acid for example would be fine by me). Something like Loyd Grossman / Seeds of Change pasta sauce passes the ingredients test (apart from a pinch of sugar), but is there something about the way it’s cooked that causes a problem? And if so, would a properly long slow cooked pasta sauce in your kitchen with a pinch of sugar, reducing the ripe tomatoes to maximise their sugar content have the same issues? Preserving techniques have been used for centuries to keep people alive during the winter - but of course it’s still entirely possible that they’re not optimal for our bodies because centuries isn’t a long time evolutionarily.

This is a good article which expands on what UPF is.

www.theguardian.com/food/2020/feb/13/how-ultra-processed-food-took-over-your-shopping-basket-brazil-carlos-monteiro

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

But in the 1970s it was a treat, something you might get once in a month. We didn't have a freezer until the 1980s so fishfingers involved me being sent to the shop to buy them. Now they are pretty much in every home.

I'm not saying fishfingers are bad btw just that they were not an everyday food.

This really upsets me. I want the best for my children and understand a little bit about nutrition. We can't afford to feed the family with the best fresh food. We try, but it's very difficult, especially with allergies in the mix. Even a small punnet of blueberries is £2, which are gone in one day. If I buy enough fruit, with variety, to snack on for the week that's £15. For dry snacks, nuts are great and natural but we cannot have them in the house. So the only other option is things like cereal bars, crisps etc.

@Lettuceforlunch I’d imagine they didn’t because it is illegal in the United Kingdom and Europe to use growth hormones in milk production. The hormones naturally found in cows milk have no effects on humans.

@ShockOche

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.

I’ve got one pack of El Paso wraps left & then I’ll look for non-processed ones.

@Lettuceforlunch from what I understand, milk in the UK is one ingredient which is then pasteurised. So as it's only one ingredient its low processed food. Oat milk oth is a UPF because of the different ingredients (unless you make it at home).

namesnamesnamesnames don't be upset, you can only do what you can, very few people have the perfect diet.

Fruit like apples and bananas aren’t that dear, but yes the more ‘exotic’ types are - they’re the tastier ones. If you buy in season it’s also cheaper.

I’m sympathetic in general names, because money does make this stuff easier, but access to a huge variety of fruit flown in from the other side of the world for a tiny price really is too much to ask.

Apples, bananas, oranges/easy peelers and carrots topped up with the odd watermelon and strawberry punnet as a treat in the summer, should give a child sufficient variety for much less than 15 quid. If you think back to the nineteen fifties the bananas would have been a huge luxury.

I do wonder if the studies that show veggie diets and Mediterranean diets as best is down to it being low processed rather then the meat and dairy element.

We always buy Allison's seeded bread or similar and I thought that was the best bread to buy (apart from fresh) but actually the ingredients in it are not recognisable. None of the 'normally bread you can buy in shops has any simple ingredients- but short of making my own I'm not sure how I can change that part in our diets. Dh and dc make sandwiches for lunch everyday, I'm guilty of an almost daily Costa cheese and tomato toastie. Making the change to no UPF is going to be harder then going veggie.

I think that lots of people who think they eat a pretty good diet don't necessarily think of some of the staple foods we buy as UPF, when in fact they are. That's not a dig - I'm the same. Bread and bread-type products are some of the worst imo. We feel like we are being healthy by buying wholemeal and seeded breads, but the list of ingredients on supermarket bread, especially standard sliced loaves, is ridiculous. And yet the packaging is massively virtue-signalling - omega this, superfood that etc - which really shouldn't be allowed on UPF.

Cross-posted Shinesun14. I have a breadmaker and I've decided I need to use it more often. It's very easy and makes lovely bread (and dough for pizzas etc). I'm often guilty of not being organised enough though, because the normal programme takes 4hrs. But actually it freezes really well, so it would be easy to make extra loaves when I can and freeze them.

I'm not about to cut sugar out completely, because frankly life's too short. But I want to stop buying biscuits etc and make my own, so at least they have proper ingredients.

That programme explained a lot about why we crave junk food and it was shocking how horrifically bad it is for us to the extent within a fortnight new brain pathways are permanently created that link our reward systems to junk food!!! So we crave it. And get fatter and unhealthier by the week.

If there was one food and nutrition programme that you should watch this year so far, it’s that one.

I’m spreading the word to my friends to watch it. It’s frightening.

@Shinesun14 We have duchy organics brown sliced bread, pittas etc... They are all recognisable ingredients!

Can anyone who knows about rapeseed oil explain which one is bad? The stuff that goes into veg oil? And does that mean the cold pressed stuff is ok

Thanks

@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 suspect vegan food (not including plant based) could rank highly for being ultra processed. It's a load of meat/dairy substitute ingredients packed with preservatives.

Just looking at the ingredients on most foods is quite depressing.

@ShockOche

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.

Good to know about the Waitrose wraps thank you! I make cassava flour wraps with cassava, olive oil, salt and water (can just Google the recipe) but nice to have a speedy option.

@namesnamesnamesnames if you have a freezer, frozen fruit might be the way to go? Cheaper and just as nutritious.

Things like fresh blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, are inevitably treat food I think. Even if you grow your own, it's seasonal and you have to work for it!

Carrot sticks are pretty cost effective, and you can make your own hummus if you have a blender.

@Shinesun14

I do wonder if the studies that show veggie diets and Mediterranean diets as best is down to it being low processed rather then the meat and dairy element.

We always buy Allison's seeded bread or similar and I thought that was the best bread to buy (apart from fresh) but actually the ingredients in it are not recognisable. None of the 'normally bread you can buy in shops has any simple ingredients- but short of making my own I'm not sure how I can change that part in our diets. Dh and dc make sandwiches for lunch everyday, I'm guilty of an almost daily Costa cheese and tomato toastie. Making the change to no UPF is going to be harder then going veggie.

Disclaimer: it’s not cheap, and is in fact the second most expensive thing in my basket after wine, but Waitrose do Bertinet sourdough sliced loaves - white, malted and seeded. Ingredients only water/flour/salt. No additives at all.

@lazylinguist

I think that lots of people who think they eat a pretty good diet don't necessarily think of some of the staple foods we buy as UPF, when in fact they are. That's not a dig - I'm the same. Bread and bread-type products are some of the worst imo. We feel like we are being healthy by buying wholemeal and seeded breads, but the list of ingredients on supermarket bread, especially standard sliced loaves, is ridiculous. And yet the packaging is massively virtue-signalling - omega this, superfood that etc - which really shouldn't be allowed on UPF.

I definitely agree! The show has made me want to quit shopping at supermarkets, go live on a farm somewhere, make everything from scratch (especially bread!) and grow my own fruit and veg.

Oh and oil I think.

Basically we Have become accustomed to paying so little for food that now good food seems expensive.

Thank you for all the naice bread suggestions

I’ve just watched this. Absolutely horrified to see that Nestle doesn’t seem to have changed their behaviour since the 80’s. I noticed the guy said they sold baby milk and baby food on the floating shop, and I know not long ago they were adding extra sucrose into formula for certain markets, Brazil being one. So they are getting kids hooked on sugar form birth. I will certainly be re-examining how much processed food my kids eat.