Ultra-Processed People

[Fairislefandango]

Anyone read this? I'm currently listening to it as an audiobook and it's really enlightening, if depressing! After spending years on and off various diets and ending up back where I started, I'm thinking that cutting out UPF is the only sane thing left to try.

I’m finding that protein powder/yogurts are reducing my snacking, so you can’t win !

Yes I'm reading it, I find it so interesting. I'm also trying to lose a bit of weight, I just don't know how people will have teatime to cook every meal from scratch and even bread is classed an upf isn't it

I’m reading it, I have been really interested in this type of eating for a long time and do whole30 (a similar no processed food type paleo diet) a couple of times a year for a reset. I haven’t read much of uPp yet but I have listened to their podcast called ‘a thorough examination’ which is the same experiment. I don’t know if there will be a diet plan suggested in the book, but if you did want a menu plan you could look at w30 and there are hundreds of resources/menus etc. I would genuinely recommend it to anyone who feels they really want a ‘reset’ as it really does change your mindset on food and the way you eat.

I just think it's the new sugar. (Before that it was fat). Always something that if we cut out we will all be happy slim and healthy. Load of rubbish.

Yes I'm also reading it. It's fascinating. I've been slowly trying to change my eating habits for a little while now, and this book is serving as some good motivation! I wonder if there will be a cultural shift off the back of the work Chris van Tulleken and his peers are doing. Might we see food legislation coming back into political manifestos? I hope so.

I think it’s a good wake up call to make some changes - I have completely stopped buying the shitty supermarket bread my family has eaten for years, now it’s sourdough or nothing. I found it actually quite easy (and not necessarily more expensive!)to swap some brands that have ingredients I would never have in my kitchen for other brands that only contain the things you would use if you were making it yourself. If you can make a few small changes like that it’s definitely better and I definitely feel we’re all a bit healthier – and DH and I have both lost a couple of kilos, which is also great.

As long as you keep it in proportion, I’m not going to complain about occasional Oreos or McDonald’s, but that stuff is once every couple of weeks, not every day.

Which sourdough do you recommend with good ingredients?

Any other easy swaps you've made?

Sourdough is easy in the summer not so much in winter.

I never had margarine, I don't do Jamie Oliver fake sugar either.

I may just buy this book, thanks for the recommendation OP.

I just think it's the new sugar. (Before that it was fat). Always something that if we cut out we will all be happy slim and healthy. Load of rubbish.

But how can it possibly be rubbish? Human beings are increasingly eating large quantities of stuff that can barely be called food, made of ingredients deliberately engineered in labs to make us addicted to it. There is plenty of evidence in the book that people put on weight on a diet high in UPF, even when compared with a non-UPF diet that is equally matched in calories, sugar, fat etc.

Bread annoys me most, because it only needs to have a few ingredients, but even 'naice' bread from the bakery bit of a high-end supermarket is full of all kinds of crap. I'm trying to make my own as much as possible. I use a breadmaker, so it's easy.

Yeah I use a bread machine too. I wish there was some alternative as it is a bit of a drag having to make it as well as trying to plan and cook healthy meals and snacks. I try not to base so many meals around bread but then its time consuming having to arrange alternatives like pasta or rice salads or porridge for breakfast. My son and husband are both over weight though so we really need to make changes. My son complains every day that his after school snack is rubbish because his pals get sweets or chocolate and he gets fruit.

Reading it too. Loving every page.

I'm reading this too! It's amazing.

We have an allotment so for the past few years I've been eating much more healthily, but still can't seem to stop myself binging sweets / UPF, even when they make me feel sick!! The book is helping me make a sense of that a little.

I was eating some swizzels squashies today as I was listening to the Audiobook in the car, and asking myself 'do these even taste nice?'... they don't, they're actually horrible!!

Synchronicity-speaking, it’s what I decided only recently.

Made my own hummus with olive oil the other day - yum.

No shop bought with rapeseed - even if it says “with” olive oil it’s mostly rapeseed oil. How annoying is that.

Made courgette spiralizer with pesto today.

Nearly always eat sourdough bread from a local bakery.

I’m not smug. I recognise I’m in this mode now. Partly because it feels a natural way of “dieting” and partly because I’m not too distracted with stress. So it’s also about slowing down I think. I’m sure at times I’ll have a toasted panini, or whatever when out and be relaxed about it. But so far I’m enjoying simple home-cooked food and avoiding the processed crap.

PS I made a simple tomato sauce for spaghetti the other day - only a few ingredients including who bought passata - but it was amazing (I can’t always say that about my cooking 😆). SO much tastier than a jar of ready made so called pasta sauce. Adieu.

shop bought passata that was meant to say

I’m sure the book is good but I literally can’t read any more books, my bookshelves are heaving.

I haven't got time for lots of reading atm. That's why I've got it as an audiobook. I quite often do that with non-fiction stuff. I listen to it while I'm doing the housework!

I love these types of books so I'm going to give it a wee go.

Thanks for the recommendation op

@Fairislefandango I was thinking about audio books the other day! But I’m a sort of speed reader (of sorts) and only sort of focus on paragraphs that are interesting or new to me in non-fiction. I skim the rest. Of course if it’s a seriously interesting book it will take me a lot longer. The book does sound interesting though.

I loved this book! Has totally changed my way of eating. Bread maker, home made gnocchi, pasta, risotto. I had to buy yeast from Amazon that didn’t have emulsifiers in it as most shop bought yeast does. Yes the extra cooking is time consuming but as other PP have said, it gives you a chance to slow down and really appreciate what you’re eating. And the food is SO GOOD!

one Interesting thing, been doing this for 3-4 weeks now, had a can of Whole Earth organic cola today, both me and DP agreed it tasted like pure acid and we couldn’t drink it, had to bin it. That’s from two people who used to get through a twin pack of Maryland cookies, haribo, Galaxy chocolate etc regularly in an evening xxx

I’ve read the reviews on Amazon and they are also pretty good. I’m carrying on on my current path … but I might check it out later in the year. 👋 for the recommendation.

I am coming to the conclusion that this is true!

It’s on my list to read. I’m interested to see if milk is in there as well. The awful things humans have done to cows ( fed unnatural foodstuffs to increase milk yield to name but one) means that the ‘milk’ in the supermarket is a world away from real milk - plus we take their calves away from their mothers and feed them substitute milk so that humans can drink the ‘milk’ instead.

I recently found a directory of dairies that operate as ‘calf at foot’. Because the cows are eating their natural food and have their calves with them, this milk is known as ‘raw’ milk. At least one of these dairies has an online shop so it can be ordered from all over the country if you don’t happen to have such a dairy near your location Calf at foot dairies

Raw milk is unpasteurised, doesn't get that name because the calf stays with dam.

Most calves get whole "waste" milk, some get acidified milk which seems advantageous with respect to reducing diarrheal disease. Calves need colostrum to prime their immune system (no antibodies cross the placenta) but the ability to gain immunological benefits from their milk/colostrum feed stops by a few days after birth. Something to do with how calves digest, their intestines. They aren't like baby humans in having ongoing benefit from maternal antibodies in their milk feed.

Colostrum is very important for calves and would be unusual for calves not to get it; but fresh milk is not so useful.

Find the best fruit you can. My kids look forward to their fruit bowl. I use ripe and ready conference pears (peeled and diced - although DS also grabs them out the fridge and eats whole) from Waitrose, strawberries, large fresh purple grapes, blueberries. DD loves sliced organic apples. DS loves a dollop of Greek yoghurt with his. Watermelon can be good this time of year (don't bother through the winter months). Aldi do a pack of ready cut pineapple which is nice.

I find with fruit and veg it really does make a difference both where you get it from and how you prepare it. His tastes will hopefully change. Fruit can taste amazing.