Anyone cutting down on ultra processed food to lose weight?

[Medstudent12]

Having listened to the Van Tulleken twins podcast I’m not reading the book (ultra processed people).

Oh my gosh when eating non upf food the hunger disappears. It explains how we were all slim in the 1950s and now we’re massive. Life changing for me and I hope this is just the start!

It may be contributory but it's somewhat naive to think the obesity crisis is solely due to upf. Generally people consume more calories than they expend, the only way to gain weight. We're also nowhere near as active, mainly in terms of there being far more sedentary jobs and a sedentary lifestyle, nowadays. The number of cars has massively increased and people don't walk to work or school either.

And not everybody was slim in the 1950s!

I used this method (eliminating UPF) inadvertently and before I was at all aware of the anti-UPF movement. I eliminated all added sugar which simultaneously eliminated most UPF for me because I already cooked from scratch.

Expect to see a backlash in the UK media soon because a lot of very wealthy people have a stake in the promotion and promulgation of UPF.

Yes. I was diagnosed with a bad gallbladder last year. And I had to cut out most food apart from basically real food. Cannot tell u how much better I feel becuase of it. All that crap and chemicals inside everything I was eating was apparently the cause of my inflammation and pain in lots of places. Cut it all out ( mostly ) and feel so much better for it.

Yes it’s helped me.

I had a pretty long term UPF binge eating issue of sugar addiction. My diet was a merry go round of not being able to stop eating UPF sweet foods disrupting all my meals, eating mindlessly till I felt sick. I did also rely on places like McDonalds for a quick meal far too often. I would skip real food to eat biscuits, sweets and cakes all day long. I found it very hard to only have one or two and I would even eat all my kids treats and hide the wrappers.

I also watched a lot about UPF’s and decided to cut them all out and I now feel completely differently about food. I’m not craving and binging all the time. I eat a completely different diet and it’s made my life much better.

UPF’s are in my opinion a huge crisis no one wants to address due to the amount of money attached to the industries and governments.

Yes there are other factors like less active lifestyles but this is not coincidental- it’s cheaper to feed your family UPF’s than it is to buy fresh food and have all the right equipment to cook it with. You can buy 5 large frozen pizzas for the same cost as a whole chicken in Tesco. It wasn’t long ago they had to ban the BOGOF because it was all completely targeted to UPF’s. They are addictive and cheap as shit to make

Who has banned BOGOF of what?

It’s pretty controversial as it was meant to be a whole plan to tackle obesity but as it’s the cheapest food, the government just can’t do it

https://www.just-food.com/news/uk-ban-on-two-for-one-junk-food-offers-to-be-delayed-further/

a lot of supermarkets stopped doing outright BOGOF’s and now do more of a subtle ‘special reduced price’ like nectar price or Clubcard prices, or offers like buy 3 for the price of 2.

I already posted about this somewhere else but if you look at how Mexico tackle UPF and obesity it’s pretty impressive. Absolutely no children’s characters are allowed on any packaging for any goods and all the packaging has to be very simple and very clear with the main focus being what the unhealthy element of the food is

Don’t see UK following suit. And no people don’t really understand nutrition and balance, partly why we have an obesity crisis is people eating mindless amounts of food without really understanding the impact.

This seems timely

www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/28/ultra-processed-food-32-harmful-effects-health-review

Basically saying there is a lot of evidence that UPF are not at all good for you in lots of ways

When you look into what makes something ultra processed, what about the long term effects of consuming these chemicals? It’s not just about obesity but things like cancer too. It’s is not about telling people not to eat pizza - you can make a pizza that isn’t UPF but it won’t cost you £1 from the frozen section. You can buy or make snacks that aren’t UPF’s but they will involve time and more money than getting 39p packets of biscuits from Asda

I have done a huge amount of reading and listening to podcasts about UPF and it really made me realise I was addicted to them. That’s the premise of a lot of the literature- people are obese because UPF is an addiction. Sugar, for example, as in the sugar you have at home and bake with, is not the inherent problem, it’s the combination of sugar, fat, additives, emulsifiers, preservatives etc all packaged up into a well marketed and colourful product that you grab in the supermarket, petrol station, whatever, in many cases thinking it’s a good option.

The more I read, the more I realised I had to basically cut UPF out. Now, I realise I am privileged to be able to do this, I have the resources (money, time, ((I am busy with 3 kids but I make time as I do love cooking)) a decent kitchen and equipment) etc. And this is well documented in the literature- for many people, addiction to UPF is not their fault, it’s cheap, accessible and their kids will eat it. Some people don’t have access to a fridge or freezer, they can’t afford a big fresh shop, they pass numerous fast food outlets on their way home that are cheap and their kids will eat the food.

Anyway. I have basically cut almost out all UPF, there’s a few bits and pieces that sneak in but generally not. I wanted to test the sugar is not the problem too, so I bake a lot, often ‘healthier’ bakes but some with normal sugar and it has been a revelation. I can make a homemade cake, have one small piece (if I feel like it) WITHOUT the compulsion to eat ten slices. If I had a packet of, for example, UPF mini chocolate bars, I could, and have in the past, binged mindlessly on them. Another huge issue for me was diet drinks, and I cut them out entirely this year. Also any artificial sweeteners eg Splenda or squash.

I have lost a total of 4st 5lb eating this way, 23lb of that is this year alone (as I was less strict last year, the more I read the more I cut back and this year I’ve been really quite strict).

Honestly, it has changed my life and I’ve done so, so many crazy diets in the past. I still have a long way to go but finally it feels like something is working.