I’ve gone non UPF, I just can’t believe the difference it’s made in a week

[LaurieFairyCake]

I feel like such an idiot. I can’t believe how well I feel, how much I’m ready for bed and how much better I sleep.

this shit is radical. I was eating 40% upf (a teenagers diet is 80% 😱) and I feel brand new.

i have zero pain in my joints, during the day loads of good energy

does anyone else do this ?

Absolutely this, Ive watched a lot of seminars from Pound of Cure and he makes reference to how damaging sweetners are

What has been so disappointing is that, say that jar sauce that has been so demonised on here, it might have had sugar in it, say it was tomatoes and basil or something and it would have sugar in it. Rather than just take the sugar (or most of it) out, they replace it with sweenters. So people who are using jar sauces, and they're not all terrible, are teaching themselves and their kids to have this awful artificially sweet strange fake flavour. Horrible

I put sugar in a lot of my cooking particularly tomato based foods and curries.

You can get cereal at many supermarkets that has zero additives. Brands like Rude Health have some in their range that are "clean." I wouldn't give my dc the sugary ones before school. You don't have to hunt down health food shops or anything. Many whole oats for porridge are completely free of additives (thought does rolling them count as processed? If so, its not about to bother me.)

Bread is trickier I agree, as is pasta. But most interesting rices (black rice, wild rice etc) surely aren't processed.

When you say "cooking from scratch", what's wrong with grilled fish, steamed veg and wild rice? That's not really much "scratching." You just open the packets (or slice the veg) and cook it ...

Suppose commercially available sauces are a good example of the problem with UPF. They are hyper palatable and you can consume quite a lot of calories from them.

The problem I find with the NOVA scale is that not all UPF is equal. If you’re eating some beans from a tin that contains a firming agent, your body is still getting a shed load of goodness from those beans. If you’re drinking a can of diet Red Bull, your body is getting nothing.

I agree re the Red Bull vs beans (or things like cheese).

But can someone give me an eg of a meal packed full of upfs that would be a typical family meal? I don't mean a Friday night curry or Saturday takeaway pizza, or an on-the-hoof pot noodle for lunch between meetings. Just a, say, midweek supper. To me I think it would only really mostly be pre-prepared sauces that would be the upf bit.

Interesting, thanks! Would you mind telling me what you ferment your cukes with?… if it’s anything other than dill. Thanks. I’m debating whether to do kombucha. I can’t help thinking it’s too much sugar. I know that most of it gets converted during the fermentation process but if it all gets used up, it’s like drinking vinegar…and I’m trying not to have sugar. “Homemade kimchi”, blimey! That’s dedication!

Have a walk around an average supermarket maybe? Aisles of desserts, packet sauces, crisps, biscuits, ready meals. Lots of people have to be eating this or they wouldn't sell it!

Something beige presumably?

You don’t think ketchup is a UPF? Hahaaaahaaaa.
Kind of proved my point

Yes and there are supermarkets that don't have any fresh food at all, BUT, if we are saying an average supermarket, there are certainly lots of pickles, jars, crisps etc but I'm not sure they equate to 80 percent given the fruit, veg and fresh meat/fish/poultry sections. People are obviously buying that too. Added to that, the crisps etc can be bought in bulk so they can stock it for longer rather than needing to move it all (ie; full shelves don't equal stock that is turning over within a day or two.)

I don't disagree about upfs being an issue, but I do think some of the talk around it becomes rather sensationalist. Posting this has become slightly more awkward as DH has just sat down beside me and proffered a plate with little ready-made toasts from a packet with a jar of nduja and chorizo tapenade ... but that's not normal for us. "Sometimes" eating upf food doesn't mean people are having 80 per cent or thereabouts, and I don't think the supermarkets suggest that level with their inventory.

You are making me crave a crumpet ...

You’ve only got to walk the aisle of a supermarket to see.

There's nothing "wrong" with cooking from scratch. It's what we should all be doing the majority of the time. But for time, energy, convenience, taste, knowledge and a whole lot of other reasons, many people are not cooking from scratch or seeking out non-UPF breakfast cereals. You must be able to tell this, just from the sheer volume of food that you see on supermarket shelves that is not UPF?

Yes but I've just addressed that.

The bags of crisps can be on shelves for weeks, versus the fresh wholefoods that need swift turnover so in terms of volume you are comparing apples with pears. crisps!

I know it varies depending on the supermarket, but people are eating fresh wholefoods.

Sausage ingredients as attached.
Chicken nuggets ingredients as attached( beloved of Jamie Oliver).
Tinned baked beans.
Potato smiley faces or frozen fries ( actually not so bad)

Wheres the nduja tapenade from?

Lunch boxes at school contain processed brioche, Macain snack raiders, crisps, frubes. Honestly it’s awful

People still slag Jamie Oliver off now, name call him, call him fat and all sorts.

Sausages, I agree, are a nutritional Pandora's box.

But Heinz baked beans, for example, are about 50 percent beans, 36 percent tomatoes, which takes us to 86 percent without even thinking about the water content. The maize starch and sugar, I agree isn't great. But that's not 80 percent upf?

Ok, that is awful.

Toupine et Cabbesselle!

Sorry, Cabesselle! (one b!)

Its quite good!

I think by the time you add in white sliced bread, fizzy drinks, take aways & yes packed lunches you will be up to 80%.

Some of ours are just sweets and crisps.

Yes i suppose so.

We don't buy white bread, but I guess plenty of people do.

I just struggle to believe people are giving dc fizzy drinks etc routinely.

I don’t think people are saying UPF is 80% I think they are saying 80% UPF free, or near 50%. Can’t be bothered to google, but I’m sure there are proven facts by CVT or similar people.