Is anyone trying to stay away from UPF (Ultra processed food)?

godinman said:
See I disagree here, food can be super flavourful without being UPF. (Unless I've misunderstood your meaning).
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Yeah I also agree, but if you can rip your diet apart and take it back to basics for a while it really helps the mindset of "everything must taste good".

I mean steaks the most delicious thing in the world.

I think I worded it badly, I mean in terms of cooking and taking ages to make something delicious. We can get all worked up about it and sometimes we choose easy processed foods over it for 'flavour' . When some bacon and boiled eggs will take two minutes to cook, and provide enough nutrients. Or banging some mince n veg in a pot and some spices, job done.
 
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I think a lot of people are conflating processed food with ultra processed here, flour (even modern milled flour) isn't considered UPF, neither is minced beef.

Hotwired said:
Probably the high level of processing that goes into flour. The romans mashed grains between two rocks and called it a day. We get perfect flour by throwing specially grown grains through a gigantic processing building.
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Still not UPF tho. I use stone milled flour for my bread, then more modern flour for things that needed (no-one wants a wholemeal cake! :cry:)

drakulton said:
Anything except raw meat and uncooked veg are processed. Humans were only able to develop big brains because we cooked food and could get more calories out of it.
I hear the slowly defrosting mammoth carcases in siberia taste absolutely divine at this time of year.
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This thread is about 'ultra'-processed food, not just processed.
pc-guy said:
It’s unavoidable.

Most if not all condiments are ultra processed.
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That's true, I've actually cut out most condiments, a lot of the time they don't really add to the food's flavour, then I make a lot of my own mayo and chilli sauces, not for everyone tho!

Anything that’s pickled or preserved are ultra processed.
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Not true, it depends on what's used to preserve it.


I have stopped buying mince out of packaging. Instead get cuts from butcher and ask them to mince for me as then I know what goes into the mince.

Also buying from butcher for general meat instead of packaged stuff. And fish from fish monger instead.

Definitely not buying anything like burgers and sausages etc.
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There's plenty of sausages that don't use chemical preservatives, and most mince doesn't use any at all.


I went 2 months without a sausage roll. But couldn’t resist the other day. Hahaha, I think I will have sausage roll as my guilty pleasure.
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It would take a somewhat pointless amount of dedication to avoid UPF entirely, I have a cheat something every now and then, I think it's pretty harmless, there's only so much you can do!
 
I don't really care, although I cook the vast majority of meals from scratch.

Also some things get a bad rep when they are perfectly fine.

Like those pre made pataks curry sauces, yes they are made in a factory, but they are made just on an industrial scale the same way you would do it in your own kitchen, if you look down the list of ingredients there is nothing there I don't have myself.

But I think in general if you aim to cook yourself as much as possible you can't go too far wrong.

The things that'll kill you are like cheap frozen lasagne from Iceland or similar.
 
BUDFORCE said:
I don't really care, although I cook the vast majority of meals from scratch.

Also some things get a bad rep when they are perfectly fine.

Like those pre made pataks curry sauces, yes they are made in a factory, but they are made just on an industrial scale the same way you would do it in your own kitchen, if you look down the list of ingredients there is nothing there I don't have myself.

But I think in general if you aim to cook yourself as much as possible you can't go too far wrong.

The things that'll kill you are like cheap frozen lasagne from Iceland or similar.
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They are just bonkers expensive when you consider its tomato and spices.
 
The ultimate scenario is home grown veg and high quality butcher meat, assuming you're not a vegetarian.

An interesting comparison to make is how long the shelf life and ingredients list of something are compared to the home made equivalent.
 
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Interesting topic. For the last decade or more i've slowly been weening my way off general enjoyment rubbish. I think more education needs to be introduced, rather than a be healthy type message, and let people decide for themselves. It's surprising how little people are even aware of ingredient listings.

My diet isn't great, and many around me over the years think i'm healthy, so that says something about society.

Interestingly those Ristorante pizzas are less bad than standard wholemeal bread, so it can be quite surprising. I've been thinking for a while now how to remove bread from my diet, but haven't thought of any good replacement so far. Though as mentioned here, a bread maker is probably the best idea, so am going to look into that.

My problem is i don't really like food because the eating unhealthily is bad and expensive, and eating fresh is massively time consuming, everything just decomposes quick, and my freezer is tiny. As well as being a picky eater (taste, texture, and intolerances) doesn't help too.
 
If you were a highly trained vet could you have a pig and a cow and chicken and just remove parts of them slowly and fix them up medically as you go on? Just left with head hooves claws wired up to a machine while they run about happily in a meadow? Maybe in the future.
 
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Yes, I was certainly talking about ultra processed, not food that's been processed, ie mechanically milled flour etc! I'm definitely not going to be strict about it, if I am out, I accept that most food is going to have UPF in it, but I'd generally choose less burger, sausage and bacon! If it's a cold winter day and I'm watching my kid at a rugby match on Sunday morning and feel like a burger, I will definately have it!

At home however, I am much more mindful of having more home cooked food and more natural snacks instead of crisps and biscuits.

Interesting to hear all your views. I do not need to lose weight or anything, but just wish to put better food inside me I guess!
 
seems there is some disagreement with what UPF is on this thread. From definition i read it is foods that you would not make in your kitchen. You can have processed bread from decent bakery or ultra processed from Kingsmill.
Making your own seems no brainer its going to be better for you, problem is that we sometimes need food outside and there is not many places where you can something fresh that is not UPF.
 
Over Clocker said:
Yes, I was certainly talking about ultra processed, not food that's been processed, ie mechanically milled flour etc! I'm definitely not going to be strict about it, if I am out, I accept that most food is going to have UPF in it, but I'd generally choose less burger, sausage and bacon! If it's a cold winter day and I'm watching my kid at a rugby match on Sunday morning and feel like a burger, I will definately have it!

At home however, I am much more mindful of having more home cooked food and more natural snacks instead of crisps and biscuits.

Interesting to hear all your views. I do not need to lose weight or anything, but just wish to put better food inside me I guess!
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It is funny you made this thread about UPF but would eat burger from a van. I care less about labelling my food or not, but I certainly wouldn't eat absolute road garbage lol.
 
Over Clocker said:
Yes, I was certainly talking about ultra processed, not food that's been processed, ie mechanically milled flour etc! I'm definitely not going to be strict about it, if I am out, I accept that most food is going to have UPF in it, but I'd generally choose less burger, sausage and bacon! If it's a cold winter day and I'm watching my kid at a rugby match on Sunday morning and feel like a burger, I will definately have it!

At home however, I am much more mindful of having more home cooked food and more natural snacks instead of crisps and biscuits.

Interesting to hear all your views. I do not need to lose weight or anything, but just wish to put better food inside me I guess!
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This is kind of where I am with it, at home . pretty strict but if I'm on a day out somewhere I'll cheat if there aren't better options about.

P.S don't worry about dlocker, I think he thinks this is GD or something :cry:
 
Begbie said:
It's definitely not that expensive, meat and veg are cheap.

Buy high fat mince and chicken on the bone (both better for you anyway). Eggs, loads of eggs. Stuff like suarkraut is delicious, super healthy and super cheap.

You just have to change your mindset that food isn't for flavour but to provide your body with nutrition.
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Correct me if I'm wrong but high fat mince and Sauerkraut isn't very healthy !
 
Begbie said:
Why? Generally fat is good for you. sauerkraut is super good, and extremely good for gut health.
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The saturated fat in full fat mince certainly isn't good for you.

Sauerkraut is very high in salt (usually 2% ratio to the weight of the cabbage) which is not heart healthy and also salt causes diabetes. The kraut you buy in shops is ultra high processed and loses a lot of it's supposed benefits because it is pasteurised in the canning/bottling process so it can be kept on the shelf at room temperature and most of the gut healthy probiotics are lost (compared to freshly made at home and refridgerated).
 
Mr Badger said:
Not consciously taking account of UPF but I buy unprocessed vegetables and cook most meals from basic ingredients. I certainly use rice, dry pasta and bread (are they UPF sins?) and although I buy fresh ginger and garlic I don't try to make my own fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce or whatever. For curries I will use powdered spices rather than anything premade in a jar (I do buy coconut milk but choose the ones that have the highest percentage coconut and least additives) and I don't buy premade pasta sauces (although I do consider tomato puree and passata to be essentials).

Sometimes I am a bit surprised by the content of people's trolleys at the supermarket - piles of ready meals, confectionery, fizzy drinks etc. Who pays £2.50 to take home 300 grams of McCain salt and pepper fries, when you can get 2.5kg of Maris Piper or King Edward potatoes for £1.70 and make chips for days!
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Do you freeze the chips as well? McCain's are extremely overpriced. I do on occasion make home-made chips, but time washing, chopping and cooking (don't have an air fryer) takes significantly longer that cooking some out of a bag.
 
I try and avoid cakes, biscuits etc but I could definitely do better I.e less crisps and chocolate.

Trying to eat as clean as possible can be time consuming and expensive, but best you can do is try and buy whole meal, organic foods etc or homegrown is probably the best for vegetables as you definitely know there’s nothing added.

Of course anybody eating proper will feel the benefits physically and mentally etc

P.s. I’ve started eating more nuts, berries etc recently too for snacks and breakfast. Aldi sell some good stuff for a couple of quid.

Also I’ve not tried those meal planner or calorie apps but they would definitely give you a much better oversight and control (hopefully) over what you’re eating
 
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rumple9 said:
The saturated fat in full fat mince certainly isn't good for you.

Sauerkraut is very high in salt (usually 2% ratio to the weight of the cabbage) which is not heart healthy and also salt causes diabetes. The kraut you buy in shops is ultra high processed and loses a lot of it's supposed benefits because it is pasteurised in the canning/bottling process so it can be kept on the shelf at room temperature and most of the gut healthy probiotics are lost (compared to freshly made at home and refridgerated).
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I'll look into that, I have fermented food before so might just make some myself if that's the case.

I drink salt water for breakfast, the salt content doesn't bother me.

I disagree on the s. Fat too, but that's not what this thread is about.
 
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