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Welcome to our August Newsletter

How ultra-processed are you?

Lots of people are talking about Chris van Tulleken’s book “Ultra-Processed People” which came out last year, and it’s a proper eye opener in fairness.

The book talks about how ultra-processed foods (UPF) are created, how they are used and how they might affect us when we eat them.

I’m going to say straight off the bat that I agree with most of what van Tulleken says about processed food, I wholeheartedly do, what I’m going to attempt here is to make it more friendly for you lovely lot as many of you have dietary considerations that others never have to think about.

Firstly, what is Ultra-Processed Food?

It’s food that has been commercially produced, using many factors, processes and ingredients to give it certain appealing qualities before, during and after eating:

Before eating – attractive packaging; generally low cost with additional bargains/deals; advertising (including to children); optimum placement in shops; smell; colour; look; little or no preparation required

During eating – taste; flavour (a mix of smell and taste); mouthfeel; texture; dryness; softness (to make you eat quickly) etc.

After eating – lack of fullness sensation (makes you want to eat more); highly enjoyable (makes you want to eat more)

The point van Tulleken makes is this is not food designed to give you a nutritious meal or treat, it is “an industrially produced edible substance” designed to sell more product. These businesses want to make more money and it’s your money that they want.

Longer term increased risks of UPF

The book quotes Nicole Avena, associate professor at Mount Sinai in New York and visiting professor at Princeton, she says that “some ultra-processed foods may activate the brain reward system in a way that is similar to what happens when people use drugs like alcohol, or even nicotine or morphine.” That’s right there’s growing evidence that you can become addicted to UPF!

There are many health issues linked to intake of UPF and I’m going to quote from the book again here because it’s well-referenced. I’ve seen some of you experiencing these conditions (and others that aren’t listed here) so these are issues that I feel strongly about. Here we go…

• obesity

• death – so called all-cause mortality

• cardiovascular disease (strokes and heart attacks)

• cancers (all cancers overall, as well as breast cancer specifically)

• type 2 diabetes

• high blood pressure

• fatty liver disease

• inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease)

• depression

• worse blood fat profile

• frailty (as measured by grip strength)

• irritable bowel syndrome and dyspepsia (indigestion)

• dementia

I know, shocking, isn’t it.

No-one wants these side effects so why do we eat them? Because they’re cheap, available, easy, we’re told we want them through advertising and we haven’t been told about the side effects.

The pricing issue is real. Many families can’t afford fresh wholefoods and this is something that needs government regulation to address so that everyone can have access to real food.

So what can I eat?

Foods that have had as little industrial processing as possible, in short.

If you bake a cake at home using flour, butter, eggs and sugar then that is a wholly different cake than a shop-bought one that has 15-20 ingredients, many of which you don’t recognise.

Chris van Tulleken recommends trying to eat 80% of our food intake from fresh wholefoods for a few days to see how it feels.

If there’s just two things to focus on then I would suggest trying to avoid emulsifiers and artificial sweeteners.

I have put together a little table to show which foods are not likely to be UPF and would ideally form your 80% of food intake (I say likely because industrial processes sneak into all kinds of places you wouldn’t imagine).  You can download it here.

Give it a try for a couple of days if you fancy and let me know how you get on.  If you’d like to try this but aren’t sure how to manage it with your dietary requirements then get in touch, we want to help you to become healthier, it’s why we do what we do.

To get you started download our three day meal plan by clicking below:

Remember…

If you are not feeling well and you think that your diet might be a contributing factor then let us know and we can do some food testing.  Click below for our booking system.

Quote of the Month

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”

Hippocrates (Greek physician and father of medicine)

How ultra-processed are you?