In case anyone wants a proper definition: ultra-processed food is defined using the Nova classification system [0]. I still find the definition a bit confusing though.
This is the outcome of having researchers dedicating multiple lifetimes towards optimizing food to be as palatable and optimized as possible, such that people are forced to have a self-control battle each meal. Maybe GLP-1 drug proliferation will force companies towards other optimization goals. We ultimately end up paying for the negative externalities of UPF through higher healthcare costs and overall worse long-term quality of life.
It's difficult to change and maintain healthy eating habits when so much of your environment is designed to push you towards foods with questionable health properties. Even if it's technically possible to eat healthy, the cognitive overhead is enough that individualistic solutions are always going to be limited in effectiveness. The ideal is living in an environment where the healthy options are the default choice, so you don't have to waste time, energy, and willpower on maintenance-level tasks. I imagine that a healthier population would also be more productive, for the number-go-up optimizers.
My question might he stupid: is cottage cheese (kirkland) ultra processed food? I cook most of my stuff, but I use egg whites and cottage cheese from Kirkland for the high amount of proteins
Frustratingly, I note that the clip art used to illustrate the article (showing a bunch of junk-ish food like chips, donuts, pizza and burgers) contains not a single example of a UPF that I can see.
The Guardian couldn't even be jazzed to research their own story.
Weird choice of the image by TheGuardian: there's some obviously highly processed foods such as doughnuts and candy, but you also have french fries, popcorn and even some nuts there. The text itself doesn't elaborate on this much either.
What is it exactly that I am supposed to avoid?
imagine just buying normal food that wasnt done on the cheap. nobody could afford to live. even in usa, richest country in the world, people are eating cheap crap, living in wooden houses... of course you can be the richest country in the world if you just lower your living standards perpetually
Discussion about this tends to get hung up on the relative harm of a particular food, let’s say a donut. But the article is really about a diet that is dominated by food like donuts.
>Evidence reviewed by 43 of the world’s leading experts suggests that diets high in UPF are linked to overeating, poor nutritional quality and higher exposure to harmful chemicals and additives.
>This category is made up of products that have been industrially manufactured, often using artificial flavours, emulsifiers and colouring. They include soft drinks and packaged snacks, and tend to be extremely palatable and high in calories but low in nutrients.
>They are also designed and marketed to displace fresh food and traditional meals, while maximising corporate profits, Monteiro said.
An issue is that a meal of donuts and doritos is equally as ultraprocessed as a diet of bleached pasta and jarred tomato sauce with some preservatives.
I don't have access to the paper, but it'd be interesting to see from the food surveys if the UPF domination is coming from stuff we'd traditionally call "junk food" or from foods that are similar to whole foods made from scratch but with some preservatives added.
Also from this wiki page[0], identifying UPF (paraphrased by me):
Long ingredient list: Foods that contain many ingredients, especially those that could not be found in a kitchen, are likely to be ultra-processed.
Claims on the packaging: Ultra-processed foods often come in packaging with nutrition claims like "low-fat," "sugar-free," or "fortified with vitamins."
I have always found it so weird to go to a supermarket when you have a (somewhat) "clean" diet. I go from veggies and fruits to meat and dairy and then I'm out again. 95% of the shelves I don't even look at.
Also, the definition of (ultra) processed food isn't so hard: just buy original food, not extrapolations of that. Buy veggies and potatoes, not chips. Buy meat, not sausages or burgers. Buy an apple and yoghurt, not the yoghurt you can buy off the shelf. Just basic ingredients.
Honestly, you all are just trying to pick me apart when we all know what to buy and what not to buy. Of course cocoa powder (raw) and coffee is ok. You can look up the research on these ingredients beforehand. Some foods need processing to become edible. Salt is also somewhat processed. But there's industrial salt with additional ingredients and then there's sea salt. Do your own research and apply common sense. Easy
Based on your post, I assumed you avoided grain, as part of a diet. I know a few people who cannot touch the stuff. But the article is about these different graduations of processing. And I couldn’t tell if your diet also avoided those. I don’t know anyone who categorically avoids cocoa or coffee.
I mean raw yoghurt. Not flavored yoghurt. Not sure if there's an extra name for that in english, I'm not a native speaker. There's skyr and greek yoghurt without any additions and then there's the rest of the isle that's just yoghurt with flavours and sugar.
The UPF category isn't helpful to the person at the grocery store trying to decide what's to buy because it significantly overlaps with very healthy foods.
Loose terms like junk food and whole foods are more helpful because they don't come with the patina of scientific rigor, you can use personal judgement about what fits in those categories.
I can only repeat myself: you guys are trying to pick me apart while you know exactly what I mean. Sometimes hard definitions won't cut it and you have to use common sense. 80-90% clean is sufficient.
Some things need to be processed to be edible. Wheat is one of those. And wheat is typically trash. It's cheap carbohydrates.
Also: I don't buy bread typically. Sometimes, rarely, wholegrain sourdough bread. But I'm also german and have access to "healthy" bread.
Life is really simple:
veggies, fruits, raw meat (no sausages and not that much red meat), dairy (you can buy UHT milk obv.) but not much cheese, wholegrain carbs if you must (pasta is ok, rice also). Some processed foods are ok: cocoa, coffee beans, see salt, yoghurt, kimchi (check label), tofu (occasionally), olive oil etc. etc.
As basic as possible with pre-checked exceptions. This isn't something you can define in a clear cut manner. And it also depends on the country.
The thing is that if you only skip junk food you'll still eat sooo much junk.
23 comments
[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 157 ms ] threadThis is the outcome of having researchers dedicating multiple lifetimes towards optimizing food to be as palatable and optimized as possible, such that people are forced to have a self-control battle each meal. Maybe GLP-1 drug proliferation will force companies towards other optimization goals. We ultimately end up paying for the negative externalities of UPF through higher healthcare costs and overall worse long-term quality of life.
It's difficult to change and maintain healthy eating habits when so much of your environment is designed to push you towards foods with questionable health properties. Even if it's technically possible to eat healthy, the cognitive overhead is enough that individualistic solutions are always going to be limited in effectiveness. The ideal is living in an environment where the healthy options are the default choice, so you don't have to waste time, energy, and willpower on maintenance-level tasks. I imagine that a healthier population would also be more productive, for the number-go-up optimizers.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_classification
The Guardian couldn't even be jazzed to research their own story.
imagine just buying normal food that wasnt done on the cheap. nobody could afford to live. even in usa, richest country in the world, people are eating cheap crap, living in wooden houses... of course you can be the richest country in the world if you just lower your living standards perpetually
>Evidence reviewed by 43 of the world’s leading experts suggests that diets high in UPF are linked to overeating, poor nutritional quality and higher exposure to harmful chemicals and additives.
>This category is made up of products that have been industrially manufactured, often using artificial flavours, emulsifiers and colouring. They include soft drinks and packaged snacks, and tend to be extremely palatable and high in calories but low in nutrients.
>They are also designed and marketed to displace fresh food and traditional meals, while maximising corporate profits, Monteiro said.
I don't have access to the paper, but it'd be interesting to see from the food surveys if the UPF domination is coming from stuff we'd traditionally call "junk food" or from foods that are similar to whole foods made from scratch but with some preservatives added.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_classification
This seems shocking a bit. If bread is a UPF, there will be a lot more items we never even think about.
Long ingredient list: Foods that contain many ingredients, especially those that could not be found in a kitchen, are likely to be ultra-processed.
Claims on the packaging: Ultra-processed foods often come in packaging with nutrition claims like "low-fat," "sugar-free," or "fortified with vitamins."
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-processed_food
Also, the definition of (ultra) processed food isn't so hard: just buy original food, not extrapolations of that. Buy veggies and potatoes, not chips. Buy meat, not sausages or burgers. Buy an apple and yoghurt, not the yoghurt you can buy off the shelf. Just basic ingredients.
And coffee? Does it matter whether you buy beans and grind them yourself, or offload that grinding to a processor person?
The UPF category isn't helpful to the person at the grocery store trying to decide what's to buy because it significantly overlaps with very healthy foods.
Loose terms like junk food and whole foods are more helpful because they don't come with the patina of scientific rigor, you can use personal judgement about what fits in those categories.
Some things need to be processed to be edible. Wheat is one of those. And wheat is typically trash. It's cheap carbohydrates.
Also: I don't buy bread typically. Sometimes, rarely, wholegrain sourdough bread. But I'm also german and have access to "healthy" bread.
Life is really simple:
veggies, fruits, raw meat (no sausages and not that much red meat), dairy (you can buy UHT milk obv.) but not much cheese, wholegrain carbs if you must (pasta is ok, rice also). Some processed foods are ok: cocoa, coffee beans, see salt, yoghurt, kimchi (check label), tofu (occasionally), olive oil etc. etc.
As basic as possible with pre-checked exceptions. This isn't something you can define in a clear cut manner. And it also depends on the country.
The thing is that if you only skip junk food you'll still eat sooo much junk.