Avoiding the disaster that is Ultra-Processed Food

Let's talk about breakfast...

Prior to the 1970s a common UK breakfast would include whole fat milk, butter, a full English with meat, mushrooms, tomatoes, eggs etc. Now, we’re more likely to consider that eating a bowl of cereal with low-fat milk and a glass of orange juice is healthier. Yet nutrition science, especially on Ultra-Processed Food (UPF), is clear; this modern breakfast choice for many is likely to be damaging, causing blood sugar spikes and setting up disease development over the long term.

Reshaping our understanding

Nutrition, like all areas of science evolves and can reshape our understanding of the world around us. Over the last 3 years in particular scientists have discovered that UPF is responsible for much disease and is a leading cause of obesity developing at pandemic levels throughout the world. You can spot UPF because it is often in packets, can be stored in the food cupboard for a long time without going off, and usually contain lots of different ingredients many of which you’ll likely never have heard of and wouldn’t be able to recognise as a normal food you can find in your kitchen for cooking with (think ‘gums’, ‘emulsifiers’, ‘agents’ etc – see British Heart Foundation link below).

The problem with UPF

The issue with UPF is that, put simply, it is damaging to our health and is becoming a larger and larger proportion of our food intake. In the UK more than 50% of our food is UPF and it is even higher for children who are often fed packeted snack foods marketed to seem handy and healthy for families. UPF is manufactured to be hyper-palatable. This means we desire it more than normal foods and it leads to overeating, because we are able to consume more than we could normally. Filling up on UPF food then also means we are less hungry for often less palatable real foods (i.e. less processed or unprocessed foods) that would be much more health protective.

So it is easy to see how UPF leads to disease and is also driving obesity but for those living with obesity who are likely to have genetic susceptibility to developing obesity, eating UPFs has an even bigger sting in the tail because it can often leave individuals feeling like they’re greedy or to blame in some way for overeating this type of food. This can cause people to lose motivation to take care of themselves or develop a sense of shame which could maintain cycles of overeating, poor health and low mood. In fact, this category of food has been specifically manufactured to lead to overconsumption which is often nutritionally deficient and yet feeling addicted to these extraordinarily moreish foods can have a psychological grip over some that is hard to break or even to understand.

The Solution

For everyone today’s food environment needs to be navigated carefully and especially for those of us living in the UK, for children, and for those susceptible to developing obesity because avoiding UPF in this environment is extremely challenging. That said, you can undo the damage UPF does to your body if you stop eating it or reduce the amounts you are eating. Knowledge is power, and once you’ve identified the UPF that regularly makes its way into your home and regular dietary patterns, you may well be able to start to tip the balance back in your favour.

A few tips to get you started

Get familiar with the common UPFs in your food cupboard. Is it crisps, snack bars, fizzy drinks etc, or is it supermarket bread, canned cooking sauces, or could it be alternative milks, or cereals?
Try to seek out low/non-processed foods, mix it up, get variety, try out new foods. (here’s some good ideas from Prof Tim Spector if you’re looking for some https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNQXeQ9KDW0 )
If you’re going to eat UPF, add in some real foods with it which will carry some nutritional benefit for you (e.g. dollop of Greek yogurt with your chocolate cake / handful of nuts on top of the cereal).

Finally, if you’re regularly fuelling up in the mornings on muesli and orange juice and are noticing low mood, fatigue during the day, gut problems, headaches or any other health concern, then consider switching back to a more ‘traditional’ breakfast with eggs, dairy, and other whole foods, and see for yourself what the difference might be for you.