non-UPF - What's everyone making or buying or prepping

[Anonymous]

this weekend?

I'm seasoning and roasting bell peppers and eggplant. Hopefully to grab for a grain bowl or in a salad instead of reaching for the UPF. What about you?

Have not been to the grocery store yet but cottage cheese is on the list.

[Anonymous]

Chili is on my menu...I mean I will use canned beans though. Fine by me.

[Anonymous]

What is UPF?

[Anonymous]

I’m making chili and applesauce. Lots of the latter— I make huge batches and freeze. A vendor at my local farmers market sells me his “seconds” very cheap. Everyone wins, especially my son who loves homemade applesauce!

[Anonymous]

what the heck are you talking about

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is UPF?

Ultra processed food?

[Anonymous]

Oh lordy, is this the new trendy diet? Instead of low carb or Whole 30 or eating clean or whatever? Now it's "I'm doing Non UPF!"

[Anonymous]

Tonight was chicken with a side of quinoa salad with chopped vegetables and a lemon/olive oil vinagrette.

[Anonymous]

Chicken Nugget and French fries with ketchup and sour cream

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicken Nugget and French fries with ketchup and sour cream

My hero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh lordy, is this the new trendy diet? Instead of low carb or Whole 30 or eating clean or whatever? Now it's "I'm doing Non UPF!"

Avoiding ultra processed is not a diet. It’s like avoiding cigarettes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh lordy, is this the new trendy diet? Instead of low carb or Whole 30 or eating clean or whatever? Now it's "I'm doing Non UPF!"

Avoiding ultra processed is not a diet. It’s like avoiding cigarettes.

Then you should have been doing this your entire life, not acting like you just learned this word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh lordy, is this the new trendy diet? Instead of low carb or Whole 30 or eating clean or whatever? Now it's "I'm doing Non UPF!"

Avoiding ultra processed is not a diet. It’s like avoiding cigarettes.

It is a diet trend and no, it is not like avoiding cigarettes. There is a known, well-studied link between cigarettes and not only cancer but a number of debilitating medical issues. Cigarettes also produce second-hand smoke, which greatly impacts how we view them as a society, where you are allowed to smoke them, and how using them will impact your life (if someone at work started eating UPF around you all the time, it would have no impact on your health whatsoever, for instance). Cigarettes are also highly addictive in a well-demonstrated way, in part because they unite an addictive drug with an addictive behavior, which is why they can be so hard to quit.

UPF is more like alcohol, in that it would probably be healthier to avoid them altogether, but also having some occasionally and in moderation probably isn't a big deal. Also the addictiveness of UPF is less clear. They are "hyper-palatable" and often high in sugar which can make them addictive, but not in the same way that cigarettes are addictive (more in the way social media can be addictive, by acclimating you to a specific pleasure response and making you crave it more). As with alcohol, it seems that people may have varying susceptibility to the addictive nature of UPF, and some people may be able to consume UPF on occasion with no craving to repeat the behavior (i.e. having a bag of Doritos on a road trip because it's available and easy, but they will feel no desire to eat Doritos or other UPF even the next day, in fact may happily return to eating less processed foods).

So no, it's different.

[Anonymous]

Here's a question about UPF:

We make our own bread often. Homemade bread is never UPF because it has no additives and the ingredient list is super short. However, sometimes we make breads like milk bread or white sandwich bread -- not exactly healthy. But according to the Nova categorizations, these breads are not UPF. However, a loaf of a commercial, packaged whole grain bread *would* be categorized as UPF because commercial breads always have preservatives to help make them shelf stable (otherwise it would be impossible to sell commercial bread because it would go bad before it hit store shelves).

A system where a loaf of homemade milk bread loaded with refined wheat and sugar is considered more healthful than a loaf of a dense whole grain bread does not make sense to me. I get why we should all avoid foods like Oreos and Doritos (duh) but the Nova system starts to lose me when it categorizes store bought yogurt and bread as unhealthy simply because they have a few ingredients to sweeten or preserve them. I'm not saying I think flavored yogurts or breads with preservatives are the BEST foods, but it also doesn't make sense to me that they are the worst foods and to be avoided at all costs.