Ultra Processed Foods - Your Alternatives?
Discussion
As a former fat 
and now slightly less fat that's now found an interest in fitness in the last few years. I'm now a regular the gym, a religious calorie counter and am generally trying to ensure that I don't end up as a weak and feeble, pot bellied, red nosed geriatric by the time I reach 65 presuming I even last that long.
I've recently discovered Eddie Abbew on Instagram. For those who aren't familiar, Eddie is a former body builder and gym owner turned influencer based on the advocatacy of eating only natural foods and avoiding ultra processed foods.
I appreciate that he Is neither medically trained or a nutritionalist in any capacity and his claims of UPFs causing chronic illness need to be taken with a pinch of salt until he can otherwise back them up factually but he makes a lot of sense. At the very least he is amusing in his delivery of his content.
Based on this (and many other sources berating the proliferation of the modern diet with UPFs) I've decided to cut back as much as possible on UPFs and see if the claims of increased well-being, more energy, better focus and the ability to better maintain weight are true.
Anyone else following this track? If so, what have you replaced your every day UPFs with?
and now slightly less fat that's now found an interest in fitness in the last few years. I'm now a regular the gym, a religious calorie counter and am generally trying to ensure that I don't end up as a weak and feeble, pot bellied, red nosed geriatric by the time I reach 65 presuming I even last that long.I've recently discovered Eddie Abbew on Instagram. For those who aren't familiar, Eddie is a former body builder and gym owner turned influencer based on the advocatacy of eating only natural foods and avoiding ultra processed foods.
I appreciate that he Is neither medically trained or a nutritionalist in any capacity and his claims of UPFs causing chronic illness need to be taken with a pinch of salt until he can otherwise back them up factually but he makes a lot of sense. At the very least he is amusing in his delivery of his content.
Based on this (and many other sources berating the proliferation of the modern diet with UPFs) I've decided to cut back as much as possible on UPFs and see if the claims of increased well-being, more energy, better focus and the ability to better maintain weight are true.
Anyone else following this track? If so, what have you replaced your every day UPFs with?
Follow Dr Idz on IG as well then come back. He is a doctor with a masters in nutritional research. Does not agree with Eddie on lots of stuff.
ETA - although agree ultra processed food is crap. Been doing a lot of making my own bread stuffs. Flatbreads, tortillas, country loaves. Its cheaper, no preservatives or crap and tastes so much better.
ETA - although agree ultra processed food is crap. Been doing a lot of making my own bread stuffs. Flatbreads, tortillas, country loaves. Its cheaper, no preservatives or crap and tastes so much better.
Edited by Scabutz on Thursday 29th February 21:44
Usual advice, seems to be re-packaged every few years under a new name.
I'd say try and cut down the UPF but a Domino's or a neon tikka kebab once a week isn't going to hurt you. Cut out ready meals, make them yourself. Slow cooker - batches of meals made with fresh ingredients, frozen and ready to go. Replace jars of pasta sauce with tinned tomatoes and add herbs. Porridge oats instead of packaged cereals.
Wholemeal / wholegrain bread, pasta and rice - not sure about this one, I mean is most of the world wrong to eat white bread, rice and pasta? Including lots of countries where their diet is badged as being healthy.
Portion size and willpower is the key. You can eat tons of healthy food and still be a porker.
I'd say try and cut down the UPF but a Domino's or a neon tikka kebab once a week isn't going to hurt you. Cut out ready meals, make them yourself. Slow cooker - batches of meals made with fresh ingredients, frozen and ready to go. Replace jars of pasta sauce with tinned tomatoes and add herbs. Porridge oats instead of packaged cereals.
Wholemeal / wholegrain bread, pasta and rice - not sure about this one, I mean is most of the world wrong to eat white bread, rice and pasta? Including lots of countries where their diet is badged as being healthy.
Portion size and willpower is the key. You can eat tons of healthy food and still be a porker.
Not familiar with Eddie but Dr Chris Van Tulleken has been banging this drum for a while, and I must say I'm on board. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QOTBreQaIk
It's very hard to completely eliminate UPFs but I tend to cook most meals from scratch which helps.
I've ditched breakfast cereals in favour of porridge with honey or muesli with nuts/fruit.
I like a snack but have pretty much eliminated biscuits/cake in favour of dark chocolate + whole nuts.
Things like (wholegrain) supermarket bread and crackers are the only UPFs I still consume in any quantity, and am OK with that.
It's very hard to completely eliminate UPFs but I tend to cook most meals from scratch which helps.
I've ditched breakfast cereals in favour of porridge with honey or muesli with nuts/fruit.
I like a snack but have pretty much eliminated biscuits/cake in favour of dark chocolate + whole nuts.
Things like (wholegrain) supermarket bread and crackers are the only UPFs I still consume in any quantity, and am OK with that.
I’ve reduced UPF drastically since Xmas and have noticed a difference, around 8kg or so lighter. I wasn’t a big consumer but could hit the biscuits and chocolate when I felt like it and was maybe kidding myself regards my intake.
Have eggs quite a bit, salad, porridge with honey, stayed with semi skimmed / full fat milk.
Lunch and evening meals generally salad from fresh with lots of diverse ingredients from raw, with tuna or chicken or nice ham.
List of stuff I avoid (for now, will review when I get down to the target weight) bread, chocolate, pasta, cereal (not done cereal for a while tbf) and alcohol, which I’m just not that fussed over anymore. Avoiding the rest of it is a bit of a bind and I’m not 100% on the wagon but have found it’s easier the longer you are following the plan.
I don’t tend to have weekends off as it’s false economy.
I still do eat whole meal bread with scrambled eggs but could really do with cutting it out at some point for a while. Will see how I do.
UPF if your trying to count calories anyway (or understand your daily allowance) are a bit of a grey area versus the raw ingredients you could use instead. Also all the other things that they put in them. Very easy to understate the calories and they are also packed with sugar and salt which don’t help the natural balance of nutrition.
Generally if it needs a nice package or advertising, avoid it, just go with the base ingredients and you’ll find yourself fuller and more satisfied for longer.
There aren’t any quick wins regards weight loss, it takes time to put it on and time and effort to shift it. I have noticed though that I can start to appreciate taste more for the raw food ingredients.
Raw carrot peeled and boiled eggs are a good food to have on the go in a sandwich box, I’ve also got into raw broccoli on salads.
Moderate exercise also to keep moving, but you can’t out walk or even outrun a bad diet.
I’m finding the easiest calories to burn are certainly the ones I don’t put in my body in the first place, also experimenting with 24 hour fasts 5:2 etc to give it a bit of a kick now and again.
I’ve needed to front this for a decade or so, target is to reduce down by a total of 20kg and see where I sit from there.
Another tip, weigh yourself daily (ignore fluctuations as they will happen, but make this a lifelong habit as it puts your food for the day into focus) and drink plenty of water.
It’s important to embed habits (not fads) that can be sustained once you get to a target otherwise it will all just go back on if you hit the biscuits. So don’t deny yourself anything (as it just makes it more attractive) and manage portion control on anything other than greens, stick with it and be aware of how your body works within the allowance you give it…
Have eggs quite a bit, salad, porridge with honey, stayed with semi skimmed / full fat milk.
Lunch and evening meals generally salad from fresh with lots of diverse ingredients from raw, with tuna or chicken or nice ham.
List of stuff I avoid (for now, will review when I get down to the target weight) bread, chocolate, pasta, cereal (not done cereal for a while tbf) and alcohol, which I’m just not that fussed over anymore. Avoiding the rest of it is a bit of a bind and I’m not 100% on the wagon but have found it’s easier the longer you are following the plan.
I don’t tend to have weekends off as it’s false economy.
I still do eat whole meal bread with scrambled eggs but could really do with cutting it out at some point for a while. Will see how I do.
UPF if your trying to count calories anyway (or understand your daily allowance) are a bit of a grey area versus the raw ingredients you could use instead. Also all the other things that they put in them. Very easy to understate the calories and they are also packed with sugar and salt which don’t help the natural balance of nutrition.
Generally if it needs a nice package or advertising, avoid it, just go with the base ingredients and you’ll find yourself fuller and more satisfied for longer.
There aren’t any quick wins regards weight loss, it takes time to put it on and time and effort to shift it. I have noticed though that I can start to appreciate taste more for the raw food ingredients.
Raw carrot peeled and boiled eggs are a good food to have on the go in a sandwich box, I’ve also got into raw broccoli on salads.
Moderate exercise also to keep moving, but you can’t out walk or even outrun a bad diet.
I’m finding the easiest calories to burn are certainly the ones I don’t put in my body in the first place, also experimenting with 24 hour fasts 5:2 etc to give it a bit of a kick now and again.
I’ve needed to front this for a decade or so, target is to reduce down by a total of 20kg and see where I sit from there.
Another tip, weigh yourself daily (ignore fluctuations as they will happen, but make this a lifelong habit as it puts your food for the day into focus) and drink plenty of water.
It’s important to embed habits (not fads) that can be sustained once you get to a target otherwise it will all just go back on if you hit the biscuits. So don’t deny yourself anything (as it just makes it more attractive) and manage portion control on anything other than greens, stick with it and be aware of how your body works within the allowance you give it…
Eddie Abbew lol another food zealot that cruises down supermarket aisles instilling fear and food phobias, swap him for Drs Joey Munoz or Layne Norton, people who are actually qualified to speak not some former steroid abuser even James Smith is worth a look up.
As with everything the dose makes the poison, nothing wrong with processed food as long as you don't go overboard, my diet is based mainly around whole foods like meat fish nuts and eggs but I certainly don't go out of my way to avoid some processed foods.
As with everything the dose makes the poison, nothing wrong with processed food as long as you don't go overboard, my diet is based mainly around whole foods like meat fish nuts and eggs but I certainly don't go out of my way to avoid some processed foods.
I like Eddie, he seems like a nice fella and the whole going round supermarkets saying everything is s@£t is quite funny. However, as stated above, his approach is quite extreme and he demonises quite a lot of perfectly good natural foods.
The book by Chris Van Tulleken is a good read. It goes into he whole UPF thing in depth. The overall message that if you simply eat non or minimally processed foods and you can't go wrong appeals to me. All my worst habits with food are associated with UPFs.
The book by Chris Van Tulleken is a good read. It goes into he whole UPF thing in depth. The overall message that if you simply eat non or minimally processed foods and you can't go wrong appeals to me. All my worst habits with food are associated with UPFs.
996Type said:
I’ve reduced UPF drastically since Xmas and have noticed a difference, around 8kg or so lighter. I wasn’t a big consumer but could hit the biscuits and chocolate when I felt like it and was maybe kidding myself regards my intake.
Have eggs quite a bit, salad, porridge with honey, stayed with semi skimmed / full fat milk.
Lunch and evening meals generally salad from fresh with lots of diverse ingredients from raw, with tuna or chicken or nice ham.
List of stuff I avoid (for now, will review when I get down to the target weight) bread, chocolate, pasta, cereal (not done cereal for a while tbf) and alcohol, which I’m just not that fussed over anymore. Avoiding the rest of it is a bit of a bind and I’m not 100% on the wagon but have found it’s easier the longer you are following the plan.
I don’t tend to have weekends off as it’s false economy.
I still do eat whole meal bread with scrambled eggs but could really do with cutting it out at some point for a while. Will see how I do.
UPF if your trying to count calories anyway (or understand your daily allowance) are a bit of a grey area versus the raw ingredients you could use instead. Also all the other things that they put in them. Very easy to understate the calories and they are also packed with sugar and salt which don’t help the natural balance of nutrition.
Generally if it needs a nice package or advertising, avoid it, just go with the base ingredients and you’ll find yourself fuller and more satisfied for longer.
There aren’t any quick wins regards weight loss, it takes time to put it on and time and effort to shift it. I have noticed though that I can start to appreciate taste more for the raw food ingredients.
Raw carrot peeled and boiled eggs are a good food to have on the go in a sandwich box, I’ve also got into raw broccoli on salads.
Moderate exercise also to keep moving, but you can’t out walk or even outrun a bad diet.
I’m finding the easiest calories to burn are certainly the ones I don’t put in my body in the first place, also experimenting with 24 hour fasts 5:2 etc to give it a bit of a kick now and again.
I’ve needed to front this for a decade or so, target is to reduce down by a total of 20kg and see where I sit from there.
Another tip, weigh yourself daily (ignore fluctuations as they will happen, but make this a lifelong habit as it puts your food for the day into focus) and drink plenty of water.
It’s important to embed habits (not fads) that can be sustained once you get to a target otherwise it will all just go back on if you hit the biscuits. So don’t deny yourself anything (as it just makes it more attractive) and manage portion control on anything other than greens, stick with it and be aware of how your body works within the allowance you give it…
Sensible advice. I think the evidence linking UPFs and obesity (and associated disease T2DM cancer heart disease etc.) is very persuasive. They are essentially calorie dense, ultrapalatable, low satiety foods. Whether there are direct links with the components of UPFs and disease remains to be seen.Have eggs quite a bit, salad, porridge with honey, stayed with semi skimmed / full fat milk.
Lunch and evening meals generally salad from fresh with lots of diverse ingredients from raw, with tuna or chicken or nice ham.
List of stuff I avoid (for now, will review when I get down to the target weight) bread, chocolate, pasta, cereal (not done cereal for a while tbf) and alcohol, which I’m just not that fussed over anymore. Avoiding the rest of it is a bit of a bind and I’m not 100% on the wagon but have found it’s easier the longer you are following the plan.
I don’t tend to have weekends off as it’s false economy.
I still do eat whole meal bread with scrambled eggs but could really do with cutting it out at some point for a while. Will see how I do.
UPF if your trying to count calories anyway (or understand your daily allowance) are a bit of a grey area versus the raw ingredients you could use instead. Also all the other things that they put in them. Very easy to understate the calories and they are also packed with sugar and salt which don’t help the natural balance of nutrition.
Generally if it needs a nice package or advertising, avoid it, just go with the base ingredients and you’ll find yourself fuller and more satisfied for longer.
There aren’t any quick wins regards weight loss, it takes time to put it on and time and effort to shift it. I have noticed though that I can start to appreciate taste more for the raw food ingredients.
Raw carrot peeled and boiled eggs are a good food to have on the go in a sandwich box, I’ve also got into raw broccoli on salads.
Moderate exercise also to keep moving, but you can’t out walk or even outrun a bad diet.
I’m finding the easiest calories to burn are certainly the ones I don’t put in my body in the first place, also experimenting with 24 hour fasts 5:2 etc to give it a bit of a kick now and again.
I’ve needed to front this for a decade or so, target is to reduce down by a total of 20kg and see where I sit from there.
Another tip, weigh yourself daily (ignore fluctuations as they will happen, but make this a lifelong habit as it puts your food for the day into focus) and drink plenty of water.
It’s important to embed habits (not fads) that can be sustained once you get to a target otherwise it will all just go back on if you hit the biscuits. So don’t deny yourself anything (as it just makes it more attractive) and manage portion control on anything other than greens, stick with it and be aware of how your body works within the allowance you give it…
I'm currently calorie counting to get in shape for ski touring. I find that the best way to fill up is unprocessed foods, especially veg. and protein and that UPFs are very wasteful of the calorie allowance and not satisfying. A current meal for example is savoy cabbage onion and garlic fried in olive oil then and braised with tinned tomatoes then baked with home made meatballs a couple of eggs and a small amount of cheese grated on top. Comes out about the same as standard meatballs and spaghetti but is much more filling.
Home made soups are also very satisfying.
You have to commit to a certain amount of organisation in shopping, meal planning, batch cooking etc.
oddman said:
996Type said:
I’ve reduced UPF drastically since Xmas and have noticed a difference, around 8kg or so lighter. I wasn’t a big consumer but could hit the biscuits and chocolate when I felt like it and was maybe kidding myself regards my intake.
Have eggs quite a bit, salad, porridge with honey, stayed with semi skimmed / full fat milk.
Lunch and evening meals generally salad from fresh with lots of diverse ingredients from raw, with tuna or chicken or nice ham.
List of stuff I avoid (for now, will review when I get down to the target weight) bread, chocolate, pasta, cereal (not done cereal for a while tbf) and alcohol, which I’m just not that fussed over anymore. Avoiding the rest of it is a bit of a bind and I’m not 100% on the wagon but have found it’s easier the longer you are following the plan.
I don’t tend to have weekends off as it’s false economy.
I still do eat whole meal bread with scrambled eggs but could really do with cutting it out at some point for a while. Will see how I do.
UPF if your trying to count calories anyway (or understand your daily allowance) are a bit of a grey area versus the raw ingredients you could use instead. Also all the other things that they put in them. Very easy to understate the calories and they are also packed with sugar and salt which don’t help the natural balance of nutrition.
Generally if it needs a nice package or advertising, avoid it, just go with the base ingredients and you’ll find yourself fuller and more satisfied for longer.
There aren’t any quick wins regards weight loss, it takes time to put it on and time and effort to shift it. I have noticed though that I can start to appreciate taste more for the raw food ingredients.
Raw carrot peeled and boiled eggs are a good food to have on the go in a sandwich box, I’ve also got into raw broccoli on salads.
Moderate exercise also to keep moving, but you can’t out walk or even outrun a bad diet.
I’m finding the easiest calories to burn are certainly the ones I don’t put in my body in the first place, also experimenting with 24 hour fasts 5:2 etc to give it a bit of a kick now and again.
I’ve needed to front this for a decade or so, target is to reduce down by a total of 20kg and see where I sit from there.
Another tip, weigh yourself daily (ignore fluctuations as they will happen, but make this a lifelong habit as it puts your food for the day into focus) and drink plenty of water.
It’s important to embed habits (not fads) that can be sustained once you get to a target otherwise it will all just go back on if you hit the biscuits. So don’t deny yourself anything (as it just makes it more attractive) and manage portion control on anything other than greens, stick with it and be aware of how your body works within the allowance you give it…
Sensible advice. I think the evidence linking UPFs and obesity (and associated disease T2DM cancer heart disease etc.) is very persuasive. They are essentially calorie dense, ultrapalatable, low satiety foods. Whether there are direct links with the components of UPFs and disease remains to be seen.Have eggs quite a bit, salad, porridge with honey, stayed with semi skimmed / full fat milk.
Lunch and evening meals generally salad from fresh with lots of diverse ingredients from raw, with tuna or chicken or nice ham.
List of stuff I avoid (for now, will review when I get down to the target weight) bread, chocolate, pasta, cereal (not done cereal for a while tbf) and alcohol, which I’m just not that fussed over anymore. Avoiding the rest of it is a bit of a bind and I’m not 100% on the wagon but have found it’s easier the longer you are following the plan.
I don’t tend to have weekends off as it’s false economy.
I still do eat whole meal bread with scrambled eggs but could really do with cutting it out at some point for a while. Will see how I do.
UPF if your trying to count calories anyway (or understand your daily allowance) are a bit of a grey area versus the raw ingredients you could use instead. Also all the other things that they put in them. Very easy to understate the calories and they are also packed with sugar and salt which don’t help the natural balance of nutrition.
Generally if it needs a nice package or advertising, avoid it, just go with the base ingredients and you’ll find yourself fuller and more satisfied for longer.
There aren’t any quick wins regards weight loss, it takes time to put it on and time and effort to shift it. I have noticed though that I can start to appreciate taste more for the raw food ingredients.
Raw carrot peeled and boiled eggs are a good food to have on the go in a sandwich box, I’ve also got into raw broccoli on salads.
Moderate exercise also to keep moving, but you can’t out walk or even outrun a bad diet.
I’m finding the easiest calories to burn are certainly the ones I don’t put in my body in the first place, also experimenting with 24 hour fasts 5:2 etc to give it a bit of a kick now and again.
I’ve needed to front this for a decade or so, target is to reduce down by a total of 20kg and see where I sit from there.
Another tip, weigh yourself daily (ignore fluctuations as they will happen, but make this a lifelong habit as it puts your food for the day into focus) and drink plenty of water.
It’s important to embed habits (not fads) that can be sustained once you get to a target otherwise it will all just go back on if you hit the biscuits. So don’t deny yourself anything (as it just makes it more attractive) and manage portion control on anything other than greens, stick with it and be aware of how your body works within the allowance you give it…
I'm currently calorie counting to get in shape for ski touring. I find that the best way to fill up is unprocessed foods, especially veg. and protein and that UPFs are very wasteful of the calorie allowance and not satisfying. A current meal for example is savoy cabbage onion and garlic fried in olive oil then and braised with tinned tomatoes then baked with home made meatballs a couple of eggs and a small amount of cheese grated on top. Comes out about the same as standard meatballs and spaghetti but is much more filling.
Home made soups are also very satisfying.
You have to commit to a certain amount of organisation in shopping, meal planning, batch cooking etc.
Some great replies and I'll certainly look into Dr Idz, Dr Chris Van Tulleken, Drs Joey Munoz and Layne Norton. It's great to have a rounded view on subjects from many diverse sources. The UPF thing is relatively new on my radar with discovering Eddie and I've never really thought that much of UPFs provided they fit into my calorie and macro goals.
I am familiar with James Smith but his whole 'be suspicious of everyone else, they are trying to sell you something but btw would you like to be a part of my personal training program for only £x per month' and 'I won't spam you like everyone else but please give me your email so I can send you a marketing email dressed up as advice every day' schtick wears thin after a while despite him having some really good content on fat loss and being quite entertaining to watch. His latest venture seems to be based on every man and his dog is selling courses on how to be a PT but please spend £1000's on my course and you to can then train people to train other people to be PTs. It's like a reinvention of the FOREX traders course scam.
Perhaps I understated my current position in the OP. I'm down to 77kg from 105kg 4 years ago and previous to my last bulk I was 68kg with 10-12% BF and visible abs. Despite being 68kg and low body fat I was still on the healthy/overweight boarder of the BMI chart for my height/ weight and am now firmly in the overweight category again hence the slightly less fat. I appreciate the advise on fat loss in general that has been given though 
My aim of this exercise is to be aware of and avoid where possible foods that have excess additives and 'st' in them. Bread for example should have less than 5 ingredients in but regular shop bought wholemeal can have as many as 15. My long term favorite breakfast of crumpets with peanut butter on them turned out to be chocked full of palm oil, preservatives and whole load of other additives.
Having lost most of the weight that I gained in my 20's, I'm now trying to navigate the treacherous waters of gaining and retaining muscle in my 30's having been a life long weakling (prior to being a fat), with potentially naturally falling test levels as I age and without resorting to TRT or other PEDs to fill in the gaps. Part of this is being able to maximise the benefits of sleep, recovery and diet. If these internet experts are to be believed, UPFs are big problem on this front and should be eliminated as much as possible.
What I do struggle with is being able to find sweet treats that aren't laced with sugar and/or aspartame based sweeteners. I dislike most fruits (which is part of the reason why I ended up a fat in the first place) so outside of a small bowl of oats, honey and some nuts I'm out of ideas.
I am familiar with James Smith but his whole 'be suspicious of everyone else, they are trying to sell you something but btw would you like to be a part of my personal training program for only £x per month' and 'I won't spam you like everyone else but please give me your email so I can send you a marketing email dressed up as advice every day' schtick wears thin after a while despite him having some really good content on fat loss and being quite entertaining to watch. His latest venture seems to be based on every man and his dog is selling courses on how to be a PT but please spend £1000's on my course and you to can then train people to train other people to be PTs. It's like a reinvention of the FOREX traders course scam.
Perhaps I understated my current position in the OP. I'm down to 77kg from 105kg 4 years ago and previous to my last bulk I was 68kg with 10-12% BF and visible abs. Despite being 68kg and low body fat I was still on the healthy/overweight boarder of the BMI chart for my height/ weight and am now firmly in the overweight category again hence the slightly less fat
. I appreciate the advise on fat loss in general that has been given though My aim of this exercise is to be aware of and avoid where possible foods that have excess additives and 's
t' in them. Bread for example should have less than 5 ingredients in but regular shop bought wholemeal can have as many as 15. My long term favorite breakfast of crumpets with peanut butter on them turned out to be chocked full of palm oil, preservatives and whole load of other additives. Having lost most of the weight that I gained in my 20's, I'm now trying to navigate the treacherous waters of gaining and retaining muscle in my 30's having been a life long weakling (prior to being a fat
), with potentially naturally falling test levels as I age and without resorting to TRT or other PEDs to fill in the gaps. Part of this is being able to maximise the benefits of sleep, recovery and diet. If these internet experts are to be believed, UPFs are big problem on this front and should be eliminated as much as possible. What I do struggle with is being able to find sweet treats that aren't laced with sugar and/or aspartame based sweeteners. I dislike most fruits (which is part of the reason why I ended up a fat
in the first place) so outside of a small bowl of oats, honey and some nuts I'm out of ideas. oddman said:
Sensible advice. I think the evidence linking UPFs and obesity (and associated disease T2DM cancer heart disease etc.) is very persuasive. They are essentially calorie dense, ultrapalatable, low satiety foods. Whether there are direct links with the components of UPFs and disease remains to be seen.
I'm currently calorie counting to get in shape for ski touring. I find that the best way to fill up is unprocessed foods, especially veg. and protein and that UPFs are very wasteful of the calorie allowance and not satisfying. A current meal for example is savoy cabbage onion and garlic fried in olive oil then and braised with tinned tomatoes then baked with home made meatballs a couple of eggs and a small amount of cheese grated on top. Comes out about the same as standard meatballs and spaghetti but is much more filling.
Home made soups are also very satisfying.
You have to commit to a certain amount of organisation in shopping, meal planning, batch cooking etc.
Very good post. I've certainly become very experienced with calorie counting and when at 'peak counting' I can have 3 good meals a day and a snack and be within a 1600 calorie target.I'm currently calorie counting to get in shape for ski touring. I find that the best way to fill up is unprocessed foods, especially veg. and protein and that UPFs are very wasteful of the calorie allowance and not satisfying. A current meal for example is savoy cabbage onion and garlic fried in olive oil then and braised with tinned tomatoes then baked with home made meatballs a couple of eggs and a small amount of cheese grated on top. Comes out about the same as standard meatballs and spaghetti but is much more filling.
Home made soups are also very satisfying.
You have to commit to a certain amount of organisation in shopping, meal planning, batch cooking etc.
That recipe sounds great and right up my street.
dci said:
Some great replies and I'll certainly look into Dr Idz, Dr Chris Van Tulleken, Drs Joey Munoz and Layne Norton. It's great to have a rounded view on subjects from many diverse sources. The UPF thing is relatively new on my radar with discovering Eddie and I've never really thought that much of UPFs provided they fit into my calorie and macro goals.
I am familiar with James Smith but his whole 'be suspicious of everyone else, they are trying to sell you something but btw would you like to be a part of my personal training program for only £x per month' and 'I won't spam you like everyone else but please give me your email so I can send you a marketing email dressed up as advice every day' schtick wears thin after a while despite him having some really good content on fat loss and being quite entertaining to watch. His latest venture seems to be based on every man and his dog is selling courses on how to be a PT but please spend £1000's on my course and you to can then train people to train other people to be PTs. It's like a reinvention of the FOREX traders course scam.
Perhaps I understated my current position in the OP. I'm down to 77kg from 105kg 4 years ago and previous to my last bulk I was 68kg with 10-12% BF and visible abs. Despite being 68kg and low body fat I was still on the healthy/overweight boarder of the BMI chart for my height/ weight and am now firmly in the overweight category again hence the slightly less fat. I appreciate the advise on fat loss in general that has been given though
My aim of this exercise is to be aware of and avoid where possible foods that have excess additives and 'st' in them. Bread for example should have less than 5 ingredients in but regular shop bought wholemeal can have as many as 15. My long term favorite breakfast of crumpets with peanut butter on them turned out to be chocked full of palm oil, preservatives and whole load of other additives.
Having lost most of the weight that I gained in my 20's, I'm now trying to navigate the treacherous waters of gaining and retaining muscle in my 30's having been a life long weakling (prior to being a fat), with potentially naturally falling test levels as I age and without resorting to TRT or other PEDs to fill in the gaps. Part of this is being able to maximise the benefits of sleep, recovery and diet. If these internet experts are to be believed, UPFs are big problem on this front and should be eliminated as much as possible.
What I do struggle with is being able to find sweet treats that aren't laced with sugar and/or aspartame based sweeteners. I dislike most fruits (which is part of the reason why I ended up a fat in the first place) so outside of a small bowl of oats, honey and some nuts I'm out of ideas.
I found the craving for sweets and sugar in general disappeared over time. I rarely buy chocolate these days as it doesn't appeal, sugar in coffee makes it undrinkable. I think it's one of the strongest habits you can pick up and is hard to overcome. Psychological babble - they are not 'sweet treats' they are your enemy! Have you checked your blood sugar level?I am familiar with James Smith but his whole 'be suspicious of everyone else, they are trying to sell you something but btw would you like to be a part of my personal training program for only £x per month' and 'I won't spam you like everyone else but please give me your email so I can send you a marketing email dressed up as advice every day' schtick wears thin after a while despite him having some really good content on fat loss and being quite entertaining to watch. His latest venture seems to be based on every man and his dog is selling courses on how to be a PT but please spend £1000's on my course and you to can then train people to train other people to be PTs. It's like a reinvention of the FOREX traders course scam.
Perhaps I understated my current position in the OP. I'm down to 77kg from 105kg 4 years ago and previous to my last bulk I was 68kg with 10-12% BF and visible abs. Despite being 68kg and low body fat I was still on the healthy/overweight boarder of the BMI chart for my height/ weight and am now firmly in the overweight category again hence the slightly less fat
. I appreciate the advise on fat loss in general that has been given though My aim of this exercise is to be aware of and avoid where possible foods that have excess additives and 's
t' in them. Bread for example should have less than 5 ingredients in but regular shop bought wholemeal can have as many as 15. My long term favorite breakfast of crumpets with peanut butter on them turned out to be chocked full of palm oil, preservatives and whole load of other additives. Having lost most of the weight that I gained in my 20's, I'm now trying to navigate the treacherous waters of gaining and retaining muscle in my 30's having been a life long weakling (prior to being a fat
), with potentially naturally falling test levels as I age and without resorting to TRT or other PEDs to fill in the gaps. Part of this is being able to maximise the benefits of sleep, recovery and diet. If these internet experts are to be believed, UPFs are big problem on this front and should be eliminated as much as possible. What I do struggle with is being able to find sweet treats that aren't laced with sugar and/or aspartame based sweeteners. I dislike most fruits (which is part of the reason why I ended up a fat
in the first place) so outside of a small bowl of oats, honey and some nuts I'm out of ideas. People tie themselves in knots over diet.
When I was in the Army we (the vast majority of us) would drink most days, eat st food everyday and generally abuse our bodies.
Fittest I've ever been.
Even now in my 40's it's exercise that counts, I have cut down on the beer but still ear what I want. Started to put on a little bit with a very sedentary job so signed up for the Fred Whitton Challenge and now getting fit again, diet is the same.
Everyone is desperately trying to sell you something, don't believe it. And live is most definitely too short for me to not eat pizza.
When I was in the Army we (the vast majority of us) would drink most days, eat s
t food everyday and generally abuse our bodies. Fittest I've ever been.
Even now in my 40's it's exercise that counts, I have cut down on the beer but still ear what I want. Started to put on a little bit with a very sedentary job so signed up for the Fred Whitton Challenge and now getting fit again, diet is the same.
Everyone is desperately trying to sell you something, don't believe it. And live is most definitely too short for me to not eat pizza.
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