The 50's hype of 'convenience' and the 80's over the top take on that, have a lot to answer for!
The amount of disordered eating and metabolic issues people face is growing especially with the overwhelming miss information on diet from the 80s onwards and the VAST amount of ultra processed foods made readily available or even pushed as 'healthy'. Sometimes foods we don't really associate with sugar (like savoury stuff) turn out to be laden with it along with a high carbohydrate content and triple whammy less than healthy fats.
NOVA is a four group system used to categorise foods based on what processing is needed to create them. Group 1 means very low to no processing and 4 is ULTRA processed. A common tip is to look at the ingredients list usually the shortest means very low processed and the lengthy ones indicate its a UPF however food labelling can hide multiple ingredient in one number or new name so thats not always the best marker (but better than nothing!).
Why are they bad for us? they barely register as food to our bodies which causes all sorts of mayhem- one analogy my Dr gave was about the common emulsifier additive "it works like soap clearing all your gut lining bacteria good and bad out"...yikes.
Excersise: Next time you are the supermarket have a look at the isles, how much of the store is actually whole food?
Ok but isn't anything in moderation ok?!
Well meaning movements within food guidelines & regulation cause harm with the mantra of 'moderation' which sure! works if you aren't metabolically compromised but if you are then moderation isn't helpful.
Then there is our western food culture "eat the damn cake!", most social stuff has a heavy focus on the food being the joy/fun when in reality it should actually be the people and event.
How many people have you heard struggling with weight that say "Look I want to enjoy my life, not stressing about cake, I'm going to eat the damn cake and enjoy it even if it kills me"...similar sentiments that smokers have.
Ultra processed foods are highly addictive. When a food addict lists what they eat I can almost guarantee its NOT exclusively whole foods. Also many of us sit on that edge of addict and no one needs to feel silly for thinking they are addicted to food, food addiction is real.
80's and 90's kids, look at what we ate as kids - the juice boxes our parents legit thought were healthy! the roll-ups, chips, schools that worked with the local fish & chip shop or pie places...Magi everything, convenience touted as health. Children have very little control of what they are eating, its all dependant on what the parents provide and THEY provide what they think is best guided by governments & food industry which have vested interests and don't always align with up to date science.
It's becoming more clear to experts that do research and have clinical experience (think Dr's labs etc) that The effects of high processing techniques on food is fuelling metabolic dysfunction, inflammation with things like Dementia, cancers etc.
If interested take a look over these experts findings and explanations.
Study: Ultraprocessed Food: Addictive, Toxic, and Ready for Regulation
Research Neuroscientist Dr Nicole Avena
Youtube vid of Prof Julia Rucklidge 'The whole food solution'
Youtube vid of Dr Caryn ZInn 'Food qaulity'
Youtube vid of Andrew Becker 'Craving the truth about food'
If you are looking to get rid of some unnecessary UPF's or feel addicted keep googling & searching while it might at times feel like opening an ultra processed can of worms, you can do it!
-Saz
