Living Ultra Processed Free is hard to begin with. it takes time. You do not have to give up your favourite meals. Below are 5 tips that helped me on my journey.
Ultra-processed foods can be identified using several clues. While there are no health warnings specifically for ultra-processed foods in the UK, you can look out for a few of the biggest indicators:
Ingredients You Don’t Recognize: Check the list of ingredients. If it contains at least one item characteristic of ultra-processed foods, such as high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated or interesterified oils, and hydrolyzed proteins, it’s likely ultra-processed.
Don't confuse Processed Foods with Ultra processed Foods - these are two different things. Salt, butter, bread, cheese, oils etc. are processed. This is because you have taken a natural product and created something else from it. Butter is a good example. Cream is the raw ingredient, by adding salt and blending you create butter. Most foods are processed. If you take stock, onions, carrots etc. cook and blend you have taken items and processed them into a soup.
Start slow, replace gradually, and build familiarity with healthier food options. If you are completely free to cutting out Ultra Processed Foods, please don't let this overwhelm you. Once you start looking at your ingredient list it can be a bit scary. My biggest bit of advice is to go slow. Any change as a positive. I started with replacing bread, butter and cereals. Once I had established these were actually super easy to make at home and I cracked these recipes, I moved onto other items. I did not replace every single item overnight. As we ran out of an item, I looked into replacing it with either a homemade version or looking for a shop bought better alternative. One you have a few items you know and like, these then become easy to buy when your shopping allowing you more time to look into other items
Do not assume a premium brand is better than a budget one. One of my biggest shocks was that, I, assumed if an item was a supermarket budget brand it had to be worse than a premium brand. This is not always the case. My children loved cream cheese and we used to buy Philadelphia. This is actually full of additives, Aldi do a cream cheese that is not only less than half the price but is ultra processed free.
Choose Whole Foods: Focus on consuming more fruits and vegetables, whether fresh or frozen. These are minimally processed and provide essential nutrients. Choose wholemeal flour, pasta, bread etc. Quite often "white" versions of these have had an element of bleaching. You will note I have not mentioned tinned items. I have nothing against tinned fruit/veg but a lot of have additives and I actually do not like taste/ smell of tinned foods. I haven't eaten these for years, so I keep away from these. If you do use these, remember to buy ones in water/vinegar and check the ingredient list.
It can be a minefield when you start out and if you happen to have a takeaway or a meal out don't worry! You can still enjoy a meal out, dinner with friends and wine!
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